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This is your daily reminder. God has not run

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out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome

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to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome back. Saturday,

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March the 7th. It is considered a bonus day in

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our reading plan. We have a reading plan as a

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church family, and on Saturdays we gave these

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bonus days, meaning it's a day to catch up if

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you missed a day or if you want to go back and

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look back over a text to do that on Saturday.

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But we also give a bonus psalm or another reading

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that if you're all caught up and you want to

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read a little bit of psalms and connect a little

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bit with the Lord, this is your day to do it.

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So we are in Psalm 46 today. I am very excited

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about this psalm. I've got three things I want

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to share with you out of this psalm. It's 11

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verses in this one chapter. It's broken up into

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three sections. You can tell the break in each

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section by the word selah. The word selah is

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a word, it's a musical type term. It's a word,

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imagine that where the music swells and builds,

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it's that moment. It's the moment where you say,

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this is what I'm talking about. Let's look at

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this again. Let's hear this again. This is a

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truth that needs to be proclaimed with an exclamation

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point. We're going to push it until everybody

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hears this word again. So it's a powerful word.

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It's a powerful term that gives us. a moment

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in each of these Psalms. So here's what I like

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to think of. Here's what I like to think of when

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I read a Psalm with the word Selah in it a few

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times. I like to think, what refrain, how do

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you emphasize more and more and more? And it

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keeps building. Here's the beauty of this Psalm.

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I want to read a few verses, the first three

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verses right now, and then we'll talk about it.

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Here's what the first three verses say. Psalm

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46, beginning of verse 1. These three verses

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give us the... overarching peace? What is the

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hope? What is the goal? What is the thing that

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the writer wants us to know? God is a refuge.

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My first word for the day is refuge. What is

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refuge? It's a place you go for safety, for security,

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for care, for hope, for all of the protection

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that can show up. He is our refuge. There is

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no stronger place than God. There's not one.

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There's not a stronger plate. You can't have

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a bunker deep enough that God can't reach it.

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I love when the scripture says that God is our

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shield. I like to think about a shield as the

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one who stands. A shield stands in between the

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warrior and the enemy. And the enemy has to get

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through the shield before they can get to the

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warrior. This picture of a refuge has that same

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thought to it. You can't get to him. You can't

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get to me if I'm in the Lord. You can't. He's

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taking care of me. He's protecting me. I can

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find care. I can find protection in him. And

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not only protection and safety, I can also find

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strength. The Lord is my refuge and strength.

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He's my place I go to for safety. He's also the

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place I go to for strength. I get a renewal with

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him. I get this power from him that I don't get

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anywhere else. He is the source of that. Powerful.

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He's our refuge. That's the first word, refuge.

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The second word is found in the next few verses.

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Listen to what it says in verses 4 through 7.

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There is a river whose streams make glad the

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city of God, the holy habitation of the Most

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High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not

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be moved. God will help her when morning dawns.

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The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. He utters

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his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts

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is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

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Selah. Verses 4 through 7 teach me that not only

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is God my refuge, also tells me God is my river.

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He is the river. Now, in King Hezekiah's time,

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let's go back to the Old Testament. Let's go

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back to some cool history things. One of the

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things I discovered when I was in the Holy Land

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was our tour guide at every stop. And even if

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we were driving by a city or a place, one of

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the funniest statements ever when we were on

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the tour bus, I'll never forget our tour guide.

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He's talking on the little microphone, and we're

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all back there, and we're listening, and we're

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looking out the window, and he says, if you look

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to your right, you'll see the mountain which

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we believe Jesus transfigured at the top of,

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and the Shekinah glory of God burst through him.

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And out your window to the left, you'll see where

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the city of Nain, where Jesus raised a young

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boy to life. And I was like, can we stop for

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just a minute? Like, go see these things? It's

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like, no, we've got to stay on our agenda. But

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I remember, I'll never forget, I absolutely loved

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our tour guide. He was a great guy. He helped

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us understand Scripture in a different way and

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see it, and it was a lot of fun, great trip.

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But I remember, too, one of the things he did

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was every place we went, even if we were driving

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by somewhere, he talked about how they got water.

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He talked about how they were satisfied with

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the life -giving source of water. You know, he

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would say sometimes water is pretty scarce in

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the Holy Land specifically, and so they would

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have to create aqueducts or cisterns, or they

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would have to find a way to get the water to

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the people. Whether there was a spring or wherever

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there was a river close by or a sea, they would

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have to get the water to the cities. It's a very

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important part. And if you notice, even in nations

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today, big cities are built around water systems,

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right? That's just because that's where life

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is found. I look at this and I think, man, it's

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so cool to think in King Hezekiah's time, Jerusalem

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needed a water supply that was safe. They didn't

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want the enemy to pollute the water. So what

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Hezekiah did during his reign, which is one of

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the great kings, he was one of those that a revival

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came through. I think it's interesting. He built

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this cistern and this water supply in Jerusalem.

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that was unknown to the enemies. It was underground.

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It came in kind of a sneaky way into the city,

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which is kind of a cool thought. I think about

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that when I read this psalm. There's a river

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in the city of God, right? That's the source

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of life. The river is the source of the flowing

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life that you get. And even Hezekiah during his

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time had built this way underneath the ground

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where the enemy didn't even know. So the enemy

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couldn't pollute it. right? It's a constant stream

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of life that God was giving to the city. I think

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about that, but ultimately what I take from that

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is God is my refuge. I can go to him for safety,

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for security, for strength. He's also my supply.

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He's also what sustains me. God is the river.

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He's the river that is flowing in me. It says

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in the scripture, there's a river who flows through

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that. God is in the midst of her. Because God

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is the one sustaining us. We look through all

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Scripture. How can I do all things? Through Christ.

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Well, what does that mean? It means that whether

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I'm sick or healthy, whether I'm up high or down

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low, or whatever I've got going on, He's my sustainer.

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He's my supplier. I can trust that I have life

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because of Him. No other reason. I had lunch

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with a guy this week and I was so encouraged

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because everything he said that he had seen in

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his life, he was like, it was all because God

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let me do it. God was right there. I didn't even

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know God was orchestrating all these steps. It's

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him that everything had fallen into. And I thought,

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man, this is amazing to hear that this guy believed

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and understood the truth that the river, the

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sustaining life came from the Lord himself. Then

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there's the final word. So there's refuge, there's

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river, and then there's the final one. Listen

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to what it says, verses 8 through 11. Come behold

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the works of the Lord. Now he has brought desolations

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on the earth. He makes wars cease. I will be

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exalted among the nations. I will be exalted

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in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The

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God of Jacob is our fortress, Selah. These last

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few verses, I want to tell you, so I see God

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as our refuge. God is our river, and God is our

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ruler. That's right, I made them all start with

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the letter R, like a good preacher should. As

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I look at this text, I could not imagine it any

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better way. He's our refuge, the place we find

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safety, security, and strength. He's our river,

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the place we find life that sustains us. He's

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our sustainer. And then He is the one that rules.

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Ultimately, He's exalted. Ultimately, He reigns.

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He rules. And thank goodness, because I've seen

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man after man after man after man try to reign

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and rule, and we mess it up every time. We do.

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God's not going to mess up His rule. He's not

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going to mess up his reign. It's going to be

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good every single time. I will tell you this.

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There will be a moment where all the earth will

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exalt him and his name. We do it on a regular

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basis. In a couple of words, I just want to say,

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I hope and pray today your refuge, your safe

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space is found in God. I want to say I hope that

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your sustaining life is found in God. And I will

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say I hope that the ruler of your life, is the

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one and only true God that we see revealed through

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his word in the scriptures. I'm going to hope

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and pray today that your refuge, your river,

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and your ruler is all found in the God of the

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scriptures.