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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 Ezra Chapter ten, verse one,

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Speaker 1: which says, while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and

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Speaker 1: casting himself down before the House of God, a very

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Speaker 1: great assembly of men, women and children gathered to him

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Speaker 1: out of Israel. For the people wept bitterly. Ezra was

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Speaker 1: filled with sorrow for his people, and in that sorrow

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Speaker 1: he came before the Lord in prayerful repentance. Sorrow that

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Speaker 1: grieves the very things that the Lord grieves has a

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Speaker 1: somewhat painful but very helpful effect. It produces repentance in

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Speaker 1: the life of a believer, and that's a good thing.

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Speaker 1: Repentance frequently sounds like an unpleasant word. But because we

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Speaker 1: are confident of the abiding love of Christ, and because

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Speaker 1: we're confident of the fact that just as our heavenly

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Speaker 1: Father is well pleased with the son whom we are

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Speaker 1: united to, we can therefore be confident that His love

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Speaker 1: for us is unchanging. It is safe for us to repent.

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Speaker 1: In fact, one of the marks of maturity in the

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Speaker 1: life of a follower of Christ is repentance. We don't

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Speaker 1: need to go through life with the mistaken belief that

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Speaker 1: we need to present ourselves as perfect people who don't

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Speaker 1: make mistakes. We don't need to live under the pressure

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Speaker 1: of trying to convey a false image to one another.

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Speaker 1: We can joyfully repent, apologize, confess, and ask for prayer

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Speaker 1: because we are confident of our acceptance in Christ. Godly

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Speaker 1: sorrow produced repentance in Ezra's heart, and it will produce

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Speaker 1: that fruit in your heart as well. It's easy to

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Speaker 1: embrace sin, but Christ gives us the strength to make

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Speaker 1: the harder choice. Through Christ, we can experience joyful repentance.

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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: be able to look at this scripture today from the

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Speaker 1: Book of Ezra, and Lord, we're grateful that you give

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Speaker 1: us this example of what godly sorrow looks like. You

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Speaker 1: show us what repentance looks like in the life of

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Speaker 1: a believer, and we're grateful for the ways you clarify

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Speaker 1: this in our thinking. Lord, we know that in many respects,

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Speaker 1: repentance sounds like such a scary word, sounds like something

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Speaker 1: we should be afraid of. But when we look at

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Speaker 1: what biblical repentance is, and when we reflect on the

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Speaker 1: fact that we are loved in your son Jesus Christ,

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Speaker 1: we don't need to be afraid to repent. We can

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Speaker 1: joyfully repent before you because we recognize we're not perfect.

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Speaker 1: Your son is perfect. One day we will be perfect.

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Speaker 1: But in the meantime, you look at us as holy

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Speaker 1: and blameless because you see the ultimate outcome you're producing

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Speaker 1: in our lives. You see your son within us. Father,

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Speaker 1: we're grateful for this fact, and we're grateful that as

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Speaker 1: we understand what this means, we experience freedom to just

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Speaker 1: admit what we're struggling with to you. And as we

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Speaker 1: admit it, you make it clear to us that we

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Speaker 1: can move away from it. You give us your strength,

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Speaker 1: You show us that we don't need to remain entangled

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Speaker 1: in sin, but we could walk in the freedom of

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Speaker 1: the new life that you've given us through your son

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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. So, Father, we're grateful for all of these things,

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Speaker 1: and we're grateful for this reminder from your world. Today.

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Speaker 1: We commit ourselves to you now and pray this all

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Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen,