#30. Exodus 29-32 | The First Spirit-Filled Person in Scripture... It Might Surprise You

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Welcome to The Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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Today we're covering Exodus 29 through 32.

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Not only will we read of the infamous

account of the Golden Calf, we'll

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also learn about the First Spirit

filled individual in scripture, and

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it might surprise you who it is.

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Yesterday we learned that the tabernacle

was indeed supposed to be a beautiful

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place that God would meet with the people.

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His directions point to

beauty and to function.

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And again in today's reading, Exodus

29 43 tells us there I will meet

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with the people of Israel and it

shall be sanctified by my glory.

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I will consecrate the 10 of meeting

and the altar, Aaron also and his sons.

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I will consecrate to serve me as priest.

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I will dwell among the people of Israel

and will be their God and they shall

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know that I am the Lord their God,

who brought them out of the land of

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Egypt, that I might dwell among them.

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I am the Lord their God

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In chapter 29 he includes directions

for the garments of the priests and

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the process for consecrating them.

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I always thought it was interesting

that these beautiful stones were to

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have the names of the tribes on them.

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And I guess it's silly, but I think

I was picturing English names.

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But in the Hebrew, remember they would've

only written down the consonants.

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so actually these engravings were

much shorter than I expected,

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and it was really beautiful.

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And then on each shoulder, the

priest was to have six of the

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tribes of Israel written on a stone.

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When Isaiah nine tells us the prophecy

about Jesus, for to us, a child is born

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to us, a son is given, and the government

shall be upon his shoulder and his name

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shall be called Wonderful counselor.

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Mighty God, everlasting

Father, prince of Peace.

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Saying that the government shall be on

his shoulder is prophetically confirming

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that these tribes are resting on

Jesus' shoulders as the high priest.

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God commands that the priest

are to be consecrated.

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By marking themselves with blood

on their right ear lobe, on their

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right thumb, and on their right toe.

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My MacArthur commentary clarifies

that, dabbing the blood on these

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locations symbolically sanctified

the ear to hear the word of God,

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the hand to do the work of God and

the foot to walk in the way of God.

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Perhaps there's no correlation,

but I also think about the

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locations of Jesus's wounds

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where the crown of thorns was placed on

his head, his ears probably had blood,

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and we know his hands and feet were

pierced as he was nailed to the cross.

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Chapter 31 begins the Lord said

to Moses, see, I have called my

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name Beal, the son of Yuri, son

of her, of the tribe of Judah.

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And I have filled him with the spirit

of God with ability and intelligence,

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with knowledge and all craftsmanship

to devise artistic designs, to work

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in gold, silver, and bronze, in

cutting stones for setting and in

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carving wood to work in every craft.

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And behold, I have appointed with him.

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Oh holy.

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The son of a hisac.

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Of the tribe of Dan.

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And I have given to all able

men ability that they may make

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all that I have commanded you.

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The tent of meeting and the arc of the

testimony and the mercy seat that is on

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it, and all the furnishings of the tent.

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And in verse 12, and the Lord said

to Moses, you are to speak to the

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people of Israel and say, above

all, you shall keep my Sabbaths.

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For this is a sign between me and you

throughout your generations that you

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may know that I, the Lord sanctify you.

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You shall keep the Sabbath

because it is holy for you.

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Everyone who profay it

shall be put to death.

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Whoever does any work on it, that soul

shall be cut off from among his people.

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Six days shall work be done, but

the seventh day is a Sabbath of

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solemn rest wholly to the Lord.

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Whoever does any work on the

Sabbath day shall be put to death.

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Therefore, the people of Israel

shall keep the Sabbath observing the

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Sabbath throughout their generations.

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It is a covenant forever.

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It is a sign forever between me and the

people of Israel that in six days the

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Lord made heaven and earth and on the

seventh day he rested and was refreshed

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and he gave to Moses when he had finished

speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the

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two tablets of the testimony tablets of

stone, written with the finger of God.

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When God gave the IC covenant,

the rainbow was the sign when he

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provided the Abrahamic covenant.

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Circumcision was a sign.

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And now in the Sinai Covenant,

the Sabbath is the sign.

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We'll continue to talk about why this

revealed their trust in God and why

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it set them apart as a nation end, but

there's no questioning how important

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this was to the Lord that they obey him.

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my Moody commentary includes a

few quotes that are so beautiful.

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Regarding Bele and oh holy AB,

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being filled with the spirit is having

from God the ability to do and say exactly

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what God wants done And then later they

quote It is of some interest that the

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first spirit-filled individual in the

Bible is not a patriarch or a prophet

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or a priest, but a construction foreman.

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The Bible sanctifies the work

and craftsmanship of the labor

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what one does with one's hands can

be as sacred as what one does with

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one's mind, and I think we can

take this as another indicator.

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That we can worship God in so many

ways and the different things we

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go about in motherhood, that we

can do it onto the Lord in our

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creativity in the process is unto him.

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God fills a holy AB and beil with wisdom

about how to accomplish exactly what

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he's calling them to with the resources

that they have in the wilderness.

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the names of these craftsmen actually

inspired my profile on Pinterest, And

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now we'll read about using creativity in

a way that absolutely does not glorify

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the Lord as Aaron creates the golden

calf, in chapter 32, beginning in verse

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one, we read when the people saw that

Moses delayed to come down from the

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mountain, the people gathered themselves

together to Aaron and said to him.

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Up make us gods who shall go before us.

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As for this, Moses, the man who brought

us up out of the land of Egypt, we

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do not know what has become of him.

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So Aaron said to them,

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take off the rings of gold that are in

the ears of your wives, your sons, and

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your daughters, and bring them to me.

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So all the people took off the

rings of gold that were in their

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ears and brought them to Aaron.

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And he received the gold from their

hand and fashioned it with the

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graving tool and made a golden calf.

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And they said, these are your

gods O Israel who brought you

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up out of the land of Egypt.

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When Aaron saw this, he built an

altar before it, and Aaron made a

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proclamation and said, tomorrow

shall be a feast to the Lord.

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And they rose up early the next day

and offered burnt offerings And brought

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peace offerings and the people sat

down to eat and drink and rose up

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to play to keep it family friendly.

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I will just say that this is

not a righteous celebration.

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They're bringing some very unrighteous

pagan practices from Egypt into

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their worship and they're combining

it with the worship of the Lord.

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This is known as syncretism.

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When I interviewed the amazing ministry

leader, Sylvia Dervin, she said she

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thought that this is one of the biggest

problems plaguing Christian motherhood

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today, that we're taking the Bible,

but then we're also adding all of these

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books that we're reading and we're

saying, I'll obey the Bible if these

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parenting books tell me it's a good idea.

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She rightly pointed us back to the

word of God being our sole authority.

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Yes, we should seek and gather wisdom,

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but if it contradicts with God's word,

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then we know where our

allegiance should lie.

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I will link her episode in

the show notes because she is

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certainly filled with the spirit.

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When the Lord tells Moses what his

people are doing with the golden

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calf, he says, I'm going to destroy

them and start again with you, Moses.

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And once again, we see

the power of intercession.

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Moses tells the Lord, this

isn't good for your reputation.

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You don't want Egypt to see

that you brought the people out

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just so you could destroy him.

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God is gracious and he

relents in his anger.

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But Moses meets Joshua on the way

down from the mountain, and then

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when they go down to see how evil

the celebration is, Moses is furious.

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He throws any breaks.

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The tablets that were written with

the finger of God, he rebukes Aaron.

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And then there is a judgment

for those who won't repent.

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It is one of those classic Sunday school

stories, and I thought I had a pretty

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good grasp on it until I read a portion

from 10 Words to Live by by Jen Wilkin.

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she says The first commandment

prohibits worship of anything other

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than God, but the second prohibits

worship of any version of God less

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than God, specifically through images.

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She goes on to explain.

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One of the principle deities of Egypt was

the bull God Aus, and the supreme head of

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the Canaanite Pantheon was the bull God.

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Al Bull worship was all the rage in the

region, but it is a knobby need calf, not

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a raging bull that Aaron manufactures.

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When Aaron conceives of a Yahweh

of his own imagining, he produces

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a non-threatening, approachable

version of the principle gods

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of the surrounding pagans.

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And so do we.

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Anytime we take the attributes of the

gods, the world around us worships

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and apply them to God to make him

more palatable and less threatening,

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more accommodating, and less

thunderous, we produce a graven image.

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I always focused on the idolatry

aspect of it, but never how insulting

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it actually was that it was a calf.

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I think she's right that we often

do try to adjust or soften the God

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of the Bible, but he deserves to

be worshiped for exactly who he is.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you

that your Holy Spirit empowered

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men to do the work of the temple.

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And I pray over every woman that's

listening because we know that you

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have called them to holy work as well.

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I pray that they would do it through

the power of your Holy Spirit, that

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as they go about their day, even in

the little things that they would

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know, God equipped me for this.

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That when they need more knowledge

or wisdom about how to solve

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something that they would ask you

to guide them and feel clarity that

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you do when they're weary and need

strength for the tasks before them.

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I pray that they would feel your

spirit helping them persevere

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and continue for your glory.

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help us to throw off synchronism that

exists in our hearts and reveal to

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us where we might be holding onto

idols that could never satisfy.

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We pray that as our kids grow

in their faith, that we would be

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guiding them toward the one true God.

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Prevent us from

compromising your character.

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as we strive to explain you to our

children or to the watching world,

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give us the words to say as we explain

how perfect and holy and good you are,

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even when we watch suffering around us.

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Thank you for the mercy you showed

here, and we praise you for the

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mercy we have received through

Jesus Christ, our high priest.

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Amen.