Month: April 2017

Judges 6:1-40 ~ Luke 22:55-23:10 ~ Psalm 95:1-96:13 ~ Proverbs 14:5-6

Today is April 26^th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It’s good to be here with you today in the center of the week and I trust that we are having a strong week as we move through, but no matter what is going on, we’re moving forward. Forward, into and through this week and forward, into and through the scriptures, which brings us to where we are. We’re in the book of Judges in the Old Testament and we’re learning of the different people that God rose up after Joshua to lead his people and to restore them.  So we find ourselves in Judges chapter 6 and we’ll read verses 1 through 40 today and we’re reading from The Voice translation this week.  

Prayer

We thank you, Father, for another day, another step, another span of time that we’ve been able to spend just letting your word wash over us.  As we move into the story of Gideon, the judge, we pray that it will continue to illuminate our own lives and things in our own lives and postures in our own hearts.  Yes, we have been unsure that you’re telling us to do this thing that we can’t do and so yes, like Gideon, we say show me some way that I’ll know it is you talking.  We can find ourselves in every little nuance of this and so many of the stories, so we invite your Holy Spirit.  Come, come, illuminate our path, awaken our hearts.  As we read, Jesus, in the gospel of Luke of your sacrifice and it is still so new because we’ve just observed this time all around the world of your death and burial and resurrection, so it is fresh, as we move through it again, may it stay fresh in our minds what you were willing to do to set things right and what that means to our lives and what we’re supposed to do with that.  Not just live a comfortable life but actually live into all that you taught and did and said and showed us what we were supposed to look like and we can.  It’s available.  So we invite you into that.  Come Holy Spirit, plant the words spoken today deep into our hearts, into the soil of our lives and, indeed, may it yield the fruit of the Spirit within us. We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here.  We’ve been talking about the fact that we’ll be going back to this land of promise, this land of the Bible and taking another pilgrimage. This will take place in February, February of 2018 into early March of 2018.  Letting you know, inviting you along, looking forward to it very much. It is quite a beautiful time of year and oh, it is hard to describe.  I’ve described it the best I can.  It’s eye-opening, for sure, to be able to stand in places that you’ve heard about your whole life, to be able to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and not just do that in a metaphorical way, but actually be standing somewhere that you know the Savior was and be able to look around, put yourself in the crowd, following along with Jesus and be able to look around and see the hills, they haven’t changed. See the Sea of Galilee, all that. It is so much more.  So we’ll be going back.  You can find out all about it at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Just kind of scroll down, look for the little banner that says Israel 2018 and click it and you’ll get all the details.  We will look forward to seeing you there.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link.  It is on the home page.  Thank you profoundly for your partnership in this community and keeping it here every day. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Good morning Dabbers.  It is a rainy day in Charlotte, NC today.  This is Walta, the burning bush that would not be devoured to the glory of our God and King.  I just can’t let that go.  Oh my God, praise the Lord.  I heard a call from our sister __.  Praise God! __ this Easter and let me just say we are rejoicing with you my sister and rejoicing that the angels and Heavenly Host are rejoicing, all the saints are rejoicing.  Praise God for you!  We celebrate your birthday and I’ll pray with you for your mother and that she will experience God’s strength, in the name of Jesus.  Also I heard a call from a sister from Nigeria just reminding us that we are healed.  By his stripes we are healed and thank you for that reminder.  It is so easy to forget that.  God’s word is true and he will not let us down, so I’m praising God for that and will continue praying for marriages and for us lonely singles __ people, that God will be our husband as we wait.  Alright, I love you guys.  Talk to you later.  Have a blessed week.  

Hello Daily Audio Bible.  My name is Matt from Pennsylvania.  This is the first time I’ve called.  I’ve been a listener for about five years and just really love the program, but today I call with a heavy heart.  My brother and his wife are currently pregnant.  They have struggled with a couple miscarriages, but they have a pregnancy that was going well.  They went in for an ultrasound and the doctors have told them that the baby has Chiari malformation and from our understanding that means that the brain and the cerebellum are intruding into the space of the upper spine and that it is a type 2 CM which apparently means that also the lower spine in the baby is also exposed, similar to spina bifida patients have.  So they are saying that the baby has 90% plus chance of being completely paralyzed upon birth and potentially not survive birth.  We just pray God’s healing hand over this and I ask you to join me.  We just have such a heavy heart this weekend.  They do have an appointment today with the doctors in Pittsburg, so we pray that God’s healing hand would touch this baby and that this appointment today would be a testimony that they’ve got a baby that has been healed, that they can’t explain the ultrasound today.  That is my prayer.  I just ask that the Daily Audio Bible family prays with me for that.  I’ll call back with updates, but I would really appreciate your prayers.  Give the family strength, my brother, his wife, as well as our family.  We just really, really appreciate and need God’s presence right now.  We thank you all for this.  Have a great day.  Bye.  

Hey everybody, this is John from Bethlehem, PA.  I hope you’re doing well.  I love you, Daily Audio Bible family.  Thank you, Brian and Jill, again for this wonderful format for this family and this community.  I called in and started to give a praise report about my marriage and thank you again for that.  I wanted to also let you folks know something that has been on my heart for a while and it is something that I guess I just couldn’t find a way in my own power to be able to do this, but I found a way through God’s power.  I’m not sure who it was that really kind of gave a call to action when they called in and they said if you really love the Daily Audio Bible program, then support it and give.  I hadn’t been in a position, at least in my own power where I thought I could do that.  And I’m not calling to be braggadocios here or anything like that, but I found a way. My ask is that if you have it on your heart to give, but you don’t think you can, do it anyway.  I don’t have much that I can pull from to be able to donate, but I found some and it is amazing what has happened as a result of doing that. It was so easy to set up just a monthly donation to the Daily Audio Bible and it is such a pleasure to do that. I can see the work that God is already doing in my life as a result of just opening my heart to the idea that I can do that and it is okay.  I don’t know if it was Asia in Munich that had called in to say give if it is on your heart to give or if it was a call that came in from someone else, but I would just suggest to do the same.  I am so glad to be able to have the opportunity.  

The spiritual nugget for today, the title Your Purpose Has a Warranty. Listen carefully.  God’s calling and gifts are under full warranty, bumper to bumper, never to be canceled or reduced and since he is God, you need not have any contract for proof.  Time cannot touch God.  He created time.  We were created in his image so we are all one of a kind with a spirit unblemished. So whatever is his purpose for you, his counsel does not change.  You may get re-routed on your trip, but your destination will be the same.  I heard you, Blind Tony.  I’m back.  And Brian, thank you for this wonderful spiritual global site.  Bye-bye.  

Hi everybody.  This is Sandy in New Hampshire.  I am calling on the 24^th of April and I’ve been listening to the Community Prayer. And it just keeps coming up in my spirit to pray so I’m going to pray.  I want to talk to us about marriages and I want to talk to our friend and our brother Mark.  God bless you.  Look at what you’ve done.  You’ve helped so many people, Mark.  God has used your story to encourage people, so hallelujah.  Alright, here’s my encouragement that the Lord has put on my heart.  Be likeminded, steadfast, immovable.  Those of us who are strong need to bear the needs of the weak.  We are many members and yet we are part of the same body of Christ.  I was reading the book of James and it says endure until your testing is over.  Fight the good fight.  In all things we are overcomers.  Having done all, stand, Ephesians 6:10-18.  So today I am praying for people with faith in Christ, marriages, families, employment, other things that are going on.   So Father, in the name of Jesus, we lift these prayer needs up to you and God, you are able.  You are well able, your word says, to hear us and to answer these prayers.  So we are standing and we are enduring, Lord, until you tell us to stop.  We are going to stand on that wall.  We are going to believe that you can do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or hope or think because it is for your glory, Lord.  It is for your glory that lives are changed.  And we give you thanks.  We give you praise.  Father, we honor you and we thank you, in Jesus’ name.  God bless you.  Sandy in New Hampshire.  

Hello family and brothers and sisters.  I’m calling in.  I just listened to the 22^nd and I heard Annette A.  Annette, we love you sister and we’re praying for Alex.  Let me just tell you that a few years ago I called in for my son, young Drew, and I thought things were hopeless, but he ended up coming and living with me in the Bay Area and things seem to be working out in the way the Lord wants them to go.  So he left a life in Fresno which was heading in the wrong direction.  He was doing things that would have landed him in jail or worse, so I just want to thank the family for praying for me and for my son and all the difficulty that we’ve gone through and we continue to go through, but we know God is on our side and we need to rally around each other and trust in one another’s prayers, that God hears our prayers.  Even when we feel alone and when we feel abandoned sometimes, that God is there and that our brothers and sisters are praying for us.  So we’re praying for you, Annette.  And we’re praying for all of you.  We’re praying for those of you who listen and don’t call in. Because you don’t call in, maybe you don’t get as many prayers you deserve, so I encourage you, call in.  Love you guys.  Thank you. Bye.  

Judges 4:1-5:31 ~ Luke 22:35-54 ~ Psalm 94:1-23 ~ Proverbs 14:3-4

Today is April 25^th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you for the next step forward in this beautiful week we have and the next step forward in the scriptures and we have been learning about Israel’s judges, those who came after Joshua and kind of rose up to lead Israel; hence, the name of the book that we’re reading in the Old Testament, the book of Judges, and we’re reading from The Voice translation this week.  Judges chapter 4, verse 1 through 5:31.  

Commentary

Like we said at the beginning, we’re getting to know the judges of Israel which is a period of time of leadership in Israel where most everybody, the tribes, have kind of settled in some land and there is no real central leader other than in Shiloh at the Tabernacle.  The tribes are kind of independent, but over time they just kind of mix in with all the other people and things happen.  Different tribes are oppressed.  Different tribes are conquered or under other leaders and then a judge seems to emerge and God uses that judge to reunite his people and kind of reset things.  

We came to the story of the judge Deborah today which I love because this is a valiant woman now leading Israel and in the Deborah story is another valiant woman named Jael and she has some courage, courage enough to defeat a general of an ally in her case, which is not going to make the king very happy, which is aligning herself with God’s people.  Pretty big stuff.   So if you’re one of the women who was at the More Gathering or if you’re just a woman within the sound of my voice, don’t think that you’re not a valiant person, which is not to say you should drive a tent peg through somebody’s head.  I’m saying you have courage.  You have what it takes.  You are seen.  

Sometimes loving in the face of every bit of drama that comes into our lives, sometimes that is a very valiant thing to do.  Sometimes just telling the truth is a very valiant thing to do. Sometimes being patient in another’s story and walking with them and staying with them when they keep tripping up and keep messing up is a valiant thing to do.  We all have it in us.  We all have that stuff rise up in us, that courage, but a lot of times we’re just aiming it at the wrong place.  Sometimes we’re aiming it in the wrong direction at the wrong person at the wrong time when we have incredible amounts of authority, power, valiant hearts and courage.  If we would understand that we are fighting the forces of evil and darkness first, if we would understand that first before we go in all these weird directions, finding the darkness and coming against that with a valiant heart, with a tent peg as it were, we would do so much more good and bring so much more goodness, if we aimed all of that courage at darkness instead at whoever is closest nearby.

May we take the story of Deborah and her song that she sang and her words that she has become the mother of Israel to heart as we move through the remainder of this week.  May we take that courage and use it against the forces of darkness in this world and in our communities and in our homes and in our families and in our relationships.

Prayer

Father, we invite you into that because sometimes it just feels like we’re the ones getting beaten down, beaten down, beaten down, just like the children of Israel, but you always brought rescue and that rescue brought a unity. So come Holy Spirit and let us each understand that what we’re really fighting against is darkness in any form, in any place, not a person.  Come Holy Spirit and help us.  We ask in the mighty name of Jesus, 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.  Check out the resources that are available. Check out the Prayer Wall.  Stay connected.  Find out all the places to stay connected on social media.  Just check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com as well.  I thank you humbly, profoundly for those of you who have taken the time and made the effort to sow into the community that we are.  There is a link on the home page.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Yeah, hi.  I’m a 7-year listener, first-time caller.  For this call you can call me the sex addict from Central Washington. All of the consequences of my sin are falling on my wife – hurt, betrayal.  She is all alone.  And now, after a fight, I followed the advice of legal counsel and reported domestic violence, not knowing if these charges go through, that my wife could lose her job. So please, Biola, Blind Tony, Delta Alpha Foxtrot, Asia, James, Drew, Sam, Pastor Gene, Slave of Jesus, and all the rest of you listeners, please pray.  Pray that these domestic violence charges will be reduced or stopped and that God would heal our marriage.  And I will call back with a praise.  Thank you.  

Hello my DAB family.  This is Mark S. from Sydney, Australia.  Today is the 22^nd of April.  I’m calling today just to say how much I just love all of you, my community.  The response that I’ve had, the loving response from God through all of you, especially Pastor John who posted on Facebook Friends and all the people there, just too many to mention, you certainly are the hand and extension of God’s love to me.  Steve from New Hampshire I heard today.  And Lisa the Encourager, you certainly encouraged me.  Lee from New Jersey, I wish I had so much more time. There is so much that I would love to say, but two minutes is not enough.  Family, I just want to let you know that I have dusted myself off.  I’m back on the narrow path and, through the mercy of God, I will keep moving forward.  There are so many miraculous things that have happened in my life true to God, and Brian and Jill, I just cannot express my gratitude that you have listened to the Lord and created this amazing body of Christ, this community that extends love to anybody who wants love from God.  How I wish…  There is nothing I can say to show my appreciation.  Thank you, my family.  I love to hear from all of you.  I love listening to everybody.  I love praying along.  I wish I had more time to do more like a lot of you do, but I’ll do what I can at the moment and keep loving all of you as well.  Thank you.  Bye-bye.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Nidia from New Jersey.  It is April 22^nd and I’m calling for you, Annette.  I love you so much, Annette.  I love your voice.  I love your joy and I love your love and steadfast faith in our Father God. I just want to lift up right now, if we all could pray for Alex.  Father God, we just lift up, Father, Alex.  You created him and you love him so much, Father God.  We just thank you that his only injury was a broken ankle physically, Father God, but we know that his soul, Father God, is sick because he is not having a relationship with you, Father God.  You just love him and you created him for such big plans that you have for him, so Father, now that he’s in prison, Father, please, please Holy Spirit, open his heart, open his eyes.  Give him faith.  Give him the faith so that he can feel the love, Father God, that you have for him, the joy and the sadness that you have because you don’t have that relationship with him.  Annette, can you send him the Reframe audio, DVD, the CD?  I just listened to it three times and I’m just so filled with God’s love. Maybe Alex is in prison so that he is stayed put in one place to receive our Father.  So Father God, I just lift up Alex and Annette and we just stand in your promise because we know that you are going to heal Alex’s heart and soul. In Jesus’ mighty, mighty and precious name we pray and we just thank you for Brian, for Reframe, for the message that he sends to the world and the seed that he is sowing.  In Jesus’ mighty and precious name we pray.  Amen.  

Dear Lord Jesus, this week we commit our marriages into your able hands. Thank you for our marriages. Thank you because when the enemy comes as a flood, you will raise up a sword against him.  Thank you because you are now starting to work in our marriages, O Lord. Thank you because the hearts of husbands are turning back to their wives and the wives’ hearts are turning back to their husbands too.  Thank you because you’re pulling down the stronghold of the enemy of our marriages. Thank you because you’re setting captives free.  Thank you because wives are now going to submit to their husbands as husbands submit to you, O Lord.  Thank you because husbands will love their wives and be very considerate and treat them with tenderness.  Thank you because you will rebuke Satan to get his dirty hands off our marriages. Thank you because your blood is setting captives free right now.  Lord, please ignite the fire of love, deep love between husbands and wives.  Lord, let your Holy Spirit move in our marriages. __ has been the cause of strife in our marriages, Lord, please hold __, Lord.  Please let husbands desire their wives only and wives not __ their husbands. Same thing, let husbands be very, very gracious to their wives.  Lord, help us to use our finances wisely.  Help us to always encourage each other and not pull each other down.  We speak life over our marriages.  We ask, Lord, that you remove unnatural behavior that may be destroying our marriages.  We ask, Lord, for a mighty hedge of protection over marriages. Please bring back those spouses that may have left marriages, O God, if it be your will for them to come back. Lord, we ask for total renewal in DAB marriages and yes, we thank you in advance because we know you hear our cries. Thank you, Lord.  In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.  This is Sheila from Texas.  

Hey, good morning.  This is Stephen from Cullman, AL.  It’s Sunday, April 23^rd and I just wanted to call.  I’ve been listening for I guess about six years.  Haven’t called too many times, but I was reminded today about why this has been such a life-changing habit.  I used to try to figure out what I was going to read.  I was challenged to spend time in the morning with God and I would go back and forth and didn’t have a good plan. Following this rhythm of the scriptures every day, going through the One Year Bible has just been amazing.  There are so many times where God has given me the answer right when I needed it and today I was reminded in Psalm 91 a couple years ago my youngest daughter, she was having nightmares and she was very afraid and she was convinced somebody was going to come in our house at night and shoot her.  Her room is closest to our front door and despite everything I could do to try to convince her that I would protect her and tell her I have guns and I’ll do whatever I could to protect her, it wasn’t really enough.  Until one morning about this same time a couple years ago this chapter came up and I immediately went, printed it out, I read it to her, prayed about it.  We started praying about it at night.  Taped it on her mirror in her bathroom and ever since we’ve had it taped on our garage door and it is a constant prayer I pray for my family and children.  So God used that to help me be a better father when I didn’t have the answers.  So fathers out there, I hope this encourages you.  I listen to the prayers.  

Hello everyone.  Good morning. It’s Jay calling from New Jersey. I’m calling for Steve whose been listening to the Daily Audio Bible with his wife for the past 8 years and he said he is in Franklin County.  Steve, I’m going to pray for you and I’m going to pray for your daughter-in-law and your son and new baby.  Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we come to you now adoring who you are, standing and praying in awe, uniting our hearts around the love that you have given us.  God, your word tells us that we love you because you first loved us.  Father, we confess of any sins that we have committed now that we can think of, that come to our minds, into our hearts.  We ask for forgiveness, Father.  Receiving that forgiveness, we thank you.  We thank you.  We thank you for life, for health, and for strength.  We thank you for the ability to come to you as your children with these prayers.  Father, we lift up Steve and his family.  We lift up Anna.  We lift up Baby Josanna, Father.  God, this baby that is so beautiful and so precious that was born on April 1^st, we thank you for her.  Father, we thank you for the union that you put between her parents.  And God, we bring forth Anna as she is going through the healing process, Father, and we prat that you will invigorate her cells to begin to heal like never before, that it could only be described as something that God has his hand on.  So we thank you, Father, for what you’re doing, what you’ve already done, and what you’re going to do.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.  

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 24^th 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 19^th through March 4^th 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.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link.  It’s on the home page.  Thank you. Thank you for your partnership.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

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 20^th 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 21^st, but there was a call that came in on the 20^th.  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.  

Judges 2:10-3:31 ~ Luke 22:14-34 ~ Psalm 92:1-93:5 ~ Proverbs 14:1-2

Today is the 23^rd day of April.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  Here we are, friends, the threshold of a shiny new week and I love the reset of that.  We get to step through and live into a new week.  It is not yet written.  We have not yet lived it.  It is waiting for us and every choice that we make is going to make up the week we are about to live and I like it because we can choose now how we’re going to live. So one of the things that we’re going to do as we step through this threshold of a new week is really open up a new chapter, a new season in the Old Testament, a new season in the life of the children of Israel who are newly settled into the promised land.  We ended the book of Joshua yesterday with the death of Joshua and we begin today with the book of Judges.  

Introduction of a New Book (Old Testament)

The book of Judges from a traditional perspective was authored by the prophet Samuel.  Modern scholarship does not really feel that he could be the sole author of the book. They theorize that there are many sources where it came from, but the book of Judges is a whole lot somber than Joshua with all its drama and conquest.  Judges is what comes next and we’re going to watch the children of Israel as they fall away and suffer some of the consequences of this back and forth that has been and continues to become their story.  

It’s not a book of judgment per se.  It’s not called Judges because of judgment but is warnings that God passes on to the children of Israel.  It’s called Judges because it is the story of the 13 judges that led the children of Israel after Joshua.  They didn’t have a king yet and so they were ruled by these judges.  The culminating story in the book of Judges illustrates how one thing builds on another, each decision bearing weight on a great outcome, just like we were talking about as we crossed the threshold into this new week, how subtle decisions by seemingly unrelated and really relatively unimportant people ended up bringing on the terrible annihilation of an entire tribe of Israel.  

The book itself was probably written about 1000 BC, so it was 3000 years ago.  It is obviously a long time and the irony of that is that although we’re looking back across several thousand years, we’ll have no problem finding ourselves in this book. It resonates with all of our stories. We all have the ebb and flow, the back and forth in this faith journey and we’ve all been able to experience some of the repercussions of allowing that relationship with God to falter as we falter in it and at the same time God’s arm is never not outstretched.  His words are never not “return to me, come back.” “Please, please come back, my beloved.” His love is no less profound and we’ll find that to be true in the book of Judges.

So we’ll read from The Voice translation this week as we begin Judges chapter 1, verse 1 through chapter 2, verse 9 today.  

Prayer

Father, we thank you for this new week, these new mile markers, these new thresholds that we step through that offer us a reset.  And as we move into this new book, this new era in the lives of the children of Israel and what comes next after Joshua, we invite your Holy Spirit, because so many of the behaviors, so many of the postures of heart, so many of the activities, they mimic ourselves.  They mimic our own lives with different clothes on.  So we invite your Holy Spirit to come, to guide and lead us through this week.  We consecrate this week to you.  We offer it to you now.  We offer our lives as a living sacrifice in advance and ask that every word of our mouths, every meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, Lord, for you are our strength and our redeemer.  So come Holy Spirit in every thought, word and deed this week.  Show us what to do and what to not do.  Show us what to undo.  Show us how to live in your kingdom as your ambassadors this week. We ask in the mighty name of Jesus and by his authority, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com, that’s home base.  It’s the website.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here so be sure to check it out and click some links and do some wandering around.  Find out where you can connect on social media with us, with the community, with each other.  Check out the Daily Audio Bible resources in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, plenty to check out.    

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com as well.  There is a link on the home page.  I humbly thank you for clicking that link and helping us be here another day and every day.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner and if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to call.

And that’s it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you right here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hello, good morning Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Jay calling from New Jersey.  It’s been a long time since I’ve called in, but I’m calling today because I really, really, really want to talk to Mark S. from Australia.  Mark S., man, listen, brother, congratulations, man, on being convicted.  Most people would shudder at the thought of coming to their brothers and sisters in Christ and first of all, confessing, and then also making yourself accountable. So praise God.  Congratulations over the power of the devil because you and I know that Satan will utilize these times that we fall weak and fall prey to sin and hold them over our heads and make us think that we can’t come to God for forgiveness or we can’t come to our brothers and sisters.  But Mark, I understand and I want you to reach out to me. My email address is Jamainepitts@gmail.com.  I’m willing to be your accountability partner, brother, so let me just pray for you now. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we praise you God.  We honor you and we love you.  Father, we just confess now of any sin that we have committed as well in our hearts, in our flesh that is contrary to your word and to your love.  Father, we thank you for Mark S.  We thank you for his confession.  We thank you for his accountability and we thank you for your grace and your forgiveness.  And then Father, we just lift up Mark S. and we lift up myself and we lift up our friends and we lift up our family members and we lift up anyone who is struggling with anything that they just fall prey to.  God, we submit it to you and we just ask that you will strengthen each and every one of us.  In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.  

Hey Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Stanley from Maryland.  This is a prayer of thanksgiving, a call of thanksgiving really. I’m just overwhelmed with the persistent fervent prayer of everyone calling in and now that this is my second year listening to the Daily Audio Bible, I really just want to say well done. Man, how God has shown his face and he is moving.  I want to share a quick word with you.  Revelation 3:20 says behold, I stand at the door and knock.  It’s talking about him.  He stands at the door and he knocks and he knocks on the door of our hearts and it says that he wants to come in and have a meal with us.  I’ve been praying and seeking God a lot and he’s been showing me that he is faithful and that he is always ready to come in and to spend time with us, that he is a God of relationship, not a God of…  I made the mistake and I had to repent.  I was thinking that he was just a God for me to get what I wanted.  Like this job teaching in Southeast Washington, D.C., it didn’t really work out. Unfortunately, I had to leave, but it has been such a blessing and now I’m looking for a new position, but I’m seeking God not for what he is going to give me, even though I believe that I am going to get a new job, but I’m seeking him just out of pure relationship because that is what he wants to have with me.  He wants to come in my heart and he wants to have a meal and he wants to sit down and talk to me.  That’s my word.  Have a good rest of the day.  Bye.  

Yeah, hello.  This is Steve from South Central Pennsylvania, Franklin County.  It’s a first time call, but I’ve been listening to Daily Audio Bible with my wife for about eight years.  I’m calling in regard to my daughter-in-law, Anna, her and my son, Josiah, had a beautiful baby girl on April Fool’s Day and tomorrow will be three weeks.  She had to have an emergency C-section and it was a pretty traumatic birth and has had a hard time healing and getting on top of the pain resulting from the surgery and I would like the DAB community to join us in praying that she is able to get past the pain, that the pain will leave, and that she will be able to have joy and being able to hold her baby much more than she is now able to and that you give my son patience and love to give her as he ministers to her.  Just pray that with me now.  Lord Jesus, I ask that your healing power would cover Anna. Lord, that you would give her your peace.  Lord, help her to rejoice in you and not fall prey to the despair that she ___.  Lord, strengthen her each day.  I pray that you strengthen Josiah, that you give him all the love that he needs from yourself to give to Anna during this time of restoration and healing and, Lord, that they would be able to love on their baby, Josanna.  Pray this in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Good morning everyone.  This is Elaine from Victoria.  I heard Mike call about his brother, Greg, and to Shanna, his wife with cancer.  My brother had cancer and I wished they would have known the Lord at this time, but I want to give you a scripture to encourage and help you.  And I ask the Lord of peace to be upon you, Michael, and Greg and Shanna.  And this is the scripture, Isaiah 41:10.  It says do not fear for I am with you.  Do not be dismayed for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  I’ve asked the Lord about fasting and I’m going to fast for you and for my own family, two are the alcoholics, and I’m going to fast according to the Lord, how he wants me to do it.  So bless you guys, all of you at Daily Audio Bible.  Bye now.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Sam calling from Vancouver, also I am in my workplace here in Portland.  I’m calling because I heard Tony from Southern California. You called in about a month ago on the podcast in regard to your marriage.  Tony, I just want to let you know, man, you are a warrior.  I can tell that in your voice.  You will be fighting for the honor of your wife and your kids.  I just get that sense that you are the kind of man who is that and that is who you are.  So I’ll be praying for you, thinking of you and for your wife, that you would just sense his presence, your wife would and your kids would and you would draw strength from that in that moment.  And also the listener who called in who is with the native people and wanted to encourage them. Thank you for calling in and I second that.  Just appreciate you calling that out.  Thanks so much, DAB family, for being present and thanks for being in my life, just each one of you for being who you are.  It’s just a beautiful tapestry and I know God is just loving this.  So thanks to all.  I love you guys.  From Sam, Sidney, Grace, Serena and Judah.  Much love to my wife who finally called in.  So from Sam, Sidney, Grace, Serena and Judah, we love you guys.  God bless you.  

Hello Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Candace from Oregon and it’s heavy on my heart because my husband and I have three really beautiful children and the second one has just been so loving and  helpful and caring toward me as we have lost her dad, my husband, on March 11.  So she wasn’t until yesterday able to really talk about her own loss, which is really difficult because of unfinished business, things that really required some confrontation. So would you please come with me now in prayer for her?  Lord, I pray for this beautiful, beautiful woman who struggles so hard.  I pray that you will break, Lord, every barrier that keeps her from you and that she will find ways to confront the arrows of her own childhood, times of neglect and mistreatment.  I pray, Lord, that the life and death and resurrection of your son will be everything to create that reconciliation and the hope and the future and the wholeness that she needs and that can come only from you, Lord.  I pray that you’ll show up for her in unmistakable ways.  In Jesus’ name and for his sake and to his honor and glory.  

Joshua 24:1-33 ~ Luke 21:1-28 ~ Psalm 89:38-52 ~ Proverbs 13:20-23

Today is April 22^nd .  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. Great to be here with you for another step forward and to be here together to close another week in this rhythm that we call life and in the rhythm of the scriptures in our lives. So we’ll dive in, back out in the book of Joshua.  Joshua has gotten very old.  The people have kind of settled in and we’re approaching the end of Joshua’s story. So, from the English Standard Version, Joshua chapter 24, verses 1 through 33 today.  

Commentary

We said goodbye to Joshua, the leader of Israel after Moses, the one that brought the children of Israel into the land of their inheritance, the promised land, and, as with Moses, Joshua brought the people together and retold the story and reaffirmed the covenant and then he said something so penetrating that the reverberations are all the way with us today and if we would pay attention it is a game-changer:  “You are witnesses against yourselves.”  

So the converse would be true – you are witnesses for yourselves in the matters of your faith journey with God, your relationship and intimacy with God. You are witnesses against yourselves. We can dress ourselves up and make ourselves look pretty, say all the right things, look the right part, even do good things, but in the end it is the mirror before us that is telling the truth. We are witnesses against ourselves in these things.  

The people in Joshua’s time agreed.  Yes, we agree with this, we are witnesses.  They are essentially affirming yes, what we do matters.  What we say matters.  How we conduct ourselves matters.  The thoughts of our hearts, they matter.  The words out of our mouths, they matter.  The conduct, the way that we behave, that matters.  It all matters.  It is all a witness of who we really are and our true covenant with God. We are witnesses.  And so Joshua says, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you and incline your heart to the Lord.”  

May we listen to those words.  May we enter into that because it forces us to face the truth about who we really are and what is really going on between us and God.  This is fundamental.  This is baseline.  This is the only bedrock we have.  If we do not have this bedrock, we have nothing.  I mean, Joshua boiled it down by saying you have to pick.  You have to choose.  If you want to serve the gods of old, then go do that.  If you want to serve the gods of Egypt, then go do that. If you want to serve the gods of the Amorites, then go do that.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  So what is embedded in here is don’t pretend that you are going to serve the Lord.  Go serve something with all your heart, but I am serving God, the God who set us free, the God who set the story in motion, the God who created all things.  I’m holding onto that and I am a witness against myself in this.  

That is pretty serious stuff.  So may we take this sobering moment and the seriousness of it to look in the mirror and stare squarely in the face.  

Prayer

Holy Spirit, as we take this to heart, as we do look in the mirror and look ourselves in the face and understand that our lives are witnesses against ourselves or for ourselves and that everything does matter, help us because without the power of your Holy Spirit, without your presence in our lives, there is nothing.  There is nothing.  We can look like something, but we can’t be anything without you, nor would we want to. But we are drawn astray so easily. We are distracted so easily.  We step off the path so easily.  Without your presence to guide and correct, rebuke, instruct, comfort, and lead, it is an impossible thing.  So come Holy Spirit and let us understand the gravity, that it all matters, that it really does.  It matters that we walk in collaboration and in intimacy with you. Come, come Holy Spirit into everything that we’re going to do and say today, everything that we’re going to think and act on.  Come Jesus, we pray.  In your mighty name, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com, that’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here.  Check it out.  Check out the resources.  Check out the Prayer Wall.  Check out everything that is going on.  Stay connected.  If you click the Community tab at www.DailyAudioBible.com, you’ll find all the different ways to connect, all the different social media places that we’re at and how to stay connected that way with each other.  So be sure to check it out.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you.  Thank you.  If you find this rhythm and this community to be life-giving, then thank you for being life-giving so that we continue to be here each and every day fresh, new, happening now, living in community, absorbing the word, and staying in this rhythm.  Thank you for your partnership.  There is a link.  It’s on the home page.  If you use the Daily Audio Bible App, press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.  

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, this is Kim from Kentucky and I’m just calling in.  It’s Tuesday, April the 18^th, and I’ve just been listening to the prayer requests and I just heard Mark from Australia call in asking for prayer, admitting that he had fallen yesterday into a sin that he has battled with.  Right before Mark called, a lady had called in and she was reading scripture.  One of the first ones she read was James 5:16: Confess your sins, your faults to one another and pray for one another that you may be made well.  So Mark, you did that.  So now just know you are forgiven.  It is as simple as that.  The enemy wants to keep condemning us and I have felt that condemnation for failures to God, but remember just like a child that is learning to walk, they walk and then they stumble and fall, but they get back up and they start walking again. That is what we have to have with our relationship with our Lord, is that same determination that we’ll get back up and start walking again and then he’s that good, good father there with the open arms to welcome us in.  I just pray you have the strength of the Holy Spirit inside of you to resist all temptations. I just pray that will grow ever stronger and this will be passed.  So just know that I am praying for you.  I appreciate your honesty.  I appreciate everyone that calls in.  I don’t call in a lot but I listen and I just appreciate all of your prayers and comments, family.  God bless you all today.  

Good morning.  This is Sheila calling from Texas.  This message is for Mark from Sydney, Australia who called in to make a confession on a sin that he had committed.  The call was April the 12^th.  I want to let you know that God is well pleased with you.  You have done what so many fail to do and by you confessing your sin not only to God, but your brothers and sisters in Christ, know that the enemy Satan cannot condemn you.  His demons cannot by any chance come at you and the blood of Jesus is able to redeem you and make you clean just as though you had never sinned before. David was called a man after God’s own heart and many can ask how can he be a man after God’s own heart yet he sinned with Bathsheba and even had Uriah killed?  But I tell you the truth.  It was the condition of David’s heart that makes him a man after God’s own heart.  David confessed before God and ___.  Read Psalm 51.  Know that God loves you, Mark.  He already has forgiven you and hence you are not condemned.  I pray that many among us will be like you and listen to God when he asks them to repent.  Many in the church are still sinning but even after God had begged them to repent, they have so much pride that will not allow them to repent like you have.  So Mark, hold your head up.  Your sin has been forgiven and you’re not condemned and just as Jesus said to the woman who had been caught in the act of adultery, Jesus said, “Woman, where are your accusers?  Has no one condemned you?”  “None, Lord,” she answered.  “Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.  “Now go and sin no more”  So Mark, God has forgiven you.  Hold your head up.  God bless you.  Bye.  

Hey everybody.  This is Annette A.  Well, here it goes.  I’m trusting in God’s plan for everything.  My son just called me from the hospital in Colorado and somehow broke his ankle and he is on his way to jail.  So I’m going to trust that God is going to work this out and I’m just trusting that he told me that he had a plan for my son and that is the way it is going to be.  I’m not going to let anything else get in that way.  So anyway, just pray for my son, Alex.  I would sure appreciate it.  I love you guys.  Bye.  

Hey DAB.  This is Jeff from Virginia Tech.  Today I’m calling out today for some prayer just for myself.  It’s hard.  I think being a college student and a Christian at the same time is actually really hard. I love Jesus.  I love serving him and it is just there are so many souls that need to be reached.  I ask you brothers and sisters, pray for me for a spirit of evangelization, a spirit to move in the hearts of the other 30,000 students on this campus.  I pray that the fire of the Spirit would just move through campus and light up the whole campus, in Jesus’ name.  Yeah, and I just ask that my own faith be ever kindled in the heart of Jesus and yeah, I’m also looking for a job this summer.  I’m hopefully looking for a job where I can be a caddy on the golf course.  This summer I’ll also be walking 200 miles in Spain on the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James.  I also need prayers for that, for getting the financial support to go.  So yeah, I just reach out to you guys today.  I’m praying for you always.  God bless.  Bye.  

This is Miguel from California calling for Alex.  He called into the prayer line stating that you were not going to give up on your wife.  A little while later we hard another message saying that she had approached you and said she wanted a divorce, but Alex, cling to that first call and say that you will not give up.  Please allow me to even add to that.  Don’t not give up for your sake.  Don’t even not give up for the sake of your marriage.  Don’t give up for your wife’s sake.  As husbands, we’re called to love our wives as Christ loves the church, so I would encourage you to ask yourself how would Christ love the church in this situation?  Love your wife.  Serve your wife.  Let’s pray. Father God, Lord Jesus, I ask for you to enter into this situation, Lord.  And I ask for your Holy Spirit, I appeal for your Holy Spirit to enter into Alex and the bride of his youth, Lord.  I ask for a new reconciliation between them, Lord.  That their relationship will be made new and I know that you can do this.  We know that you have the authority to do it, the power to do it, so we ask it in Jesus’ name that you would do it, Lord.  And not for the sake of Alex or his wife, but for the sake of the glory of your name, Jesus.  May you be glorified in their marriage, that we see, Jesus, as you love the church, may Alex love his wife and as the church loves you, may his wife find that love for him again.  I pray this simple prayer in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

Hey DAB.  This is Tom. I’ve been a listener for a number of years.  I call in very seldomly, but I wanted to say a couple things.  The first thing was for a long time for whatever reason I was not listening to the prayer portion of the podcast.  Since I’ve made the choice to pay attention to that, God has shown me so much more about his family, who they are, and how he is working in the world. So for those that are I totally understand for time or whatever I really encourage you to at least a few times a week listen to that portion of the podcast because it really reveals God’s glory through the DAB family.  The second thing I wanted to ask was just ask for your prayers for my family, in particular my marriage.  We’re going through a very hard time.  We’ve never really had a super easy time, but there is a lot of brokenness in our marriage. I don’t know what I can attribute it to particularly.  I know that one of the issues is that for whatever reason I have a hard time remembering things.  My wife tells me it hurts her deeply and ripples through other parts of our marriage and I think there are some other things in the background going on in the world or in the spiritual world, I don’t know and I’m not going to speculate, but I just would ask for your prayers.  You guys are the first place I would turn.  Amen.  

Joshua 22:21-23:16 ~ Luke 20:27-47 ~ Psalm 89:14-37 ~ Proverbs 13:17-19

Today is April 21^st.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I am Brian. It’s good to be here with you today. Good to be here to take the next collective step forward through the scriptures as we round the bend and head to the end of another week.  Man, I found that I have needed the scriptures this week as much as ever, just more aware of needing the rhythm.  Isn’t this rhythm, this constant, this fresh next day in the scripture so important?  It certainly is to me.  And so I am looking forward to continuing the story and we will go back to the promised land now where the central part, the main part of the promised land has been taken and is being settled.  Those who were given land on the other side of the Jordan River because it is perfect for what they do with farming and agriculture and shepherding especially are finally able to go home, go home to their families, go home and begin to build out the life that they’ve been given in the land that they’ve been given.  So yesterday they left and then they built this big altar next to the Jordan River, which freaked out the rest of the tribes because they kind of made this assumption that perhaps these two and a half tribes were rebelling against God.  And so we will dive into that story today.  Joshua chapter 22, verse 21 through 23, verse 16 and we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week.

Commentary

The incident that happened with the altar at the banks of the Jordan River between Israel and the two and a half tribes that have land on the other side of the Jordan is a striking lesson for us about assumptions.

So the two and a half tribes are going home.  They’ve stuck with it.  They’ve done everything they promised to do.  They stayed with their brothers all the way until the land was divided up and people were settling in and then they were released to go home.  On the banks of the Jordan they built an altar, the one that looks like the altar before the tabernacle.  They did this for a specific reason, but when the rest of Israel found out about it, they made assumptions about what these two and a half tribes were doing, that they perhaps were making an altar that was separate from the altar that they were all to worship at and so they banded together and were willing to go to war to destroy their own brothers, their own people who had stood by them and fought with them to take the promised land.  Rebellion against the Lord would be rebellion for everyone, so they were willing to take these drastic measures.  

Now, they could have just gone out in force and attacked.  Thankfully they didn’t.  They had the story in their heads about what must be going on and so they were assembled and prepared, but they sent envoys to get it straight first, which is very fortunate.  When they got the other side of the story, then things made sense.  These people were not trying to rebel against the Lord and build their own altar.  They were trying to build a replica that would simply stand there at the border to remind future generations that the people on the other side of the Jordan were also part of Israel, they were also part of the same family, the chosen ones so as the generations progressed and people forgot and the stories turned more mythic, that there would be this altar that was there, this memorial, this reminder, this remembrance that they were all one people.  

In our lives we can look at certain circumstances.  We can look at certain people who are maybe moving in other directions from where we are or maybe even moving away from an orthodoxy that we understand, and so we make these assumptions that they are rebelling or they are departing or they are leaving God behind.  So we can do all kinds of things.  We can make these assumptions and get in a Facebook battle with them or we can make these assumptions and cut them off from fellowship with us and our tribe or any other number of things.  It doesn’t even have to be a religious thing.  It doesn’t have to be something about faith.  This touches every part of our lives when we begin to invent a reality that is plausible, that may be true, but we haven’t heard.  

The children of Israel thankfully sent tribal leaders, they sent the priesthood to come and talk to the other people to find out what was really going on. They were ready.  They had certainly formed a certain set of assumptions. They were ready, but they sent leaders to get the story very clear beforehand.  That is a fantastic lesson for us.  Maybe we can’t stop ourselves from always making assumptions, but we have to be willing to go to the other person and have the conversation, hear the whole story, understand what is really going on.  Otherwise, we are certainly incorrect about some of it.  

Assumptions and intuition, those things are helpful in our lives if we will hold them loosely and if we will be willing, while we hold onto this assumption or intuition, to go get the details, fill in the blanks and not leave the blanks as something that we’ve made up about somebody else.  I mean, this would save us from so much.  This would save us from a lot inside of our own homes and inside of our own relationships.  This would save us from quite a bit about those that we work with. This would save us a lot about our friends, our communities, the things that we’re attached to or belong to.  It would save us a lot of confusion and a lot of unneeded wounding and a lot of unneeded strife.  

So may we take a lesson from the book of Joshua today, apply it to our lives and just see what will happen.  Catch ourselves, leave margin in our thoughts that we don’t have the whole story, and in that margin we go find the whole story.  In that margin is where the Holy Spirit can work in our lives.  

Prayer

Father, we invite you into that.  I mean, we certainly confess we’ve done this, but it’s not just us.  It’s not just our time.  It’s always been.  We’ve always been creating realities for ourselves and yet the one baseline that is real and is true and is solid is your presence in our lives. So often we just ignore that and make up our own reality.  Forgive us for that, but help us with that.  This is a turning point where we invite you in and we create margin between our assumptions and the things that we feel are bedrock and invite you into that place to speak truth.  You know the truth.  You know the truth.  You know everything that there is to know and you’re saying ‘I’m available.’  ‘I’m here to be your Counselor.’  ‘I’m here to be your Comforter.’  ‘I’m here to lead you into all truth.’  ‘I’m here to show you the narrow path that leads to life.’  And we just walk right on by.  We don’t leave enough margin in our lives to even listen. So Father, forgive us for that but help us.  Help us because every day that we come to your word our eyes open a little bit more and we become a little bit more aware of the way in which we’re living.  And you’ve given us wonderful opportunities to correct much.  So come, Holy Spirit, into our assumptions, into the way we form the way we think the world works.  Come and show us the truth.  We submit ourselves, our preferences, our desires, our assumptions, our creations, we submit them to you.  We know that you are perfect and we are only becoming, but we will never fully become without you, so we need you, we want you, we worship you, we humble ourselves before you, we submit our hearts to you and choose to draw every breath with you and every step taken with you and every thought submitted before you.  Come Holy Spirit, we pray.  In Jesus’ name, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com, that’s home.  It’s home base.  It’s where the Prayer Wall is.  Check that out.  It’s where resources are available, events that are coming up.  One of the events that we’ve been talking about is that we’ll be going back to this land, back to the banks of the Jordan River, looking across to the other side, standing in the promised land, seeing these places, and watching the stories come alive before our eyes.  We’ll be going back February 19,2018, so we’ve got some time to plan and prepare and you’re invited.  You’re invited to come.  You can check it out at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Just look for Israel 2018.  Scroll down and you’ll find a little banner for it.  Or you can go to www.DailyAudioBibleIsreal.com.  That will take you right there.  So we’ll look forward to seeing you and taking this pilgrimage together.  It really is the adventure of a lifetime, and so we’ll very much anticipate and look forward to that time together.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, then I can’t possibly thank you enough.  We wouldn’t be here without your partnership.  We couldn’t do what we’re doing as a community every day without your partnership so thank you.  Thank you for those who have clicked that link.  Like I said, there is a link on the home page.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.  

And that’s it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Hi, this message is for a gentleman that called in a week or two ago who lives in Southern California.  I didn’t catch your name.  You were really asking for prayer about controlling and letting go and helping God and as soon as you hung up, I immediately got the scripture “perfect love casts out all fear.”  God just really would like you to focus on his love to help set you free.  If you do that you will be set free.  It is just so amazing if you could just bathe in his love and pull out all the scriptures and just know that he desires to set you free.

The question to our bipolar community is what does God want as a consequence of our affliction?  You hear Jesus say “this illness and the healing is to glorify God.”  What happens when Jesus, to our knowledge, does not heal in a normal way?  You should know that up to 40% of the great artists in the world are probably bipolar. So there is a consequence.  There is an outcome of your condition and I have had it and it was not diagnosed for half of my life and I found that bipolar II condition makes me rethink my faith every day just as God intended.  So look beyond the affliction.  Look beyond the brokenness and look at what does God want from you?  How is the Holy Spirit guiding you?  And what is the Holy Spirit producing in your lives as a consequence of your bipolar condition?  Thank you.

Today is the 17^th of April.  Two people have called in, one today and then I think it was Gene M, well, I know it was Gene M.  I think it was about a week ago or so.  And the gal today, our Scottish sister who called in regarding bipolar, taking medication. Both of you sisters were so spot-on because you brought out something that I think we lose track of in our walk with Jesus, and that is our relationship and our religion and our faith is a very practical and very logical and at times extremely linear relationship.  So if there is something up or something wrong, we need to take care of things.  While those of us who know that when we are baptized and when we are walking in our journey with the Lord that we are a priest, we are a prophet and we are a king, but that also lives in tension with what scripture clearly shows, that we are also beggars, and like beggars, sometimes we’re going to be on that street corner for days begging for something we need.  I want to thank you two ladies, Gene M. and you, my Scottish sister, for calling in and reminding us of the practicality of our Christian faith. Love you, family.  Peace, joy and shalom.  

Lord, we bring before you, I believe it is Alex, the Seeker, a gentleman who has repeatedly called because he’s calling upon you, Lord, begging that his marriage might be restored.  Lord, we know there are so many things that are beyond our control, but there are some things that you have promised.  You have promised to be near to the brokenhearted.  We claim that promise, Lord, on behalf of this man who has come before all of us and who comes before you humbly, Lord, and repentant and ready to be your man come what may.  Lord, I pray that you would lead and guide him, that you would go before him and behind him, over him and under him, on either side of him to give him strength to do the next right thing, hour by hour, and to come into that romance, that relationship with you, Lord, that is beyond compare.  I ask these things for him and we come together in agreement on behalf of this dear man, this man that you love so dearly, that you came for and lived on the earth and died a sacrificial death.  You didn’t have to.  You chose to do that because you love him so much.  We claim all the power of that and the resurrection to eternal life which you did on his behalf.  We thank you for everything you’re going to do, Lord.  In Jesus’ name.  

This is Steve from New Hampshire and I’m calling for the gentleman from Sydney, Australia that called.  I am calling on April 18^th.  You had fallen into sexual sin and just felt really condemned.  I wanted to remind you of Jesus’ words to the woman caught in the act of adultery.  He first of all said that he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone and all those accusers had to walk away because they all had sin.  The Bible said that the enemy is the accuser of the brethren and God doesn’t want you accusing yourself either.  The blood of Jesus cleanses us.  Here’s what Jesus said.  He said to the woman “neither do I condemn you.  Go and from now on sin no more.”  I believe that there is power in the fact that there is no condemnation in Christ.  There is power not to sin, but it is not the other way around.  I want to encourage you to keep your eyes on the Lord.  His sacrifice more than paid for your sin and I’m not suggesting to take it lightly, but don’t take his sacrifice lightly either.  So Father God, I lift up my brother in Sydney to you and, in the name of Jesus, I pray for this thing that has held him bondage, this addiction or whatever to be broken, in Jesus’ name.  I pray for your grace and peace to be multiplied to him and the knowledge of you. Lord, I speak deliverance and I say chains be broken, in Jesus’ name.  

Hey DAB family.  This is Jonathan from North Carolina.  I’ve been listening for about seven years now and I wanted to call in.  This is my first time calling in with a prayer request. My wife’s uncle Steve was diagnosed with lung cancer yesterday and I just wanted to request prayer for him as he selects an oncologist and wisdom for the doctors and, of course, healing because we know the Father is able to do that.  And also for a dear friend at church, Linda, who was also diagnosed with cancer recently and just for her appointments and for healing for her as well if it would be God’s will.  Thanks so much and I appreciate your prayers. 

Joshua 21:1-22:20 ~ Luke 20:1-16 ~ Psalm 89:1-13 ~ Proverbs 13:15-16

Today is April 20^th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you today. How are you feeling?  I trust all is well with you and I know that we’ve come to the right place.  We’ve come to the scriptures.  We’ve set aside some time to step out of all of the busyness that surrounds us and threatens to strangle us at times.  We’ve set aside this little place that we have for a little time of orienting our hearts back to God through his word.  So I am ready for this.  I need this as much as you do.  I’ve got a nice cup of coffee and I’ve got a microphone and off we go.  We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week, Joshua chapter 21, verse 1 through 22, verse 20 today.  

Prayer

Father, as the psalmist today gave us language and words about your steadfast love, we too affirm and declare your steadfast love and we rest in your steadfast love.  Father, help us, by the power of your Holy Spirit, never to deny your steadfast love. So often we find ourselves wondering about that, about your faithfulness that endures forever, about your mercies that are new every morning, about your steadfast love, but that is not on you. That is on us and we’re sorry.  Your steadfast love endures forever.  Forever and ever, which includes the entire span of our lives.  There will never be a day that your steadfast love is not available to us.  So we rest in that right now.  We rest in that.  In all of the chaos, in all of the disruption and all of the things that are going on that are pulling us in a myriad of directions, your steadfast love is in the center.  So we invite your Holy Spirit to bring your steadfast love into our realities, into our hearts, and may we be constantly reminded that you love us.  You love us steady.  Steady and true and constant.  This is steadfast love.  Father, we want to love you back the same way.  We want our steadfast love for you to endure forever, but we get so distracted, so we invite your Holy Spirit into that.  We invite you into our confusion, our doubt, our difficulties, our hardships, our joy, our suffering, our victories, our valleys.  Our steadfast love endures forever for you.  That is what we want to be true of us because steadfast love given by each of us is unstoppable forever and ever.  So come, Holy Spirit.  Come, Holy Spirit, and bring your steadfast love and show us how to love you with our heart, mind, body, strength, soul, will, actions, everything.  Show us how to love you in and with everything that we are and ever will be because this is the way that you love us.  Come, Holy Spirit, we pray.  In the mighty name of Jesus, 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 check it out.  Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.  Check out the Daily Audio Bible Coffee Club.  I’m drinking some of that right now.  I do it every day, our Windfarm coffee that we roast in Colorado fresh and sent to you each month – check that out.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link.  It’s on the website.  Thank you. Thank you.  Thank you.  We wouldn’t be here.  Literally, we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t do this together, so thank you for your partnership.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.  

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

Daily Audio Bible family, what a pleasure it is to be able to call.  I’ve been listening for…  This is Michael and I’ve been listening for about a year and a half, my wife and I both, and have been incredibly blessed.  I haven’t called in even one time because I just find it very hard to do this.  I’m calling for my brother Greg and his wife Shanna who has got very serious cancer, very life-threatening cancer.  They’ve been married for a long time and it is very, very hard for my brother to deal with this.  So please, family, pray for Shanna.  Pray for Shanna, that she would be very comfortable as well as we just pray for her healing.  I know it’s asking a lot because she has cancer throughout her whole body, but nothing is too big for God.  So we need a miracle and we need for them to be encouraged.  We pray for their encouragement.  Love you so much and Brian, thank you for bringing this to all of us.  What a blessing.  What an incredible blessing.  Thank you so much.  You all have a great and wonderful day.  

Hi family.  This is Sheila calling from Texas.  Today is April 15^th.  I’m calling to ask for prayers upon every marriage in this daily community.  The cries of many hurting and broken marriages have reached the ears of God and Jesus Christ is crying with you.  He feels your pain.  I’m asking if there is anyone among us committing adultery or fornication to please stop it.  We are all one body and when one part of the body hurts, then the entire body hurts. I’m very happily married and I feel bad when I hear people calling in with your pain.  I feel the pain with you, so we know many, many marriages are ___ for different reasons and as a body we need to join hands and cry out to God our Father to heal the wounded hearts and restore marriages that need to be restored.  I feel led to ask you all as a body to commit to pray during the week of April 23^rd to April 29^th.  This is going to be the marriage prayer week for the DAB community, so that is what I feel led by the Spirit of the Lord to do.  Also during this period I’m asking us to declare a fast for the whole week. I’m not saying that you’re going to fast the entire week, but choose one day out of this week to fast.   If you’re not able to fast the entire day, choose one meal to skip or two meals, just depends on what your body can tolerate. So let us bear each other’s burdens and help each other.  Let us all cry out to God to heal our marriages, to heal our families, those broken hearts.  May God hear our prayers and heal our land.  I love you guys.  God bless you and thank you for praying.  Bye.  

Hi.  This is Easter Sunday and Alex S. from Jacksonville.  I want to call in today to say thank you, dear Lord Jesus, for dying on a cross for us so many years ago and you forgive our sins.  I have many shortcomings and I want you guys to pray for me.  My wife recently told me that she wants to get divorced and I need everybody’s help here in taking that evil from our marriage and our family.  So Daddy, please, please stay with me, please forgive me, and thank you for forgiving me of all my sins, Dad, for all my shortcomings when you died so many years ago on a cross.  Thank you for being there for me and thank you for guiding me through this process.  Please take all the evil, all the bad thoughts, and bad thoughts in my mind away. Please let me show my wife how much I love her, how much I desire her, how much she needs to be in our family, how she is loved and how much she is needed.  I was not standing up for her in our past and please, dear Lord, forgive me for doing so and for my wrongs that I’ve done against her.  Please give me strength to do your will and not my will, but to be the man of the family, to protect our family and my wife and make her feel wanted and loved and everything that you have in store for us as a family.  Please restore our family, dear Lord Jesus.  Thank you.  I love you guys.  Appreciate everybody who prays for me and our family.  My name is Alex from ___.  I love you. Bye.  

Hi there.  This is Daisy from Florida.  Today is Monday, April 17^th.  This message goes out to Kevin from South Carolina.  You called saying you had a lot of doubts about your salvation and I just wanted to encourage you and tell you that I’ve been there, but rest assured that God doesn’t have an eraser or whiteout.  You’re in the book of life and that’s it.  God is not going to take away your salvation.  It’s done.  I was really encouraged when somebody said to me that even if I had been the only person on the face of this earth, God still would have sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for me.  So Kevin, know that to be true for you.  Know that to be true for you, that when Jesus was on the cross, he thought about you.  He thought about you by name.  You.  If you had been the only person, if Kevin would have been the only person on the face of this earth, God still would have sent Jesus to die on the cross for you.  So just be encouraged, brother.  There is a verse in Lamentations, 3:23, that says his mercies are new every day and I hang onto that every day.  Every day.  Because I condemn myself a lot for my sins and I know that there is forgiveness and I try to remember every day, take every day as a new day with God.  He has forgiven me.  He has given me another chance because he loves me that much.  God is love.  If you need to maybe recommit your life to the Lord, that’s fine too.  I don’t know if you’ve been baptized.  After committing your life to Christ, if you need to do that too, do that too.  Regardless, again, you are loved and God is yours, so stand firm in that, brother.  Have a great day.  

Hi there.  I’m just calling to ask for prayer for my marriage.  I just feel like I’m having such a struggle in seeing eye to eye with my husband.  I’ve got a perfect husband.  He just does everything and will be everything, he’s awesome, but I’m not and I __ I have these outbursts of anger and frustration and I just can’t receive love and I don’t know why.  I just want to be good for him, but I’m just not good.  I love the Lord and do all my prayers and go to church and do all that kind of stuff, but I just don’t know how to make all this work.  I’ve had past failures in marriages and I just feel like that woman at the well where Jesus just talked to that woman and knows everything and she celebrated what he knew about her.  I just want to be celebrating.  I just want to be celebrating ___ in my life and that he could do a good work in me, but it’s so hard just choosing ___.  I don’t know what it is.  I don’t know what’s the matter with me.  I just ask for prayers to have someone step in and show me how to be…  These past hurts just sometimes surface and come up and then I just feel there is a lack of trust.  I just want prayers for ___ husband.  

This is Bill from Garland.  A while back a grandmother called to ask for prayers for her grandson who will be going for an operation on April 18^th for seizures.  Sister, I will join you in your prayers for your grandson.  I will also join in your fast by doing a partial fast that day dedicated to your grandson’s recovery.  I apologize for not noting your names, but I expect you know who you are. I also apologize for delaying in sending this message.  You will hear it after the surgery, though we know God will hear everyone’s prayers for your grandson regardless of time.  This is a wonderful community and I am thankful that the Lord led me here.  Thank you very much.  

Joshua 19:1-20:9 ~ Luke 19:28-48 ~ Psalm 88:1-18 ~ Proverbs 13:12-14

Today is April 19^th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I am Brian. It’s good to be here with you today for the next forward step through the scriptures this year.  The next forward step leads us back into the book of Joshua, chapter 19, verse 1, through 20, verse 9 today.  Of course, this week we’ve been reading from the English Standard Version.  

Commentary

The proverb today, hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life, that is a very popular, famous passage of scripture and we say it a lot.  Hope deferred does make the heart sick.  It makes us heartsick.  But when something that we’ve been striving for or a desire is fulfilled, it is as a tree of life to us.  It is life-giving to us.  So that is very popular.  

What we don’t often consider as popular are the supporting scriptures that follow it that sort of unpack it.  Because a desire fulfilled is a tree of life can mean anything.  What do you desire?  Desire can be double-edged.  There can be a godly desire burning in your heart or there can be desires that will do nothing but destroy you and pull you away from God.  So in context, whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.  The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life and one may turn away from the snares of death, turn away and be able to parse and understand which desire it is that we have.  Chasing an unhealthy desire will steal our hope and make us heartsick and bring destruction on us and become a snare of death to us.  But chasing after God, oh, that brings hope to the surface.  That constantly gives us hope in front of us.  

So may we do what the proverb is telling us in its entirety today and examine our own hearts.  Are we heartsick?  Is hope deferred?  Why? We can begin by looking at the desires that we have been chasing after and that can be an a-ha moment, because our lives are not in the shape that they are in because it’s God’s fault. They are in the shape that they are in because of our intentionality or unintentionality.  What are we chasing after?  Are we chasing after God?  Or are we chasing after the wind?  

Prayer

Holy Spirit, we invite you into that because sometimes it’s hard to know that. Sometimes it doesn’t become apparent immediately and in truth we confess that far too often we don’t slow down enough to even ask you.  That is on us.  Yes, we have blamed you for it, but it is on us.  So we take this moment now to invite you into the desires of our hearts. Parse them.  Examine them.  Shine the light of truth on them.  Let us see them for what they really are.  Let us see them in stark, illuminated light rather than deep shadow. Show us where our hearts are pulling us and where we are allowing ourselves to be pulled because hope deferred makes us heartsick and we need hope.  So come Holy Spirit, fill us with your hope and your desire.  We ask in the name of Jesus, 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 check it out.  One of the things that we have been mentioning is that we’ll be going back to the land of the Bible.  We’ll be going back to Israel in February of 2018.  You can come.  You can find out more of the details at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Just look for Israel 2018.  Just kind of scroll down and you’ll find it.  Or you can go directly there by going to www.DailyAudioBibleIsreal.com and get all the details.  Hope to see you there.  It is starting to fill up and it looks like it will sell out.  It will be at capacity.  So if it is a desire of your heart, like we were just talking about, then ask God.  And we’ll look forward to seeing you if this is your time.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you.  That is how we appear here every day.  We do this as a community and it is a beautiful community that we are.  Thank you for your partnership in allowing us to continue forward.  There is a link on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.  

And that’s it for today.  I’m Brian. I love you.  I sure do and I’ll be waiting for you right here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Good morning.  This is Janine calling from North Dakota.  First-time caller.  I’ve been listening for over a year and I’m so blessed by this program, this platform. It’s just really changed my life and I feel so close to so many of you that call in.  Today I’m calling about my daughter who is just 21 and is suffering from a rare eye disease she’s had since she was 5 years old.  It’s scary for her.  She’s just got a little vision in one eye left and we are struggling to keep that.  We’ve been going to Boston, found an amazing physician there that has been helping her all this time and we’re going again and she is worried that she is not going to find good news so there has been a little bit of problems, so please keep Molly in your prayers.  Also, I just want to give a shout-out to my son Wyatt who is just turning 23.  I am just so proud of him.  He’s really come a long way on his journey.  And again, I just want to thank everybody in advance for praying, lifting my children up.  Have a good day.  Thank you.

Hey everybody.  This is Bernie from the Nashville area.  I just want to tell everybody the has been praying for me and that prayed for me and my wife, Karen, thank you.  Thank you so much.  You guys are a blessing to my life and the Lord showed me some things, just in the decisions that I make every moment and every day, to make kingdom decisions, to keep God on my mind and in my life all day, to a life-living relationship. Brian’s book, if you haven’t got is, is phenomenal.  Oh, geez, what’s the name of it?  I just drew a blank.  Look it up here real quick, sorry guys.  Oh, Reframe. Geez, I drew a blank.  Yeah, Reframe, Brian’s book is great.  It’s just reframing the way we look at our walk with God.  It has really encouraged me a lot, and you guys do too.  You’re a blessing to my life.  I just want to say I love you.  Alright, bye-bye.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Laura in Houston.  I’m calling because I wanted to let Brian and Jill and so many of the women know that the More Conference was amazing.  I think the most amazing thing is that God brought healing to some of the deepest, oldest wounds in my life and that was very much in line with what he has already been doing and he is to be praised and it is good.  I’m so moved by the truths you spoke into my heart and thankful. The conference was so much fun.  I had lovely roommates. It’s a beautiful place. Everything was so thoughtfully done. Thank you, the whole team who put that together.  I saw the love in many people’s hearts.  I wanted to reach out.  I had the pleasure of meeting another lady from Houston and we’re looking forward to meeting up.  I want to say if there is anybody else in Houston who is a Dabber who would like to meet up with some fellow Dabbers, here’s my email address.  It’s LauraEWatson@gmail.com.  Even if we just touch base once, meet and know that we’re in Houston, that’s great. Love to meet you.  God bless you all.  Love you.  Praying for you all this morning with the DAB.  Talk to you later.  Bye.  

Hi, this is Peggy, AKA Mimi in Atlanta.  Annette, I’m going to join in that celebration of the More Gathering. All I can say is our God’s love is a consuming fire and now I get it.  I have a visual of all that we took and each one of us picked up someone else’s slip that they surrendered over and it is now in the past.  It is completely consumed by the presence of our Lord’s love. And new days.  And new air.  I am just so grateful to have been able to be a part of the More Gathering.  If I could have one request on earth, it is to gather up all the females, every woman who could possibly make next year and fill that wonderful little patch of heaven with DAB women.  You don’t leave the same.  You just can’t leave the same.  The questions.  The experiences.  The sessions. The prayer time.  I’m not one that likes silence, so it was a little challenging for me, but I love you all.  I promise you that God sees you and he hears you and he is answering your prayers, so start celebrating before we enter into this weekend of celebration of his resurrection.  Father, thank you for every person that is around this campfire.  I pray that it continues to grow in your precious name. I pray that you continue to answer in ways that just astound us.  You are our sweet, sweet Savior.  Thank you for saving us through every one of our circumstances and loving us so relentlessly.  In Jesus’ name, I pray over everybody today.  Amen.  I love you all.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible.  This is Crystal L. calling from the UK.  Oh my gosh. I can’t believe how nervous I am. My heart is like beating out of my chest, but I’m calling.  I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for a while now.  I really love it.  I’m so appreciative just for the family and for all of you people that come together and pray for each other and those that reach out in prayer.  Honestly, I hear your prayers, especially some that are really close to my heart.  I don’t remember any names, but just know that I’m one of those people that joins with the family in praying for you.  Today I’m asking for prayer, really.  I’m a mother of two and I just really need prayer just because I find myself drinking a lot, sometimes even in the day.  I’m not getting drunk but I’m finding I’m leaning towards it just to get some kind of relief. I just need some strength, really.  I have two children, like I said.  I’m married and my husband works a lot.  I just really want you to just stand with me in prayer. I just believe in the power of that. I just want to thank you all.  I pray that God would just bless every single one of you.  I thank you so much, Brian, just for this family.  I love you all and I’m praying for you.  Thank you for who you are, everyone, all of you listening.  Thank you for who you are.  Bless you all.  Take care guys.  I’ll call back again.  Crystal L. Bye guys.  

Good morning Daily Audio Bible.  May God bless you all on this blessed Good Friday, the day that over 2000 years ago our Lord and Savior was on his way to his crucifixion, only to resurrect and give us new life.  I want to call in regard to lifting up Ruth from Cali who called on the 6^th, Alicia from Kansas who called in on the 14^th, and Ken from South Cali who also called on the 14^th.  ___ I think you called in on the 12^th, both Alicia and Ken.  You know, I just want to tell you, Ruth, I know that you’re concerned about your grandson for his brain surgery.  Know that I am fasting today on Good Friday for the Lord and on behalf of Isaac.  May the Lord bless him and keep him.  Alicia, your daughter, Keagan, I know she is in Colorado.  You can’t reach her, but I’m believing and I’m believing in her healing. Ken from Cali, broken relationship, I understand what that is like all too well.  I didn’t know how to let go either and I just learned that all I had to do was just trust in God.  Trust that he loves me.  Trust in his promises.  Read the word.  Isaiah 55:24, Matthew 7:7-8, Matthew 21:22.  If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.  Just constantly believe in God’s love, God’s provision, look back at all the times that God has always been there.  Look at today, Good Friday, and how he, our Lord and Savior died for us, how much more would he give us.  Just believe. I know sometimes it is hard to do and we have our eyes covered, but just trust in his word.  Trust in his love.  Trust in his promises and provisions and don’t let go.  Don’t let the enemy get you.  God bless you.  Esther from ___, NY.