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So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.
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"Stand up for me against world opinion and I'll stand up for you before my Father in heaven.
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If you turn tail and run, do you think I'll cover for you?
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"Don't think I've come to make life cozy. I've come to cut -
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make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law - cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God.
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Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies.
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If you prefer father or mother over me, you don't deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don't deserve me.
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"If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me.
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If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me.
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"We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me.
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Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God's messenger. Accepting someone's help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I've called you into, but don't be overwhelmed by it. It's best to start small.