Prayer & fasting
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FOOD FASTING
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The brain is not only an
information storer (knowledge and
belief).
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The brain is also an
information processor (thinking).
Knowledge =
a structure.
Belief =
a structure.
Thinking =
a process, a change of structure.
Hence, as:
all carbohydrates are slowly
converted
to become sugar, in the
blood,
and:
that sugar is what the body
uses for fuel,
then food-fasting does not stop you knowing,
or believing,
but it does stop you thinking.
Hence, when you need a miracle:
If you’ve renewed only parts of your mind:
such that some of
your knowledge
is still
unbelief, miracle-stopping facts,
then food-fasting stops you:
thinking, processing,
using all
those miracle-stopping facts.
, Perhaps see earlier section: UNBELIEF
, and its subsections.
If you’ve not renewed any of your mind:
such that all your knowledge
is
miracle-stopping facts,
then you probably don’t even
believe
(though you may think you
do)
in the first place:
In which case
food-fasting won’t help;
it would just be
an empty, ‘religious’, exercise.
, Perhaps see second cell (starting
Andrew has read)
, of earlier section: ABOUT ANDREW WOMMACK.
If you’ve renewed all of your
mind:
such that none of your knowledge
is
miracle-stopping facts,
then you:
won’t need to food-fast
to do miracles.
,, ,, ,, ,, ‘Do’ is the verb used in the KJV. (Though see Acts c3 v12 & v16.) ,,
, Perhaps see
earlier section: WHAT
IS A RENEWED MIND? , , , ,
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The heart/spirit, on the other hand, does not
process.
So, the heart/spirit is not affected
by sugar deprivation, i.e. by fasting.
The
mind:
is both static and dynamic,
both knows and thinks.
But
the heart/spirit is only static,
contains no processes:
It: ‘knows’ what it
‘knows’
& that’s the
end of it.
Or rather:
believes what it believes
& that’s the
end of it.
So, relative to the mind,
the heart/spirit, if it needs it, gets a boost when you’re
fasting.
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Practical tips:
, When you are
food-fasting: don’t try thinking; thinking won’t work well.
, Instead of trying to
think, just believe, and express yourself,
, i.e. let your heart/spirit express itself (e.g.
in tongues).
, When fasting – you may
find you hear God more, and more clearly,
, because the world is
out of your mind.
, While fasting, – drink
water; other drinks keep your digestive system active.
, By the third day
your digestive system will have switched off
, so the hunger vanishes
because you are slowly converting body fat into sugar.
, Note ‘slowly’:
, Fat-to-sugar
conversion provides a much lower flow of energy than normal.
, So, depending on
your age, build, metabolic rate, fitness, and fat reserves,
, avoid work, just
do sufficient exercise.
, That thinking won’t work well means that
earthly focus may not work well
either.
, So, go easy on
driving. No long or hard
journeys. Perhaps no driving at all.
, When you’ve finished
praying & fasting:
, spend the same
number of days coming off fasting
, as the number of
days you spent fasting.
, I.E. Build up your
food intake gradually:
, If you’ve
fasted for a week, – start breaking the fast with a little juice the first
day,
, tiny amounts
of easily digested foods the next, building up gradually.
, This is so you slowly increase the load on your
digestive system.
, Eating normally,
immediately after weeks of praying & fasting, can, and has, killed.
, Even before the end
of a 40 day fast, even without moving about much,
, fat reserves will
have gone so that muscles will be being consumed.
, And that’s for fit
adults. Some people have died of
fasting – long before 40 days.
, So don’t fast if
you’re a child or pregnant or diabetic or weak in any way.
, It’s prayer and fasting. God’s self-sacrifice is what you
should be focussing on
, while you’re
fasting. Not the fact that you are
fasting.
, The longest I’ve
fasted for is only three days
, (I’m in my 60’s, my
job is very active, and I lead a busy family life).
, Hence some of this
cell is in brown text – gleaned from Andrew Wommack’s teachings.
, Personally I reckon
renewing your mind is better than fasting (see rest of this webpage).
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Whether it’s fasting, or some other kind of
effort:
Your effort does not cause the miracle.
Your effort only allows the miracle
by stopping hindrances (i.e.
unbelief) within you.
Only your belief, in the Cross, causes the miracle.
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Your
effort is – you doing something.
The cross is – God having done something:
something safely
locked in the past,
something you
merely have to believe.
, Perhaps see earlier section:
, WHAT IS A BELIEVER? WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? , , , ,
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FASTING GENERALLY
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To cause a miracle:
o We don’t
need our power.
o We need only God’s power.
However, we Christians
already have God’s power
inasmuch as we have God’s
Spirit.
Hence prayer & fasting are not about power.
They are about authority.
See earlier section: GOD THE SPIRIT, , , ,
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We can fast, not only in food, but also in sex:
1 Cor c7 v2-6:
People should have loving marriages,
and refrain from sex only so
as to pray,
though only for a short
while. my
abbreviation
A married couple might fast
from married sex:
Not because married sex
is not holy. It is holy.
But because it’s
earthly, like eating:
it makes you feel
content,
like there’s
nothing that desperately needs to be done.
It’s not the right
feeling to go with praying.
Hence you might want to
avoid food & sex,
along with other,
distractingly earthly, activities,
for a short while, in order
to pray.
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Fasting from married
sex
does not have the biological
mechanism
of food fasting. Perhaps see previous section.
Instead it’s your heart/spirit exercising
authority
over your body & mind.
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Whatever
earthly activities you still have to do
while fasting (though draw a line at worldly
activities),
try to make sure that you
have:
already renewed your mind:
every room of your mind,
every area of your life.
Then, if a crisis occurs,
such that a miracle is needed,
you can successfully command
it, in Jesus’ name.
, See fifth cell (starting Praying
takes time)
, of later section: PRAYING & FASTING.
, Perhaps follow RENEW
MIND links
, in second cell
, of later section: THE NEW YOU (this
link does not open a new tab).
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THE NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXT
OF FASTING
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God’s Spirit went into Jesus
then immediately led him into the wilderness
where he stayed for forty days:
Matt c3 v13 – c4 v11 Mark c1 v9-13 Luke c3 v21-23 & c4 v1-13
While there, God’s Spirit prompted him to:
o Fast (eat no food, drink only water).
, Jesus was fully God, but also fully
human.
, That’s why he needed to fast for so long.
o Be tempted by Satan
so that he could say
“No” to Satan.
o And, I reckon, pray to God his Father,
both talking and
hearing.
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Or, to put it another way:
I reckon Jesus prayed & fasted for forty days
to finish
off renewing his mind:
o End the
earthliness of his life
with
its earthly priorities:
His
beliefs:
ever
copied, by his heart/spirit,
from
his heart/spirit,
to his mind,
now
overriding earthly expectations.
o Be alone, away from the world:
So that he
could hear, clearly,
not only
Satan, but also his Father.
o Be alone,
away from the world:
So that Satan could not speak to him
through family & friends.
, Like Satan later spoke to him
, through Peter. Matt c16 v16-23 Mark c8 v33 .
o Etc.
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Jesus is one with, and is the image of,
his Father. John c10 v30 Heb c1 v3
So Jesus had always had
a telepathic connection with his Father,
and a nearly renewed mind. Luke c2 v39-52
Hence, any Old Testament scripture
Jesus hadn’t read,
the Father, via the Spirit,
would’ve told him about.
And, any OT scripture the Father
thought needed perfecting,
the Father, via the Spirit,
would’ve also told him about:
, E.G. Old Testament, , , , New Testament
, Deut c24 v1-4 Gen c2 v19-25, , Matt c19 v3-12 Mark c10 v2-12
So, unlike our minds, Jesus’ mind was nearly renewed
even before he had the Spirit.
In this, Jesus had a head start over us.
Perhaps
follow RENEW MIND links
in second cell
of later section: THE NEW YOU (this link
does not open a new tab), , , ,
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Satan tempted Jesus for the whole forty days Luke c4 v2a,,,,,
(though, presumably, in an intermittent way).
Near the end of fasting
& praying,
when Jesus was starving,
Satan tempted him with:
Matt c4 v1-11 Luke c4 v1-13:
“Create some food. Do good to yourself.
You don’t need the Father
(decrease your relationship with him).
Act from only the flesh,
not from the heart/spirit.” my
abbreviation
Implying that the Father is mean spirited, not
loving.
(when
in fact, afterwards,
the Father sent angels, with
food, to Jesus).
Other than this fast, Jesus practiced the opposite of fasting.
E.G. He ate just before his trials in the garden of Gethsemane.
Matt c26 Mark c14,,,,,
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Once our minds are renewed
they no longer need to be stilled
by fasting:
When all of your mind
is as Jesus’ mind:
o Full
of belief.
o Containing
no unbelief (doubts) about:
God’s unconditional love for us
and
his great knowledge, wisdom, & power,
o Grateful
to, and allied to, God.
then
your mind is completely renewed
and prolonged fasting becomes
irrelevant.
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Prolonged fasting became
irrelevant as follows:
During Jesus’ ministry
the disciples pretty much
just watched & learned.
For they had God’s Spirit
(even though only temporarily).
Hence fasting was
unnecessary.
Matt c9 v14-15a Mark c2 v18-19 Luke c5 v33-34
Then, during the nine lonely
days, after Jesus had gone,
but before God’s Spirit had permanently come:
Matt c9 v15b Mark c2 v20 Luke c5 v35:
The disciples felt, desperately,
the need to fast. my abbn
Then, after the disciples had
permanently received God’s
Spirit,
, Having already renewed their minds.
, See first cell of earlier section:
, HOW TO RENEW YOUR
MIND: SOME DETAILS.
such
a carnal tool as fasting:
the
physical – trying to correct – the spiritual,
the body – trying
to correct – the mind,
was shown to be useless
compared to having God’s
Spirit & a renewed mind.
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Jesus
said:
Matt c9 v10-17 Mark c2 v1 – c3 v6 Luke c5 v27 – c6 v11:
A
new unshrunk patch
cannot be sown onto an old shrunk
garment.
New wine cannot ferment
in used,
stretched, brittle, wineskins. my abbreviation
The above text is in only Matthew
Mark & Luke. Not John.
Yet Jesus’ new commandment is in
only John. John c13 v34-35
Hence the Matthew Mark & Luke links that I give
extend beyond
the text that I give
so as to reveal the overall
subject.
The overall subject being:
Jesus’ new commandment
is infinitely better
than
the old commandments.
Indeed, the entire New
Covenant
is infinitely better
than
the entire Old
Covenant.
Forgiveness, God’s
Spirit, & a renewed mind,
are infinitely better
than fasting, Jewish
laws, sacrifices, & punishments.
(Though the Old
Covenant is vital
for understanding the
New Covenant.
Also that’s the order
things happened in.)
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, Perhaps see earlier section:
, CONCLUSION: HOW IT
ALL WORKS
, and its subsection:
, THE NEW REPLACES THE
OLD, ,
, , .
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PRAYING & FASTING
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A
good prayer would not be:
the Lord’s Prayer
, Perhaps see earlier
section:
, THE LORD’S PRAYER.
A good prayer may well be:
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, etc,”
because it gets your mind off the problem
and onto the answer:
Twice, in ch3, of his
book Ever Increasing Faith,
Smith Wigglesworth tells of
successful healings
where those praying turned
their focus
from the problem to the
answer
by simply whispering (ever
louder) the name ‘Jesus’.
,, ,, Perhaps see
Mark Hemans’ preaching at the beginning of:
,, ,, YouTube: – old Coast Highlights OUTPOURING of the Holy Spirit,
,, ,, joy, deliverance, miracles, healing, power:
,, ,, from 5m 50s to
12m 6s.
Prayer is not so much what you say
as where you are:
You are either on one side
of the fence:
with your agenda
and your needs,
talking through
the fence to God
listening hard to
hear him.
Or you are on the other side
of the fence:
with God’s agenda
and no needs,
God hearing your
every thought
you hearing his
every whisper.
Perhaps see fifth cell (starting 2) The second reason the Father )
of earlier section: WHAT’S WRONG WITH A
VISIBLE SOLUTION?.
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The book of Acts shows that, in the early
church:
The whole church prayed generally.
Individual Christians prayed
generally.
But, as well as that:
Individual Christians
sometimes prayed, briefly,
just before they commanded a
miracle.
Acts c9 v36-43 Acts c28 v7-8.
, See five cells
(starting Jesus
explains)
, in earlier section: WHY GOD’S WORDS HAVE POWER.
, and the links within
them.
, (This link does not
open a new tab.)
Before Acts, back in Mark’s gospel,
Jesus said that Christians would find
that praying briefly is necessary
before doing a miracle.
‘Do’ is the verb used
in the KJV. (Though see Acts c3 v12 & v16.) ,,
Mark c9 v28-29 (full account Mark c9 v14-29.):
And
when he was come into the house,
his disciples asked him
privately,
Why could not we cast
him out?
And he said to them,
This kind can come
forth by nothing,
but by prayer and fasting. KJV
, The last two words are, I reckon, forged. So I’ve made them very pale grey.
, Perhaps see earlier section: BIBLE VERSES THAT I OMIT., ,
I reckon that, in
the above scripture, by: ‘this kind’:
Jesus did not mean: ‘this kind of demon’
but rather: ‘this kind of situation’.
Situations where:
the patient is
visually & audibly possessed
the cancer is
visible & large
the limb is
missing
the face is
ruined
the behaviour is
insane & vigorous
etc.
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Same account, different gospel:
Matt
c17 v18-20 (full account Matt c17 v14-20.):
And Jesus
rebuked the devil;
and he departed out of him:
and the child
was cured from that very hour.
Then came the
disciples to Jesus apart, and said,
Why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus
said unto them,
Because of your unbelief:
for verily I say unto you,
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard
seed,
ye shall say unto this mountain,
Remove hence to yonder place;
and it shall remove;
and nothing shall be impossible unto you. KJV
, I reckon verse 21 is forged – so I haven’t included it.
, Perhaps see earlier section: BIBLE VERSES THAT I OMIT, , , ,
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Having God’s Spirit and a completely renewed
mind
means you don’t need to fast.
See sixth cell (starting Prolonged fasting
became irrelevant)
of earlier section: THE NEW TESTAMENT
CONTEXT OF FASTING.
That the early church fasted,
Acts c10 v30-31 Acts c13 v2-4 Acts c14 v23 1 Cor c7 v5,, ,,
merely shows that they were as imperfect as we are
and/or they were praying about some important issues.
Bear in mind that it’s praying and fasting.
Not commanding and fasting.
Fasting may be of great help
to you
when praying over a number
of days
(presumably about something
important).
If you do fast, bear in mind that:
It’s the praying that’s vital.
The fasting merely helps the
praying.
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Praying
takes time, especially if you’re also fasting.
Hence pray (and fast) before a need
or want arises.
Likewise do the big job of renewing your mind
before all needs or wants arise:
Perhaps
follow RENEW MIND links
in second cell
of later section: THE NEW YOU (this
link does not open a new tab).
Jesus mind was already completely
renewed
so he had no unbelief.
So he never needed to
‘suddenly fast’ to do a miracle.
Every
time Jesus went ‘AWOL’ to pray
he didn’t seem to take food
with him.
So I suspect that, after his
initial 40 day fast,
he fasted for those,
relatively short, periods of time.
If so, I suspect that the
apostles, later, in Acts,
lived a similar lifestyle.
People came to them out of
the blue for healing
so they had no time to fast.
They still needed to heal
people
even if they’d just had
breakfast.
There’s no record of them
postponing or prolonging
a healing. They commanded, in Jesus’ name,
and the person was healed.
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So I
conclude that:
A completely renewed mind
needs to maintain itself
by praying, perhaps with short
fasting,
to counteract living in the world
the rest of the time.
As the average Christian
cannot help but be
regularly influenced by the world,
likewise he/she must also
regularly retreat from the world
to be alone with God.
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If God tells you to do something
so antisocial, so unintuitive,
as to yank a disabled person
up, out of their wheelchair,
declaring that they are
healed,
as your act of faith, Acts c3 v7
then you too will need to have been alone with God.
, Perhaps see earlier section: ACTS
OF FAITH, ,
, ,
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This is how Smith
Wigglesworth lived:
He was initially a stutterer, a quiet inhibited man.
But I reckon that his Yorkshire get-to-the-point-ness
combined with his huge
spiritual growth as a Christian
led him to a lifestyle where
he:
o Rarely went more than half an hour
without praying
or reading the Bible.
o Preached
well,
inspiring faith
in others.
See: YouTube: –
Kenneth Copeland retells
, , , Smith Wigglesworth raising a man
from the dead.
, , ,,,,I don’t approve of Kenneth Copeland
himself because he loves money.
Smith
Wigglesworth walked silently past
the other mourners.
Then he commanded,
loudly, three times,
for the corpse to rise.
Antisocial? No, logical.
Smith knew he would get
only sadness
and resolve that the
dead stay dead
from the other
mourners.
It wouldn’t have been
on their minds that it would rise,
let alone at the
forefront of their minds
where it would’ve
needed to have been.
, Perhaps see earlier section: UNBELIEF
, and its subsections.
See: YouTube: – God's
Generals Series - Smith Wigglesworth,
13m 15s to:
17m 20s:
Smith swung his fist, fast
& hard,
into the patient’s
stomach, killing him.
He then ignored the
doctor’s legal threats
(a doctor who’d seen others, in the prayer line,
get healed).
Thuggish? No, logical.
Believers who are
medical professionals
have had a training
that is
entirely natural, none
of it miraculous.
So they often have
huge amounts of unbelief.
, See
Andrew Wommack’s
, God
wants you well: Why isn’t everyone healed?
, from
47mins to 49mins.
, , , Scientific knowledge (e.g. medical
knowledge):
, , , , , in the mind, next to
the mind’s belief,
, , , , , given significance alongside the mind’s belief,
, , , , , so that it counteracts the mind’s belief,
, , , constitutes:
, , , , , unbelief,
, , , and unbelief hinders
the miraculous.
, , , Perhaps see earlier section: UNBELIEF
, and its subsections.
In Andrew Wommack’s: Hardness of Heart: The Cure,
from: 16m 20s
to: 44m 15s,
Smith ignored the ladies’ concerns
and the congregation’s rebukes.
Arrogant? No, logical.
In his own, apparently unloving,
way
Smith did
what Jesus told all of us to do:
be concerned about what God thinks of you,
never about what people think of you.
, , , , , Matt c6 v16-18 Luke c18 v9-14
To rest:
to rely only on God to do the miracles
and not to stress &
strain,
and:
to never think about
what people think of you,
only what God thinks of you,
is a result of:
you being alone with
God.
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Unlike
Peter, who, in his human nature,
was a forceful person,
Perhaps
see later section:
GOD’S
KIND OF LOVE – AGAPE LOVE,
AND MERE NATURAL HUMAN LOVE
and the section after it.
Smith, in his
human nature,
was not.
Up until age forty-eight
approx:
o Smith stuttered and was shy.
o The
only Christian ministry he could manage
was to give
children pony rides to meetings.
o He
retreated at the mere idea of preaching.
It wasn’t until after that,
having persistently sought
God
and having been baptised in
the Holy Spirit,
, , Perhaps see
earlier section: BIBLICAL
PHRASES.,,,,,
that
Smith became forceful.
Though only spiritually
forceful.
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So, while a man’s
forcefulness is usually earthly,
Smith’s forcefulness was a product of agape love:
from his own changed
self 1 Cor c13 NIV
and from God’s Spirit within
him.
When someone asked Smith
why he hit people when he healed them,
he replied that he hit the illness,
or that he hit the demon behind the illness
that was encouraging the illness:
that discouraged the patient from believing
that God would heal
them,
and even encouraged the
patient
to accept the illness.
That he wasn’t hitting the
person,
the person just got in the
way.
, See last three cells (starting: So, there are
occasions)
, of earlier section: HOW
DEMONS ARE ABLE TO DO THINGS.
Virtually none of Smith’s patients
complained.
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Jesus & the apostles
did not hit people when they healed them.
But that does not mean that
such methods are demonic.
They may be part of a
passing phase that the church is in,
an inferior, passing, phase.
, Perhaps see earlier
section: GOD’S METHODS.
, All blue text copied
from earlier section: ANGER
& HATRED, , , ,
Unlike Smith, Mark Hemans does not
hit people.
But he does shout his
commands, in Jesus’ name,
at demons, to get them
out. Though not in the flesh,
and always relying only on
God.
Eyes see only shouting or
quietness, hitting or not hitting.
But it’s the, invisible, the relying only on God, that matters.
, , See eighth cell
(starting Mark Hemans)
, , of earlier section: ABOUT BIBLICAL TEACHER-HEALERS GENERALLY,
, , and some of Mark’s
many YouTube links that follow that.
, , (This link does not open a new tab.)
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This site is called How Christianity Works.
So the principles in it aren’t necessarily ones you apply.
They are principles God’s Spirit applies:
It usually takes too long,
and is unnecessary,
for you to compute a
situation to know what to do.
It’s quicker, simpler, and
more reliable,
to listen to, and to obey,
God’s Spirit.
Just believe, and renew your
mind.
, See first cell of earlier section:
, WHAT
IS A BELIEVER? WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? , , , , , ,
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If you want practical guidance on praying
then I highly recommend Andrew Wommack’s book: A better way to pray.
See earlier section: INTRODUCTION, , , ,
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Home page
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Next webpage:
Worship & Praise.
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