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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 Study Headquarters

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Speaker 1: dot com. You're listening to Daily Devotions with Pastor John.

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Speaker 1: I'm John Stangey, and today's devotion is inspired by First Samuel,

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Speaker 1: chapter sixteen, verse seven, which says, but the Lord said

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Speaker 1: to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on

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Speaker 1: the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.

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Speaker 1: For the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks

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Speaker 1: on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

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Speaker 1: A common pattern that is present in the lives of

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Speaker 1: all people is the tendency to judge or assess others

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Speaker 1: based on outward appearances. We make judgments related to status, wealth, intelligence,

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Speaker 1: and even spirituality based on visible characteristics alone. Sometimes we

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Speaker 1: grant too much credence to those assessments, as if they're definitive.

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Speaker 1: But the Lord doesn't see things from a fleshly perspective.

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Speaker 1: He sees the total person. He knows what's in a

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Speaker 1: man's mind. He knows what's in a man's heart. He

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Speaker 1: can correctly discern what motivates a person's actions, words, and service.

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Speaker 1: He can see if we're motivated by faith in Jesus Christ,

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Speaker 1: or if we're primarily motivated by receiving the praise and

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Speaker 1: glory that should rightfully be directed toward Christ. What does

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Speaker 1: the Lord see right now when he peers into our hearts?

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Speaker 1: Does he see faith expressing itself in obedience? Or does

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Speaker 1: he see selfishness and the presence of lesser motives? What

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Speaker 1: is he inviting us to confess to him today? How

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Speaker 1: is he leading us toward deeper faith and integrity that's

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Speaker 1: empowered by His grace? Let's pray. Lord, We thank you

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Speaker 1: for your word, and we thank you for the privilege

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Speaker 1: that it is to be able to read this portion

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Speaker 1: of scripture together from the Book of First Samuel. And Lord,

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Speaker 1: thank you for revealing to us the things that you

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Speaker 1: speak to us in this passage. We know that as

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Speaker 1: human beings, we tend to look at others and we

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Speaker 1: make all kinds of judgments based on appearance. We shouldn't

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Speaker 1: do that. It doesn't reveal what's in a man's mind

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Speaker 1: or heart. But we make those judgments anyway, and it's

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Speaker 1: unhealthy and it's unwise. And you show us in this

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Speaker 1: portion of your word that you see the total person.

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Speaker 1: You can see into our minds, You see into our hearts.

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Speaker 1: You know what's motivating us. You know if we're motivated

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Speaker 1: to give you glory, and you know if we're motivated

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Speaker 1: to give ourselves glory. You see it all. And Lord,

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Speaker 1: knowing that you see us this way, we pray that

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Speaker 1: this would be a mindset that would impact the ways

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Speaker 1: in which we perceive and treat other people. We pray

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Speaker 1: that we would not make judgments based on visible characteristics.

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Speaker 1: We pray that we wouldn't be so shallow and so

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Speaker 1: petty as to do that. But rather, Lord, we pray

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Speaker 1: that we would begin to see one another with your eyes,

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Speaker 1: and that likewise we would acknowledge the fact that you

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Speaker 1: see us for who we really are. And since you

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Speaker 1: can see within us, we pray that we would live

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Speaker 1: our lives as an open book before you, in all

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Speaker 1: respects and in all areas, that we wouldn't hold anything back,

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Speaker 1: because we know that you already know the things we

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Speaker 1: might be trying to hide. So again, Father, we thank

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Speaker 1: you for this portion of your word, and we thank

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Speaker 1: you for your goodness toward us today. You give us

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Speaker 1: powerful reminders as we look at your scriptures, and our

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Speaker 1: faith is stronger because of it. We thank you for

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Speaker 1: all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen, I just