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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 one to three,

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Speaker 1: verse thirteen, which says, as a father shows compassion to

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Speaker 1: his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who

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Speaker 1: fear him. Apart from the Lord's intervention in our lives,

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Speaker 1: where would we be. We would be lost. We would

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Speaker 1: be going about life in such a way that we'd

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Speaker 1: be inevitably piling up regret after regret, struggling to figure

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Speaker 1: out why things aren't coming together for us. Apart from

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Speaker 1: the Lord, our lives were a mess. We had no hope,

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Speaker 1: we had no sense of unconditional love. Our future was bleak,

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Speaker 1: as we were destined for eternal condemnation. Yet He looked

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Speaker 1: at us with compassion and intervened on our behalf. It's

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Speaker 1: an amazing thing to consider just how precious we are

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Speaker 1: to the Lord in love. He predestined us to be

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Speaker 1: adopted into his family. In love, Jesus Christ came to

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Speaker 1: this earth and took our sin and shame upon himself

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Speaker 1: because He knew that that was a weight we were

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Speaker 1: incapable of carrying, and our Lord continues to show us

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Speaker 1: his great compassion to this very day. When we pray

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Speaker 1: to the Lord Jesus, we're praying to one who understands

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Speaker 1: our struggles, perceives our weaknesses, and knows what it's like

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Speaker 1: to walk in our shoes. He delights to show us

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Speaker 1: his compassion and mercy, and as he does so, we

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Speaker 1: are drawn closer to him through whom we find ultimate solace.

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Speaker 1: Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word, and

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Speaker 1: we thank you for the privilege that it is to

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Speaker 1: look at this psalm together today and to think about

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Speaker 1: the things that you're communicating to us in it. Lord,

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Speaker 1: we know that you show us great compassion. The issues

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Speaker 1: that we face and the problems we endure are things

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Speaker 1: that come to your attention. You care about these things.

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Speaker 1: You care about our future, you care about what we're

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Speaker 1: enduring right now, and you've orchestrated things in such a

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Speaker 1: way that our relationship with you can be restored Through

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Speaker 1: your son, Jesus, Christ Father, we're grateful that you did

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Speaker 1: not abandon us to our own preferences. We chose to

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Speaker 1: rebel against you. We chose to go our own way.

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Speaker 1: We chose to do things in our own wisdom, and

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Speaker 1: all that did was lead us to death, despair, and

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Speaker 1: destruction that led us to separation from you. But because

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Speaker 1: you're compassionate toward us, and because you care about us

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Speaker 1: even when we make foolish mistakes, you gave us the

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Speaker 1: privilege to come to faith in your son Jesus Christ,

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Speaker 1: to repent of our unbelief, to repent of our foolishness,

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Speaker 1: and to walk with you as men and women who

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Speaker 1: truly revere and respect you like we should. Father. We're

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Speaker 1: grateful for the fact that you continue to teach us

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Speaker 1: what it means to respect you, and we pray that

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Speaker 1: in all contexts of life, that glorifying your name would

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Speaker 1: be a high priority for us. In fact, Lord, we

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Speaker 1: pray that that would be our highest priority, because that's

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Speaker 1: what you created us to do. So, Lord, thank you

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Speaker 1: for your love, thank you for your care, and again

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Speaker 1: we thank you for your compassion that you've shown to

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Speaker 1: us in so many ways. And we're grateful, Father that

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Speaker 1: we can rest secure in your presence right here and

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Speaker 1: right now, And we commit ourselves to you today praying

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Speaker 1: all of this us in Jesus' name. Amen,