Judges 2:10-3:31 ~ Luke 22:14-34 ~ Psalm 92:1-93:5 ~ Proverbs 14:1-2
Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. Today is the 24th day of April and I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today kind of moving into the rhythm of this brand new week. Like we said yesterday, it’s a new start. We prayed over it. We’re going to live into it. Everything about this week we’ve dedicated to the Lord, and when you do that, it is like great anticipation about what this week could look like if we completely live into it, into the kingdom, into all of our words and activities. So let’s do it.
One of the ways we stay in that message and in that rhythm is through the gentle rhythm that pulls us forward in the scriptures each day. We began the book of Judges yesterday in our Old Testament reading and we’ll continue today, reading from The Voice translation, Judges chapter 2, verse 10 through 3:31 today.
Commentary
We’re getting our way into the book of Judges. We’ve already met a couple of the judges. Some of the stories are short. Some of the stories are more detailed and in depth of the judges in their time, but we’re just watching the generations. God brings up a judge, people follow that judge, victory is accomplished, restoration happens. The next generation comes along and essentially rejects what had gone before and things begin to fall apart until a new judge rises up.
Then, of course, in the book of Luke this is the scene of the last supper. Having just celebrated Easter just a week ago, we have this opportunity to remind ourselves of that story and stay in that story, the story of our redemption.
And then we get to the book of Proverbs and we’re given some pretty pointed clarity. If we’re wise, we’ll build our house up. And this is not just the four walls that surround us and mowing our yard and stuff. It is that, but it is also everything that happens around that, the entire unit. If we’re wise, we’ll build it up. If we’re foolish, we’ll tear it into splinters with our own hands. We can be our own worst enemy in our relationships and we can tear them down splinter by splinter with our own hands. But if we’re wise, that is not what we do. If we are wise, we will build it up.
Proverbs goes on to say whoever travels through life with integrity, a person who lives in honesty and truth and moral uprightness, that is the person who respects God. What is poignant about that is but whoever turns away from integrity hates God. That is direct. This compromise, this sort of situational compromise when we have no sure footing and we’re going to respond based on whatever is best for us, that is not integrity and that is not only disrespect but hate for God, according to the scriptures. Both of those proverbs give us plenty to meditate upon today. I mean, they are short, they are to the point, as the proverbs are, but they are speaking volumes.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, we invite you to keep that with us today, to help us to understand that we can tear down our homes splinter by splinter with our own hands and that when we live in integrity, we are respecting your will, your ways, how you are, how we were created to be. And when we don’t, it’s not only disrespectful, it is hatred. So help us, Holy Spirit, to take these sobering words and apply them to our lives. Show us the areas where we need to stop splintering our relationships and tearing our homes down. Show us the areas where we’re not walking in integrity. We’re completely situationally compromising. Show us these areas because they don’t belong. They are not how we’re made. It’s not the order of things. Come, Jesus, into these places, we ask, this very day. In your precious name, amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website. It’s home base. It’s where you find out what is going on around here so be sure to check it out. One of the things that we have been announcing is that we will be going back to the land of the Bible and so many of the places that we discuss almost on a daily basis are places that we will get to see with our own eyes, turn around in a circle with our own feet and see the surroundings, understand the context. It changes the way that we view and experience the Bible in our own lives each day. So you are invited to pilgrimage along with us. We’ll be going February 19th through March 4th of 2018. I’d love to see you there. You can get more details at www.DailyAudioBible.com. Just scroll down and look for Israel 2018. It’s a little graphical banner. You’ll see it. It will get you where you want to go. Or you can just go to www.DailyAudioBibleIsrael.com and that will take you directly there. We’ll look forward to seeing you.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is the night nurse from Camillus, NY. I used to be known as Marked Unworthy. I have found a new name for myself, Marked as His. I have given my life to the Lord this past Easter and I’m so blessed. It’s been amazing, the peace. What’s also been amazing is less than 24 hours after I did that, my mom was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. This came as a shock to all of us and I think she is really struggling and the surgery is the first week of May. So if you all could just keep her in your prayers so she can just be surrounded by the love and the understanding that her body isn’t broken or damaged. She is a beautiful creation of God. I’d also like to ask prayers for my boyfriend Ricky. He is a dairy farmer here in upstate New York and fourth generation farmer. Their farmhands have quit and they really need someone to help with the barn chores before the field work begins, so if you all could just ask that God could provide a reliable, trustworthy, hardworking farmhand who knows a lot about dairy cows and fixing things, that would be awesome. And then if Ricky could also experience God’s love in a real way. I think we have a beautiful relationship that is starting to grow, however, a missing component is God’s love and I really hope he sees how much he is loved. Love you all. Bye.
Hi guys. This is Vickie in Southern California. Most of the calls today had to do with broken marriages and good requests for prayer for marriages, so I just want to tell a bit of my story. I’ve been married for 35 years now and my husband has mostly been great, but there were times he was a real ass. I didn’t understand what was wrong with him. Finally in 2011 I put my foot down and demanded that he do something about his problem with women and we separated. He went into a downward spiral during this time, but I went to God and I asked God what to do. I listened while God spoke to me. God worked in mine and my husband’s life for me, for my prayers. We’ve done our part, though. Both of us have included the Daily Audio Bible. We’re really involved in Celebrate Recovery. We’ve been to marriage workshops. We read lots of books. I was sick of the bitterness and resentment going on in my brain, blocking my relationship to God and others. I didn’t try to change my husband, but God has worked in both of us amazingly. Today we are doing really well and we both have so much hope. Basically here’s what I did. God asked me to be obedient, to forgive, to be a godly woman. It’s hard being a godly woman, but I do the best I can and God has truly blessed me. We pray daily along with the Daily Audio Bible. Thanks. Bye-bye.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Tim, first time caller, but I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about three or four years. I’m calling because I heard a prayer request on the April 20th DAB, Daily Audio Bible reading, and the person was asking about praying for her marriage and as she was talking, she really prophetically said that she had past hurts. So I just want you to trust in God, ask God what are those hurts, what are those things that from previous relationships have caused the hurts and ask God to show you and I believe he will give you the guidance and wisdom and insight that you need in order to move forward in your new marriage. So be blessed. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Hello fellow from Sydney, Australia. This is Jeannette from Denmark. And my wonderful DAB family, I’m calling because I’ve been struggling with the same enemy, sexual addiction, and my journey has been long. I want to share what has helped me out. First of all, if you haven’t received counseling, there is a book called Every Man’s Battle which really gets to the root of things, at the heart in the relationship with God that sexual addiction often hides behind. And I’ll be honest, I’m also working against a health problem that makes it harder to make the right decision. And I’ll share that a little bit of kelp each day or a little bit of iodine really helps the willpower and straightens clear thinking. If you need more prayer, please continue to pray and call in. I’m with you in this. I am praying for you and I know that with Christ all things are possible and you will have victory because he loves you so much. You are his precious son. Beyond all things on the earth, you are loved. Thank you.
Hi, this is Azukah calling from Nigeria and I’m calling because a lady called in concerning her daughter that was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. First of all, sister, I have good news for you. She has already been healed. Ephesians 1:3 says that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ and that blessing includes living in divine health and so she is healed in the name of Jesus, amen. Please do not be deceived. Every good and perfect gift comes from God. So don’t sit down thinking about what God is trying to teach you or what sin you committed or what is this affliction, the lesson your trying to learn or what the Spirit is trying to tell you. No, if it is not good and if it is not perfect, then it is not from God according to James 1:16-17 because everything good and perfect is from God. So since this sickness is not good, it is not perfect, it is from the evil one and we resist it and we rebuke it in the name of Jesus, amen. I would like to encourage you to meditate on scriptures concerning healing like 3 John 1:2 that says that beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. It is God’s will that we be in health. 2 Timothy 1:7 says the spirit that we have is not of fear but of love, of power and of sound mind. Your daughter has a sound mind in the name of Jesus, amen. Just continue to meditate on scriptures concerning healing and very soon there will be a manifestation. You will see the manifestation of your daughter’s healing, in the name of Jesus, amen. Thank you.
Praise the Lord, everyone. This is John C., the elder in Fort Meade, MD, and I’m calling. Today is the 21st, but there was a call that came in on the 20th. I believe it was Mike who called on behalf of your sister-in-law Shanna, who has cancer, and her husband Greg. So I just want you to be encouraged. I want to call you and let you know there is nothing too hard for God and you sounded as though you were kind of hesitant to ask because it is such a great expectation, but there is simply no request we can make to our Father in Heaven that is too big for him to handle. Usually the problem is we just have to get that mustard seed faith working and so I just ask my brothers and sisters to join with me now as I lift up Shanna before God. Most Heavenly Father, Almighty God in heaven, you see everything. You know everything. You hear our requests even before we make them, but we offer these requests, O God, for healing for Shanna now. We ask, God, that your Holy Spirit would flow through her and that you would bless her, God, that you would pour out your healing virtue upon her body. We pray, God, not for the expectations of man to be met, but that your name be glorified in this situation. We pray now, God, that you would reach out and do what people don’t understand, that you are the one, you are the beginning and the end of all things. You control the destiny of man and woman and so we lay before you, God, and we ask you to lift up Shanna. Turn back the deadly cancer that is going through her body. Eradicate it completely. Confound every single doctor that you get the glory and the praise and the honor. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior I pray. Amen.