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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: 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 James Seawood. Do you

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Speaker 2: remember the first time you fell in love? You couldn't sleep,

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Speaker 2: and you couldn't eat. Every thought day and night turn

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Speaker 2: toward your beloved. You wanted to be with them, to

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Speaker 2: touch them, to know everything about them. Do you remember

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Speaker 2: what that felt like? Romantic love and sexual intimacy and

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Speaker 2: marriage are good gifts from God. In fact, the Bible

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Speaker 2: contains a whole book that is simply an account of

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Speaker 2: romantic love and physical pleasure. In Song of Songs, chapter two,

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Speaker 2: verse fourteen, a young man expresses his longing for his beloved.

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Speaker 2: Say oh my dove, Oh my dove, in the clefts

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Speaker 2: of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff. Let

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Speaker 2: me see your face, Let me hear your voice, For

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Speaker 2: your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. Have

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Speaker 2: you experienced such longing desire and love? What do you

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Speaker 2: want to say to God about it? Out scripture, God

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Speaker 2: uses the marriage relationship as an illustration of the relationship

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Speaker 2: that He has with his people. So while song of

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Speaker 2: Songs is first a love story, it can also be

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Speaker 2: read as an illustration of the deep love God has

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Speaker 2: for us and the beautiful and satisfying relationship we were

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Speaker 2: created to have with God. And what does it mean

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Speaker 2: to you to know that God longs for you to

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Speaker 2: be with him as intensely as a young man in

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Speaker 2: love longs for his beloved. The beloved says, I am

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Speaker 2: my beloveds and he is mine. His banner over me

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Speaker 2: is love. Pray with me, God, lead me into love

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Speaker 2: that is ever more true, steady, and full of delight.

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Speaker 2: Help me to know the intensity and of your love

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Speaker 2: for me, and help me to respond with delight and

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Speaker 2: desire and longing for you as well. Amen, As you

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Speaker 2: take a deep breath in, let your breath move through

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Speaker 2: and loosen your muscles. Exhaling. Let go of any negative

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Speaker 2: feelings you have about your body. Inhaling, feel God's love. Exhaling,

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Speaker 2: reject any insecurities. As you continue breathing slowly and deeply,

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Speaker 2: know that God loves you from top to bottom, your hair,

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Speaker 2: your eyes, your face, your arms. God's love is not

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Speaker 2: just an obligatory, impersonal thing. It's specific and sincere and real.

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Speaker 2: God is delighted by you. Breathe in God's delight. Before

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Speaker 2: we continue, take a moment to search your heart for

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Speaker 2: any sins that you need to confess to God. Bring

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Speaker 2: them to God in full confidence that because of Jesus,

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Speaker 2: you will be forgiven. God forgives you, and God loves

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Speaker 2: you with an everlasting love, and nothing can separate you

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Speaker 2: from that love. God, thank you for giving us the

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Speaker 2: good gifts of romantic love and sexual intimacy. Help me

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Speaker 2: to use them well. You know the longings of my

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Speaker 2: heart and my own experience with this kind of love,

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Speaker 2: the disappointment and satisfaction and frustration and fulfillment. Thank you

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Speaker 2: for loving me with the love that is greater than

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Speaker 2: any I could imagine on earth. Thank you for Jesus

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Speaker 2: it's in his name. I pray Amen rest here saying

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Speaker 2: all you need to say to God before you go,

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Speaker 2: and as you go, let your love testify to the

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Speaker 2: everlasting goodness of God. Until next time, may you abide

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Speaker 2: in