Today we're focusing on Judges 4-6. In chapter 4, we get to meet some really cool women. Deborah, who is elevated by the people and by scripture for her wisdom, faith, and resourcefulness, calls out Barack, who was supposed to be leading the people. Find out what happens to their enemy and the worship song Deborah sings about it. Next we meet Gideon and watch as the LORD patiently reassures him that He will be with him.

Today's Reading: Judges 4-6

Scripture Read or Referenced:

Judges 4:6-8, 17-21

Judges 5: 9-10, 26-27, 31

Judges 6:1, 11-18, 22-24, 34-40

Article quoted:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-judges-points-jesus/

**Did you catch our special Easter episode of Again with incredible author Patti Rokus? You can listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502?i=1000757474370

Or watch here: https://youtu.be/yhEcfdVf6tM

And catch her amazing Easter video here: https://youtu.be/LFhwEBLqMTM

Would you like to know more about this partnership we have with the Lord in our parenting? This quick episode explains how this study can guide moms, bless your church, and actually help the leaders! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502

Want a pretty printable reading plan? Find our free Bible-reading Resources here: www.entrustedministries.com/podcast

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary

Welcome to The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hicock, and we continue

to press into Christ because he's

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a God that longs to dwell with us

so much that he left the glory of

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heaven to come down to rescue us.

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Today we'll focus on Judges

chapter four through six.

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But before we dive into that, I wanted to

read a quote from an article I found on

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the Gospel Coalition website describing

how we can find Jesus in judges.

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The author writes, while these

judges did sometimes engage in what

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we think of as judging, their main

activity is described as saving.

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Speaker 3: It is because of this repeated

description of judges saving Israel, that

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Nehemiah would later look back at this

period and say that God gave them saviors.

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This word in the Greek translation of

Nehemiah 9 27 Soter will later be used

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in the Greek New Testament to describe.

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The ultimate deliverer for onto you is

born this day in the city of David, a

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Savior Soter, who is Christ the Lord.

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Speaker 5: we might well ask, why would

God send saviors to people so persistently

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defeated, disobedient, and fickle, and

judges tells us that the Lord was moved

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to pity by their groaning because of

those who afflicted and oppressed them.

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As the Puritan Thomas Goodwin once

counseled believers, your very sins

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move him to pity more than to anger

even as the heart of a father is to a

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child That has some loathsome disease.

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God sent them saviors for the same

reason he sent us one, not because

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we deserved one, but because

he saw how much we needed one.

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This is how judges points to Jesus by

showing us a God who's not only angry at

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sin, but also filled pity for sinners.

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I thought this beautifully explained.

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How we can have hope even in the midst

of reading these defeating stories.

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In chapter four, we get to

meet some really cool women.

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First we have Deborah, who is elevated

by the people and by scripture for her

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wisdom, faith, and resourcefulness.

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She calls out Barack, who was

supposed to be leading the people.

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And she challenges him.

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Didn't God tell you he was going to

use you to defeat our oppressors?

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And shockingly Barack says, if

you go with me, I'll go, but

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if you won't go, I won't go.

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And she tells him she will go, but a woman

is gonna get the glory for the victory.

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Their enemy.

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Cicero had 900 chariots of iron, and he

leads them into an area that from above,

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looks like it should be a great flat area

for chariots, but in fact, it was where a

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river drained and could be quite swampy.

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The Lord routed cera and all his chariots.

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He dismounts and runs away to

the tent of a woman named jl.

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She woos him to safety, offers him

milk and hides him underneath the rug.

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But while he's in a deep post

battle sleep, she takes a tent

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peg and a hammer and drives them

into his temple, killing him.

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She is a tough woman, and just

as Deborah prophesied, she

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gets the glory for the battle.

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And in chapter five, Deborah

and Barack sing a worship song.

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They challenge the people to repeat

the righteous triumphs of the Lord.

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And I can't help but chuckle at

the simplicity of the way that it

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describes j L's defeat of cera.

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She struck Cera.

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She crushed his head.

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She shattered and pierced his temple

between her feet, he sank, he fell.

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He lay still between her feet, he sank.

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He fell where he sank.

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There he fell.

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Dead.

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Can you imagine singing

that as a worship song?

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But thankfully, they're rejoicing

in the victory that God gave them.

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Then we're told that the land had rest

for 40 years, but in chapter six, the

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cycle that we see over and over in judges

continues because the people of Israel did

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what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

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So the Lord gave them into the hand

of the Midianites for seven years.

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And then the people cry

out for help from the Lord.

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It's in verse 11 that the angel

of the Lord comes to Gideon.

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He was beating out wheat in the wine

press, which means that they couldn't

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even prepare their food for fear

that the Midianites would catch them.

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Speaker 6: Beginning in verse 11, now

the angel of the Lord came and sat under

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the Tarin at Oprah, which belonged to

Jo the Abbi, right while his son Gideon,

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was beating out wheat in the wine

press to hide it from the Midianites.

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And the angel of the Lord appeared

to him and said the Lord is

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with you, almighty man of valor.

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And Gideon said to him, please, my

Lord, if the Lord is with us, why

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then has all this happened to us?

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And where are all his wonderful deeds

that our fathers recounted to us saying,

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did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?

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But now the Lord has forsaken us and

given us into the hand of Midian?

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And the Lord turned to him and said.

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Go in this might of yours and save

Israel from the hand of Midian.

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Do not I send you.

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And he said to him, please,

Lord, how can I save Israel?

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Behold, my clan is the weakest

in Manasses, and I am the

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least in my father's house.

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And the Lord said to him, but I

will be with you and you shall

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strike the Midianites as one man.

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And he said to him, if now I have found

favor in your eyes, then show me a

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sign that it is you who speak with me.

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Please do not depart from here

until I come to you and bring out

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my present and set it before you.

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And he said, I will stay till you return.

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Gideon goes inside and prepares a

meal for the Lord when he returns.

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The Lord says to put it on a rock,

and immediately when he raises his

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staff fire springs up from the rock

and the Lord vanishes from his sight.

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This is always how God receives an

offering in the Old Testament and

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is a confirmation of his presence.

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continuing in verse 22,

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then Gideon perceived that he

was the angel of the Lord and

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Gideon said, alas, oh Lord God.

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For now I have seen the angel of

the Lord face to face, but the

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Lord said to him, peace be to you.

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Do not fear.

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You shall not die.

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Then Gideon built an altar to the

Lord and called it the Lord is peace.

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To this day, it stands at Oprah,

which belongs to the Abbi rights.

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Next God commands him to tear

down the high places in the altars

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of pagan worship in his town.

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He's afraid.

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So he does it at night and in the

morning when the men rise, they find

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out, what's been done to their gods

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and they realize that

Gideon has done this.

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They bring his father Joe Ash out,

and say we need to kill your son,

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But Joe says, if Baal is so

powerful, let him defend himself.

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Of course, the fake God does nothing.

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And then in verse 34, but the spirit of

the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded

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the trumpet and the Abby Asite were

called out to follow him, and he sent

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messengers throughout all manasses, and

they too were called out to follow him.

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And he sent messengers to

Asher Zebulon and NAF to lie

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and they went up to meet them.

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Then Gideon said to God, if you

will save Israel by my hand, as you

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have said, behold I am laying a

fleece of wool on the Thring floor.

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If there is due on the fleece alone and

it is dry on all the ground, then I shall

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know that you will save Israel by my hand.

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As you have said.

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And it was.

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So when he rose early next, morning and

squeezed the fleece, he rung enough dew

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from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.

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Then Gideon said to God, let

not your anger burn against me.

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Let me speak just once more.

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Please.

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Let me test just once

more with the fleece.

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Please let it be dry on the fleece only,

and on all the ground, let there be due.

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And God did so that night.

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And it was dry on the fleece only,

and on all the ground there was due.

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Can't you relate to Gideon?

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As I've said many times throughout

this podcast, without the

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word of God, I am basket case.

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I need God to reassure me so often

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In many moments here, I get where

Gideon is coming from, especially

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at the beginning when he says,

God, if you are with us, then

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why are the circumstances so bad?

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And it makes me think about when

Joseph was in prison and it kept

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saying that the Lord was with him.

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But God promises he doesn't have

to be afraid and that he's going to

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have victory because God is with him.

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and then he calls him Yahweh

Shalom, and it's true.

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He is our peace.

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It is a common phrase in Christianity

to say that we're setting up fleeces,

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and this story is where that comes from.

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However, we have to be very careful

that we don't take these stories from

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scripture and think that they're setting

a precedent for us to follow as believers.

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There was an amazing godly preacher

named Fadi Baam who went to be

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with the Lord recently, and I'll

never forget hearing him preach.

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There's a phrase that stuck with

me ever since, when he said,

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narrative is not normative.

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when we're reading a story

or a narrative in scripture,

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we're not necessarily intended to repeat.

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What the character did.

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We have to look at the greater context.

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Here we see that Gideon is very aware

that he's showing a lack of faith.

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He keeps saying, Lord,

please don't be angry.

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God is patient with him.

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But it's not an example for us to follow.

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Now that we have the whole council of

God's word, we have so many principles

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to guide us, and we're also called.

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To seek out the wisdom of

other Godly people around us

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because he's a God of peace and of order.

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He does give us clarity

as we press into him.

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I'm not saying it's easy, but I

do think that God uses all of the

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confusion of life to draw us near

to him if he were just gonna give

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us these good luck charms and signs.

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All the time, we wouldn't

have to seek him so much.

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So the next time that we feel confused

and like we're praying about the same

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thing over and over, maybe we could

think about it a little bit differently

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and say, thank you, Lord, for another

opportunity to come into your presence.

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Thank you that I need you so desperately.

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And with that, let's pray.

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Heavenly Father.

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We rejoice that you are a God

that is so patient with us.

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we're convicted about the many times

where we've doubted been fearful and

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needed confirmation and affirmation.

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Even when you've already provided

direction, we ask that you would help

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us to walk in righteousness and that

we would know what that looks like

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because we've been dwelling with you.

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Help us to be transformed by

the reality that you are Yahweh.

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Shalom, the Lord, our peace.

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May those not just be words

we say, but may our kids see

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that your peace reigns in us.

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No matter how frustrating life gets,

how many interruptions come, or

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hats we have to wear, that there

would be a banner of peace over us.

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Thank you, Jesus, for this glimpse of

you and your presence, and thank you

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that you gave up the glory of heaven to

be our savior as your spirit clothed

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Gideon, I pray that we would put on your

spirit and that all those we encounter

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would sense the hope that you bring.

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Lord Jesus, we look forward to the

day when every knee will bow and every

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tongue confess that you are Lord.

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In your name we pray, amen.