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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 James Seawood. How have

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Speaker 2: you experienced the love of God? God's love is not

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Speaker 2: a sentimental feeling. It's not fickle, and it's not needy,

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Speaker 2: and it's not self seeking. It's a grounded, steady, sacrificial, unconditional,

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Speaker 2: active love, and it invites you to respond. But before

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Speaker 2: we consider what it might look like for you to

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Speaker 2: respond to God's love, take a deep breath, exhaling, let

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Speaker 2: go of any distracting thoughts, and inhaling, center yourself in

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Speaker 2: this moment, ready in your heart to hear from God.

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Speaker 2: First John chapter four, verse eight says Anyone who does

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Speaker 2: not love does not know God, because God is love.

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Speaker 2: The Greek language has several words for love. The one

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Speaker 2: used here, Agape, means a self giving love, a love

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Speaker 2: that gives and doesn't expect anything in return. This is

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Speaker 2: what God's love is like. This is the love of Jesus,

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Speaker 2: taking on flesh, living, dying, and conquering death to rise again.

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Speaker 2: It's a love that can't be earned. When did you

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Speaker 2: first experience that kind of love from God? When you

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Speaker 2: understand your belovedness, you start to display the same kind

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Speaker 2: of a God be love. The mark of being beloved

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Speaker 2: by God is an ability to show love to those

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Speaker 2: whom God has put in your life. Who is God

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Speaker 2: inviting you to love with a steady, sacrificial love today.

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Speaker 2: God's love is a free gift, and when you receive it,

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Speaker 2: it changes everything. Pray with me, Lord, your love reaches

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Speaker 2: to the heavens, and your faithfulness stretches to the skies.

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Speaker 2: Help me to begin to grasp how wide and how long,

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Speaker 2: and how high and how deep your love is. Help

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Speaker 2: me to see how your love changes everything, including me.

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Speaker 2: And please, Dear God, make me a vessel of your love.

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Speaker 2: In Jesus name, I pray. Amen, take a deep breath,

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Speaker 2: and if you can't, hold your hands open in front

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Speaker 2: of you, palms up, ready to receive what God has

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Speaker 2: to offer you. This is a vulnerable position, a position

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Speaker 2: of waiting to receive whatever God will give. It's also

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Speaker 2: the safest place to be surrender to God and ready

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Speaker 2: to accept God's love. Keep breathing slowly and asking God

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Speaker 2: to fill you. Though God's love never fails, our love

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Speaker 2: fails nearly every day. We do not love God as

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Speaker 2: we ought to. We do not love our neighbors as ourselves.

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Speaker 2: Take a moment and confess to God the ways in

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Speaker 2: which you failed to love well. Perfect love casts out

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Speaker 2: all fear. Because of God's perfect love for you expressed

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Speaker 2: in Jesus, you can come to God without fear of punishment.

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Speaker 2: God's god pay love never ends. Pray with me God,

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Speaker 2: I am only able to love rightly because you have

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Speaker 2: loved me first. Thank you for teaching me what true

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Speaker 2: love is, for sending your son to show me what

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Speaker 2: your love looks like with skin on. Make me more

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Speaker 2: like Jesus. Fill me with your love so that more

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Speaker 2: people may know the goodness that is in you. In Jesus' name,

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Speaker 2: I pray. Amen. If we love each other, God lives

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Speaker 2: in us. Let God's love dwell in you to day

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Speaker 2: until next time. May you abide in Christ