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Speaker 3: I think Abigail's story teaches us spiritual desernment in the

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Speaker 3: realm of If there is a situation where we are

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Speaker 3: faced with the decision between right and wrong, good and evil,

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Speaker 3: I believe we are called to act on behalf of

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Speaker 3: the good, on behalf of the right.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to a special scripture focused bonus episode of the

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Speaker 2: Jesus Calling Podcast where we get to know Abigail from

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Speaker 2: the Bible with singer, songwriter, author, and double word winning

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Speaker 2: artist Nicole c.

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Speaker 3: Mullen.

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Speaker 2: Nicole gives us an overview of the brief but impactful

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Speaker 2: story of Abigail and how she intercedes on behalf of

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Speaker 2: her household, which eventually leads her to be praised for

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Speaker 2: her spiritual discernment and wisdom. Nicole shows us how we

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Speaker 2: can apply Abigail's courageous principles to our own lives in

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Speaker 2: order to stand up for what's right even when we're

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Speaker 2: surrounded by wrongs, and what it looks like to raise

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Speaker 2: our voices in a way that's full of grace and freedom.

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Speaker 3: I love studying the lives of biblical women because they

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Speaker 3: remind me of myself. And when I see in scripture

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Speaker 3: how God dealt with them, I know because He's the

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Speaker 3: same yesterday, today and forever, and what he did is

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Speaker 3: what he still does.

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Speaker 1: And so their.

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Speaker 3: Stories give me hope in my now and in my future.

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Speaker 1: And so they are she rows of old.

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Speaker 3: First of all, I love Abigail, and her story is

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Speaker 3: brief in scripture, but it's great and impact and I

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Speaker 3: first came across her story when I was a young girl.

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Speaker 3: The Bible says that she is beautiful and she's intelligent,

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Speaker 3: but she has a husband who is the opposite, and

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Speaker 3: he kind of gets them all in trouble by what

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Speaker 3: he says and his great disrespect of David, and as

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Speaker 3: a result, David is coming to their house with his

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Speaker 3: four hundred men, and they are about to wipe out

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Speaker 3: every male underneath her roof her husband. His name is Nabel,

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Speaker 3: and the Bible says that he's a fool. That's what

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Speaker 3: his name means. I call him Nabel the narcissist. That's

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Speaker 3: just what I call him. I'm just saying, okay. And

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Speaker 3: so the matter is brought to Abigail, who wasn't around

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Speaker 3: when the grave insult happened, and so they tell her,

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Speaker 3: and so she immediately goes into action, and she uses

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Speaker 3: her wisdom and she uses her tact. She makes sure

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Speaker 3: that she has gifts for David, and then she goes

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Speaker 3: before him before he could actually get.

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Speaker 1: To the house.

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Speaker 3: He intercepts his thought pattern and his actions, and she

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Speaker 3: encourages him, but she also challenges him beautifully and said,

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Speaker 3: God's going to avenge you, and there's no need for

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Speaker 3: you to avenge yourself. The wrong is real. It really

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Speaker 3: did happen, and you should be honored. And she's saying

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Speaker 3: this in so many words. And so she bows down

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Speaker 3: before him and she encourages him to do the right thing,

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Speaker 3: and then she begins to prophesy over him. And so

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Speaker 3: David he is arrested in his behavior and he is

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Speaker 3: calmed in his actions, and he actually compliments her for

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Speaker 3: her good judgment and for her coming to keep him

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Speaker 3: from doing what he should not have done. And so

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Speaker 3: after that, you know, she says, hey, when God is

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Speaker 3: going to make you king and he's going to preserve

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Speaker 3: your life from Saul, who's about to take your life

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Speaker 3: or trying to, she said, remember me. And so long

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Speaker 3: story short, goes back to his guys, and Abigail she

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Speaker 3: goes home, and so Nabel, the narcissist, he is high

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Speaker 3: in spirits and he is drunk, and so she couldn't

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Speaker 3: tell him what it just transpired, how God had just

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Speaker 3: rescued them from death. But the next day she does.

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Speaker 3: And then long story short, after ten days, the Lord

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Speaker 3: avenges David and he takes Nabel's life, and so Nabel

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Speaker 3: was gone, and eventually David marries Abigail and she becomes

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Speaker 3: a queen or she becomes royalty later on. To me,

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Speaker 3: it's one of those Cinderella's stories that they live happily

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Speaker 3: ever after, but it's all true because it's biblical, and

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Speaker 3: so it's just been one of those stories that's encouraged

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Speaker 3: me throughout the years to make wise decisions, and sometimes

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Speaker 3: I too will have to run interference for the safety

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Speaker 3: of my home. In my holy imagination, I'll just say this, Abigail,

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Speaker 3: I could see her being the type of woman who

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Speaker 3: would have responded to David with Bathsheba. She maybe would

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Speaker 3: have warned him and said, hey, babe, I've noticed certain

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Speaker 3: things that you should be a little more careful with,

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Speaker 3: or just whatever it may be. She may have tried

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Speaker 3: to cut off the danger before it happened. But then

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Speaker 3: I also believe that after if David were to have

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Speaker 3: gone ahead and slept with Bathsheba, even after she had

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Speaker 3: warned him, I believe she would have committed the matter

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Speaker 3: to the Lord, knowing that the Lord is faithful to

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Speaker 3: avenge and to either get or acquit, and so in

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Speaker 3: the same way, because she did not scheme against her husband,

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Speaker 3: who was foolish according to scripture, and who she admittedly acknowledged.

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Speaker 3: But she didn't say to David, he's done this wrong,

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Speaker 3: so David go ahead and get him. She said, let

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Speaker 3: the Lord avenge him. So I believe that were she

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Speaker 3: to counsel David. This is my holy imagination after the

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Speaker 3: affair of Batsheba. I believe that she would have grieved

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Speaker 3: in her heart because it would have hurt her.

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Speaker 1: She would have cried.

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Speaker 3: She wouldn't have just swept it under the carpet, but

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Speaker 3: she would have been mature enough to say, Lord, I

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Speaker 3: give him to you to either get or quit. And

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Speaker 3: I also know that my forgiveness is not the same

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Speaker 3: as trusts, and it's not the same as consequences, but

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Speaker 3: it does remove me from trying to enact the penalty

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Speaker 3: upon him for his deeds when that's God's and God's alone.

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Speaker 2: Stay tuned for more with Nicole C. Mullen after a

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Speaker 2: brief message. These uncertain times bring anxiety and fear, but

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Speaker 2: Jesus Listens Prayers for Every Season gives you daily prayers

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Speaker 2: of comfort with seasonally inspired illustrations. This beautiful book includes

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Speaker 2: prayers that speak to your situation, whether it's a time

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Speaker 2: of stress or strength. Look for Jesus Listens Prayers for

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Speaker 2: Every Season wherever you buy books.

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Speaker 3: I think Abigail's story teaches us spiritual desernment in the

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Speaker 3: realm of If there is a situation where we are

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Speaker 3: faced with the decision between right and wrong, good and evil.

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Speaker 3: I believe we are called to act on behalf of

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Speaker 3: the good, on behalf of the right. I think we

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Speaker 3: have to make sure that we are discerning and that

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Speaker 3: we're not coming against preferences, and especially when it comes

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Speaker 3: to a spouse and a spouse. And so I don't

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Speaker 3: believe that Abigail's story is saying, whenever your husband does

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Speaker 3: something that you don't like, go and run intervention and

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Speaker 3: go do the opposite. I don't think it's teaching that

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Speaker 3: at all. I think there, you know, if he wants

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Speaker 3: to paint the walls brown and you want to paint

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Speaker 3: them pink, come let us reason, and at the end

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Speaker 3: of the day, let him have the final say. Hover

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Speaker 3: When it comes to good and evil, we are always

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Speaker 3: called to take the side of the good. And we

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Speaker 3: see that also even in the New Testament with Anonias

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Speaker 3: and Sephira, we see the opposite. We see when Anonaiyas

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Speaker 3: is doing evil, instead of his wife's standing up saying, ah,

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Speaker 3: that's not right, babe, No, no, this is what we got.

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Speaker 3: We need to tell the truth. She went along with

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Speaker 3: the evil, and she suffered the same judgment of death

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Speaker 3: that her husband suffered. And so we're called not to

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Speaker 3: participate when we see things in our home that are

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Speaker 3: against the law, that are against the laws of God,

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Speaker 3: that are harmful, that are abusive, and like Abigail, we

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Speaker 3: are called at times to go and run interference and say,

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Speaker 3: you know, I might need to reach out to a counselor,

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Speaker 3: I might need to reach out to law enforcement. It

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Speaker 3: might be a pastor, it might be a trusted friend,

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Speaker 3: it might be the There are times when we are

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Speaker 3: called to not only make those distinctions, but act accordingly.

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Speaker 3: And I believe that Abigail gives us a beautiful blueprint

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Speaker 3: of doing just that. I was abused physically for a

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Speaker 3: few years, and I had to make a decision as

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Speaker 3: to do I continue to stay and remain silent and

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Speaker 3: allow fear to make me voiceless, or do I borrow

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Speaker 3: the courage of other sheroes that have come before me.

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Speaker 3: Do I allow faith to grow within me because of

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Speaker 3: what I've heard about what God did, and allow it

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Speaker 3: to make me and the situation better, even though for

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Speaker 3: a moment it might seem harder.

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Speaker 1: And so I've had to live out the.

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Speaker 3: Abigail scenario actually several times, and it's not always easy.

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Speaker 3: It hasn't always been easy, but I've seen God come

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Speaker 3: to my rescue. I'm very passionate about encouraging other women

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Speaker 3: and letting them know that they have a voice, and

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Speaker 3: the Scripture allows them to beautifully turn up the volume,

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Speaker 3: not in a way that is abrupt or harsh, but

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Speaker 3: in a way that's full of clarity, in a way

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Speaker 3: that's full of wisdom.

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Speaker 1: And the Scripture also gives.

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Speaker 3: Us language, It gives us guidelines, it gives us parameters,

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Speaker 3: it gives us examples of what to do and.

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Speaker 1: How to do.

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Speaker 3: I see the Abigail spirit all the time in women

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Speaker 3: who may never gain notoriety. Their names may never become famous,

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Speaker 3: they may never wear a cape, they may never have

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Speaker 3: an S on their chest, but on the inside they

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Speaker 3: are Sheros because they have courageously stood against evil, and

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Speaker 3: so I applaud them.

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Speaker 1: And of course.

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Speaker 3: We know people like the Cory Timboons back in the day,

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Speaker 3: you know who stood against the evil of her day

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Speaker 3: and her time. And to me, that's an Abigail's spirit.

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Speaker 3: We've seen it in like the Mother Teresa. We've seen

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Speaker 3: it in just these other people that we esteem highly.

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Speaker 3: But I also think that it's for us as every

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Speaker 3: day especially believers of Jesus Christ, that we are called

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Speaker 3: not only to read the word, not only to know

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Speaker 3: the word, but to do what the word says. And

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Speaker 3: this is a part of what it instructs us to

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Speaker 3: do by example. And again I believe that Abigail models

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Speaker 3: it beautifully, because the scripture even says about her that

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Speaker 3: she was.

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Speaker 1: Beautiful and intelligent.

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Speaker 3: And later on, after she has spoken to David, David

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Speaker 3: turns around and he compliments her for her good judgment,

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Speaker 3: and he says that had she not come, had she

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Speaker 3: not intervened, he would have surely done misdeeds toward her house.

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Speaker 3: He would have taken out all the males, and he said,

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Speaker 3: and I would have probably harmed you too.

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Speaker 1: So she is applauded in.

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Speaker 3: Scripture for her discernment, for her courage, for her action,

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Speaker 3: and for lifting her voice for righteousness. And so I

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Speaker 3: believe what she did is a model for what we

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Speaker 3: are called to do as well. But we're not called

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Speaker 3: to be quiet when it comes to righteousness and justice

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Speaker 3: and things that are promoted as biblical values. We're called

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Speaker 3: to raise our voices in a way that's full of wisdom,

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Speaker 3: full of intelligence, full of beauty, full of grace and

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Speaker 3: full of freedom. It's tough sometimes to decide or to

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Speaker 3: know am I acting out of faith or I'm acting

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Speaker 3: out of fear? But I believe that one of the

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Speaker 3: tests we can take is number one, if I'm acting

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Speaker 3: from faith, have I gone to God first? Have I

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Speaker 3: inquired of him? Have I cried out to him? Even

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Speaker 3: if it's quickly. I mean, I don't think Abigail had

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Speaker 3: three hours to sit in her quiet time with the Torah.

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Speaker 3: But sometimes it's that conversation that never ended. It's that

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Speaker 3: conversation with the Lord that I didn't put a period

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Speaker 3: to it, just had a comment from this morning that

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Speaker 3: I'm still talking to him. The line is still open,

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Speaker 3: and so I'm saying God, I need your help, I

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Speaker 3: need your wisdom. And so I believe it starts with that.

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Speaker 3: And then I believe if we can find scriptural precedence

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Speaker 3: for what it is that we're asking and believing God

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Speaker 3: for and that we're about to act upon, it increases

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Speaker 3: our hope, it increases our courage because it's now built

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Speaker 3: upon something more than just fear or something that I

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Speaker 3: want to do. I believe fear can cause us to

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Speaker 3: do things that are irrational. It causes us to react,

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Speaker 3: whereas faith causes us to respond.

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Speaker 1: In rational ways.

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Speaker 3: And so I believe we have to ask ourselves to

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Speaker 3: you know, is this something that is for the betterment

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Speaker 3: of my situation, for the betterment of my home, for

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Speaker 3: those that are around me, for those I love. Fear

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Speaker 3: will rarely cause you to do something that's good for

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Speaker 3: someone else. Fear normally brings a snare, like the Bible says,

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Speaker 3: fear normally cripples us into a lack of action, whereas

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Speaker 3: faith normally gives us the energy, and it gives us

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Speaker 3: the hope, and it gives us the fuel to actually

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Speaker 3: do the right thing, instead of fear keeping us from

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Speaker 3: the right and allowing us to cringe in the corner

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Speaker 3: of doing the wrong. I have found that the best

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Speaker 3: posture I can be in that I've found is to

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Speaker 3: stay connected to Jesus, because life can be disappointing, and

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Speaker 3: the temptation is sometimes to get upset with God, to

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Speaker 3: run away from God, to cross your arms and go

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Speaker 3: then let me distrust myself wrong move. The best thing

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Speaker 3: that I can say that I've done in the midst

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Speaker 3: of those who situations is the clinging harder to Christ

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Speaker 3: as if he's my only lifeline, because he is, because

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Speaker 3: he is. And then I go to the scriptures and

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Speaker 3: I search out what it is that he wants me

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Speaker 3: to know, and his promise is for me, and then

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Speaker 3: I repeat back to him what he said that he

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Speaker 3: would do.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to this special scripture focused bonus episode.

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Speaker 2: To learn more about Nicole, please visit Nicoleseimullen dot com

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Speaker 2: and be sure to check out her new book, It's

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Speaker 2: Never Wrong to Do the Right Thing, available at your

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Speaker 2: favorite retailer. Enjoy our entire series of scripture studies, each

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Speaker 2: with different Bible teachers and enthusiasts walking us through specific

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Speaker 2: books and people in the Bible. On the Jesus Calling

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Speaker 2: YouTube channel. To discover more inspiring stories of people making

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Speaker 2: a positive impact, visit Jesus Calling dot com slash podcast.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Jesus Calling Stories of Faith

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Speaker 2: podcast on the Life Audio Network. Every week will bring

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Speaker 2: you stories from people who share their journeys of faith

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Speaker 2: and how prayer and a relationship with God transformed their lives.

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Speaker 2: Be sure to follow us on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or

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Speaker 2: wherever you listen to podcasts and leave us a review

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Speaker 2: so others can be inspired weekly by these stories of faith. Finally,

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Speaker 2: you can find encouragement resources and more on the Jesus

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Speaker 2: Calling website at Jesus Calling dot com