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Speaker 1: Welcome to Abides Daily Christian Meditations. I'm Tyler Boss. Today's

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Speaker 1: meditation is brought to you by our partners at Life Audio.

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Speaker 1: If you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find

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Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've

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Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more. Head

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Speaker 1: over to lifeaudio dot com now, and remember you can

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Speaker 1: have full access to our meditations commercial free. Just text

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Speaker 1: Abide to two two four three three for twenty five

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Speaker 1: percent off. Now receive his piece as we meditate and

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Speaker 1: abide in Christ.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to this Abide Meditation. I'm Diane Jackson. Every new

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Speaker 2: day brings a chance for new beginnings. Take a deep

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Speaker 2: breath of this new day air. Even if it's the

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Speaker 2: end of your day, every moment is a chance to

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Speaker 2: make something new. Breathe it in deeply. Isaiah chapter forty three,

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Speaker 2: verse nineteen says behold, I am doing a new thing.

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Speaker 2: Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it? I

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Speaker 2: will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in

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Speaker 2: the desert. This verse comes in a whole chapter of

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Speaker 2: God telling the people how much he loves them and

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Speaker 2: reminding them of all he has done for them. Most

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Speaker 2: people reflect on their past year during the first days

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Speaker 2: of the new year, but every day is a good

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Speaker 2: day to remember God's faithfulness. He lavished his grace upon us.

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Speaker 2: He remained faithful even when we were faithless. He gave

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Speaker 2: us daily mercy p and we needed his mercy on

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Speaker 2: a daily basis. He delighted in us when we tried

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Speaker 2: to find our delight in anything else but him. His

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Speaker 2: love is irrepressible, inexhaustible, and inexplicable apart from what Jesus

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Speaker 2: has done for us. Set aside time to reflect on

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Speaker 2: all God has done and the new things he will do.

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Speaker 2: God tells us to be alert, to be present, because

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Speaker 2: he is about to do something brand new. It's bursting out.

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Speaker 2: If we will just look, God is making roads through

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Speaker 2: the desert, a dry path through a stormy sea. Look

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Speaker 2: around you find God working and meet him there. Creator. God,

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Speaker 2: you make new things, and you promise to renew all things.

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Speaker 2: Help me to see your goodness in everything that comes

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Speaker 2: my way this year. Help me to see what you

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Speaker 2: are doing in my life and how you are transforming

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Speaker 2: my heart. You don't treat any two people the same way,

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Speaker 2: except that you love us unconditionally. So help me to

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Speaker 2: look for you and to find you as you have

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Speaker 2: promised that I will if I seek you with all

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Speaker 2: of my heart. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen, take

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Speaker 2: a moment to still your heart. Whatever that looks like

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Speaker 2: for you, forget the to do list, put it aside,

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Speaker 2: and take another deep breath. Close your eyes, or focus

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Speaker 2: on something beautiful that God created. Now, think about your

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Speaker 2: last few weeks. Were there any times that you missed

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Speaker 2: seeing God or doubted his goodness? Confess those things and

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Speaker 2: remember his grace as you unburn your heart. Ask God

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Speaker 2: to show you how He is working in your life.

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Speaker 2: Ask him to make his presence obvious to you even

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Speaker 2: as you remember the past. Ask Him to give you

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Speaker 2: a picture of the things he is making new. Listen now,

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Speaker 2: as I read Isaiah forty three nineteen in the New

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Speaker 2: Living Translation, for I am about to do something new.

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Speaker 2: See I have already begun. Do you not see it?

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Speaker 2: I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will

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Speaker 2: create rivers in the dry wasteland. As I read that again,

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Speaker 2: ask God to show you a word or a phrase,

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Speaker 2: for I am about to do something new. See I

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Speaker 2: have already begun. Do you not see it? I will

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Speaker 2: make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers

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Speaker 2: in the dry wasteland. What did you hear? Take a

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Speaker 2: moment to reflect. Ask God to make that word or

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Speaker 2: image real to you. The rivers in the wasteland are

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Speaker 2: symbolic of God's grace. In what area of your life

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Speaker 2: do you need to be revived? How might God be

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Speaker 2: already working in those places? Pray that God would show

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Speaker 2: you what He's doing to bring rivers of grace into

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Speaker 2: your life, and to show you what next steps you

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Speaker 2: need to take. Now, listen to Isaiah forty three nineteen

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Speaker 2: in the Amplified Bible. As you listen to the words

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Speaker 2: with your ears, ask God to show you what he

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Speaker 2: wants you to hear with your heart. Listen carefully. I'm

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Speaker 2: about to do a new thing. Now it will spring forth.

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Speaker 2: Will you not be aware of it? I will even

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Speaker 2: put a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

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Speaker 2: Spend some time thinking about the wastelands in your life.

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Speaker 2: Ask Him to help you see the pathways and rivers

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Speaker 2: of grace that He has created for you. What big

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Speaker 2: goals do you have? What do you desire to do

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Speaker 2: or what do you want to quit doing? Isaiah says

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Speaker 2: that God has already begun to work new things. He

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Speaker 2: has started to transform your life already by putting that

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Speaker 2: desire for change in your heart. Ask God now to

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Speaker 2: move with power in your life. God knows we often

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Speaker 2: miss what He's doing. He's very patient with us. Listen

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Speaker 2: one last time to Isaiah forty three nineteen, this time

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Speaker 2: in the English Standard version. Behold, I am doing a

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Speaker 2: new thing. Now it springs forth? Do you not perceive it?

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Speaker 2: I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers

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Speaker 2: in the desert. Imagine that wilderness. Imagine looking out and

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Speaker 2: all you can see is reddish brown dust. The only

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Speaker 2: slight evidence of life you notice are scattered rocks and

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Speaker 2: maybe a dry bush or tree. The sun beats down

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Speaker 2: on your head, and your lips grow drier as you

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Speaker 2: get thirstier. This space is a wasteland in every sense

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Speaker 2: of the word. Nothing grows, nothing flourishes. How does a

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Speaker 2: place like this make you feel? You cannot logically say

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Speaker 2: a place like this is fun or a blessing. Do

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Speaker 2: you feel tired, desperate, lonely? Maybe are there times in

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Speaker 2: your life that also make you feel those things? Imagine

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Speaker 2: that scene for a few more seconds. Now you're still there,

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Speaker 2: thirsting in the wilderness, and then you see it flooding

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Speaker 2: up through the cracks in the dirt, running water that's

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Speaker 2: clearer than it should be out here in this dust.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't flood to destruction. It cuts a river bank

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Speaker 2: and crashes within its boundary lines. Along the bank you

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Speaker 2: see green sprouts pushing up through the rock hard soil.

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Speaker 2: D see it. Here's the blessing in the wilderness. God

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Speaker 2: is always with you, even when you think you are

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Speaker 2: at your breaking point. Ask Him now to flood your

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Speaker 2: life with his grace. How can you take more active

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Speaker 2: notice of the ways God is moving? Prayer is a

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Speaker 2: good place to start, simply giving thanks for who who

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Speaker 2: God is, can change you. Heavenly Father, we declare our

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Speaker 2: desire to know Christ and the power of his resurrection

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Speaker 2: and the fellowship born from suffering with Jesus in this

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Speaker 2: world in fresh and new ways. May you open our

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Speaker 2: eyes to the story you plan to write on earth.

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Speaker 2: In our communities and in our cities, May we dance

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Speaker 2: and suffer, work and pray, serve and love all to

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Speaker 2: your glory. Make those rivers flow, Lord in Jesus' merciful

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Speaker 2: and mighty name. We pray Amen, think about how you

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Speaker 2: can recognize God's provision in your life today. How is

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Speaker 2: He moving in new ways? Until next time, may you

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Speaker 2: abide in Christ