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Most of us eat every day,
some of us too much, because yesterday's

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food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do

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some of us expect yesterday's portion of
heavenly manna, the word of God to

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keep us through today's challenges. On
this program, we are going to change

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all of that. Let's experience God's
words today and receive the power we need

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to live healthy, vibrant lives.
Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,

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author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Good morning, Good morning, Good

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morning. It is Friday, February
sixteen, twenty twenty four. Hello,

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my name is El David Harris.
I am your host, and this is

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your Daily Portion where we give you
God's word every single day, and today

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is no exception. We are continuing
in our Lesson study series this preparation day

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through the Book of Psalms, and
our caption for today is mercy. And

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I put an exclamation point here,
Mercy. We'll get into that in jail

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a moment, but first I'd like
to say welcome to you and just give

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thanks that you are here. You're
watching on television, you're listening on the

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radio. Hundreds of radio stations around
the world and devices that you call out

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to and say play your daily portion
and it happens, Oh my goodness.

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And then there are some apps that
you all have that are coming in from

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various faith communities. I am so
thankful that you are here on social media

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and on YouTube. This means that
the gospel of the Kingdom is being preached

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into all the world for a witness. And you know what the promise of

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God is As a result of this, the end will come. We're not

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looking for some cataclysm to take the
world out of here. No, we're

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looking forward to the day that Jesus
Christ comes with clouds, and we understand

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that every eye shall see him and
we're looking forward to that day. Let's

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go ahead and pray and then get
underway. Father in Heaven, thank you

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for the privilege you've given us to
make it thus far into the week,

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and for us to be able to
prepare our minds and hearts and lives for

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the Sabbath that is upon us.
I pray God that you will give us

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understanding, teach us how to love
and to serve You. Please help us

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to be holy. We need to
be holy, and then to appreciate your

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mercy and then we can be merciful
to others. In Jesus' name, I

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pray Amen and a men again.
Have you ever needed the mercy of God?

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Yeah? I should probably not have
asked that question because it's obvious,

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Like the answer is obvious. Sometimes
questions are just too obvious. Why are

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you wasting our time? Dave?
Well? The fact is that sometimes we

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forget how merciful God has been.
See yesterday I barely scratched the surface under

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the caption. Forget not all his
benefits, right, don't forget his benefits.

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One of the benefits of God is
his mercy that is enduring. And

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there are times that people offend us. Have you ever been offended by anyone?

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There are times that people abuse us. I wish I had the time.

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Have you ever been abused? I
have in many ways as I was

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a young guy growing up. Yes, this world is not our home as

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it is today. It is not
where we will reside throughout eternity, not

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as it is today. We look
forward to a new Heaven and a new

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Earth. Right, and once we
do inherit this earth, it will be

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the earth made new. But until
then we will encounter bumps and bruises.

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We will encounter all kinds of unmentionable
things, and God has been merciful toward

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us throughout all of those things.
And there are times that we will have

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to be merciful to others. Jesus
said, blessed are the merciful, for

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they shall obtain mercy. You see, this is a reciprocal thing. We

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are merciful by God's grace, and
we will receive mercy from God. And

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so this is a principle like his. It's a principal element if you want

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to say of God's character his mercy. He does not give us what we

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deserve. There are people who feel
like we deserve all kinds of positive things,

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and God is saying that I am
giving you unmerited favor. Now let

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me jump in here to this book. I've never read before, but it

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seems interesting. Page one hundred and
seventy eight of Deliverance in Psalms, and

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it reads, not to praise God
would mean to forget all of his benefits.

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We talk about one of them this
morning, mercy. Not to appreciate

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God's gifts. Only those who praise
do not forget. Thinking and speaking about

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God is not yet praising him.
So it's not enough to just sit and

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meditate and say, God, he's
there. He created the sun and the

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moon and the stars. He created
the fish of the sea and all the

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other creatures in the sea, and
the landing in the air. No,

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that is not enough. Praise begins, and one acknowledges God's majesty and works

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and responds with adoration of his goodness. I have often said, brothers and

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sisters, that we should be amazed
by God, but not surprised. So

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when we praise God, we see
praise him for his mighty acts, praise

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him according to his excellent greatness,
and we begin to appreciate the beauty of

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the love that is a part of
his character. Yes, and we are

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not surprised because God promised that he
would be good to us. We're not

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wondering, well, why is it
that God is good to us. We're

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not surprised because we just take Him
at his word. It's not because we're

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more beautiful than anyone else. It
is not because we are more in number

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as people of God. If you're
one of God's people than anyone else,

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it is not if you are not
one of God's people. Today and I'm

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asking you, please just to say
yes to God so you can become one

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of his children and experience all of
the benefits of his beauty and his love.

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Yes. But if you are not
one of his children, and you

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are on the fence trying to decide
if you can turn away from those things

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that you think that you love today
that are really destroying your life, we

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have to remember, like you can
adore God. You can say like,

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wait a minute, why has he
allowed me to come thus far in my

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life and I've not yet yielded my
will to him? Why is he so

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good to me? And then when
you say yes to him, you will

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continue to be amazed. But don't
be surprised. Because he promised. He

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promised that he would never leave his
people nor forsake us. He promised that

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he would he would make it like
flourishing water streams in the wilderness, that

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he would lead us day and night
until Jesus comes. He will have us

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to lay down beside the still waters. So when he does this, when

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he sets a table for us in
the presence of our enemies, yes,

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don't be surprised, but be amazed
and adore him and say, what a

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good God and then share your adoration
with others. Let me read that sentence

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without interrupting it. This time,
praise begins when one acknowledges God's majesty and

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works and responds with adoration of His
goodness, mercy, and wisdom. I

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need to ask you an honest question. I'm not asking you to respond in

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the chat unless you just choose to. It's up to you. It's up

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to you. Are you a complainer? Do you complain every ache and pain?

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Do you complain about it every time
something does not go right in your

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life? Do you complain about it
you lament and say how tired you are

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of every detail of these things that
are not going your way? Are you

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a complainer? Why is it that
we are so driven to hear our voices

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complaining, to type into social media
how horrible things are? Seeing the clouds

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as really instruments of the wrath of
earth and of the heavens. Why do

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we see things as cloudy most of
Some people see things as cloudy most of

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the time. And again, I'm
not asking you to be an optimist.

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I'm not asking you to stop being
a pessimist. What I'm asking you to

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do is to put your faith and
trust and focus on God. And then

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that discussion becomes irrelevant because you know
that you're a child of the King and

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that whatever goes on in your life, he has measured it and He will

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get you through it. There are
times of trial, yes, but there

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are also times of triumph. Like
there are times of difficulty, yes,

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but there are times that we can
just say, thank God, look at

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what you have done. The sun
is shining again today. The sun is

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shining. We have water today,
yes, And when those difficulties come,

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we just continue to yield ourselves to
God and He will take care of us.

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Does life manufacture reasons for you to
complain? Brothers and sisters? Ah,

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When you see a rose, do
you see the thorns rather than seeing

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those beautiful, blessed pedals that give
and waft the aroma of beauty into the

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air and into your nostrils? What
do you see? Do you see thorns

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and thistles? Or do you see
the petals of that great and beautiful flower?

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And so there is so much I
could say, but not enough time.

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I think we can just say here
that we should foster hope and assurance,

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cultivate repentance, and then share share
testimonies of God's mercy every opportunity that

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we have. Have a wonderful rest
of your day, peace. Thanks for

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joining us listening. Friends. Always
remember we cannot live by bread alone,

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but by every word that comes from
the mouth of God. This has been

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your daily portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,