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Hi, you guys, welcome back to the Imani Talks podcast.
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You're here with your host, Imani, on the podcast where
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we discuss our Christian-based topics and deepening our relationship with
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the Lord. So if you are new here or you
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have not joined our family officially, don't know what you're
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waiting for, but go ahead and hit that subscribe button
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before we start. You don't wanna miss out on any
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of the episodes, content, joint episodes I have with my husband, guests,
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all the good stuff. You definitely wanna join our family
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and help the algorithm push the episodes and help the
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channel to grow. So also like, comment, share, all that
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good stuff. Yeah. So today we're going to be in
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one of my favorite chapters of Genesis, which happens to
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be Genesis 24. And if you all are not familiar,
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Genesis 24 is a chapter where Abraham sends out his
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servant to find his son, Isaac, a wife. He's saying,
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I don't want you to find my son, a wife
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in the land of Canaan, where they were worshiping other gods.
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He's like, go back to my family's house, find him
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a wife and bring her back here. And so the
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servant goes out to find this young woman. But of course,
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it's like he doesn't know which young lady this is
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going to be. And he's praying and he's asking God, God,
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give me this sign. If the woman says this and
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if she gives me water and gives my camels water, yada, yada,
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that'll be the woman that I know you have had
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reserved for Isaac. And Genesis 24, 15 says, and it
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happened before he had finished speaking. that behold, Rebecca, who
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was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor,
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Abraham's brother, came out with her picture on her shoulder.
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So today I want to talk about the fact that
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we serve a God who just knows. Genesis 24, 15 says,
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and before he had finished speaking, before he finished speaking,
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Rebecca was coming out with a picture on her shoulder
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and she was going to do all the things that
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he had prayed to God to reveal to If she
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does this, this is going to be Abraham's wife, right?
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And not only do we serve a God who knows,
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we serve a God who has cleared the path for
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us already. Before he finished praying, Rebecca was already coming out.
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And we know that Rebecca ends up being Isaac's wife.
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So let's just go and read a little bit through
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Genesis 24. We're just going to like pick out some verses.
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We don't have to read the whole thing, but I
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just want to like lay out the fact that Man,
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not only does God know what we're going to pray
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for before we are even, before we even sit down
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to pray, he knows. Before we're finished speaking, he's answering prayer.
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And the answer to prayer comes from the fact that
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he already sends his angels before us. He already sends
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his spirit before us to clear the path. So going
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back to the first verse, Genesis 24, 1. Now, Abraham
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was old, well advanced in age, and the Lord had
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blessed Abraham in all things. So Abraham said to his
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oldest servant who ruled over all that he had, please
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put your hand under my thigh and I will make
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you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and
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the God of earth, that you will not take a
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wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites
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among whom I dwell. But you shall go to my
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country and to my family and take a wife for
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my son Isaac. And the servant said to him, perhaps
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the woman will not be willing to follow me to
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this land. must I take your son back to the
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land from which you came? And Abraham pretty much tells
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him no, because we know that where Abraham was living
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at that moment in the land of Canaan was the
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land that the Lord had promised him. So he's like, no,
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the Lord told me to be here. So you have
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to bring this woman back here, right? He's not going
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Load full transcript
to go anywhere else. So he says no, but he
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also says he will send his angel before you and
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you should take a wife for my son from there.
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And then skipping down to verse nine, it says, so
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the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham,
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his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. Then
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we come down to verse 12, and the servant has
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already made his way out there. It says that he
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made it to Mesopotamia, and that's where Abraham was from.
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And it says, then he said, O Lord, God of
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my master Abraham, please give me success this day and
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show kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, here I stand
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by the well of water, and the daughters of the
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men of the city are coming out to draw water.
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Now let it be that the young woman to whom
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I say, Please let down your pitcher that I may drink.
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And she says, drink. And I will also give your
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camels a drink. Let her be the one you have
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appointed for your servant Isaac. And by this, I will
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know that you have shown kindness to my master. Then
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the following verse 15. And it happened before he had
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finished speaking that behold, Rebecca came out with the pitcher
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on her shoulder. And we know how the story goes.
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She says to him, here, drink, and I will also
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water your camels. And Nahor is sitting there observing her
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water his camels. And he's thinking like, okay, this could
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be the woman. But then he also confirms it by
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asking her, who is your family? And she tells him
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that her family is Abraham's family. He's like, oh my gosh,
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like this is the woman. So one thing about this
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story that I never understood is, of course, Rebecca would
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be kind to this man who's obviously traveling. And he's like,
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I'm thirsty. Will you give me some water? She's already
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out there drawing water. Yeah, sure, have some water. I
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understand that. But giving you water and watering your camels,
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and if y'all don't know, the way that camels store
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water is they literally gulp, like, I don't even know.
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Let's Google it. How much water do camels drink? Because
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they drink a lot of water. So Google says a
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camel can drink 30 to 53 gallons of water in
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just three to 15 minutes. In just 15 minutes. up
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to 53 gallons of water. Do y'all know how heavy
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53 gallons of water is? And it wasn't just for
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one camel. You think that he just went on this
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journey by himself? No, Abraham was a super rich man.
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If his servant, if his head of service went on
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a trip, he took a whole bunch of people with him, right?
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They go on a journey in groups. Do you know
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how many camels that is? Let's just say modestly, they
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took five camels. Let me get my calculator out. 53
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gallons for five camels is 265 gallons of water. And
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you got to put the thing down the well and
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bring it up. And how many times does she have
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to do that to water his camels? Plural camels. And
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I always thought, I understand her being kind to give
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him a drink, but what would convince her, what would
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possess her to also water his camels? I'm like, that's
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above and beyond. I don't think that that's something that
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the average young lady would just do by herself. So
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I always wondered, why does she feel compelled to do that?
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She didn't know who this man was. She had already
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given him kindness by giving him water in the first place.
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But she says, he didn't even ask her. She says,
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I will also water your camels. I'm thinking this girl,
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Rebecca's a hardworking lady. You hear me? Like if that
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was me, I wouldn't have done that. I would have
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been like, here's some water for you. Okay. My dad
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calling me. I got to go. My dad need me.
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I don't, I don't want to water the camels. 265
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gallons of water. And my husband was preaching on this
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this Sunday and he gave me
clarity on this because
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Abraham told him the angel of the Lord will go
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before you. So if we can have assurance that when
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we pray that the Lord will send his angels before us,
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that the Lord will send his spirit before us to
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clear our path, right? Psalm 138 says, the Lord will
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perfect that which concerns you. The Lord will go ahead
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of us. If we know these things, then we have
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to believe that man, and it says even in verse 15,
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before he was done speaking, before he was done praying,
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Rebecca was already on her way out. We serve a
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God that knows. We serve a God that goes before us.
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So it wasn't Rebecca herself that just got it in
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her mind, oh, I'm going to water this man's camels too. No,
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it was the angel of the Lord. It was the
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spirit of the Lord that told Rebecca, water his camels too.
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Because only the spirit of the Lord would tell me
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to lug 265 gallons of water for a stranger's camels.
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Only God could have convinced me to do that. We
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know that only through his spirit we do good, right?
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Only God can go before me and tell me to
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do this. If it's up to me, oh, like I said,
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my dad called my name. I got to bounce. I
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can't water your camels. And that's why prayer is so important.
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While this man was praying, before he was done praying,
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the Lord already answered his prayer. And that just reminds
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me of Proverbs 16, 7. It says, when a man's
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ways pleases the Lord, he will make even his enemies
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to be at peace with him. You don't have to
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worry about, well, what if they don't like me? What
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if I don't have the money? What if they don't
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hire me? Baby, the Lord will make them like you.
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The angel of the Lord will go before you. He
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will make your enemies to be at peace with you.
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Once you pray, the Lord gives you favor that even
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they help you. People that don't even want to help
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you on your journey, once God gets through with them,
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they'll be helping you. Your enemies will be at peace
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with you. People who don't want to help you will
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help you. People who have never even heard your name.
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Once you step into the interview room, they will hire you.
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Your name will be on the minds of people in
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the boardroom. They will bring up your name in conversations
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to people who will go before you and help you.
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You need money for that project? There are kingdom people
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who have money, okay? They won't be able to sleep
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until they help you. In the book of Esther, when
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the king could not sleep, he said, bring me the
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book of the Chronicles and just read them to me
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while I go to sleep. His servant was reading him chronicles.
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It came up that nothing was ever done for, what's
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his name? Mordecai. Mordecai was Esther's uncle. Mordecai had intercepted
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a plan to kill the king. and told his servants like, hey,
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I heard these two guys, they're trying to kill the king.
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And that ended up saving the king's life. He didn't
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do it for recognition, though. He just did it because
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it was the right thing to do. Mordecai was a
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God fearing man. The king could not sleep. He's like,
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read Chronicles to me. They're reading him the Chronicles. They're
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talking about Mordecai. He's like, what was done for that man?
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They're like, nothing. Nothing that we know of. He gets rewarded.
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The next day, the king parades him around the city.
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He gets rewarded. But the king could not sleep until
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he rewarded Mordecai. The Lord will make people not be
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able to sleep until they reward you. People who have money...
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Your name will come into their minds. They will say,
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you know what? I know so-and-so got an event. I
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saw them post it on Instagram. I got extra money
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for Q4. My business got to spend some marketing money.
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We got to spend some sponsorship money. I remember this
person.
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The Lord will bring you into the minds of people
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who will help you. Even people who don't want to
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help you will help you because the Lord is going
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to go before you in these plans. We don't have
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to have any anxiety when the Lord tells us to go.
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We just need to go. Because he has the people
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with the money. He has the people in the boardrooms.
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He has the people that are hiring. He has people
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in HR. He has people on that marketing board. He
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has people. The Lord has people. Even people who are
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not submitted to God will help you. In the book
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of Nehemiah, That was Nehemiah, right? Yes. The book of Nehemiah.
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Nehemiah was the king's cup bearer. Okay. A very important job.
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But Nehemiah had just heard about the Jerusalem being burnt
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down and he was asking people, how was the city?
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And they were like, oh, it's in ruins. And that
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grieved him deeply. He was weeping and fasting. He goes
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before the king to do his job and he's sad.
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And the king's like, why are you sad? He tells
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him why he's sad. The king literally gives him a
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note that he can go and go and rebuild his city.
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He gives him money. He gives him a favor. He
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gives him provision. The king didn't have to do that.
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Why would the king? He's not an Israelite. He's not Hebrew.
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This is a king that's probably worshiping other gods, right? Artaxerxes, okay?
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Go research him. He's not submitted to God. But God
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made it so that Nehemiah got favor with the king
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so that he could go back to his hometown and
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rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The Lord will put you
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on the minds of people who don't even serve him.
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He will use even these people to accomplish good for you.
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We serve a God that knows and a God that
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clears the paths for us. There is no, there can't
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be any anxiety in your relationship with him. I heard
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someone say once that Anxiety is literally just rehearsing a
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situation in your mind where God is not in control
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and where he does not make you victorious. It's rehearsing
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failure in your mind. That's what anxiety is. But if
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we know we serve a God who sees, he is Elroy.
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We know we serve a God who answers prayer before
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we even finished praying, which means that he knows what
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we were going to sit down and pray about before
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we even started praying. If we know this, then how
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can we truly have anxiety with the Lord? This does
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not mean that you won't struggle. This does not mean
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that maybe you come into a situation with very limited
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faith and your faith gets built up and you start
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with small trust and the trust gets built up. I've
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talked about that a lot. We come into our relationship
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with anybody with a little bit of trust, and then
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they build the trust with you. You understand what I'm saying?
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So that's not to say that these things are not true,
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but the more you know about how God operates, the
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less anxiety you are capable of holding. Even when he
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says these words like, Lord, let it be that the
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woman that waters my camels, the Lord didn't have to
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make it so that that was the way that the
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prayer was answered. You know what I mean? So even that,
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I'm like, wow, God really listens to us. When we say, God,
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give me a sign and let me see a red
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car passing by, or I don't know, it's like, He
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doesn't have to honor what we say, but he does.
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The servant acts, let it be that when she waters
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my camels, that's the woman for Isaac. And God told
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Rebecca to water those camels. Isaiah 65, 24 says, And
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this just really spoke to me this week because I've
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just come to realize that when I don't get things accomplished,
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Most of the time it's stagnation from the fact that
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I can't even start. It's hard for me to even
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start because I'm fearful
of the ending. I'm fearful of
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what if this doesn't. She's trying to leave now. She
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can't leave. Just stay. You wanted to come in here
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so bad. Just stay. It's okay. It's okay. And messages
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like this really encourage me because I understand that I
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serve a God who knows what I'm going to pray
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about before I sit down and pray. So the prayer
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is just carving the way for it to be done.
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What I speak is just reassurance for me. It's not
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that God is up there, you know, turning knobs and
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opening doors and while I'm praying. No, the doors have
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already been opened. It's literally already been done. By the
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time I sit down to pray, it's already been done.
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So then how can I have anxiety? How can I
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you know, fall into stagnation of fear of, well, I
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don't want to start this because how is it going
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to end? How's it going to feel in the midst
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of it? I don't know where the provision is going
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to come from. The Lord has already made the way.
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It's literally already happened. And when we know that the
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Lord is not confined to space and time like we are,
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we're thinking about our future, but the future has already
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been created by God, right? He's not anxious. He's not wondering, well,
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How am I going to make this work for Imani?
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How is this going to work out for her? He
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already knows how it's going to work out for me.
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I don't know how it's going to work out for me.
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But if I know that God has already made all
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these things come together for my good, for the purpose
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that he has called me to, then I have to
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really believe that as long as I'm walking in my purpose,
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it's already been done. And there are so many situations
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where the Lord will go before us, right? If I
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had a fight with my sister, yeah, I can be
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mad at her for what she said in the moment,
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but I don't have to be mad the next day.
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Because if I trust that the Lord has already paved
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the way for this to be reconciled, if he's a
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good God, if he's a good father, he's going to
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want me to reconcile with my sister. It'll be reconciled.
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I don't have to worry about that. I don't have
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to be mad anymore. If I am low on money
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at the moment, I don't have to come to God
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with anxiety about how he's going to take care of
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me because the word tells me he will take care
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of me. So all I got to do is tell him, hey,
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this is what I need. You got to foot the bill.
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You know, this is what I need for the ministry
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that you called me to start. This is what I need.
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You got to provide it, God. He will perfect that
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which concerns me. It shall come to pass that before
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they call, I will answer. Before they call, I will answer.
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What a flex that is. What a flex it is
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to have a relationship with someone who knows what you
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need before you say anything, who knows what you desire
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before you even lay it out for them, who knows
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who you are better than you know who you are,
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who is answering your requests before the request is even
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finished being made. Like what a flex that is. And
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that's the relationship that we have with God. So let
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this just be reassurance to you. You don't have to
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be concerned about perfecting what the Lord has called you
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to do. He perfects it. If he's called you to
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do it, you can go ahead and do it. You
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can start. There is no fear in starting what the
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Lord has called you to do. Because if you're praying
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about it, he already knows what you need. Before you
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finish praying, he will send you the answer. He perfects
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that which concerns you. And it's just amazing to me.
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Like it never fails to amaze me how we can
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be so specific with God and that he honors our words.
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When I tell God, I want to be confirmed that
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I'm on the right path with me making content because
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I want this to happen. And then it happens. Like
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there's no way that you can doubt him ever again.
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There's no way that you'd be scared to start the
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next project when he confirmed the first one. There's no
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way that you'd be going to prayer thinking, being double-minded, thinking, well,
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I'm going to pray, but what if it doesn't work out?
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It's going to work out because it worked out last time.
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It's going to work out because his word tells us
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he will send his angel before you. So I love
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you guys. I will talk to you very soon, and
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I will see you later. Bye.