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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: 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 Melissa. Where do you

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Speaker 2: find your hope? Sometimes when you've lived so long with

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Speaker 2: a struggle or difficult situation, it gets hard to have

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Speaker 2: hope for change. Hope goes dormant, sinking below the frozen surface,

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Speaker 2: and it's hard to wake it up again. Do you

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Speaker 2: have any hopes that have gone cold lately? Take a

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Speaker 2: deep breath and feel your body waking up as you

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Speaker 2: check in with yourself. Listen to these words from the

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Speaker 2: apostle Paul in Romans fifteen, about a reliable source of

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Speaker 2: hope for all who believe. He says these things that

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Speaker 2: were written in the scriptures so long ago are to

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Speaker 2: teach us patience and to encourage us so that we

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Speaker 2: will look forward expectantly to the time when God will

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Speaker 2: conquer sin and death. To find joy and difficult circumstances,

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Speaker 2: we have to be able to hold on to hope

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Speaker 2: that sin and death won't have the final word, that

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Speaker 2: even though things seem dark or dead, God is still

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Speaker 2: at work. Paul says, one way to cultivate the hope

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Speaker 2: that keeps us going is by looking to scripture. In

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Speaker 2: the Bible, we see that God has been faithful before

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Speaker 2: and he will be again. Your part of a long

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Speaker 2: line of people who have hoped in God even through

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Speaker 2: years of doubt and wandering, and found God to be faithful.

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Speaker 2: Your story is being stitched together with the stories of

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Speaker 2: God's people as we read about it in scripture. God

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Speaker 2: is still at work. Father God. Sometimes it's hard to

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Speaker 2: believe that anything can really change. The problems in the

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Speaker 2: world and in my life feel overwhelming and I feel

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Speaker 2: powerless to fix things. But I know that you hold

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Speaker 2: me and the whole world in your hands. You have

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Speaker 2: promised that sin and death won't have the final word.

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Speaker 2: Help me to place my hope in you and to

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Speaker 2: be led by hope into action, into new life. I

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Speaker 2: ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Even though

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Speaker 2: you can't feel your blood moving in your veins, it's

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Speaker 2: there bringing life. And even though you can't see God

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Speaker 2: at work, he is there too. Breathe deeply, steadily, picturing

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Speaker 2: your blood circulating. Have you been frozen in habits of unbelief?

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Speaker 2: Perhaps you've given up hoping for change. God has not

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Speaker 2: given up on you this time. To confess your sins

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Speaker 2: to God. He's always ready to forgive. In Christ, you

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Speaker 2: are forgiven, and your sins have been as far removed

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Speaker 2: from you as the East is from the west. God's

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Speaker 2: mercies are new every morning. Every day we can find

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Speaker 2: our hope renewed in Him. Pray with me, Heavenly Father.

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Speaker 2: I know that in love you created all that exists,

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Speaker 2: that you have redeemed us in Jesus, and that by

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Speaker 2: your spirit you sustain us at every moment. But sometimes

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Speaker 2: it seems like sin and death are winning, like the

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Speaker 2: things that need to change never will. In those moments,

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Speaker 2: Help me to remember what You've done in the past

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Speaker 2: and to have hope that you will one day make

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Speaker 2: all things new. When you notice your hope going cold today,

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Speaker 2: Remember what God has shown you in scripture and hold

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Speaker 2: on to that until next time. May you abide in

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Speaker 2: Christ