365 Promises

[Hosanna]

Promise #140:
All My blessings will overtake those who obey Me.

Deuteronomy 28:2 (WEB)
and all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you,
if you shall listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

Deuteronomy 28 is a chapter that starts with all of the promises of God to Israel if they simply listen to the voice of God and follow His ways. We read that there are a truckload of blessings that God wants to pour on all of us who simply say 'yes' to His plans and purposes. In today's promise, we read that these blessings will actually overtake us as we live our daily lives.

When I think of God's blessings overtaking us, I picture everyone running the race marked out for them that the writer of Hebrews mentions in chapter 12:1-2 and while we are running, God's blessings catch up to us and overwhelm us!

I know it wouldn't be fair to mention Deuteronomy 28 and all of the blessings that God desires to give without also acknowledging that this same chapter ends with all the curses that await those who disobey Him. I really don't want to dwell on the last half of this chapter because I know that it is our Father's heart to bless and not to curse.

The New Covenant is a covenant of blessings. We know from Galatians 3:13-14 that Christ became a curse for us so that the blessing that God blessed Abraham with would be ours in Christ. In Ephesians 1:3 we read that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places because of Jesus. God's heart is that His blessings would overtake you in every area of your life today.


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[Hosanna]

Promise #141:
I know what you need before you even ask.

Matthew 6:8 (WEB)
Therefore don’t be like them,
for your Father knows what things you need,
before you ask him.

In Matthew 6, Jesus is instructing the listeners on how to pray to their heavenly Father. We don't have to stand on street corners shouting prayers out loud so everyone can hear us and we don't have to spend endless hours in repetitive babble thinking that somehow that will influence God. God is a good Father and He is simply looking for His kids to talk to Him.

Jesus tells us in this passage of Scripture that our God and Father is so attentive to our needs that He actually knows what we need before we even ask Him for it! We don't have to shout to get His attention! We don't have to spend hours in vain repetition to convince Him to listen! He is already listening... even before we pray a single word!

What an awesome Father we have! He is loving, He is good and He is kind. He knows what you need before you even ask! That doesn't mean we shouldn't ask though. He loves when we take time in our own prayer closet just to talk to Him. Anytime... night or day!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #142:
I open prison doors and set captives free.

Isaiah 61:1 (WEB)
The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is on me;
because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and release to those who are bound;

Isaiah 61 was a prophetic declaration of the ministry that Jesus would usher in when He started His public ministry. God's heart has always been to proclaim good news for everyone who needs to hear it. He opens up every prison door and He sets every captive free! Hallelujah for a Savior who is so committed to our personal freedom!

His proclamation of freedom is as relevant today as it was the day that Isaiah penned these words. God wants us to be completely free because where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty! (2 Corinthians 3:17) My prayer today is that every prison door that still holds us captive would be consumed by the love of God so that we could live a really free life. It is for the very love of freedom that Jesus has set you and I free! (Galatians 5:1)

May each one of us experience a deeper level of God's freedom today than we have experienced before. May every weight be lifted off our shoulders and may the joy of the Lord be our strength. He never created us to be captive. We were created to be free!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #147:
Those who overcome will eat from the tree of life in paradise.

Revelation 2:7 (WEB)
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the Paradise of my God.

In chapters 2 and 3 in the book of Revelation, we read how Jesus has a specific message for seven of the churches that were around in that day. The words that Jesus spoke to these churches was very sobering indeed, but I think it is important to remember that each one of His messages ended with a promise.

In today's Scripture passage, Jesus finishes off His exhortation to the church at Ephesus with the promise that those who overcome will eat of the tree of life in the garden of God. This is an incredible promise of complete restoration for all those who are in Christ. Everything in humanity's history began in a garden and it was from those lofty heights that Adam and Eve fell. It has always been God's heart to restore to His people to all that was lost the day Adam and Eve left the garden.

In today's promise, Jesus reminds us that those who overcome will be restored to even more glory than what Adam and Eve enjoyed before they fell. No matter how difficult life can get here on earth, may we all be reminded that our destiny is to live forever, completely restored to all that our Father originally intended for us. Because of the finished work of our Elder Brother Jesus, you and I will one day taste of the choicest fruit from the tree of life itself. Hallelujah!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #148:
I have prepared amazing things for those who love Me.

1 Corinthians 2:9 (WEB)
But as it is written,
“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear,
which didn’t enter into the heart of man,
these God has prepared for those who love him.”

When my wife and I host a birthday party or special event for our loved ones, there is a lot of preparation that goes into planning before hand. The meal, the decorations, the dessert and the gift are all given careful consideration because we want everything to be perfect. There is always a sense of excitement and anticipation as the big day approaches and we countdown to the celebration. I wonder if this is how God feels when He is preparing for us?

1 Corinthians 2:9 says that even in our wildest imagination we can't possibly fathom the amazing things that God has prepared for us. Verse 10 goes on to say that even though we can't grasp these amazing things in our own ability, God has chosen to reveal them to us by His Spirit.

My prayer today is that each one of us would ask the Holy Spirit to reveal more of the amazing things of the kingdom that our God and Father has prepared for us. May the Spirit of God give us power today to grasp how deep, how wide, how long and how high is His love for us in Jesus so that we might be filled to the full measure of the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Ephesians 3:20-21
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (NIV)


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[Hosanna]

Promise #149:
Those who are pure in heart will see My face.

Matthew 5:8 (WEB)
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.

In the Old Testament, a person could not look on the face of God and live to tell about it. Even Moses, who was one of God's closest friends, couldn't look at the Lord's face and live. Yet in this passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that those who are pure in heart will see God face to face.

The reason that we will be able to see God and not be consumed is because of Jesus and the price that He paid so that His life would become our life. Because of His death and resurrection, His righteousness has now become our righteousness. The Bible says that we are hid with Christ in God right now! (Colossians 3:1-3) Jesus' holiness has now become our holiness and Jesus' Father has now become our Father (John 20:17).

My prayer today is that the Spirit of God would make the benefits of our salvation more real to us today than ever before. Because of Jesus, we now have access into the throne room of God 24/7 without the fear of being consumed. We can boldly approach our God and Father with confidence night or day, because we have full access to Him in Christ! ...Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #150:
I began the good work in you and I will finish it.

Philippians 1:6 (WEB)
being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you
will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Before the foundation of the world, God set a plan in motion. He saw you and He saw me and He made provision through His Son, Jesus Christ for us to be born into His family. (Ephesians 1:3-6) It was because of His great love for us that He devised a plan for us to be able to do the good works that He prepared for us to do even before the world was created. (Ephesians 2:10)

It has always been His work, not ours. It is God's heart, God's vision, and God's power that will bring about all that He has planned and purposed in our lives. That is why the Apostle Paul encourages the Philippians in today's promise to be confident in knowing that the One who began a good work in them would would perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

The NIV Bible says that God... will carry it on to completion, the NLT Bible says that God ...will continue his work until it is finally finished. Whatever translation you prefer, be encouraged in knowing that God has committed His whole heart to you finishing your race.

He started the good work in you and He will finish it on the day that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns to bring us home.


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[Hosanna]

Promise #152:
My love is everlasting and My faithfulness extends to all generations.

Psalm 100:5 (WEB)
For Yahweh is good. His loving kindness endures forever,
his faithfulness to all generations.

Our God and Father is good and His mercy will go on forever and ever. The more that you and I are convinced of the goodness of God, the more we will yield to the extravagant love that He showers on us every day.

The enemy of our soul would try to depict God as a distant, angry, religious, and wrathful judge just waiting for us to make a mistake. That is the furthest thing from the truth, for God is the ultimate expression of love itself. At the very core of our Heavenly Father's heart is a goodness that none of us have experienced this side of heaven. That is why it is so hard for some of us to believe that God's love is really real.

My prayer today is that the Holy Spirit would give all of us a deeper revelation of His goodness so that we could shout out along with the psalmist in today's promise and say... For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. (ESV)


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[Hosanna]

Promise #153:
My righteousness towers like the mountains and My justice goes deep as the sea.

Psalm 36:6 (WEB)
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God.
Your judgments are like a great deep.
Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.

I believe that all creation is constantly speaking about our Father's kindness. In today's promise, King David declares that the righteousness of our God towers like the majestic mountains of the earth and His justice goes as deep as the deepest part of the sea.

In Psalm 103:11-12 David continues this comparison when He declares... 11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (ESV)

If we look for it, every aspect of nature will help us comprehend the greatness of our God. The mountains speak of His righteousness, the seas speak of His justice. The birds and the flowers speak of His daily provision. Thunder and lightning speak of His majesty. May each one of us hear God speaking in all that surrounds us in this great world that we live in.

As Jesus told us in Matthew 6:26... Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (ESV) All creation is bearing witness to the amazing love of our Heavenly Dad. May we see His goodness in a fresh new way today as we look at all that He has created.


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[Hosanna]

Promise #156:
I love you as deeply as a father loves his children.

Psalm 103:13 (WEB)
Like a father has compassion on his children,
so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.

The point of this promise is that God the Father loves us just like a loving father would love and have mercy on his own children. I am continually amazed to see the ongoing analogies throughout the Bible where God wants us to know that He is really a Father to us! Not just a 'father figure', but a real Dad!

Some of you might be reading this promise and thinking about negative past experiences that you have had with your own father and shudder to think that God would treat you in the same way. I think that is one of the most common roadblocks that many of us experience in our journey to know God as Father.

It is very natural for us to project onto God many of the same life experiences that we have had with our earthly fathers. Over the years, we have even heard some comments where people have said to us... "I have had one father and I don't want another one!"

The truth is that God is the perfect Father and He loves us completely and infinitely better than even the best earthly dad. Jesus came to show us what His Father was really like and to bring us into a real, authentic relationship with God as Father. If you don't feel safe relating to God as Father, ask Jesus to show you what He is really like and He will be glad to do it.

A few years ago, I produced a short boasting on the goodness of my Heavenly Dad. It is called... My Dad is the Best Dad in the Universe. If you would like to watch it, click here . You can even copy and paste the script listing all of the verses that I used to produce this video.


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[Hosanna]

Promise #157:
I will not abandon you, for I am glad to make you my own.

1 Samuel 12:22 (WEB)
For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake,
because it has pleased Yahweh to make you a people to himself.

Many people live with an abiding fear that they may be abandoned at any moment. Some of us feel like this because people have let us down in the past while others just don't live with a deep sense of belonging to anything or anyone.

I love this promise because the LORD is settling the issue once and for all by declaring that He has purposed in His heart to not abandon us because of His own great name's sake. Isn't it good news to think that it doesn't depend on you and your good works... but on Him?

This Bible verse says that God is actually very pleased to make you part of His family and for that reason, and that reason alone, He has promised to always stay close by.

When I read this promise and think that I belong to God it blows my mind. Why does He want me? Why am I so valued to Him? The reality is that it is about His great heart for me and not my ability to earn or deserve His affection. The more that I can believe that it is about God's love for me and not my love for Him, the more that I will begin to walk in the tangible reality of living in His love every day of my life.

I do not always live in the knowledge of His love for me because there is still a little orphan in my soul that sometimes strays away from the truth that I belong to God. Maybe you struggle with the same things. If so, my prayer for all of us is that we would know that our Heavenly Father was pleased to make us a part of His family...forever!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #158:
My lovingkindness is more precious than life.

Psalm 63:3 (WEB)
Because your loving kindness is better than life,
my lips shall praise you.

In this promise, the psalmist is making a declaration of God's amazing lovingkindness and how His love is better than life itself. The writer goes on to say that the only appropriate response to such a wonderful love is to live a life of loving God back in the form of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices.

I really believe that every person on the planet was created to respond to love. In 1 John 4:19, it says that we love because He first loved us. God is the ultimate initiator and we are His ultimate responders. When we truly begin to receive His lovingkindness in every area of our lives, the only appropriate response is to love Him back with every fiber of our being and praise His wonderful name!

Our God and Father's desire is that we live in His love all the days of our lives, and be a vessel in which His love can flow to us and then through us. The more that I experience Papa's amazing, unconditional love for me, the more that I join with this verse and declare that God's lovingkindness is better than life!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #159:
I made you holy by the once for all sacrifice of My Son, Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:10 (WEB)
by which will we have been sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

I love the finality of this promise. We are made holy by the once and for all sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. The price He paid two thousand years ago covers our past sins, our present sins and our future sins. There is nothing else that needs to be paid or could be paid. As Jesus cried out on the cross, "It is finished!"

Hallelujah for such a promise! Our sanctification is secure for all eternity because of the finished work of our elder brother, Jesus Christ! As Paul says in Romans 8:1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus! What a glorious promise.

Sometimes it is easy for us to vacillate between living in the forgiveness that God has already given us and feeling guilt and shame. The blood of Jesus has settled this issue once and for all! All we need to do is simply accept this free gift and walk in the assurance that we could never add anything to the amazing, extravagant gift that God the Father has already given us.

When I think of the permanence of Jesus' sacrifice, and how my redemption and sanctification has been secured for eternity, it brings me into a reassuring peace and rest knowing that when God looks at me, He doesn't see all my sin and my shortcomings. ...He sees me through the once and for all finished sacrifice of the spotless Lamb of God. What good news!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #160:
I have removed your sins from you as far as the east is from the west.

Psalm 103:12 (WEB)
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

How far is the east from the west? Since these two anchors point in polar opposite directions for all eternity, I would say that there is no greater way to express the farthest distance than east from west. I love how God has used this analogy to illustrate the promise of what He has done with our sin. He has removed every speck of our sin from us as far as the east is from the west! They could not have been removed any further than that!

Many of us struggle with the continual, ever present awareness of our sinful condition. Somehow we think that our sin consciousness is actually pleasing to God. That somehow we will stay in a posture of humility by remembering how wretched we are.

I believe that the very opposite is true! We are justified by our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ and we know by Hebrews 11:6 that it is our faith that pleases God. So next time the enemy of your soul wants to remind you of all your past failures, declare this promise aloud... God has removed all my sins from me as far as the east is from the west!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #161:
You can enjoy freedom because Christ has set you free.

Galatians 5:1 (WEB)
Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free,
and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

This promise exhorts us to stand firm in the freedom in which Christ has set us free! This is not an option, it is a command. Another version of the Bible says that it is for the very sake of freedom that Christ has set us free. God loves it when we agree with Him and choose to live a life free of bondage and condemnation.

In all of the letters in the New Testament, the saints are always referred to as being new creations in Christ. There is no reason why we should retreat back into the yoke of bondage that we used to live in. Christ has set us free! So enjoy your freedom! Tell others how they can get free too!

Religion will try to keep us in bondage but Jesus came to set us free. In John 8:36, Jesus says that we shall know the truth and that truth will set us free. Anything that keeps us in captivity is not from God. God loves freedom!

When I think of this promise, I am thankful for the freedom that Christ bought for us and it is my prayer that we would not get entangled with the things that used to keep us in bondage. We were all created to live a free life, so enjoy your freedom!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #162:
I have anointed you with My Spirit as a down payment of what is yet to come.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (WEB)
21 Now he who establishes us with you in Christ,
and anointed us, is God; 22 who also sealed us,
and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.

It is amazing to think that God gave us His own Holy Spirit to anoint us and to seal us with His very presence. The gift of His very own heart is but a down payment of what is yet to come! In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul's says that we only see in part, but one day we will see Him face to face. The proof of our citizenship in heaven is that God has placed His own Spirit in the very core of our being now.

The NIV Bible says that He set His "seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." What an amazing promise. We belong to God! There is so much we have to look forward to throughout all eternity because of His desire to make us His own!

When I think of this promise, my prayer is that we will all become more and more sensitive to His loving presence that already lives inside of us. May we all rejoice in the knowledge that Almighty God has given us His own Spirit as a down payment for what is yet to come!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #163:
Every good gift that you receive comes directly from My hand.

James 1:17 (WEB)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.

Just think of this promise for a moment. God is saying that anything good that you receive in your life comes directly from Him. That beautiful sunrise, the twinkle in a loved one's eye, even that raise at work. All good gifts come from the one true Father.

The Bible says that the sun shines on the just and the unjust. So that means His gifts are not just reserved for those who have received the free gift of eternal life. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of Lights.

In James 1:17, it also says that God does not change like shifting shadows. He is the same yesterday, today and forever! Hallelujah for such a gracious, loving Heavenly Father who is a giver at the very center of His heart!

In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus encourages us to keep on asking, seeking and knocking because God is a good Father and delights to give good gifts to His children. Like any healthy father/child relationship, it breaks the Father's heart if we only seek Him for the things He gives us. The gifts He gives are really only the icing on the cake.

The most amazing thing that we can ever receive from God is the gift of Himself! It humbles me to think of this promise. To think how kind and loving, and generous our Heavenly Father is. It just makes me want to run to Him again and again and thank Him for being so good to me!


Father Heart Communications

 

[Hosanna]

Promise #164:
Nothing will be impossible for those who have even a little faith.

Matthew 17:19-20 (WEB)
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, “Why weren’t we able to cast it out?” 20 He said to them,“Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

In this promise, Jesus tells us that even if our faith is as tiny as a mustard seed, we are able to tell a mountain to be thrown into the sea. Since I haven't seen many mountains hurled into the sea lately, I often wonder what Jesus meant when He said these words to His disciples.

Of course we all have many figurative mountains in our lives that we face on a daily basis. Perhaps it isn't the literal mountains around us that need moving, but these figurative ones? Maybe one day we will see literal mountains cast into the oceans, but in the meantime, what are the mountains in your life where you need a miracle? I love the fact that Jesus encourages us that we don't need much faith at all to make a big impact.

From what I understand, a mustard seed is a very small seed, yet Jesus says even if our faith is that small, nothing will be impossible to us. Maybe it is time to start exercising the faith that you have? Start speaking to the mountains in your life with a childlike simplicity, just believing that they have to go away in Jesus name. Who knows what may start to happen?

When I think of this promise, I am reminded of the man who came to Jesus to ask Him to deliver his son and Jesus asked him... Do you believe?. The man responded Lord, I believe, help my unbelief! Jesus didn't rebuke the man for this response but healed his son instantly.

God understands our frailty, yet He continues to encourage us to simply have faith and watch what happens. Today I am going to speak to the mountains in my life, how about you?


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[Hosanna]

Promise #168:
When you walk through the fires of adversity, you will not be burned.

Isaiah 43:2 (WEB)
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned,
and flame will not scorch you.

I took this photo when my wife and I were in New Zealand a few years back. These volcanic geysers continually release boiling hot water onto the earth's surface and it is a truly amazing sight to see. In the natural, no one could walk through these gushing waters without getting burned.

Yet in this Bible verse, God says that even if we walk through fire, we will not be burned. When I think of this promise, I do not think of passing through literal waters or fires, but the raging waters and fires of adversity that we all face in life.

The NLT Bible calls it 'the fire of oppression' that we sometimes experience. I find great comfort in knowing that God promises that He will be with us as we go through our trials and that ultimately these trials will not overcome us.

One day when Jesus comes back or we go home to be with Him, we will be in a place where there is no more pain or suffering. But in this life, we will continue to experience hardships simply because we live in a fallen world. The next time you go through a difficult experience, remember God's promise to be with you in the midst of the trial.

My prayer is that the flames of adversity will not consume you as you pass through them. May you be kept safe in the secret place of the Most High (Psalm 91) no matter what life throws at you!


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[Hosanna]

Promise #169:
No weapon created for your harm will succeed against you.

Isaiah 54:17 (WEB)
No weapon that is formed against you will prevail;
and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment.

It is a reality that we have an enemy that is prowling around like a lion who would like to harm us. We do not have to be fearful or paranoid about this, but it is helpful to be aware of his opposition. In this promise found in Isaiah, God makes the promise that no weapon that is formed against us by any enemy will prosper. He goes on to say that every tongue that judges us will be condemned.

It is encouraging to be reminded that God is on our side and He is fighting for us. No matter what or who opposes us, our Father promises to be with us through every storm and protect us by His great power. This is the heritage of the Lord. This is our birthright! ...To live under the protection of the Most High (Psalm 91).

I realize that this does not mean that we are completely insulated from trials in life. Jesus said in John 16:33 that as long as we are in this world, we will experience trouble. Praise God though that Jesus has overcome the world!

When I think of any opposing forces that are against me, whether they are earthly or demonic, I take great comfort in this promise from my Father... No weapon that has been created for my harm will succeed against me! That is my inheritance and it is your inheritance too!


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