5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: God's Grace Will Find You | 5 Minutes with Jesus | February 5, 2026
- I just want you to know, whatever your past,
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- Whatever your story, whatever you're living out
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- Right now, you are invited to the table.
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- Not just you.
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- Don't just get to sit at the kid's table with the lord.
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- You are invited to come and take your place
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- And let the tablecloth of grace cover you in
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- Jesus name.
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- Scripture is full of stories of grace.
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- But of all the stories of grace found in god's word.
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- The one apart, obviously, from the cross of christ
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- That moves me most, is found tucked deep
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- Into the heart of king david's story.
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- And honestly, it's kind of an obscure passage
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- About a man whose name i can barely pronounce.
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- His name is mephibosheth.
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- Well, the story is found in second samuel chapter nine,
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- And he is the only survivor of king saul's family.
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- After saul and jonathan have been killed in battle.
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- Now this seems barbaric to us.
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- But it was the custom in those days
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- That when a new king ascended the throne,
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- All the descendants of the previous king were slaughtered
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- To remove even the possibility of a revolt.
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- Well, jonathan, david's close friend, had asked david
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- To show grace to his family where none was expected.
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- And david said he would.
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- Not only had david made a promise to his beloved friend,
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- But he also made a promise
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- To saul johnson's father before he died.
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- This is what saul said to david.
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- Now i realize that you are surely going to be king,
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- And that the kingdom of israel will flourish under your rule.
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- Now swear to me by the lord that when that happens,
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- You will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants.
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- This says, david promised this to saul with an oath.
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- I think it's interesting that saul would ask that of david,
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- Because david was a man of his word, for saul was not.
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- What could he do now to honor that promise?
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- Saul and jonathan were dead,
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- And as far as david knew, there were no absolutely
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- No survivors. and they're lying.
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- But still, he'd made a promise.
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- And so he determined to find out.
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- So he called for a man called ziba,
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- Who was one of saul's former servants.
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- And he asked him,
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- Do you know what anyone from saul's line who's still alive?
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- Well, he battled it.
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- Well, actually, one of jonathan's sons is still alive.
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- He's crippled in both feet.
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- I often wonder why he told him that detail.
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- Was he trying to let david know that this crippled man
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- Will not fit into your lovely palace?
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- Well, when you look at this man's life, have a chef's.
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- You can hardly pronounce his name.
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- People had suffered a lot over his lifetime.
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- And second samuel, chapter four, verse four.
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- We find out what happened to him.
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- He was just five years old when the report came from
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- Jezreel that saul and jonathan had been killed in battle.
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- Well, when the child's nurse heard the news, she knew
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- She had to pick him up and flee because he would be killed.
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- But as she hurried away, she dropped him
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- And he became crippled.
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- We don't know if she tripped or he struggled,
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- But he fell so hard that he broke his legs
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- And have been crippled ever since.
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- And the interesting thing about mephibosheth
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- He lived in a place called low debar,
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- Which actually translates as no pasture land.
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- So for years this man had been hidden away
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- In a graceless, colorless place
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- Until grace would come looking for him.
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- I can imagine what he must have thought when david's men
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- Knocked on the door that day.
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- Perhaps he'd spent years waiting for the other shoe to drop,
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- Waiting to be discovered that somebody had survived,
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- And now what he dreaded had come to pass.
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- But no, as he was brought and stood in front of the king,
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- King david soaked this crippled man to the skin in grace.
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- He told him, not only will your life be spared.
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- David told him that everything that used to belong
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- To your grandfather saul, would now be his.
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- But grace was even better than this.
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- Not only was he offered everything
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- That had belonged to saul,
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- He was offered a seat at king david's table.
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- He was welcomed home as family.
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- The tablecloth of grace covered his feet.
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- And that is the father's love.
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- Your son is.
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- We look at certain people and we think, well,
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- They have been favored by god.
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- Everything's gone well in their life.
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- Everything is great.
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- And maybe you look at your own life
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- Or your upbringing or of your family,
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- And you think, you know what?
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- I'm not as loved.
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- I just want you to know that's not.
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- That's not true.
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- God's grace invites every single one of us
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- To a seat at his family table.
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- You know, i was a girl who grew up with.
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- With no father.
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- We were pretty poor growing up.
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- We lived in housing provided by the government.
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- We had my brother, my sister and i were the only
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- Ones who got free school meals and free school uniforms.
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- But the amazing thing is, because i had a mom
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- Who loved jesus and who knew that
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- He was a father, that god is a father
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- Who cares for the widow and cares for the fatherless.
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- We knew that we were loved.
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- I just want you to know, whatever your past,
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- Whatever your story, whatever you're living out
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- Right now, you are invited to the table.
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- Not just you.
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- Don't just get to sit at the kid's table with the lord.
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- You are invited to come and take your place
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- And let the tablecloth of grace
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- Cover you in jesus name.
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- Let me pray for you.
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- Father, your grace is overwhelming.
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- It is amazing.
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- We understand why he wrote that hymn.
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- Because what other words do we have to describe?
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- The kind of grace that would welcome all of us to your table,
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- That would say, come as you are,
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- From the richest to the poorest, from those who feel the most
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- Gifted, to those who feel that they've been given very little.
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- But every single one of us is welcome to your table
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- And given a place and told welcome home,
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- You belong here.
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- Thank you.
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- In jesus name, amen.
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