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Welcome to 10 Minute Bible Talks! Where we

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connect the Bible to your life and the time it

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takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmoth. Jealousy

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can make you do crazy things, can't

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it? I mean, have you ever said

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something embarrassingly braggadocious because you were feeling

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jealous of someone else's success? Or

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have you bought something outrageous or unimportant

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to you because someone else had it

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and you wanted something better? Or

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have you said something embarrassingly regretful

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to put someone else down because you were

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feeling jealous? Whether we're aware

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or not, we live in a world orchestrated

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by jealousy. It's

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called advertising. People pay other

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people to make us feel jealous so we

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will do something about it. Let's

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look at an example. Mattresses.

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If you Google mattress right now, you will

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find that there are over 14,000 mattress stores

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in the US alone. That's crazy.

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There are more mattress stores than McDonald's. But

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there are also online mattress stores.

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And the way these stores work is they

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have, quote, people review their

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mattresses and tell us how amazing they

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are. If we want to

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sleep as good as Oprah, we need to

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buy this mattress. Now

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the problem with this is that

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the mattress companies are just paying

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PR firms to buy these

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reviews and make up these reviews so

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that we'll buy their mattresses. But

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how can we, from our view, be

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the only people in the world that

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aren't currently sleeping on that amazing mattress

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out of a box? We

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must be crazy. Or at least

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totally missing out. Now not only

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are these campaigns meant to make us jealous, but

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they're put on by people who are trying to take

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business from other people. So

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like I said, they pay an agency

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to create incentives, to boost reviews, to

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hire influencers, to talk about how

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great their product is that they probably don't even

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really use. I'm not surprised

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by that. For sure, this is the world

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that we live in. This

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is the world Daniel lived in too. Young

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people were competing for top positions in

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the kingdom and there were fewer and

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fewer of those the higher up you

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went. So to get ahead,

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you had to make yourself look good and

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make other people look bad or at

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least that's what unfolds in Daniel chapter six.

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Puff up yourself, put others down.

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Daniel did things differently. Even

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though the culture was caught up in worshipping

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the king like in chapter three where Nebuchadnezzar

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had a statue belt that looked like him

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and made everybody worship it or

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here in chapter six where the king

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issues a decree that his citizens can

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only worship him. This

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sounds foreign to us but

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it really isn't and yet

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Daniel didn't get caught up in it. I

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mean today we worship the throne of influencers

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and people who speak loudly and have lots

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of power and money. The

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messages are more subtle but

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they're still telling us how to look and

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what to buy into but

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Daniel was still able to live faithfully

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to God in the middle of this

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kind of influencing culture and

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he actually had success there. Let's

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look at Daniel chapter six verses one and two.

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It says, it pleased Darius to set over the

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kingdom 120 satraps to

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be throughout the whole kingdom and over

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them three high officials of whom Daniel

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was one to whom the

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satraps would give account so that

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the king might suffer no loss. So

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Darius had it set up so that his

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120 regions were all ruled by a

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satrap and those satraps all

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reported to an administrator of which Daniel was

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one of three. Now it was

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set up this way to prevent loss. I mean you know

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how people are. We tend to cut

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corners, taping for ourselves especially if we

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live in a jealous culture. Okay,

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Daniel six three. Through

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this Daniel became distinguished above

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all the other high officials and satraps

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because an excellent spirit was in him

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and the king planned to set him

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over the whole kingdom. Now

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Daniel stands out because he's really

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good at what he does. He

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took his God-given gifts and he worked

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hard to develop them and were his

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co-workers happy for him to have this

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great success? Well let's see.

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The next verse is 4 and 5. It

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says, then the high officials and the satraps sought

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to find a ground for complaint against Daniel

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with regard to the kingdom. But

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they could find no ground for complaint or

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any fault because he was faithful.

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No they weren't happy, they were jealous. So

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they set up a PR campaign to find

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the dirt on Daniel and to have that

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dirt exposed. But they're

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surprised because they came up empty. Daniel

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actually was a buffer poach. He

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lived out what he talked about. He was a

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man of character. So what

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we know about Daniel so far is that

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he stands out. What does

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it look like to stand out as

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a Christian? Was Daniel a

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Sunday school teacher or a small group leader?

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Did he attend conferences with other believers? Well

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all we know about Daniel is that he stood

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out by doing his job very well and

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being a person who prayed. See

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when the administrators and satraps realized

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they couldn't come up with anything against

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Daniel about his character, they went after

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the way he prayed. They

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went to the king and said, hey we've all

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agreed that you should make a decree that

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anyone who prays to any God

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or any human except you for

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30 days should be thrown into

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the lion's den. They

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knew this was going to trap Daniel. And

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when Daniel heard about it, he didn't

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go to battle, he didn't issue a complaint

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with HR, he just did the same

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thing he'd always done. He prayed

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and he prepared to die. It

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says now. When Daniel learned that the decree had

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been published, he went home to his upstairs. There's

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room where the windows open to torture asylums.

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And three times a day he got down

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on his knees and trade. So

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on one hand you have a country,

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a king, them that has made their

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king and civil gods. and because that

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king is human and has all the

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flaws of human these key leaders of

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unable to appeal to his jealous nature

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to trap the and all. The.

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King's on what do you know the be

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thrown to the by and said he listened

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to be a leader but the King does

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were all the loyalty he doesn't have a

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diverse and for himself and so it comes

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down the this. Daniel.

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The one he trusts more than anyone

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else is gonna be eaten by lands

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because he played. Liquid jealousy

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made the king the. Now.

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Being on the other hand, is prepared to

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give up everything in this life because he

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believes there something greater than the king. He

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believes God is the one in control and

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Got is the one that ranks higher than

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the king, so deals on his knees asking

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God for help. And fortunately,

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The king by law wasn't able to

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retract it a tree the he'd already

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made. His. So very upset

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about it. When. He realizes

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that is actually targeting someone

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he likes being. The.

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You probably know how the story goes.

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Stale gets thrown into the lion's den

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and it says. May. Be

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king, you know and serve

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continuously. rescue you. Said.

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A know goes until alliance and gods and

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that angel and the angel holds ally and

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mouth said. That the

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king doesn't eat or sleep all night as he doesn't

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know that. And that he goes

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and x morning and he finds the know

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still alive and said he has all the

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people that convince him to make the secrete

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thrown into the lion's den instead and the

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lions apparently eat them up before they even

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had the ground. What do we

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take from this account for the better?

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The. Most

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we should be praying, especially when

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things are against us. We

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shouldn't be so focus on pleasing our bosses

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are being popular that we forget. To pray.

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We shouldn't be so focus on getting further in

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our jobs. Seven. Don't take time to

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pray. We shouldn't be so

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different from someone or upset about someone's

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actions that we refuse to pray for

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them. Some one hundred and forty three

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takes on a lot of meaning when

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you think about the story of Daniel.

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Hear. My Prayer: A Lord. Give.

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Ear to my pleas for mercy. First.

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Three. To the enemy is pursued

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my soul. He has crushed my life to

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the ground. He has made me sit in

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darkness like those long dead. Before.

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My spirit saints or than me. My heart

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within me is appalled. And

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first eleven. For. Your name's

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sake, Oh lord, preserve my life

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in your righteousness. Bring my soul

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out. Of trouble. When. You

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pray for you. sit in silence and

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ask God. Where you calling

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me to be faithful to you? In.

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What area of my life do I need to

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stop chasing the rabbits? And turn to

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you. When Daniel prayed

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with the windows open toward the Temple

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in Jerusalem as a sign of repentance,

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see the nation with an exile because

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of their disobedience. So with the windows

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open toward the Temple tenuous symbolically turning

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away from sin and toward God. Please.

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Ask God what you need to turn away

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from. Where. You listen to what

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he puts in your heart, country with

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you remembering when you're tempted. It's you

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could always get back on your knees

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literally or figuratively and pray he's always

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there to receive you and help you.

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Get. This podcast is helping you grow in

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