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

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

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

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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

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

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and receive the power we need to live healthy, vibrant lives.

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Welcome to Your Daily Portion with your host, author speaker,

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Elle David Harris.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Thursday, December eighteen,

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twenty twenty five. 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 Lessons of Faith from Joshua, and our caption

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for today is Cling to God. Cling to God. Before

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we get into that, i'd like to say welcome to

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everyone joining us, especially those joining us for the very

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

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Please join our online community. Pick up your Daily Portion

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Life application guide. The new one is out for quarter

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one twenty twenty six. Get that one as well. And also,

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please please, if you are inclined by God, please go

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ahead and click that donate button at your daily portion.

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This is one of the ways we continue to build

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faith and fellowship. Let's go ahead and pray, and then

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we will get underway. Father, We thank you for giving

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us this new day and the privilege that you have

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entrusted to us to open your word and to connect

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with you in a real way. Please help us to

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do that, connect with you and live with you eternally.

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In Jesus name, I pray, Amen and Amen again. So

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let me just share this news flash with you. We

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cannot abstain our way into connection with God. We cannot

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abstain our way into eternal, eternal bliss with God. Yeah, okay,

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so listen. When I first wanted, at least as I

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could tell, I wanted to be connected to God when

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I was in university, I think it was my first year.

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I said, you know what, I'm going to stop listening

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to this certain kind of music. I'm going to stop

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going to these certain places, and I'm going to stop

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having these certain kinds of relations with the opposite sex. Right,

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I'm going to stop those things. And then I will

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have I will have a right connection with God. Well, yeah,

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that didn't work out, and I was ashamed when I

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started listening to the music again and started going back

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to those same places and started having the kinds of

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relations I shouldn't have had with the opposit sex, and

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I was so I don't know if I was ashamed.

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I think I was. I felt read, I felt defeated.

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I felt defeated, and and because I'm a man of

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my word, even when I was young, I was a

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man of my word, and I fell short of my

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word and I just kind of did I was hiding,

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like I can't believe I did that. Well that was

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because I just really intentionally thought I could abstain my

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way into the Kingdom. To make a long story short

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years later, God really he found me and transformed my life.

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And I realized that clinging to God is the key

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not abstaining from all of the things that we shouldn't do.

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And really, really and truly those three categories of things

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I shouldn't have done. I was on the right track intellectually,

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but there was no way that that method or that

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strategy would actually connect me with God. And so we

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cling to God not only abstain from the things in

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air quotes. Right, So let's go ahead and begin with

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a quote from John Nevians Andrews, reviewing Herald article dated

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January five, eighteen sixty nine. You're noticing that I'm using

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pioneers as we study, and that's for good reason. And

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it reads to cling to God is to wait a minute,

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love him above all else. So if you were to

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evaluate your relationship with God, evaluate your quote religion. Is

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it that you love you cling to God and love

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him above all else. Let me continue the quote. This

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love is shown not by profession, meaning back then they

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used to use profession like profession of faith, that is

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to confess and say, and you're purporting that you fill

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in the blank. It's not by profession or professing that

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you but by steadfast obedience and devoted service. Interesting, let

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me go go to one in the book The Acts

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of the Apostles, page five hundred fifty one. Supreme love

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to God and unselfish love to one another. I think

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that's the two great commandments. Love for God, love for humanity.

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This is the best gift the Father can be stolen.

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By this love. We reveal our connection with Heaven. So

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a revelation of the connection of a connection, a revelation

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of connection with God is the two great commandments, love

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for God and love for humanity. So we're not trying

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to love God and trying to love humans and trying

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not to do this and trying not to do that,

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and then hoping that that will somehow give us brownie

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points or our bonus at the end of the year

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at our job of trying to be holy. No, those

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are a manifestation of our connection with God. Cling to God,

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our first lesson for today, is a daily choice of

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loyal love. Clinging to God is a daily choice of

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loyal love. Coming in from Deuteronomy, chapter four and verse four,

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the Bible reads, but ye that did cleave unto the

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Lord your God, are alive every one of you this day.

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And so the Hebrew word in that text that means

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to cleave the bach it means to cling, stick to,

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hold fast, and pursue closely. Are you pursuing God? Are

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you clinging to? Are you adhering to? Are you running

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after God? He said he would run after you and

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overtake you with blessings if you're one of his children.

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And so this word describes covenant, lofe loyalty. It's like

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a marriage covenant as in Genesis chapter two and verse

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twenty four and Ruth's devotion to Naomi as in Ruth

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chapter one and verse fourteen. Joshua reminded God's people that survival, identity,

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and spiritual purity depended on clinging to God. What does

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it mean? Cling means to stick, to hold fast, to

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pursue closely? Are you pursuing God closely? Running after God? Huh?

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He ran after you to find you. Yeah, So it

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depended upon clinging to God, not merely avoiding idols. I

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think I gave you that lesson already. Faithfulness is proactive love,

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not avoidance or abstinence. In the eighteen hundreds and the

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eighteen hundreds at Ellen used to say abstemiousness. Where it

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came to diet, people were trying to get healthy by

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stopping to eat this and stopping to eat that, and

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thought that that would do it. But they were finding

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themselves in malnutrition because they weren't choosing the right things

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to eat. But I digress. So our action step is

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speak a personal commitment to God. Today, Lord, I cling

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to you, keep my heart close to yours. Lesson number

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two as we come to a swift close love for

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God can be commanded. Can be commanded because it is

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a choice of devotion. The Bible reads in Joshua, chapter

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twenty three and verse eleven, take good Heed, therefore unto yourselves,

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that ye love the Lord your God. And in this case,

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the word for love is ahavah. It means deep affection, commitment, loyalty,

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and devotion. Are you deeply do you have deep affection

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for God God? Are you loyal to God? Are you

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committed to him? Do you find yourself being devoted? Love

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cannot be forced emotionally. Some people try it, but it

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doesn't work. It can, however, be commanded as a covenantal decision.

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God calls his people to choose devotion because of who

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he is and what he has done. So this love

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in the scripture is not an emotional kind of love.

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It's allegiance and loyalty. It's a heartfelt, heart directed obedience.

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So practice intentional devotion and love. Set aside time today

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to express love to God through praise, gratitude, or obedience.

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Speaker 1: Theatre dating us listening friends, Always remember we cannot live

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by bread alone, but by every word that comes from

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the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion

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