Mind of Christ: Ep 9: Path to Divine Favor: The Power of Prompt Obedience

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host,

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Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent.

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Father God, like Jabez, we cry out that thou would bless us indeed.

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Bless every woman listening beyond trauma, beyond limits, beyond what she thought

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was possible. Enlarge her territory.

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Expand her purpose. Let your hand be upon this moment.

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Saturate every word with oil and truth. break cycles, cancel every curse sent

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to silence her. This isn't just a podcast.

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This is holy ground. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Hello, this is your host Connie Morris from Diary of a Black Woman Podcast.

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And welcome back to Faith on the Go. Today, we're going to discuss favor, divine favor.

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I hope your faith is being built up. We know that faith comes by hearing and

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hearing by the word of God.

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So that is why the space was created for your quiet moments,

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your work day, your commutes, and those in between places where your spirit needs to be refilled.

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Faith on the go is for those times where you're fighting battles,

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not yet won, but already finished in Christ. It's for the ones who keep believing,

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keep pressing, keep walking, even when the road gets long and narrow.

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So wherever you are today, settle in. Let the word of God strengthen you with your faith on the go.

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Day nine, the path to divine favor, a mind of disobedience, a mind of obedience.

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Let's go with me to our key scripture, John 14, 31. It says,

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but he comes to the world, may learn that I love the father and do exactly what

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my father has commanded me.

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Divine favor comes from having a mind.

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Of obedience. If you study the life of Jesus closely, you'll notice a pattern.

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Every miracle was preceded by obedience. Every display of favor followed a moment of surrender.

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When he turned the water into wine in Cana, his mother simply said,

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do whatever he tells you, John 2.5.

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The miracle wasn't in the water, it was in their willingness.

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The servant obeyed and transformation followed. When Jesus told Peter to cast

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his net again after a night of catching nothing, Peter hesitated but obeyed.

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Because you say so, I will let down the nets, Luke 5.5.

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And suddenly the nets overflowed. When he told the ten lepers,

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go show yourself to the priests, they were healed as they went.

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Obedience moves heaven. It invites divine favor into ordinary moments and makes

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the impossible suddenly possible.

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Even at the cross, obedience crowned his mission.

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He said, I do exactly what my father has commanded me.

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The obedience became the bridge of grace for all humanity.

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Favor is not random. It's the result of alignment. Jesus lived under open heavens

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because he lived in perfect obedience to the Father's will.

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The mind of Christ recognizes that obedience is not optional. It's relational.

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It flows from love, not legalism, from trust, not tradition.

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Every yes to God is an act of faith that releases divine outcomes.

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When you walk in obedience, God doesn't just bless your word.

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He breathes on it. He takes ordinary steps and makes them supernatural.

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Isaiah 119 tells us that if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land.

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Partial obedience is still disobedient.

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Jesus never did almost what the Father said. He did it fully.

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That's why his life carried power, peace, and faith.

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The mind of Christ calls you to trust God's direction even when it defies logic.

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Obedience doesn't always feel easy, but it always leads to the blessings.

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Ask yourself, have I delayed obedience while waiting for full understanding?

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Am I trusting outcomes more than instructions?

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And what miracles might be waiting on the other side of my yes?

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Let's walk it out like Jesus.

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Number one, respond promptly. Don't overthink God's instructions.

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Faith acts, fear delays. James 1.22.

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Respond promptly. Don't overthink God's instructions.

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How do we do that? We like to figure if we do this, we might get this or this

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or that. this is what God is doing.

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And many times it turns out to be the total opposite.

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God loves surprising us, but we have to love to be obedient and not delayed

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obedience, but prompt obedience. Stay in alignment.

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Jesus did what he saw the father doing. John 5, 19.

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Ask, Lord, is this your will or mind. Many times God is not going to let you

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run into a wall and get it wrong.

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He will keep pushing and pulling and telling you exactly what he wants you to

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do. How do you know what the Father is doing?

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Because the Holy Spirit is telling you, I need you to go right.

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I need you to go left. I need you to do this. I need you to do that.

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And many times it's maybe it's right away or it's a season when it comes,

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you have to be ready to go.

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He prepares us for our future, but you have to stay in alignment.

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And like I mentioned earlier, you have to ask, is this my will or your will?

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And many times we didn't think of that.

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We couldn't have thought of it that good, especially when the plan falls into play.

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When it comes to pass, you'd be like, whoa, I would have never thought to do it that way.

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But if you pay attention and you do what God says promptly and you stay in alignment

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and you trust him, and then guess what?

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You will see the fruit of your obedience. Obey in the small.

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Faithfulness is in little prepares you for greater favor. Luke 16,

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10, faithfulness in the little.

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When God has you do something, you say, I do not want to do this.

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I remember before I, this is one thing that I'm doing, but it has a great impact on other things.

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The Lord was talking to me way before I became president of the HOA.

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This is, they need you to get in here and get this done.

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I'm like, what done? What thing? I don't have time for any more things on my calendar.

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Lo and behold, I became the HOA president and everything that is happening now

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is absolutely marvelous because it was the things that I didn't like about it.

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And God put me in a position to do the small thing.

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The small thing is just obey. Small thing is like, I'm going to tell you what

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to do, how to run this board so we can get some things done.

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And yes, you're going to have resistance because they couldn't do it when they

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were in the position you are in.

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But you're doing it and things are moving and you're going to have resistance.

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So when God tells you you're going to have resistance, that means you need to

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tread through it, tread through it.

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And it's the little things that have developed the trust of the people.

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And there's still some people who still don't like what I'm doing only because they didn't do it.

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It's just changing everything to the best. And they don't know how to respond. The Lord showed me that.

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They don't know how to respond. And so their only response is always negative. But it doesn't matter.

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Why? Because I'm not holding them hostage in my heart. I have a shield of protection

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from obedience. And I'm just walking it out like Jesus.

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Number four, obey without understanding.

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That's another one. Peter didn't understand why Jesus said cast the net again,

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but his obedience unlocked.

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Abundance. Luke 5, 5 through 6. Sometimes we do not understand why God will have us do something.

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Right now I'm in this position.

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I took this job. I liked it. It was simple.

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It's not how I thought it would be. But when I accepted it, the Lord said, you chose righteously.

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I didn't see what righteously was about at that time because I'm not doing anything

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that requires a master's degree.

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But yeah, a position opens up and guess who's considered for that position because

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I have the master degree because I humbled myself, right?

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And I let God tell me to do this. Didn't have an understanding of why, but I did it anyway.

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And we always want God to say, you chose righteously.

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It wasn't the highest paying job. It was pretty much the lowest paying job.

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Kind of felt like a Joseph.

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But God said, I need you here for this particular season. And I just kept doing

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what I needed to do. not seeing anything opening, but yet it did open. Let's continue.

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Number five, complete what you

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start. My gosh, Jesus said, I have finished the work you gave me to do.

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John 17, 4. How hard is that to finish what you start?

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I'm telling you, I want to quit this HOA because I don't like drama in my life. I like peace.

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I like peace. But I realized that sometimes you got to shake the boats to get things changed.

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And now I got people participating in

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in everything. We want this done. We want that done. Good.

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By the time, everybody woke up because everybody was asleep.

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We were living in kind of like a, what's that thing that comes on February 1st?

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It's always, whatever that thing comes out to see a shadow. We was living in one of those moments.

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Everybody did not want to change. Groundhog. There we go.

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Groundhog moment where we, thank you, Holy Ghost.

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Groundhog, groundhog moment where we are waiting to see his shadow.

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But if he doesn't come out, we don't see his shadow. Or what kind of fluky thing is that?

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And so people are waiting and waiting and waiting for change.

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And now that change has happened, people are waking up. And I love it.

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Let's pray. Father, thank you for showing me that obedience isn't a burden. It's a blessing.

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Teach me to respond quickly when you speak. And when I don't see full the picture,

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when I don't see the full picture, Woo!

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Break the habit of hesitation and fill me with your holy confidence.

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Let my obedience unlock the favor and fulfillment you prepared for me.

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In Jesus' name, decree I have the mind of Christ. I obey without delay and I trust without fear.

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My steps align with heaven's direction and divine favor follows my faith.

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Every act of obedience brings supernatural increase and breakthrough.

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Thank you, Lord. Think on this one.

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What instructions has God already given you that you've delayed?

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And how might your immediate obedience release the faith you've been praying

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for? Something to think about.

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Thank you for listening to Faith on the Go with your host Connie Morris from

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the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I pray that this energized your faith and reminded you of God's promise.

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His promise of Isaiah 51 11.

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He says, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth.

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It should not return to me void, but should accomplish what I please.

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And it should prosper in a thing for which I sent it.

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I just pray that this word prospers you, that this word that I'm sending out

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on this podcast does not return to God void, that you will do what he says,

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that you will continue to develop the mind of Christ and make him famous, not yourself.

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Make God famous. May he be confident of this.

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He will begin a good work and you should carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

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Philippians 1.6. He's going to finish the work he started in you. Don't you dare quit.

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Keep believing, keep walking, and keep trusting.

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I pray for that in you, in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Thank you for listening to this episode. Before we close out,

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I want to speak a word of promise over you from Jeremiah 29.11-14.

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Father God, you declared, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper

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you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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So today we receive that truth. You said when we call on you,

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you will listen. So we pray.

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You said that when we seek you with our hearts, you will be found. So we pursue.

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You said you will restore us from captivity.

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So we declare freedom over every place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small.

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Thank you for always drawing near when we show up in faith. In Jesus' name, amen.