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In 2025, I found myself
wrestling with frustration that

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God was not giving me.
Joy and.

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Then God very patiently told me
what was actually happening.

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It wasn’t that he was
withholding joy, It was that I

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was rejecting it.
What followed was an invitation

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to spend 30 days looking at 30
passages on Joy and turning it

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into a devotional called
Rejecting Joy.

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No longer.
You’d think I would have learned

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that coming into 2026, I was
wrestling with hope.

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God, why are you making me so
hopeless?

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And God very patiently let me
know the reality.

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He wasn’t withholding hope.
I was rejecting it.

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And so now here I am, spending
30 days looking at 30 passages

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on hope.
And my hope is that this

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encourages you.
One thing that’s different this

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year is I felt like God was
inviting me to be publicly

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transparent with my processing.
To actually go live on social

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media, pull out a random verse,
and then read and process

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through it on camera.
This isn’t me coming to you as

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an expert on hope, but me coming
to you honestly as someone

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wrestling with hope.
And by witnessing that some of

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you might feel less alone, may
feel seen and understood, may

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end up being encouraged in a way
that is far deeper than the best

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platitude.
So join me as I spend 30 days

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navigating 30 passages on Hope.
This is day five.

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You’re listening to episode 212
of the Where Did You See God?

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Podcast.
All righty, all righty, all

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right.
Still tired?

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Not as bad asleep, but I’m still
recovering from that.

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Really.
Really.

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Yesterday I was.
It was.

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A hard.
Day as far as energy goes, but I

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got to just thinking that you
were God and you were good for

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this opportunity to explore your
word in a creative and unique

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way.
I mean that your word says that

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there is hope.
And I acknowledge that it’s easy

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to feel hopeless.
Holy Spirit, move and the verse

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I pick in the thoughts that you
bring to mind.

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And for those watching and keep
my kids from fighting.

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Amen.
Yeah, my kids, two of three are

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awake.
And this may be the only

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opportunity I have to get on
here for the day.

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One, one dropped, one dropped.
These are the things one dropped

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into my pinky.
And I just knew.

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I knew it was the one.
And it was also small.

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So if you hear kids screaming,
they are OK, but they are kids.

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Because I’m not laughing at the
verses.

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I’m laughing at the with the
verses reveal about me.

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And this one’s just funny
because it hits on two of the

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recent comical things.
And then, yeah, OK, let me just

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read it.
Romans 12/12 Rejoice in hope, be

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patient in tribulation, be
constant in prayer.

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All right, so of course, rejoice
and hope.

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I felt some ways about that.
It is very hard to rejoice and

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hope because if you’re in a
situation in which you need

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hope, sometimes you feel like
it’s a struggle to find joy.

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I’m not going to get into that.
Did a whole 30 day thing

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exploring joy before, but the
focus here is, you know,

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yesterday’s verse talked about
rejoicing in affliction.

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I said rejoice in hope and
rejoice in affliction, both of

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them.
And this one just gets right to

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the point.
It’s not pretending like the

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affliction doesn’t exist.
It’s just not even acknowledging

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it because hope is the thing
that endures.

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So rejoice in hope, rejoice in
the thing that is actually going

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to last.
Actually is the point.

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Be patient in tribulation.
People have called me patient

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Paul before I can I can be
patient and I can also get to a

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point where I’ve been patient so
long I don’t know if I can still

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be patient or I don’t want to
still be patient.

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I’m tired of being the patient
one.

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I’m tired of having to
persevere.

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And this does not put a time
frame.

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It just says be patient in
tribulation as though is the

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tribulation still going?
Oh yeah, let’s still be patient.

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Not be patient for an hour or a
day or a week or a month or a

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year or a decade.
Be patient, period.

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No end.
Stop.

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But the last part is the part
that I just want to sit with, Be

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constant in prayer.
Constant.

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Like that feels to me like more
than just say your daily

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prayers.
There’s a verse that I’m

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thinking of.
Let’s find it.

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You ready for it?
I’m ready for it.

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Get ready.
People talk about Jesus wept

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being the shortest verse.
There are two other two word

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verses side by side.
First the suddenly it’s 16 and

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17.
Rejoice, always pray

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continually, give thanks in all
circumstances is verse 18 for

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this is God’s will for you in
Jesus Christ pairs well with

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this.
There’s a verse that basically

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I’m thinking of, and I can’t
think of it that talks about

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praying without ceasing that,
that he’s just constantly,

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consistently praying.
That verse is usually right

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right up front and it is
somewhere else, but that after

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that little detour, we’re back
on the road.

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Be constant, and that’s what it
evokes in my mind is not on

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occasion, not even a daily
rhythm, but this state of

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prayerfulness, constant,
unending, unstopping.

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Like at any given point you
might not.

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You’re not saying a verbal
prayer non-stop continuously.

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Otherwise, in this book of world
records, we’ll give you

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something for that.
But you are in a mindset of

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praying.
This is how I used to think

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about it when I was younger.
We treat prayer sometimes like a

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phone call with God, where it’s
like, oh man, I need the thing.

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Hey God, I need the thing.
OK, cool, thanks, bye.

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Hang up.
And if he gives it to you,

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great.
If he doesn’t, you call back

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later.
When you think about it,

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sometimes this unending prayer
feels more to me what I haven’t

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experienced in a long time.
But but back in the day, you

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know, if you had close friend or
a significant other, sometimes

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you’d get on the phone and you
wouldn’t call for a specific

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reason to get an answer or
anything like that or even to

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have a conversation.
Some of y’all know when I’m

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talking about that you would
have a call that was simply

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about being connected, right?
And so you might start off

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talking to each other, but then
like each of you would start

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doing your own thing.
You’d, you know, maybe you’d be

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doing homework, but the phone
would just be sitting there.

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It was a much bigger deal when I
was younger because you had one

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house phone and nobody else
could use it if you were on it.

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But they might sneak up on it
and listen in.

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But you get what I’m saying,
right?

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Like it’s it’s not about there’s
not a purpose to it other than

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connection.
Everything else is side.

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You don’t hang up the phone.
Your your understanding of

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prayer with God is that it is
ongoing and unstopping.

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And there may be times where
you’re not saying anything on

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both ends, but you are still
connected.

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You know you were connected.
You know that the line is open

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that if you do start talking, it
will be heard.

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Be constant and prayer evokes
that in me.

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So rejoice and hope.
Be patient in tribulation.

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Be constant in prayer and I feel
like that prayer piece, and not

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not even the prayer itself, but
the positioning to be prayerful

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is what can help with those
other things.

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Cause being patient and
tribulation is fine until you’ve

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done it for way longer than you
thought you could, way longer

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than you thought you should.
When you’re just tired, when

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you’re having a bad day.
Patients can be impeded by a lot

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of our humanity.
A prayer posturing can sometimes

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help in that moment and then
rejoice and hope.

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That’s fine in so far as your
brain can concoct reasons to

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rejoice.
You know, sometimes it can fall

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into this silver lining place
and then sometimes it can fall

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into platitudes and then
sometimes it can call fall into

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just like you’re grabbing at
anything.

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And then at some point your
intellect falls short and you’re

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like, there’s I can’t not think
of a reason to rejoice.

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And also emotionally,
physically, like your body might

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just be done.
You have no strength left.

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A prayer posturing can actually,
there’s a word, it’s not

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circumvent.
This is the word that I’m trying

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to find, but prayer posturing
can help in that situation.

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And so that’s my encouragement
to you.

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If you want to be able to
rejoice in hope, if you want to

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be able to be patient in
tribulation, then be constant in

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prayer.
Don’t just say prayers a lot,

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but think about how you can get
your heart, mind, soul and

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strength into this prayer
posturing.

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Your soul is going to be doing a
lot of heavy lifting with that,

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but your heart like choosing to
stand against the emotions of

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hopelessness to say, but yet I
will keep the line open with

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God.
Your mind working to catch those

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running, rambling thoughts and
just just quiet them for a

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moment.
Some people use breath prayers

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for that.
Yeah, it’s, it’s my brain is

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still not working.
But you, you hear what I’m

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saying.
There are some practical

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spiritual tips that you can find
that can help steal your mind so

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that your mind is in line with
this posture of prayer and your

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strength, your body, you know,
sometimes what you do physically

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can help.
So if you are always on the go,

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actually choosing to go and sit
can help your body to be

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postured for prayer.
So heart, mind, soul and

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strength, posture yourself
towards prayer so that you can

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be constant in prayer.
Don’t try to be constant in

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prayer because you can’t.
You’re going to get distracted.

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You’re going to have other
things you need to do, like

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you’re going to struggle with
that in and of yourself.

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But posturing yourself for that
allows the Spirit to say, you

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know, I got this.
I’m going to do the heavy

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lifting.
Don’t base it on our OK was I

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successful or not?
That’s not the point.

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Just keep going when you realize
your mind got distracted when

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you realized you hung up the
phone on God like pick it back

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up like you just pick up where
you were and you keep on going.

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This is the constancy and I
believe joy and patience will be

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cultivated in us through that.
Father God, I thank you that you

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were gone.
You were good.

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I thank you for the ways that
you work and move, and I thank

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you that you invite us to
rejoice and hope to be patient.

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And I thought that was the word
and to be constant in prayer.

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And I, I left that specific
piece.

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We struggle to be constant and
much of anything.

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Definitely we struggle to be
constant in prayer for many

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reasons.
And so Holy Spirit move today in

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us to learn a little bit more
what it looks like to live in

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that constant and that prayer
posture.

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I spread my holy name, Amen.
Right.

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Hey, I didn’t hear any kids
fighting.

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I didn’t hear any screaming.
I could either be really good or

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really bad, so I’m out.