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Day 321, or November the 17th. Endure and encourage

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each other. Our thoughts today come from Romans

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chapter 15, verse 5. May the God who gives endurance

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and encouragement give you the same attitude

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of mind towards each other that Christ Jesus

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had. And now the big picture surrounding this

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verse. After Paul has given some sound teaching

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on how we should live in society as believers

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he slips in an intriguing comment that he hopes

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to see the believers at Rome when he is travelling

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to Spain some time in the future. Scholars have

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debated at length, but there is no reliable record

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that he ever made such a journey, but there are

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traditions in Spain that he did actually visit.

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It seems Paul was moving ever further west. First

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he visited Turkey, then Greece, then Italy, then

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maybe Spain and Portugal. Where else next? Possibly

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France, and then across the Channel to the UK?

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Or am I dreaming? Probably. Even though Paul

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has not previously visited the church in Rome,

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he has obviously done his homework. The last

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chapter is made up of personal greetings to many

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individuals in Rome, some of whom Paul could

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have met on previous visits elsewhere. And now

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today's action step. As soon as the Bible urges

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us to be like Christ, as Paul does in our verse

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today, then it's just another way of saying be

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sure that you rely on the Holy Spirit today.

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Don't be surprised if you fail when you go it

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alone. Sometimes we go into the world like a

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footballer wearing his slippers and wondering

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why the game isn't going well. We need to be

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prepared for each day and constantly ask the

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Holy Spirit for his help and guidance. May we

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keep our eyes open today for those situations

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where we need endurance not to slip back into

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our old grumpy ways but enough of me at the same

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time we are to be aware of those who need a word

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of encouragement actually you will find that

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that's almost everyone so if in doubt just encourage

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all you meet and you won't go far wrong today

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and i guarantee you will be encouraged too.