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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 keep

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

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

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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 morning.

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It is Sabbath, March nine,
twenty twenty four. Hello, my

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

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Daily Portion where we give you God's
Word every single day, and today is

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no exception. We are continuing in
our Lesson study series through the Book of

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Psalms, and our caption for today
is longing for God in Zion, Longing

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for God in Zion. We'll get
into that in just a moment, but

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first I'd like to say welcome to
you in a happy Sabbath wherever you happen

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to be in the world. I
know that some of you have gotten a

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head start on me. It's only
five o'clock where I am in the morning,

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but some of you have gone deep
into your sabbath because of where you

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live, and so thank you.
Thank you for hanging out with us while

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we are getting into the throes of
the morning light. Today, I'd like

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to just say welcome to everyone joining
us, especially those joining us for the

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very first time. Please go over
to your Daily Portion dot com. Please

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click the button under the join.
It's a big header that says join.

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Click that button and then sign up
for our online community. It is a

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way that we continue to build faith
and fellowship at your Daily Portion dot com.

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Let's go ahead and pray, and
then we will get underway. Father

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and Heaven, thank you for this
day and for the privilege we have to

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study and to open up your word. Please, Father, give us your

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will. Please give us a longing
in our heart to serve you, a

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longing in our heart to be with
you forever, and then let it change

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our lives. In Jesus' name,
I pray, Amen and amen again,

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longing for God in Zion. Now
this brings, of course to my mind,

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because you know, if you've been
on the program for any period of

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time, you know that I think
in songs. I think in songs,

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and so this brings to my mind. The Lord in Zion reigneth. Number

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seven in our hymno, the Lord
and Zion reigneth. Let the world,

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all the world, rejoice and come
before his throne of grace with tuneful heart

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and voice. The Lord in Zion
reigneth, and there his praise shall ring

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to him, Shall princes bend the
knee, and kings their glory bring so

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much else I could say about that
hymn, but you understand, we're just

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getting into the mind frame of our
subject for today. Let's go ahead and

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begin by reading verse two of Psalm
the Psalms chapter eighty four, and the

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Bible reads. My soul longs,
yes, even faints for the courts of

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the Lord. My heart and my
flesh cry out for the Living God.

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There are times when we feel like
we're exiled from home. Yes, during

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the pandemic, God's people suffered in
many parts of the world, probably all

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parts of the world, where we
could not congregate and have and have corporate

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worship because the pandemic was spreading a
certain at a certain pace that the civil

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authorities said, you will not congregate. And so we can identify in some

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ways with the Psalmist, where where
if he was not able to go into

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the courts of God because he was
on the run, or whatever else was

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happening in his life, and he
remembered, as we see in Psalm chapter

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forty two, he remembered what it
was like to come into the presence of

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God among his people on Holy Day, as he said the Sabbath, and

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so here his heart and soul and
life longs for the courts of the Lord.

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My heart and my flesh cry out
for the Living God. Have you

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ever felt separated from God? It
felt like He wasn't hearing you. It

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ever felt like you prayed and prayed
and prayed some more and could not detect

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that God was listening and answering,
listen to you and answering your prayers,

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and you long for that moment where
you can sense and experience the connection with

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God. Well, this is obviously
among the things that are happening with the

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Psalmist here, and so we can
identify that. Now the songs, according

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to the lesson Writer of Zion,
our joyous hymns that magnify the beauty of

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Zion and the sovereignty of the Lord
who reigns from his holy mountain. These

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psalms often praise the merits of God's
House and express a love for the sanctuary

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that can be found in other psalms
as well. Many of these psalms were

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composed by the sons of Kora,
who had first hand experience of the blessedness

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of the Lord's House as the temple
musicians and keepers of the gates. Now,

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what makes Zion the source of hope
and joy? Zion represented God's living

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presence among God's people. So let
me just ask you what would cause us

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to not sense the living presence of
God among us? I've given a few

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examples. How about like when we
are not repentant. When we're not repentant,

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there was a time in case David's
life when, as you know,

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for a year it was like it
was like his bones were being eaten up

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because he would not confess and agree
with God what he had done in the

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situation with Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. And he did not agree with God.

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He did not come to God and
come clean and say, yes,

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God, you're right about the situation. I should not have had a sexual

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experience with her because she was not
my wife. I should not have coveted

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her. I should not have taken
her from your yah. I should not

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have killed and had others to conspire
without to kill him, and I did.

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He did not come into God's presence
and say, but God, you

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have given me so much right,
You've given me so much authority and responsibility.

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The anointing that you placed on my
life part of me, and then

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I squandered it, and then I
misrepresented you. And to whom much is

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given, much is to be required, you see. And so until then,

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until then, it was like a
He was like a fugitive from his

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own mind. In his own mind. The Bible teaches us that finally,

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as in recorded in Psalm chapter fifty
one, that finally the Holy Spirit got

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through to him through Nathan the prophet, and the story is clear that he

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wanted to have his life restored and
the Holy Spirit not to be removed from

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him, and then he promised to
teach transgressors his way, God's way.

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And so that is another time that
we feel separated from the presence of God,

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as in Isaiah chapter fifty nine,
Verses one and two, and so

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confessing to God agreeing with him positions
us to be in an experience of worship

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with God in a right relationship.
And so there's so many more things we

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can learn. Let me just draw
from a few passages, as we have

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only a few minutes left. Verse
two of Psalm chapter eighty four, the

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Bible reads, I desperately want to
be in the courts again. I'm reading

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of the Lord's temple. My heart
and my entire being shout for the joy

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of the Living God. Deepen your
desire for God's presence. Yes, God

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wants us to have a deeper desire
for his presence. And then in verse

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one and verse one, in verse
one, how lovely is the place where

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you live, O, Lord who
rules overall, Cherish the congregation of God's

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people as spiritual zion. When God's
people are aligned with him. See that

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as spiritual zion, your local church
as a representation of God's presence and a

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source of spiritual nourishment. And then
let's see if we can get a couple

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more, a couple more here.
In verse one of Psalm chapter forty six,

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the Bible reads, God is our
refuge and our strength, a very

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present help in trouble. Seek refuge
in God. Seek refuge in God during

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our troubles. And then, of
course we want to engage in the Gospel

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mission where Jesus said, go therefore
and make disciples of all nations, baptizing

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them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy

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Spirit. We want to bring people
globally into this fellowship, into this mountain

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called Zion, this experience of God's
presence, so that we together we long

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for God in Zion. But we
are satisfied because the Lord in Zion he

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reigns. Does he reign in your
heart? Thanks for joining us listening.

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Friends, Always remember we cannot live
by bread alone, but by every word

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that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with

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el David Harris, make it a
great day. Yeah,