Numbers 21:1-22:20 ~ Luke 1:26-56 ~ Psalm 57:1-11 ~ Proverbs 11:9-11
Today is the 14th day of March. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you for another day. Man, we are like already almost in the center of the month of March and it is a blooming delight in the rolling hills of Tennessee. This is a great time of year actually, where all of the hills, they turn fertile and green and lush and new life springs forth everywhere, bursting forth. So if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, no matter where you are in the world, it is coming. It is coming. I know those of you in the Southern Hemisphere are moving toward autumn which is also a beautiful time of year. But it is beautiful here in the rolling hills of Tennessee.
So let’s dive into our reading for today. We’ve been reading from the Expanded Bible this week. Numbers chapter 21, verse 1 through 22, verse 20 today.
Commentary
Yesterday we started the gospel of Luke, which is the third gospel in the scriptures and we watched Zechariah before the Lord burning incense when he encounters the angel Gabriel and he is promised a son. We talked about it yesterday. He reaction was, “How can I be sure this is going to happen?” Today the angel Gabriel has another visit to a maiden named Mary in the Galilee. Her response is quite a bit different.
She has some questions because Gabriel is telling her she is going to have a baby. She is engaged to be married, so she can assume that she is probably going to have a baby, so what is he talking about? She has to process that while she is processing the fact the there is a man talking to her who is claiming to be an angel of God. So her response is saying, “How am I going to have a baby? I haven’t been with a man.” That is an honest response, but as the angel begins to explain to her, she begins to grow curious and believed maybe this could be really happening Then she realizes this is really happening and God is calling her. So rather than ‘how can I be sure this will happen,’ her response becomes ‘I am the Lord’s servant. Let this happen to me as you say.’
It’s two different enunciations, two different announcements of a foretold child, two very different responses to the news. Where are we on the continuum between the two? Because the Holy Spirit is here leading and guiding us. The Holy Spirit ranks higher than the angel Gabriel. So when the Lord speaks to us by his Holy Spirit or through his word, what is our response? ‘How can I be sure this is going to happen?’ or ‘I am the Lord’s servant. Let this happen as you say.’ Food for thought today. May we take some time to observe our responses and our reactions. Where do we go first? Prove it or I believe you?
Prayer
Holy Spirit, we invite you into that. There are not very many days that go by that you are not challenging us in some way, in some soft spot. But we welcome this. We’ve resisted it for too long and now we’re embracing it because you’re pulling us toward the narrow path that leads to life. If we will follow you, we will follow the path that leads to wholeness. We admit we’ve ignored plenty, but we want the kind of intimacy and collaboration that allows us from our hearts to say ‘whatever you say, that’s fine. As long as we’re together. As long as we’re navigating life together, whatever you say.’ So Father, we say that. Whatever you say, because whatever that is, it is right. It is true. And it is holy. So come Holy Spirit as we contemplate our reactions to your presence in our lives. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. James, the teacher in LA. I just finished listening to the March 9th podcast and I heard Tito in California. Tito, I haven’t heard you in a while, but it was good to hear your voice. I’ve missed you. And Tito, I just gotta echo what you said for Dean. Dean, actually I kind of wanted to call in when I heard your prayer request the first time, but I wasn’t sure because I feel sometimes like I overstep because I do it a lot in my personal life when I talk to these people. But Dean, let me just assure you, if you’ve ever felt like you don’t fit in, you’re definitely in the right community because I think there are a lot of us here in the Daily Audio Bible who have felt that way. And I think a lot of people just feel that way in life. They don’t want to talk about it because it makes you feel weird. But Dean, I can assure you, I spent years feeling like I didn’t fit in with groups of friends here and there and even more, especially at church. I didn’t grow up in church. I didn’t grow up religious. I grew up the opposite of religious. There are probably a lot of us also here at the Daily Audio Bible. But you know what? When you find people who love Jesus and the Spirit of God is in them, they open up to you because you have the Spirit in you too. We’re family. We love you, Dean. You fit in because you are part of Christ, no matter how you look or how advanced your whole thing is. And that’s it. You are welcome. Bye-bye.
Hey Brian and Daily Audio Bible family. I’ve been listening fairly loyally since before Ezekiel was born, I believe, and probably a good year before then. It’s been such a good experience to have that strength given to me. Early in the morning is when I usually do it. My pridefulness has probably kept me from doing this for six months, maybe eight, and that is I just finally have to reach out. Listening to a commentary by a man named Ray Stedman, who I just love here and how it made me really think how far out on a limb have we, my wife and I taken, how far out we’ve gotten. She took a position in Texas. She didn’t have a job. We didn’t really seek advice. We were just praying that God would make it happen or not happen. And if he wanted it, she would get it. Well, she got it and I have a position in Fort Bragg and I’m not able to leave it. So I need to get a position in Dallas or she needs to be able to come back here. What we’re praying is for God’s will to be revealed and be revealed quickly. We’ve been geographically separated for two years, no, not two years. One year and two years would be devastating. I’ve missed a portion of my daughter’s life and a year of marriage with my wife. I pray for the family to pray to the Lord and him reveal his will and we get that going more. I desperately need his will because it is so good. I need to soar on it. I want my family to be united so I can read the Bible with my daughter. My daughter needs me. I love you guys. Thank you for your strength. Amen. Oh, by the way, maybe I didn’t mention it. My name is Al. Bye-bye.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Prophetic Intercessor Rising Up from North Carolina. I’m a first-time caller and am just so blessed. I’m a first-time listener this year and have been so blessed by the word and by your prayers and by your prayer requests. I wanted to just be obedient to the Holy Spirit this morning and to call in because there have been so many times where he has prompted me to call and I haven’t obeyed because the enemy talks to you and convinces you that it isn’t the thing to do. But I want to call in and pray specifically for Jacqueline, Salvation is Mine in California. I was listening to the March 4th Community Prayer and your prayer so touched me. I wanted to obey God’s Holy Spirit and to call in and to pray for you. I truly woke up this morning, was so heavy-laden with my own problems that when I started listening to your heart, it just lifted me from my low place to stand in the gap for you. I just want to let you know that at those times where we are at our lowest, God has surrounded us with intercessors that are lifting up their collective shields of faith to quench the fiery darts that are coming against us. I just want to pray that God would strengthen you in this hour, that he would let you know that you are never alone, for he said in his word that lo, he is with us always, even to the ends of the very earth. So I pray for you that God’s angels of the highest ranking order would surround you and would minister peace to your heart, minister health to your body, and to let you know that you are never alone for God is with you. He will never forsake you. Even in those times where we cannot trace him and we cannot feel him, that you would trust his character. That you would trust his will for your life, for he said that he has a good will and a good plan for your life, and thoughts of peace and to prosper you and to bring you to an expected end. So I come against the cancer that has riddled your body. I come against the infirmity that has come against you, for God has given us the power to bind it and loose it, so we bind the hopelessness, we bind the…
Hi DAB family. This is Joyce from California calling in to thank Brian for his life-giving commentaries, in particular the ones from January 7th about God keeping his promises to us whether we have faith to believe it or not, January 26th where you taught us about Jesus being fully human, March 3rd and 4th where you taught us about the power of faith. I encourage everyone to go back and listen to those messages together if you haven’t had a chance to do it. This is what I learned. That God has a dream for each of our lives and that even my unbelief cannot deter that dream and blessing, that Jesus was fully human and when we received him as Lord and Savior, we became fully human too because he lives within us. Thus, we each carry within us all the resources on heaven and earth and we are able to solve and overcome any difficulty that life brings. To live this way, though, requires faith and like little Gigi prayed, Lord, I think I believe, help my unbelief, and it is done for us. O Lord God, how we praise you, for you are the author and finisher of our faith. Bless the members of our DAB community. Heal us and pour out your restoration through our lives into this world. Your kingdom come, your will be done. In the precious name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. Love you family. Have a wonderful and blessed day.
Hi beautiful family. This is Drew from the Bay Area. Hey, I’m calling in this morning. I’ll get to the point. I’ll try to talk a little bit faster. I look back on my life and God showed me this morning that praying and my faith that he has given me, it is all about him and what he has done. It wasn’t about my feelings at the time because I felt lost and lonely. I hopped from church to church trying to find a fit for my family. I prayed for God to help me love a woman that I could not love. She couldn’t even love herself, and he did it. I prayed that God would prove to me that he knows my every thought and he proved it to me. I prayed that God would save my mother and that I would be willing to do whatever it takes. He showed me that it wasn’t up to me. What my mother suffered was to prevent her from suffering later. Family, it doesn’t matter what you feel. It matters what God does. We’re to trust him. That is what this is all about. Coming together in faith and trusting him, learning to trust him. And I’ve learned over and over again. He took away lust. He took away my desire for alcohol. He gave me a healthy lust for my ex-wife. He brought me away from my ex-wife for a better life. He brought me away from a bad job to a better job. He takes care of me. He sustains me. He will do the same for you. He’ll heal you like he healed Gigi. Gigi, I’m celebrating with you. I prayed for you. I’m praying for all you, family. I love you. We are one together in Christ. Never forget that. It’s not what we do. It’s what Christ did for us. I love you, family.
This is Candace from Oregon. I need your retroactive prayers. My husband is probably not going to make it. Has had a heart attack and open heart surgery. They can’t really even close him back up right now, so there is some kind of chance there could be a miracle, so you all are the ones I would ask to pray on top of the other 2000 here praying for him. Meanwhile, I just ask for his comfort, in Jesus’ name. And for that for our family. Thank you.