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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to your daily prayer, where we

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Speaker 2: help you find the words you need to connect to

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Speaker 2: your Father in Heaven. No matter what's happening in your

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Speaker 2: life today, you can trust that God wants to hear

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Speaker 2: from you. Right after this short word from our sponsors,

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Speaker 2: we'll pray through today's prayer to help you prune your

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Speaker 2: spiritual branches this Lenten season. A prayer to help you

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Speaker 2: prune your spiritual branches this Lenten Season, Written by Peyton Garland,

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Speaker 2: read by Leah Gerard. True vine, and my father is

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Speaker 2: the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that

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Speaker 2: bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit

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Speaker 2: he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

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Speaker 2: You are already clean because of the word I've spoken to.

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Speaker 2: You remain in me as I also remain in you.

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Speaker 2: No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain

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Speaker 2: in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you

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Speaker 2: remain in me John fifteen one through four. I remember

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Speaker 2: my first attempt at Lynt. I chuckle at even using

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Speaker 2: the word attempt, which hints at just how deep those

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Speaker 2: Southern Baptist roots were planted in my college age heart.

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Speaker 2: Undoubtedly I was ignorant of the rich, full meaning of

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Speaker 2: the Lenten season that my church denomination didn't practice. But

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Speaker 2: what better way to cut back on my chocolate didn't

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Speaker 2: take than to throw a little spiritual motivation behind it?

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Speaker 1: Right? Wrong? Oh so wrong.

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Speaker 2: I barely made it two weeks before indulging my sweet tooth,

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Speaker 2: and I left the practice of the season behind, including

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Speaker 2: any soulful lessons it could have taught. I hold no

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Speaker 2: ill will towards the Southern Baptist denomination. It's old hymns

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Speaker 2: and emphasis on the individual working out their faith are

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Speaker 2: beautiful parts of my Christian walk today. But I've certainly

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Speaker 2: dug a bit deeper into lent and now recognize that

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Speaker 2: this season is much more than putting away a favorite

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Speaker 2: dessert or temporarily deleting a social media act. It's about

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Speaker 2: self awareness and about asking the Holy Spirit to reveal

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Speaker 2: the pieces of my sinful heart that need to be

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Speaker 2: cut off and thrown in the fire. In this understanding,

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Speaker 2: it's less about giving something up for a set period

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Speaker 2: of time and more about looking to the eternal weight.

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Speaker 1: Of my habits and choices.

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Speaker 2: It's about seeing what needs to go for good and

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Speaker 2: what needs to be cultivated, all for the good name

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Speaker 2: of Christ. The Holy Spirit grants us his divine power

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Speaker 2: to cultivate the fruits of his character. We have full

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Speaker 2: access to his love, patience, kindness, gentleness, self control, etc.

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Speaker 2: But this access, though granted, doesn't force itself upon our hearts.

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Speaker 2: Just as God is the ultimate gardener, taking time to

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Speaker 2: nurture and safeguard each branch we bear, so we are

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Speaker 2: called to take time.

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Speaker 1: To nurture his attributes.

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Speaker 2: This isn't natural for us submitting ourselves to faithfulness and

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Speaker 2: maintaining perfect peace, but God's supernatural love within us calls

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Speaker 2: us to actively work out these gifts. This means that

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Speaker 2: we don't wake up feeling joyful simply because joy is

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Speaker 2: the fruit of the spirit. It means we seek God's

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Speaker 2: design for joy, choose to curate it, cultivate it, and

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Speaker 2: invite others into it. We must find the beauty in

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Speaker 2: a day even.

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Speaker 1: When it's hard. We must choose laughter.

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Speaker 2: When sadness wants to win, we must shout for victory

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Speaker 2: and cling to God as our contentment. Even when joy

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Speaker 2: feels buried six feet deep. We must prune our perspective,

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Speaker 2: our thoughts and our wants, so they don't fixate on

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Speaker 2: our goals, even good ones like abstaining from sweets. We

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Speaker 2: want our pruning to draw us to the character of God.

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Speaker 2: Whether you've never participated in lent or it's been a

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Speaker 2: beautiful part of your Easter tradition since birth, I encourage

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Speaker 2: you to let God prune your heart this s lent

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Speaker 2: and season. Wrestle with the uneasiness of a still and

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Speaker 2: quiet prayer, a prayer that's less about your demands and

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Speaker 2: more of that God's desire for your soul. Let him

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Speaker 2: shed light on the sins that need to go and

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Speaker 2: the habits, even good ones that need to be reprioritized.

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Speaker 2: In this process. Practice love, practice joy, and practice peace, patience, goodness, gentleness.

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Speaker 2: Let this Lenten season be less about abstaining from one

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Speaker 2: certain thing and more about refusing to remain spiritually idle.

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Speaker 2: Allow the good gardener to tend the branches of your

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Speaker 2: heart and soul so this resurrection celebration sustains you long

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Speaker 2: after the Lenten season has passed. Let's pray, Father, as

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Speaker 2: we enter this Lenten season, spur us to open our

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Speaker 2: hearts to your lady grant us your heavenly peace to

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Speaker 2: sit in the still and quiet as we allow you

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Speaker 2: to convict our hearts, show us which branches need to

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Speaker 2: be cut away and which need to be pruned. May

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Speaker 2: we see lent as less of a short term challenge

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Speaker 2: to improve our daily habits and more of an opportunity

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Speaker 2: to work out our salvation as we trust you, our

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Speaker 2: good gardener, to nurture and grow our hearts. Thank you

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Speaker 2: for your resurrection and the new life you awaken in us.

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Speaker 2: In your holy name, Jesus Amen. Your Daily Prayer is

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Speaker 2: a production of Life Audio and Salem Media. If you

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Speaker 2: liked what you heard today, be sure to follow our

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Speaker 2: sister show your nightly prayer. You can find your nightly

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Speaker 2: prayer at lifeaudio dot com or in your favorite podcast app.

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Speaker 2: By following your daily prayer and your nightly prayer, you

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Speaker 2: can be sure that your day begins and ends centered

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Speaker 2: on the Word of God and prayer