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Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too

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much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy

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for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect

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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

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going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words

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today and receive the power we need to live healthy,

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

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author speaker, Elle David Harris.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Wednesday, March eighteen,

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twenty twenty six. Hello, my name is El David Harris.

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I am your host, and this is your Daily Portion

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where we give you God's Word every single day, and

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today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson

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study series uniting Heaven and Earth, christ in Philippians and Colossians,

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and our caption for today is praying for one another.

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Praying for one another. Before we get into that, I'd

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like to just say welcome to everyone joining us, especially

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those joining us for the very first time. I'm asking

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you to please go over to your Daily Portion dot com.

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Please join our online community. Will you pick up your

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Daily Portion Life application guide and please click that contribute

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button because we are listener and viewers supported and let

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us know where you are in the world at your

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Daily Portion dot com. This is one of the ways

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that we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's pray. Father,

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We thank you for giving us the opportunity to pray,

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and I pray that we will we will keep keep

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our brothers and sisters lifted. Please in Jesus' name, I pray,

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Amen and Amen again praying for one another. The lesson

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writer said some of the most important words. It's we

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can say to someone who was struggling with issues of

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various kinds, be they family, health, money, or something else,

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is that I'm praying for you. Now, let me just

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say what this is not like. Don't let that be

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something that absolves you in your own mind of the

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responsibility of being of service too. Like saying that I'm

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praying for someone doesn't mean that I'm not going to

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act on their behalf. That just means that I am

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going to the one the only one that can truly

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help is God, and I'm going to him for him

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to give you the relief that you need. And if

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God shows me how I can be a part of

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the solution. Then by all means that too, okay, And

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so it's not a cop out. Prayer is not a

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way like saying I'm praying for you. Is not a

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way for us to kind of say, okay, well, well

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did that, so I don't have to do anything. Let

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me know how it goes. M M. That's not it.

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But now let's talk about what it is in this context.

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We're going into the Bible book of Colossians, chapter four,

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and we will read beginning at verse two Colossians chapter four,

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and we are beginning at verse two, and the Bible says,

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be devoted to prayer, keeping alert with thanksgiving. One of

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the things that I say often is that when we

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are talking to God and asking him for things, we're

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asking for his will to be done, that we should

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be spies, like we should be voyeurs, peeking into God's

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windows to see when the very moment is that he

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actions whatever it is that we've been praying about, whether

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he says no and puts us in a position where

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that thing ain't about to happen, or if he says

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yes and we can see the movements there. In either case,

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I want you to spy into the windows of God

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and be the first one at the first moment that

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He begins to act, to go in there and say

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thank you. I want you to say thank you, like,

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hurry up and get to the thank you part. Hurry

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up and get to the gratitude part. I want you

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to be the first ones to say thank you. Okay,

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So we continue in prayer and watch unto Thanksgiving. At

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the same time, pray for us too. So the Bible

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writer the apostle is saying, pray for us too, that

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God may open a door for the message, so that

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we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I

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am in Chaine. Of course, that had a specific application

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to Paul in his current situation at the time. But

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let me just say this. Let me say this, Hopefully

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you are praying for me over here with your daily portion.

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Hopefully you have it in your mind that you will continue,

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that you will continue to pray because God is the

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one that is in control, and that this Gospel of

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the Kingdom must be preached for a witness, and then

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and only then shall the income so continue to pray

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for the spreading of the gospel. I just used your

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daily portion as the example. But whatever it is that

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you were doing in order to spread the Gospel, then

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let that be your reality as well, that you pray

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that the Gospel will be spread from your vantage point

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as well. One of the ways that I knew that

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the COVID nineteen crisis could not continue was because I

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saw that even though there were some advances in technology

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and the way that we would share the Gospel, some

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lessons that we learned about how we could do things creatively,

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I also could tell, besides the fact that so many

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people were losing their lives, that it was an impediment

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to the Gospel. Right. The pandemic was an impediment to

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the Gospel and so many different ways. So I prayed,

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and I knew that this had to end because it

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was an impediment to the Gospel. The same with certain

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kinds of paradigms in terms of how countries are ruled,

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wherever there is an iron curtain where their politics are concerned,

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or the rule of the governing bodies of a particular country,

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like communism as an example, that is an impediment to

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the Gospel. I remember that there were certain parts of

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the Communist parts of the world where the Gospel could

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not be preached in the way that we know it

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should be preached. God brought those walls down, and even

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the communist press of a particular place or region I'm

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thinking of where beginning after that was over where God

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broke those walls down. They were printing life giving, truth

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filled literature on their used to be communistic press, you understand.

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And so whatever is in the way, we pray that

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God will open up the door and remove those barriers,

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just like Paul preached, and he said, pray verse four,

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that I may make it known, make what known the

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mystery of Christ, make it known as I should. And

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so when we are praying for one another, we are

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praying yes for our well being. We are praying yes

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for our success spiritually and practically. Yes, we are praying

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for one another's safety, one another's health, one another having

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wisdom in the things of God. But we also pray

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that God will show us the pathway to success as

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we spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, especially living in

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the last days. And so we have just a quick

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three lessons. Number One, prayer is persistent and watchful and grateful,

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and that comes in from what we read in Colossians

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for in verse to continue in prayer that's persistent, watchful,

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well yeah, watch in the same yes, and grateful where

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there's thanksgiving. So Paul presents prayer as an ongoing posture,

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not an occasional response to some stimuli or maybe the

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COVID crisis that I mentioned, or communism or whatever else

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that's going on. The believer remains steady, the believer remains alert,

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the believer remains thankful. Prayer stays active because God is active. Yes,

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So when we're praying, we're speaking to God as to

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a friend. And if God is active, then our praying

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is active. Gratitude anchors prayer in trust rather than anxiety.

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It's not always a desperate call. It can be at times.

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Sometimes we are desperate, like Peter when he was drowning,

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when he should have been buoyant and faithful, but he said, Lord,

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save me, like I perish, like the do was drowning.

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So sometimes there is that sort of emergency positioning. But

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not only then. We should remain awake, remain spiritually alert,

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remain steadfast, and connect it to God so that whatever

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God is speaking in the moment, we're able to hear.

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So prayer is a two way street. When we're praying

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for others, when we're praying for ourselves, we are speaking

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to God and also listening to whatever it is that

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God has for us, and then we will do what

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He says. By his grace. Continue to pray for one another,

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especially in spreading the Gospel. Peace.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot

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live by bread alone, but by every word that comes

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from the mouth of God. This has been your daily

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