#50. Deuteronomy 2-4 | When Someone Else Gets the Blessings You've Prayed to Receive

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Welcome to The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox, and like you, I'm

longing to be transformed by focusing on

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the Lord's character, knowing that's what

equips me to be the mob that I want to be.

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Today we're looking at Deuteronomy

chapters two through four.

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In this book of the Bible,

Moses is recounting the

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history of the Nation of Israel

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and pointing them to faithfulness and

obedience in the promised land that

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they're about to cross into without him.

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Here in chapter two, Moses reminds

them that God has told them that

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they may not cross over into the

land that he gave Esau or the land

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that he gave a lot as a possession.

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God is a faithful promise keeper.

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Even though Esau is well known for

following his flesh and not being a man

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of faith, God's promises to him have stood

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God is true to his word.

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To both of them.

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My favorite verse in this

chapter is verse seven.

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For the Lord, your God has blessed

you in all the work of your hands.

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He knows you are going

through this great wilderness.

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These 40 years, the Lord your God has

been with you, you have lacked nothing.

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As someone who has gone through many tight

times and continues to, when I look back,

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as difficult as it's been, I've lacked

nothing the Lord has provided for us.

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Often, even in our greatest times

of need were the moments where

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he provided above and beyond.

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Things I hadn't even asked

for or dared to pray for.

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Can you look back and see on your

life that you have lacked nothing?

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It may have felt like a severe deficit

at the time, but are you able to

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see the provision of the Lord and

perhaps how he grew your faith as

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you pressed into him to believe?

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In chapter three, Moses mentions

how the tribe of Reuben and Gad.

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Had asked to stay on the east side of the

Promised land and not enter in, but they

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did agree to fight with their brothers

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to conquer the land.

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In verse 22, Moses encourages

dashua again, telling him, you

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shall not fear for it is the Lord

your God, who fights for you.

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Beginning of verse 23,

we get a rare insight.

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Into the hope and desire Moses

had to enter the promised land.

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And I pleaded with the Lord at that time

saying, oh Lord God, you have only begun

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to show your servant your greatness

and your mighty hand for what God is

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there in heaven or on earth who can do

such works and mighty acts as yours.

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Please let me go over and see the

good land beyond the Jordan, that

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good Hill country and Lebanon.

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But the Lord was angry with me because

of you and would not listen to me, and

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the Lord said to me Enough from you.

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Do not speak to me of this matter again.

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Go up to the top of Pisca and lift

up your eyes westward and northward,

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and southward and eastward,

and look at it with your eyes.

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For you shall not go over this

Jordan, but charge Joshua and

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encourage and strengthen him.

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For he shall go over at the head of

this people and he shall put them in

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possession of the land that you shall see.

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This is the first time we've seen that

Moses actually interceded for himself to

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enter the promised land over and over.

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He has prayed for mercy

for the Israelites,

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But here he was asking God to provide

a blessing for himself, after 40

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years of leading God's people and

traveling through the wilderness, Moses

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wants to see this land flowing with

milk and honey, can you blame him?

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As is most often the case with

Moses, he begins his prayer

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appealing to God's character.

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You've only begun to

show us what you can do.

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This is amazing faith.

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Consider what God has

already done for this people.

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And Moses says, I know you

can do way more than this.

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So let me see the blessing

you're bringing in people.

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The Lord does not answer Moses'

request, but he does allow him

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a glimpse of the promised land.

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One commentary noted that this would've

probably been supernatural that perhaps

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God allowed him to see beyond what

he could have seen in his humanness,

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but it almost feels like a little

salt in the wound when God tells

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him, Nope, you are not going over.

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Don't talk to me about it again.

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But Joshua will and you're

gonna prepare him for it.

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Speaker 4: it's good for us to remember

Moses isn't sad about this anymore.

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He might even sing us a line of,

don't cry for me, Argentina or Israel.

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Speaker 4: Heaven is a way better

than a fertile spot on Earth,

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It may seem like God withheld

a blessing from Moses here,

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but it's important to

trust God's character.

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That he is good and fair and just,

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And that Moses will

experience eternal blessings.

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Steph: I think some of the hardest

moments in life are when you know God

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can intervene, but he chooses not to.

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And then in the midst of that

struggle, you watch others inherit

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the blessings that you've pleaded for

or the prayers that you've prayed.

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Or receiving the blessings

you've asked for.

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Will you continue walking in

faith when God doesn't answer

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your prayers in the way you hope?

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This morning, I read a story about a mom

that experienced the pain of her first

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miscarriage, and while she was wrestling

with the grief that that entailed.

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She had also committed to be

there at her friend's side as

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she delivered her own baby.

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And she wrote how even in her pain,

she wanted to be there for her friend.

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What an inspiration.

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Can we rejoice with others when

we can barely pay the bills, and

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those next to us go on extravagant

vacations and have kitchen renovations?

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Can we rejoice with others as

their kids embrace their calling in

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Christ when ours are figuring their

faith out or are far from the Lord?

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Can we rejoice at the orderly

Easter or Christmas photo of

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someone's behaving children?

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When we can't seem to get our kids

to stop running down the church halls

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Or even pose peacefully

next to each other.

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Can we rejoice in witnessing a beautiful

marriage when ours feels lacking

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and is a source of pain?

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Can we give praise?

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For someone's clean bill

of help when we're still

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battling for healing ourselves.

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Over and over throughout Deuteronomy,

Moses' answer appears to be, yes, he

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could be sulking and giving up at

this point, but he puts all of his

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energy into closing his time with

inspiration and charging the people

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Speaker 2: Joshua is

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Steph: The man for the job.

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These are just a few verses, but what

a charge for us to rejoice with others.

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Let's look at chapter four now.

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I'll begin reading in verse one.

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And now O Israel, listen to the statutes

and the rules that I'm teaching you and

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do them that you may live and go in and

take possession of the land that the Lord,

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the God of your fathers is giving you.

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You shall not add to the word that I

command you, nor take from it that

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you may keep the commandments of the

Lord your God, that I command you.

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Your eyes have seen what

the Lord did at Pale pr.

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For the Lord your God

destroyed from among you.

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All the men who followed the Baal

of P, but you who helped fast to the

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Lord your God are all alive today.

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See, I have taught you statutes and

rules as the Lord my God commanded

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me that you should do them in the

land that you are entering to take

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possession of it, keep them and do them.

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For that will be your wisdom

and your understanding and

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the sight of all the peoples.

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Who, when they hear all these statutes

will say, surely this great nation is

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a wise and understanding people for

what great nation is there that has a

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God so near to it as the Lord our God

is to us whenever we call upon him.

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And what great nation is there that has

statutes and rules, so righteous as all

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this law that I set before you today only

take care and keep your soul diligently,

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lest you forget the things that your

eyes have seen, lest they depart from

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your heart all the days of your life.

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Make them known to your children

and your children's children.

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God's intention was always that

Israel would be a witness nation.

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That the other nations would look to them,

see how they're distinct and be intrigued

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by this God of power, order, and mercy.

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The laws that God gave them, set them

apart dramatically from the world

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around them, and those watching would've

been able to see that these rules

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and laws have helped them prosper.

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The same is true for us.

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Every rule God has given.

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Is for our blessing,

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whether it's rules for purity or

peace and conflict resolution or

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submission, all of it is for our good.

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In verse nine, there's a

phrase that repeatedly comes

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up in the book of Deuteronomy.

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It says, only take care.

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Now, this is very different

than the take care of today.

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It's not a flippant.

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Hey, see you later.

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Take care.

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This is take care.

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And the next phrase says, and

keep your soul diligently.

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We are to be intentional to remember the

faithfulness of the Lord in the past so we

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can believe him for good things to come.

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Speaker 5: In chapter four, a fiery

furnace is mentioned, and it seems

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to apply to their time in Egypt that

God purified them during that time,

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getting them ready for his purpose,

to set them apart, to glorify him.

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And speaking of iron, in the last

chapter we read about a giant iron bed

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belonging to a man.

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Of incredible stature.

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It actually could have been a

coffin or a sarcophagus, and since

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it would also need to house his

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Speaker 4: belongings

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Speaker 5: It probably would've had

ample space for those, even though it's

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incredibly impressive that it was 13

and a half feet long and six feet wide.

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It may not have been

just due to his height.

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Speaker 2: In closing, I wanna ask.

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What are the things that the Lord

is asking you to take care of?

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Is it in guarding your tongue?

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Is it in walking in faith?

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I encourage you to earnestly take

care that you can continue to build

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upon the foundation of Christ.

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And make his faithfulness

known to your children.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly father, like Moses,

we say, who is like you?

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You are great and mighty, and you

do beyond what we ask or imagine

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even when we have great hopes for

our own lives and for our families.

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You can do more and you are doing more.

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Even when we can't see it, and even

when it seems like there's a delay

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in your response, fill us with faith

that your no is better than our Yes.

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Teach us to wait patiently for the

eternal yeses over the present ones.

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And when we see those around us rejoicing

and enjoying the blessings we've longed

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for so desperately, we pray your Holy

Spirit would fill us with joy, that

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we could sincerely enter in with them

believing that we are also your daughters.

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Just as you allowed Moses

to see your goodness.

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Let us see how you're faithful and good,

I pray over the words that we speak, that

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we would testify to your faithfulness over

and over in our homes, and that you'd

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use it to build up the faith of our kids,

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We pray we would be witnesses

for you to the watching world.

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Whether we feel that we're in

a wilderness season or we're

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delighting in your blessings,

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guide us to winsomely, communicate

the blessing of dwelling

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with the good and mighty God.

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It's in your name, Jesus we pray.

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Amen.