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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily

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Speaker 1: Bible Verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day

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Speaker 1: to learn more about God and his will for us.

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jennifer Slattery. Today is Good Friday, and

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Speaker 1: after this short word from our sponsors, will conclude our

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Speaker 1: lent series, God Meets You in the Wilderness with a

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Speaker 1: discussion on Romans eight six. Today's Bible versus Romans eight six.

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Speaker 1: The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the

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Speaker 1: mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. After

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Speaker 1: one overwhelming day during which I did not behave like

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Speaker 1: my spirit led self, I went to bed that night

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Speaker 1: rehashing my every unkind word and action. This soon morphed

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Speaker 1: into rumination on all my unlovely tendencies and patterns, not

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Speaker 1: just displayed hours earlier, but in the days and weeks

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Speaker 1: prior as well. The more I reflected on all my

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Speaker 1: weaknesses and sins, the more defeated I felt. My initial

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Speaker 1: response was what I'd term prayer self reliance, meaning I

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Speaker 1: was turning to God, but I wasn't yielding my struggle

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Speaker 1: to him. Instead, I decided to respond differently in the future,

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Speaker 1: and strategized ways to do so. If only I avoided

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Speaker 1: certain triggers, stayed out of certain arguments, got enough sleep,

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Speaker 1: and better managed my stress, then I'd be the most

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Speaker 1: loving wife, mom, friend, and colleague. But then the Lord

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Speaker 1: gently reminded me of the futility of my plan. I

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Speaker 1: couldn't change my heart or behavior on my own. In fact,

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Speaker 1: my attempts worked against me by distancing me from the

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Speaker 1: only one with the power to transfer or my soul.

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Speaker 1: Freedom comes through dependence, not striving. That's the message God

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Speaker 1: conveys in Romans eight, written by Paul, a first century

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Speaker 1: pharisee turned follower of Christ. It invites us to step

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Speaker 1: deeper into grace and allow the Spirit to strip away

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Speaker 1: everything that hinders the thriving life God is igniting within us.

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Speaker 1: He begins with the powerful truth. Therefore, there is now

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Speaker 1: no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If

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Speaker 1: we are united with Christ by faith, we are not,

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Speaker 1: will not, and cannot be condemned. Why because God through

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Speaker 1: Christ condemned sin. I love that the Father condemned the

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Speaker 1: very thing in us that tries to condemn us. That

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Speaker 1: verdict is legal binding, and final Verse two builds on

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Speaker 1: this through Christ the law of the spirit who gives

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Speaker 1: life has set you free from the laws awe of

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Speaker 1: sin and death. That's a comforting truth when you're hurting,

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Speaker 1: stuck in an anxious spiral, or weighed down by shame

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Speaker 1: and regret. Scripture assures us that hardship won't last forever,

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Speaker 1: nor must it defeat us. We don't overcome through striving,

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Speaker 1: that's what it means to live according to the flesh,

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Speaker 1: but through yielding to the Spirit at work within us. Freedom,

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Speaker 1: life and peace grow through dependence on the Spirit, not

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Speaker 1: self reliance or striving. As I said earlier, when we

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Speaker 1: try to take control, we operate from weakness. According to

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Speaker 1: Romans eight, we move toward death, limiting our experience of joy,

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Speaker 1: peace and self control, things that flow from our connection

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Speaker 1: with Christ. That's exactly where I was heading. The night's

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Speaker 1: shame and defeat invaded my thoughts. But God met me

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Speaker 1: in that place with a simple invitation to come rest

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Speaker 1: and receive. In John fifteen, verse five, Jesus said, I

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Speaker 1: am the vine. You are the branches. Apart from me,

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Speaker 1: you can do nothing. Apart from him. We're powerless to

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Speaker 1: live the life we long for, because again, freedom comes

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Speaker 1: through dependence, not striving. So how do we live that

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Speaker 1: out well by applying today's verse. Moment by moment, the

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Speaker 1: mind governed by the flesh's death, but the mind governed

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Speaker 1: by the Spirit is life and peace. Letting the Spirit

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Speaker 1: lead means recognizing when we're slipping into self reliance, pausing,

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Speaker 1: turning to God and receiving his strength. It's learning to

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Speaker 1: relinquish control and trust that He is leading us toward life,

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Speaker 1: joy and peace. If you haven't yet experienced that freedom,

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Speaker 1: I invite you to consider what your life might look

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Speaker 1: like fully led by God, the one who loves you

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Speaker 1: more than you can fathom. As I stated earlier, life

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Speaker 1: and peace grow through dependence on the Spirit, because spiritual

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Speaker 1: maturity isn't about fixing yourself, but yielding to the one

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Speaker 1: who can. This weekend to prepare your heart for Easter.

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Speaker 1: Perhaps the next time your thoughts starts spiraling into shame, anxiety,

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Speaker 1: or evoke your striving tendencies, pause and reroute your focus

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Speaker 1: on God. Ask him to increase your dependence on Him

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Speaker 1: and your sense of peace and strength through Him, and

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Speaker 1: ask him for Verse to hold on to and reflect

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Speaker 1: upon this weekend and speaking about re routing our thoughts

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Speaker 1: onto truth. I invite you to check out the latest

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Speaker 1: faith over for your podcast episode titled Calming Anxiety and

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Speaker 1: Fear with Biblical Truth, found on the Life Audio Network

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Speaker 1: or wherever you access podcast content. And now let's pray,

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Speaker 1: Holy Father, yours so gracious, merciful, loving and kind. You

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Speaker 1: see our weakness, our struggle. You understand our tendency to

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Speaker 1: turn to ourselves, to rely on ourselves, and you don't

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Speaker 1: shame us for that. You don't condemn us. You never

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Speaker 1: condemn us. Instead, you meet us in that, and you

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Speaker 1: gently invite us to turn to you. Thank you that

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Speaker 1: you don't leave us in our mess and struggle. Instead,

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Speaker 1: you meet us in them, and you give us what

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Speaker 1: we need to thrive when we doubt you, when we

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Speaker 1: struggle to lay down our pride, to lay aside our

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Speaker 1: self reliance. Remind us of your heart, of your goodness.

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Speaker 1: Remind us of the love you displayed when you sent

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Speaker 1: your beloved son to earth to live among us, to

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Speaker 1: take our sin upon himself, to die on the cross

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Speaker 1: so that we might live and to rise again victorious,

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Speaker 1: so that we also might experience victory through him and

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Speaker 1: through our dependence on him. Increase our dependence Lord, help

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Speaker 1: us to experience you more clearly in the depths of

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Speaker 1: our soul. Make us aware of your presence throughout the day,

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Speaker 1: and each time you do, remind us to pause, even

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Speaker 1: if for just a moment, to focus our thoughts on you,

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Speaker 1: Maybe to focus our thoughts on one key truth that

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Speaker 1: you know we need. Reveal what that is to us,

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Speaker 1: Show us a scripture we can anchor our souls in

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Speaker 1: this weekend and maybe even the week ahead. I also

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Speaker 1: pray for those who don't yet know your son, who

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Speaker 1: haven't yet experienced the life that he offers. I pray

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Speaker 1: that this Good Friday would be the I pray that

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Speaker 1: this Good Friday would be the day that you break

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Speaker 1: the chains holding them in bondage, and that you begin

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Speaker 1: to reorient their life to the love, joy, heath, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,

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Speaker 1: and self control that you are calling them to. Thank you,

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Speaker 1: that that is where you are always leading us. You

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Speaker 1: are always leading us towards thriving life. Thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for the gift of your son. May we honor

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Speaker 1: that gift by learning to receive your brace. We love you,

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Speaker 1: and we praise you. And it is in the name

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Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ, our victorious Savior, that we pray Amen,