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Speaker 1: Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

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Speaker 1: walk with Christ, please visit us at Bible Studyheadquarters dot com.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to daily devotions with Pastor John. I'm John Stangey,

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Speaker 1: and today's devotion is inspired by Psalm forty six, verse one,

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Speaker 1: which says God is our refuge and strength, a very

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Speaker 1: present help in trouble. There are seasons of life when

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Speaker 1: trouble seems rather prevalent. Sometimes it seems to come in waves.

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Speaker 1: Other times it may hit us like a brick. Most

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Speaker 1: of us aren't looking for trouble, but it manages to

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Speaker 1: find us anyway. How do you handle your seasons of trouble?

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Speaker 1: When trouble comes, there are healthy ways and unhealthy ways

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Speaker 1: to deal with the emotions that come with it. If

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Speaker 1: we're honest with ourselves, we will probably notice times when

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Speaker 1: we have attempted to ease our pain and discomfort by

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Speaker 1: utilizing something unhealthy. We take what seems to be the

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Speaker 1: easiest way to soothe our pain, only to find that

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Speaker 1: the easy solution we pursued wasn't effective. Through Jesus, we

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Speaker 1: have the help we need. He is present with us

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Speaker 1: and within us. He is sufficient to heal what weighs

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Speaker 1: our hearts down. He is compassionate toward us and can

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Speaker 1: completely understand our struggles. The scripture tells us that the

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Speaker 1: Lord is our refuge. In him we find safety and security.

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Speaker 1: We're also told that he is the source of our strength.

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Speaker 1: He will uphold us when we feel weak. He is

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Speaker 1: present with us to help us. He isn't distant from us.

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Speaker 1: We have not been abandoned in the midst of our trouble. Pray, Lord,

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Speaker 1: we thank you for your word, and we thank you

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Speaker 1: for the privilege that it is to be able to

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Speaker 1: look at this Psalm together today. And Lord, as we

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Speaker 1: look at this portion of Psalm forty six, we see

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Speaker 1: that you are our refuge. You are our strength. You

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Speaker 1: help us in the midst of trouble. You're present with us.

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Speaker 1: And Lord, it's helpful to us to be reminded of this.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes when we're going through difficult seasons, we mistakenly believe

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Speaker 1: that we're all alone and that we don't have help,

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Speaker 1: and that we don't have assistance. But it's a mistake

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Speaker 1: to believe that, because your word tells us otherwise. You

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Speaker 1: are right here with us. You strengthen us. You are

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Speaker 1: a refuge that we can find shelter in and you're

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Speaker 1: present with us in the midst of all of our troubles. Lord,

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Speaker 1: we pray that that would be something we would take

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Speaker 1: encouragement from, because we know that so often we're tempted

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Speaker 1: to go in a direction that's unhealthy. When we're feeling pain.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes we attempt to do that pain with unhealthy things,

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Speaker 1: and we know Lord that that's not your desire for us.

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Speaker 1: So we pray that we would continue to look to you,

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Speaker 1: that we would submit our hearts over to you, and

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Speaker 1: that we would trust you to be present with us,

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Speaker 1: to guide us and to give us strength in the

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Speaker 1: midst of our low seasons. We're grateful Lord that you

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Speaker 1: promised to do that, and we thank you for your

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Speaker 1: presence with us. Now we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.