Month: April 2017

Joshua 16:1-18:28 ~ Luke 19:1-27 ~ Psalm 87:1-7 ~ Proverbs 13:11

Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  Today is April 18^th.  I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today, and you know what we do around here.  We take steps, one per day, and 365 steps takes us through the Bible in a year. It is a wonder to behold, all the people that we get to know and all the stories that we get to encounter and then the way the Bible becomes this mirror into our own souls and we find that the stories in the Bible, they are the stories of our lives.  So we’ll jump in.  

We’re in the book of Joshua in our Old Testament reading and the promised land is being settled and so the division of the land, so we went through all the different border towns and all of the ways that the borders will be set up for the tribe of Judah yesterday and we’ll continue with that story. Joshua chapter 16, verse 1 through 18:28 today and we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week.  

Commentary

The proverb today basically reiterates what Jesus was saying and what Jesus was saying was said to illustrate the kingdom.  A ruler is going away to inherit a kingdom.  He leaves people in charge.  We’ve heard this story before in the other gospels.  He leaves people in charge.  He gives them each a mina.  Let’s call it a dollar or a euro or a pound or whatever the currency is that is in the country that you live in.  So one of the people put in charge takes his dollar and makes it ten. Another one takes his dollar and makes it five.  And the other one hides it.  We know how this story goes.  Well done, to the one with the ten.  Well done, to the one with the five.  And depart from me, get away from me, you’re an evil servant, to the one who hides it.

So Jesus is using currency, something that we can all understand as an example of the way that the kingdom works.  We are all given something to steward and what we are given is precious. It is our heart.  It is our gifting and our talent.  It is our intellect.  It is our relationships and interactions and these all can be cultivated and built up to be more than they were when we started, just like wealth can. You don’t get a million dollars…I mean, you can inherit this stuff, but if you’re building this, you don’t get a million dollars or a million euro or a million pounds or a million whatever except that you start with the first one.  And then if you cultivate and build and don’t waste and are systematic, never deviating, pretty soon you’ll have ten.  Pretty soon that 10 will be 100 and then 1000 and then it will grow and grow and grow and grow, which is what the proverb is saying.  Wealth gained hastily, that will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.  

So there is our financial planning for the day, but if we turn this inward, into our hearts, into our spirits and understand the things that we are stewarding for the kingdom is more than financial in nature, it is everything about us, if we’re cultivating these things little by little, little by little in these relationships, that dead marriage where two people are just staying together because they are used to it, they really can’t stand each other, all the resemblance of what was love is gone, little by little if one partner moves their heart toward the other one, little by little things will change, That coworker or boss that you just absolutely can’t stand, is abusive towards you or that is abusive towards everybody or is just cynical and bitter all the time and so we just avoid them completely, what if we turned our heart toward them little by little by little by little by little?  Things will change.  What if we look into our own hearts and we feel dry like we’ve been in a wilderness forever, dry, can’t find direction, can’t find hope, what if we intentionally, systematically, little by little by little pour the truth into our lives and respond to it, not look for it to be magic, but respond in kind, touching everything about us little by little?  Things will change.  

This is how the kingdom works.  What is so profound about it is it is all-encompassing.  It touches everything about us and little by little can be the choice to bite our tongue instead of saying that mean thing.  That is a little thing.  But little by little we grow into the habit of that.  That becomes the lifestyle.  We learn when to speak and when to withhold because it’s not about us being right anymore.  It’s about spreading redemption everywhere that we possibly can.  

So may we take the lesson from Jesus’ lips and from the ancient voice of wisdom.  Both are speaking the same things today so we probably need to pay attention because this affects our lives.  It really doesn’t matter our status in life.  It doesn’t really matter where we are right now.  Everything starts with the first, with the first thing.  So if it is relational, then today is the first opportunity to sow into that relationship a little bit and then a little bit more tomorrow and then a little bit more the next day and before long you’ll have ten times what you had, which is pretty much nothing right now.  If we look at these things, we can see how margin is built in here.  It’s just up to us to respond.  

Prayer

Holy Spirit, we invite you into that.  A lot of times the day is a blur.  A lot of times things happen that we’re not prepared for and we’re always responding to things.  It’s hard to be intentional when things go sideways in a day.  But you are inviting us to kind of zoom out away from all of that and say that is not what is really going on here.  There is a bigger picture.  There is a bigger story.  And we always have the opportunity to step back from whatever it is that is the chaos, no matter what the deadline, no matter what the obligation or responsibility because it doesn’t take a lot of time to just step back and take a deep breath and say okay, I’m an ambassador for the king.  I’m a son or daughter of the king of the universe, the creator of all things.  This is not that big of a deal.  Yes, I’ve got to deal with it, but it’s not as big of a deal as I was making it out to be. So come Holy Spirit.  Come lead us because you will lead us on a fruitful path. It will be a narrow one but it will lead to life.  That is what we want, life.  That is all we’re craving because it’s the gift you’ve given us and we want more of it. We want all of it.  So come, Holy Spirit, and show us how we can little by little today begin planting seeds of the kingdom in everything that we have anything to do with.  We ask this in your mighty and powerful name, 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.  There is always something or another going on.  We have announced our next pilgrimage to the land of the Bible. That will take place the 19^th of February through the 4^th of March, 2018.  Even as we’re reading in the Old Testament the division of where the tribes will settle in the villages and towns that they will inhabit and all that, they are familiar now because I’ve been there enough and that is what happens, things begin to open up, you begin to know what we’re talking about, you begin to be able to see it and some of those places we will  certainly visit.  So you’re invited to come along.  You can find out all of the information that you would want to know at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Just look for Israel 2018 and click it and it will show you what you want to know.  Or you can visit www.DailyAudioBibleIsreal.com and that will get you there as well.  So hope to see you.  Looking forward to it.  Even though it’s a ways off, it gives us plenty of time to prepare our hearts. It’s going to be great.  So check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you.  Thank you.  This community exists because we’ve built it together and that has always been the story, so thank you for your partnership.  There is a link on the home page.  If you use 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 DAB family.  My name is Ella.  I’m calling in from Boston.  I’ve been listening for around a year and a half now, but it’s my first time calling in. Basically my husband and I are quite desperate for prayer about a crazy situation that happened back home in Singapore and we don’t know what else to do other than pray.  Basically it is about demonic possession.  There was a caretaker, a helper who takes care of his grandparent.  She was sick for two weeks and my in-laws sent their helper, a Christian, to go over and help around the house and when the helper, Maji, was there, she checked in on this sick girl and saw that her eyes were weird and that her fingernails and the inside of her lips were black.  Somehow from this she immediately knew that there was a demon inside of her, so she started to say “In the name of Jesus, I order you to leave this girl alone.”  And then the demon started shouting at her through the girl and it actually threatened our family’s safety if she didn’t leave it alone.  In the end she managed to cast the demon out, saying that she wasn’t afraid because she had the spirit of Christ in her, but obviously the rest of our family who aren’t Christian it terrified.  There is only one Christian aunt and they’ve been all asking what they can do to insure their safety, what charms they can put up because they are very superstitious and Chinese.  We’ve told them that the key is faith in Christ, but they said they aren’t interested and I guess they’re not ready yet, so please pray that God would really use this situation just to show them his power, that there is something special about the name of Jesus.  Please pray for them.  They are the Kangs.  I would really appreciate your help with this.  We’re still trying to get our heads around it.  But thank you for your…

Hi there.  My name is Ruth.  I’m calling from Canada.  This is the first time I’ve called in and I’ve been listening for a short while.  I listen to people’s prayers and I feel the spirit if God grieving with you as you pray and ask for help in your daily life. I’m not very good at speaking, so I would like to let the Bible speak for me.  So I would like to quote James 5:16:  Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.  The effect of fervent prayer of the righteous man or woman avails much.  Psalm 139:1-2:  O Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know my sitting down and my rising up.  You understand my thoughts from far off.  Philippians 4:6-7:  Do not be anxious for anything but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:19:  And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  And John 10:28-30:  And I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.  I and my Father are one.  And John 17:9-10:  I am praying for them.  I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me for they are yours. All are mine and yours are mine and I’m glorified in them.  

Hello my DAB family.  This is Mark S. from Sydney, Australia.  Today is Thursday, the 12^th of April.  Today I call with a heavy heart not really wanting to make this call, but out of the respect of all of you and to God, I failed God again.  I fell back into sexual sin yesterday and I love you all, community, and I’m ashamed of myself, frustrated and angry because I know how much all of you have prayed for me too and I feel like I’ve offended all you as well.  As I said, it is pretty hard for me to make this call, but I want to come humbly before God and ask for his forgiveness again.  He’s given me so much these last few years and I know the effect of sin on me and I feel certainly separated from God at the moment and I really want to get my closeness back again, so I come before all of you, my friends, asking you just to pray for my forgiveness.  It is very easy to wallow in self-pity and I had that feeling of wanting to give up, but I know that is not the right thing to do.  I don’t want to trivialize the sin either.  This sin is certainly terrible as well, but I do want to pick myself up and keep moving forward.  I’m frustrated because I had all the resources, yet still I sinned.  I’ve had all of you praying for me, yet still I sinned, so it is frustrating, family.  So I certainly want to apologize to all of you because you are certainly a part of my life and I want to say thank you for everything you do for me, but I am sorry that I’ve let you down as well, as well as God.  So thank you for listening to me and please ask God for his humble forgiveness for me.  

David from Kansas, it is Dr. John from Jordan, NY and I loved hearing your voice, brother.  I’m so glad that you called back in, especially in your despair.  I want you to know that you are not back where you were a year ago.  You are not back to square one.  That is a lie from Satan and he wants you to be bound by that thought, that this past year did not produce fruit.  I can tell you as a listener for almost 10 years now that you have produced great fruit, so you need to look back on this past year and see that it has changed you and you are not the person that you were a year ago and Satan wants you back in that trap and you have got to tell him to bug out.  So find that scripture that you need, brother, and welcome back. We miss you.  

Hi.  This message is for Alicia from Kansas.  My name is Curtis, Curtis from Cali.  I haven’t called in for a long time, but I heard your message and I just hit pause on my podcast and I just wanted to call and let you know that I’m praying for you. I’m praying for your daughter, Keagan. I can understand to some degree what you guys are going through right now and it just broke my heart listening to you and I just want you to know that you will be in my prayers and my family’s prayers, you and your daughter, especially.  And another thing too.  You made a comment of God is not hearing your prayers because you’re not righteous. Some people are telling you that. Whoever is telling you that, Alicia from Kansas, is wrong.  They don’t know their word the way that they should to be making proclamations like that. The Bible states no one is righteous except for one man, Jesus, and by his wounds we are healed.  So don’t believe the lies.  You keep praying and it may take time.  Right now we see things very dimly and one day God will open up our eyes to see things very clearly.  We may not understand the things that go on in this life, but it is all a process.  Every day it is a process, waking up and giving our needs, giving our cares to the Lord every single day.  So he doesn’t expect you to know everything that is going on or understand everything that is going on.  He expects you to trust him and trust the process that ___ can do.  Sometimes things seem unfair, but Alicia from Kansas and Keagan, your daughter, I do believe that things will work out.  God always finds a way.  

Hello Daily Audio Bible family.  This is my first time calling in and I want to pray for someone that I listened to actually tonight which is April the 12^th, I believe. The woman whose daughter has been diagnosed being bipolar and her name is Keagan, I was so touched by your request. I just want to pray for you and your daughter right now.  Father, in Jesus’ name, I lift up Keagan to you, Lord God, because you are able to do anything and there is nothing too hard for you.  God, with you all things are possible and you have all power and you are able to heal and set free.  Jesus, you died for us that we could have freedom, that we could be in liberty and that we could be free and you went and healed all that were oppressed.  Lord, I just take authority over this spirit of bipolar, whether it’s a mental condition or whether it is categorized as an unclean spirit, whatever it might be, God, you are able.  And I ask that you would set Keagan free.  Lord, touch her from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, that it would be a testimony that you did something great in her life and set her free.  God, I speak healing, I speak deliverance, and I speak life.  Let her live and not die, but live to declare the works of the Lord, in the name of Jesus.  And I pray for her mother and her family as well, that you will comfort them right now and that you would give them to not fear and that they would be strong and courageous, knowing that you are with them, O God.  Let your Holy Spirit just even be upon them and give them peace, in Jesus’ mighty name.  And Lord, wrap your loving arms around them and continue to bless and prosper them, in Jesus’ mighty name.  Amen. God bless you.  

Joshua 15:1-63 ~ Luke 18:18-43 ~ Psalm 86:1-17 ~ Proverbs 13:9-10

Today is the 17^th day of April.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian.  It’s great to be here with you today, today and every day, and here we go, taking the next step forward in this journey that we are on that is nothing short of epic, through the Bible in a year, and we find ourselves in the promised land before much is really set up, before settling in has taken place.  It’s just that many battles and large swathes of land have been captured and those large swaths of land are being given to the different tribes.  Joshua chapter 15, verses 1 through 63 today.    

Prayer

Father, we take to heart the blind beggar in Jericho today.  We see that he was desperate enough to face humiliation and screamed at the top of his lungs because he wanted one thing and he had hope that you could give him this one thing, that he could see again.  So Father, this is also our prayer, let us see. Open the eyes of our hearts. Unite us, spirit, soul and body in union with you, in relation with you, intimately intertwined with you.  Open our eyes, let us see this day the kingdom that is in and among us and all around us and that we will either advance or retreat today.  Help us in all of our thoughts, words, and deeds, in everything about this day.  We give it to you, in fellowship with you. Come Holy Spirit, we want to see and we ask in Jesus’ 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 check it out.  Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.  There are resources that are available there. Check out the Community section and maybe check out the Prayer Wall.  Find out different ways to connect, all the different places that we live out there on social media, all the ways to interact and connect.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, then www.DailyAudioBible.com is the place to go.  There is a link on the home page.  Thank you.  Thank you humbly for your partnership in allowing the Daily Audio Bible to be here. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t here together and that is just a reality through and through, 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

Hi my lovely Daily Audio Bible family.  And this is the second time I’m calling.  I’m calling from Scotland and I don’t always listen to the prayer after the daily reading, but the last few times that I have and there has been mention of bipolar, there was a chap that phoned in a few weeks ago, I was looking for you on the Facebook page but never find you, and there was a lady that phoned in today.  I’m sorry, ___ name, and my heart just stopped.  I was diagnosed with bipolar when I was 18.  I’m now 34.  My heart is just there for your daughter who is suffering psychosis and for the chap that phoned in, unsure of his name, ___ and I’m just there with you and I’m praying with you all the way from Scotland because I just love that we can come together and pray together.  And the lady that was on today mentioned the various people saying you’re not praying enough.  I’ve heard all of that.  I’ve heard “Oh, do you really need to take the medication?  Are you sure you’re not praying enough?”  And I’m like, “Listen, my soul is good.  My soul is well.  The chemical imbalance in my brain, not so much.”  And this is the thing.  People wouldn’t tell people with epilepsy or diabetes to stop taking their drugs and pray more and this is what we need to break down.  It’s a chemical imbalance in your brain and that is why it’s so important that we do not tell people not to take their medication but support them and scaffold them in prayer whilst the medication works and gets them stable and then when they are stable, please, you can look if there are any spiritual things that need to ___ praying over because usually there is.  Usually there is hurt from the past or situations.  Like I just recently dealt with issues of anxiety that I didn’t even know were there.  I just thought it was part of my life.  So I’m praying from a place of understanding.  I’m praying from a place of love.  

Hello, my name is Matthew.  I’m in Florida.  This is my first time calling in and this is my first year listening to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m calling. I just listened to Ken from SoCal. He called in about having trouble giving control over to God in your life and I struggled with this a long time ago too and I realized that God is the creator of everything and he gives us all wisdom.  He gave Solomon wisdom as we see in the book of Proverbs and I just want to encourage you to just prayerfully just try to give up that control and with finances to trust God and start tithing to your local church and community and realize that God is wiser and smarter than all of us and he knows us better than we know ourselves and why not give control to the creator of everything who can make better decisions than we are capable of?  Anyway, I encourage you to continue to go down that path as I have.  I’m praying for you.  Bye.  

Hi Daily Audio Bible.  This is Melody from Wisconsin.  It’s been probably four or five years since I’ve called, but with Asia and several other people encouraging people to call, I decided I needed to call.  I am 36 and am in the first relationship that I’ve ever been in dating wise and so far it’s going really well, but there are some random pieces that we’re still trying to figure out, complications and stuff.  I am just wanting prayers and wisdom for this relationship.  It feels like God is leading us towards marriage, but there are pieces that we’re just not sure about, so I’m just wanting the encouragement and prayers of my Daily Audio Bible family.  Thank you. Bye.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Nancy in the Hudson Valley, formerly from Northern Kentucky.  I don’t call in very often, but I do call in occasionally and it has been a little while.  There is something that is worrying me and I hesitated to call because I thought, oh, this is a blessing that I’m able to do something and I shouldn’t be worried about it but I thought, you know what?  That’s not what God wants us to do.  God wants us to take our worries to him and take our worries to our family, so I am taking my worries to you and this is it.  My husband and I are celebrating our 25^th anniversary this year and to treat ourselves, we are taking a trip to Egypt.  We leave this Thursday, so April 13^th and today is the 12^th.  So we leave tomorrow.  And I’m worrying about the unrest in that area, especially with the recent bombings and the heightened security levels and all of that.  We’ve debated canceling but decided not to.  I’m asking my family to pray for us, to pray for our safety and security while we are traveling, for smooth transitions and connections and just that we have the trip that we had hoped, that we can enjoy seeing new sights and trying new foods and just time together.  So I thank you, family, for your prayer and I want to let you all know that you are a huge part of my life.  I’ve been listening for eight years now and even though I don’t call in often, I feel like I have friends even though I’ve never met you.  I wish you all the best and I thank you. Bye-bye.  

Hi.  I’m Frances. I’m a first time caller.  I have several requests please.  I have a dear friend in Austin, TX.  She is an elderly lady.  Her name is Earlene.  Her body is wracked with neuropathy pain.  I have another friend.  His name is Brian.  He needs salvation and a safe place to live in.  I need prayer for reunification with my children and I am also faced with breast cancer.  Thank you very much for your prayers.

Yes, hi.  My name is Kevin.  I’m calling from South Carolina and just wanted to get a prayer request.  I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar and OCD and I have a four-month ___ where I have a lot of doubt about my salvation, even though I was saved when I was nine years old.  I just wanted to get prayer for that, that God would just give me the assurance of my salvation and help me to rest in it and not doubt it at all.  And that he would just help me grow from all this and just get to a place where I can be used by him to help other people and get out of my own head basically about it all.  That’s what I’m calling for prayer for and I just appreciate those prayers, that God would just give me the assurance of my salvation, give me the confidence in my salvation so that I don’t ever doubt it again.  I love you all and I appreciate it.  Great job, what you’re doing, Brian.  I appreciate everything you’re doing and find a lot of comfort in your ministry.  Thank you very much.  Goodbye. God bless.  

Joshua 13:1-14:15 ~ Luke 18:1-17 ~ Psalm 85:1-13 ~ Proverbs 13:7-8

Today is the 16^th day of April.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  Guys, today is the day of days.  I mean, today is the day that represents freedom for the human race.  Today is Easter Sunday.  Today is a day of resurrection.  What was hopelessly lost has come back to life again and salvation is offered to each of us.  Victory over the darkness has been given to us.  Jesus has won the victory and then given the victory to you.  It’s yours.  Take hold of the promise and never let it go.  Hold onto it for dear life because this, my friends, is the good news.  Thank God.  Thank you, Jesus.  We worship you and we rejoice in your victory, the very victory that you have given us.

1st SONG on Easter’s DAB “Easter Song” 2nd Chapter of Acts http://apple.co/2oo0Qdi

This week we’ll read from the English Standard Version and most of the land of the promise has been conquered.  It has been conquered because great kings of the regions have banded together to attack Israel and Israel has been able to attack and destroy these armies and so they’ve capture the majority of their land, but there is still more, and we’ll pick up with that story.  Joshua chapter 13, verse 1 through 14, verse 15 today.  

Commentary

So in Luke 18, which is what we read today, there are two stories that kind of funnel themselves into this final thing that Jesus is saying.  The first story is about this widow who is going before an evil judge or at least an indifferent, completely indifferent judge, doesn’t respect God, doesn’t respect people, has become cynical, just checked out.  But this widow keeps coming to him, keeps coming to him day after day after day after day asking for justice and he doesn’t give her justice because she deserves justice, he gives her justice because he wants her to stop bothering him.  She wants this thing bad enough that she will be relentless in its pursuit and she gets what she’s after.  

The other one is about a Pharisee, a very, very religious, devout person and a tax collector who is very not pharisaical.  He’s the other side of the equation.  He’s just very carnal.  They are both at the temple to pray, the Pharisee prays this lofty prayer, drawing attention to himself, even comparing himself to this tax collector as something that he is not and will never be, and then the tax collector won’t even lift up his eyes. He’s humble.  He’s humbled.  He’s just asking for mercy.  And Jesus said, “This is the posture of heart.  This is the one.  This is the way.”  That man went home justified.  He went home forgiven, not this other thing, this other display, this other façade and show.

Leading us to the children, people are bringing their babies to Jesus now to bless them.  The disciples are running them off and Jesus is like, “Not so fast.  No, no, don’t hinder these.  The kingdom of God belongs to these.  Whoever doesn’t receive the kingdom of God like a child can’t be in it.”

Jesus has been talking about the kingdom and we talked about that yesterday. There’s this paradigm shift to know that the kingdom isn’t something that you’re going to find and the kingdom isn’t something you’re going to point to.  The kingdom is here.  It is everywhere.  It is now. It is us and what we do matters. And so he’s continuing with that conversation and with the widow who wants justice, he’s using the example of her relentless pursuit of it and that is the posture we must take.  This relentless pursuit day after day after day of this one thing, God’s kingdom, bringing it, being in it, being saturated with it, longing for it to advance while being present in it right now.  

And this posture with the Pharisee, this religious person, this person who should own the kingdom of God isn’t even near it, but it is this humble person who won’t even lift up his eyes to heaven who is simply understanding the hopelessness of his own plight, saying “God have mercy on me.”  That emptied out, poured out heart, knowing that there is no way to attain justification any other way but the mercy of God, that is the posture that puts us in the equation.  

And then the children, the children.  God’s kingdom belongs to those who receive it like a child.  And we know what this looks like, those of us who have been parents, but I don’t think there is anybody listening to me right now that can’t grasp this. Little kids, little toddlers think of themselves as indestructible.  Nothing can touch them.  Anything is possible and they have the rest and the comfort knowing that they are cared for, that they are loved, that they are nurtured, that they are safe when they are in the presence of their parents.  It just starts all clicking.  When we are in the presence of our parent, our Father, we are safe.  We can do anything if we will simply believe.

These are beautiful postures of the kingdom, but they are not suggestions.  This is what it is supposed to look like.  Jesus is unpacking what life is supposed to look like as a normal person.  So we need to look at our own lives.  Is this what they look like?  Because if it is not, then we’re off by degrees or miles or kilometers, but we’re off. This is what we’re invited into and we can look at it as a really, really hard thing, like how can a person do that?   But what kind of rest would this be to our souls to live this way?  And yet, this is the invitation.  This is the beauty of the kingdom that is now.  This is the beauty of the kingdom that is in and among us.  I want that.  Do you want that?  Because that is the hope of Easter.  That is the hope of the resurrection.  Every breath we take is a gift because of the resurrection.

Prayer

Jesus, we thank you for staring in the face of death and then entering its dark hold on our behalf, trusting in your Father and coming back with what we could never achieve – life eternal.  Thank you, Jesus.  You are the victor.  You are the victorious one and through you we can also participate in this same victory. This is ours because of you.  May we treat it humbly, soberly and rejoice at the top of our voices.  This is jumping up and down material.  We don’t have to live lost and floundering anymore.  You are here.  You are present in and among us.  You are always, always with us.  So we rejoice on this Easter at this very unspeakable and good news.  We love you, Lord.  We rejoice in your resurrection.  We invite your Holy Spirit today and every day to make us new again, to deepen our awareness of what a colossal shift this day represents in the world.  We love you and we thank you for your sacrifice, oh, but we rejoice in your resurrection.  Come Holy Spirit, well up within us.  We pray in the mighty and victorious name of our beautiful Savior, in the name of Jesus we ask, amen. 

2nd SONG on Easter’s DAB “The Victor” Keith Green http://apple.co/2o3pEF1

Joshua 11:1-12:24 ~ Luke 17:11-37 ~ Psalm 84:1-12 ~ Proverbs 13:5-6

Today is April 15^th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today and yeah, this is the end of another of the weeks and we find ourselves smack in the middle of another month.  So whatever is going on, this may be first thing in the morning, so welcome to a new day, or this may be the end of a day after a long, long week, this is the end of a week and let’s finish it well by orienting ourselves to God through his word.  We’ve been doing that by reading the Contemporary English Version this week, which is what we’ll do today.  Joshua chapter 11, verse 1 through 12:24 today.    

Commentary

In the book of Luke, Jesus is talking about God’s kingdom.  The Pharisees are asking when this kingdom he’s talking about is going to come and Jesus says something that we kind of move past a lot and just incorporate into our Christian culture or our own set of assumptions about what this is going to look like and we miss what Jesus is saying very, very plainly.  

The Pharisees are asking when is God’s kingdom going to come.  We seem to have that same question.  But that question was answered directly by Jesus. It is a bit of a paradigm shift, at least it was for me when I finally paid attention.  So, do you want to know when God’s kingdom is going to come? Here’s the answer.  God’s kingdom (and this is Jesus talking here, so I think we have it on good authority) isn’t something you can see.  There is no use saying, “Look, here it is or look, there it is. God’s kingdom is here with you.”  

What I began to realize over the years of crossing this territory is that I want the same answer the Pharisees wanted.  When is this going to go down?  When will all things be right again?  Only to find out Jesus is saying it doesn’t work that way.  That is not what is happening here.  The kingdom has already begun.  It is happening right now.  It is right here with you right now.  You are a part of that, not metaphorically.  You are a part of that for real.  It’s advance or retreat depends on how you live today, right now.  

This kingdom, as we know from scripture, has a fulfillment.  Yes, all we have to do is look around and know that the fullness of the kingdom has not ended.  It is not complete, but we wait and we wait and we wait for something to happen that is not going to happen the way we keep imaging it.  We are a part of this story.  How it is that you live today is an advance or retreat for the kingdom within your sphere of influence and we are all a part of this.  

For me, that paradigm shift was huge because I had always thought somehow I’ve gotta keep my nose clean.  Somehow I’ve got to stay sparkly for Jesus and make it through my death so that I can be a part of this thing long term.  That was sort of the motivation for being a good boy if I could.  But what Jesus is saying is far more immediate than that.  It’s happening now.  It’s here with you.  It’s here within you and what you do with that is a collaboration with the sovereign God and his purpose and work in this world, which changed the whole equation about what today means.  We live so much of our lives trying to get out of here into God’s kingdom or into some place where we don’t have to worry about behaving and being good boys and girls anymore when it is now.  

So may we each give some thought, some mediation, some contemplation to that today because it really does change the implications of this day.  When you walk through your days knowing you are an ambassador for the king and the kingdom and it’s not a metaphor, it’s a real thing, that God has entrusted upon us to advance and bring and flourish in and welcome others into the orientation to life and the self-absorption of life, it gets restructured.  So may we bring God’s kingdom today because it’s here with us.  

Prayer

Jesus, help us with that.  Help us know what that looks like in our story and with our history.  Help us know what that looks like within our sphere of influence, within our families, within our churches, within our workplaces and our communities and our regions.  Help us know how to operate within your kingdom that is now, knowing that what we do matters and it matters greatly.  Come Holy Spirit, 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 be sure to check it out. The Prayer Wall is at www.DailyAudioBible.com where people are posting prayer requests and receiving responses, a great place to reach out and have people reach back.

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.  I can’t thank you enough for your willingness to click that link.  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 Daily Audio Bible.  This is Orinthea in Indonesia.  I am very joyful this morning.  God is doing the same great work he’s been doing all year this school year, but he’s been talking to me this weekend, over the past weekend about some very sensitive topics that I’m teaching teenagers in my technology course. We’re discussing some of the pitfalls of being in the technology age, the digital age, sexting, pornography addiction, gaming addiction, and I’m in an East Asian school so it is very difficult to get the children to open up at all, let alone about such sensitive material, so please pray with me that this will be an opportunity for God to plant seeds in them to help them to establish their worldview and have a strong faith and understanding of why they don’t share their bodies online or they don’t spend all of their time in video games, helping them to understand that they are the stewards of the life that God has given each of us.  So I really want them to have those nuggets, even if they aren’t facing those challenges now.  But in the midst of teaching all of that, I was blessed with a motorbike on Friday, a semi-automatic bike which makes it even more challenging to figure out how to ride it.  I had driven this bike before, but this time, the first time I did just fine, it took a little while, jumped a curb once or maybe twice, but I got into a rhythm. This time I had two very minor crashes in my practice time and God has just been teaching me so much.  

Father, I want to thank you for your successful More Conference.  Thank you for your deliverance, your validation and encouragement for each woman that was there.  Thank you, Lord, that although the devil tried to create obstacles in the path of many, you removed each one and you made a way.  Thank you Lord for the words of wisdom, insight, and revelation from Brian, from Jill, from every speaker, O God.  We bless you, dear Lord.  I pray that every agreement that was broken will remain broken and will not be picked up again, in the name of Jesus.  Ann from Florida, I’m praying for total healing and good health for you. I take a sword to the spirit of fear and anxiety and I bind them in the name of Jesus.  Sister, I will keep praying for you like I promised.  I’m praying for the YWAM missionary, Kristen, and I thank you so much for your encouragement.  God bless you.  I lift you, Sharon, and Stephanie and Brittany up.  I pray that God will continue to use you mightily in his kingdom and for his glory.  I cancel every plan of the devil concerning you and your families and I cancel and neutralize them.  I declare them null, void and of no effect over your life, in the name of Jesus. Special shout-out to More Conference first-timers Robin and Abby from Florida, Marin from Norway, Bold River from Virginia, Stephanie from Virgin Islands, Mary in Georgia and all the lovely, warm-hearted, and beautiful women I met for the first time.  Everyone on Jill’s team and those I reconnected with at the conference, you know yourselves, many blessings and grace to you all, in the name of Jesus.  Keep hope alive and know that our God who promised will keep his promises to each one of you, in the name of Jesus.  Denise from California, I’m standing in agreement with you concerning your mom and pray for complete and total healing for her, in the name of Jesus.  Also praying for your ___, that God will make their hearts tender for him.  I tear down every veil and scale from their eyes and I declare that they will be set free to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, in the name of Jesus.  Ruth from California, I’m praying for Isaac, that Jesus, our Jehovah Rapha, the son of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings over him, in the name of Jesus.  God bless you.  Biola from Maryland.  

Hi.  This is Kate S. from California.  This is my first time calling.  I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for about eight years.  It’s been a while.  I first found the Daily Audio Bible just out of desperation.  I was in an abusive marriage and was just crying out to God and trying to follow him and I ____ across the Daily Audio Bible and it really has been an amazing ___ for me.  I’m calling today for prayer.  Never called in before, but I figured I really just desperately need prayer for my two little girls.  On the same day this year as the Israelites were led out of Egypt with the Daily Audio Bible reading, God led us out from this abusive situation and it has been quite a ride.  I’ve seen his hand in the whole process, but it has been quite difficult, too, for my girls and for ___.  I just need wisdom, wisdom in parenting, wisdom in handling it.  It has been a really messy and ugly process as far as the divorce proceedings so far.  I’m just crying out to God to bring justice.  It’s been difficult.  For wisdom for me and for my girls.  Right now they are in a process of being super confused going back and forth and hearing all kinds of stuff on the other side.  Just need God’s covering and protection.  Just asking, too, for God’s peace and…

Good morning Dabbers.  This is Walta calling from Charlotte, Liberian Walta calling from Charlotte.  I just want to share this.  It’s been a while.  I confess that I have not been listening to the Sunday prayers and today I started back at listening and I want to encourage everybody out there who has not been listening to the Sunday prayers to do that because it is so, I don’t even know how to explain it, it is like you have an opportunity to just have a prayer meeting with multitudes of people and I just really missed that.  I don’t know why I stopped to listening, but anyway a theme I’ve heard today is just loneliness and for those of us, I’m newly divorced, divorced last year after 10 years of marriage, not something that I anticipated and I understand and I feel the disappointment and just the sense of failure that goes with that, especially disappointment when the spouse is…infidelity and stuff like that, so my sister in North Carolina, I am praying for you, but I’m praying for all the Dabbers who have found themselves single at this point in their lives and just don’t know what happens next.  I just want you to know that you did not cause this to happen.  You cannot change the partner and you have no control over things that other people do, but you can pray.  And you can trust God.  And you can trust God with your heart and that is what I’m doing right now.  I’m trusting God with my heart.  And so I just want to challenge you to do that.  Every morning wake up, take out your heart and just put it before the throne of God and say, “God, I’m trusting you with my heart today. I know that you are God and your will be done, in Jesus’ name.”  I love you all.  I love you all.  I do love you all.  Bye.

Hi family, this is Salvation is Mine in San Leandro, CA.  I wanted to call in today and pray for our elderly who are sick. So family, would you please join me in praying for them?  Dear Gracious and Heavenly Father, Our Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, we come before you right now lifting up our elders who are sick and don’t understand what is going on or may be struggling by themselves, Lord God, because family has abandoned them.  Lord God, we lift them up to you right now.  They have been with you since the beginning of time.  They have loved you since the beginning of their lives, Lord God, and right now they need you.  They need the Comforter.  They need the Healer.  They need you, Lord God, to wrap your arms around them and let them know everything is going to be all right.  O Lord God, their bodies are breaking down and they just don’t understand why.  Lord God, just please comfort them and help there be family and friends around them to take care of them and to be with them in their last hours if this is their last hours, Lord God.  We ask you to bless the caregivers that are helping them as well, if they are in hospice or in nursing care or being taken care of by homecare people.  We ask that they be kind and Christian and that they would love them as if they were their own.  Dear Heavenly Father, we just ask you to just blanket their spirits with your love. Let them feel that you are constantly with them.  Please send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit to them to help and guide them.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Thank you for praying with me, family.  This is Salvation is Mine in San Leandro, CA.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family.  ___ women of DAB.  ____ pray for our wonderful godly women who call in especially.  There are so many times that they’ve called in ___ situations, but I’ve seen with the community here you can be built up, that you can be strengthened by God, that you can cope where others would fail, that you can thrive in desert-like conditions because God is with you.  So I say prayers here and on the Prayer Wall  ___ and I say watch and see how God changes your ___.  He changes despair to hope, and anxiety or depression to joy.  ____ even today on the 12^th, I think it is Dominica, Alicia who called in and Barbara and Jolene’s daughter Casey on the wall. I hear your prayers and I’m praying for you.  ___ many of our family of which I could friend and talk to you and each one of you that I could give encouragement to because your requests impact me and I would say take heart.  Do not be afraid.  Jesus is with you.  You ___ Jesus and he is watching, but he doesn’t see as you see.  He is always working in your waiting.  He is looking to build you up so that you can stand strongly with him, so strong, in fact, that you would know all you need is him. God bless you all today, you wonderful family.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Joshua 9:3-10:43 ~ Luke 16:19-17:10 ~ Psalm 83:1-18 ~ Proverbs 13:4

Today is the 14^th day of April.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  Today is Good Friday, the day that we commemorate and really sit with the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.  It’s a day of days.  It’s a day that we use and observe as the anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus, the closest, deepest, truest friend we’ll ever have.  So yes, we continue with the rhythm of the scriptures and allow them to wash over us and speak to us, but we also give ourselves to some contemplation today, some time to sit with what sin leads to and that is only death, and what it cost to free us from its bondage.  

Prayer

So we thank you, Jesus.  We thank you for such love that is beyond our comprehension.  That you would come for us, that you would rescue us, that you would lay your life down on our behalf and that you have given us an unspeakable freedom, one in which we participate and one in which our actions show that we reject at times.  So we sit with what this cost you to give to us this unspeakable, overarching, all-encompassing gift of our freedom from sin and all the repercussions of it.  And we thank you and we worship you.  Come, come into this time of reading from your word. Come into this day as we contemplate what it means to the world and to our own hearts.  Come Jesus, we pray.  Amen.  

Okay, this has been a big week in the Bible because we crossed the Jordan and put our feet firmly in the promised land, so we’ll pick up that story where we left off yesterday in the book of Joshua, chapter 9, verse 3 through 10:43 and we’re reading from the Contemporary English Version this week.  

Commentary

Large swathes of land are conquered today in the promised land. The Gibeonites make this peace treaty with the Israelites under false pretenses and then when they are attacked, they are attacked by the most powerful kings of the region because the Gibeonites have allied themselves with Israel.  Israel comes to their defense, which starts this large scale taking of this land because those kings were defeated, and then Joshua led his people to go and take that particular land of the enemies that had attacked them and were defeated. What we should notice is that the children of Israel didn’t just get to just march into the promised land and just settle in.  They had to come into their promise and fight for it.  

How this applies to our lives is similar.  We get a promise, we get instructions, we begin to move in until it becomes work, until it becomes something that has to be contended for, until we have to fight for it and it is kind of at that point that normally we will turn back in confusion and flee and say, “But you promised!” kind of living under this false assumption that everything is supposed to be easy.  But it is that which we have to fight for that actually has the most meaning and value to our lives and is held as the most precious.  When we have to wait and contend and stay true and keep moving, these things, they instill a character and a trust in us that we can get no other way.  

So we’re watching the children of Israel take the promised land and we have to understand that there is an enemy of our heart and soul.  There is a mortal enemy of our children and our spouses.  There is evil set against us in this world and if we want to regain those places in our hearts, we have to move forward with God  on these things and we will prevail.  

Prayer

On this day, this Good Friday, Jesus, everything that we’re talking about is only provided by your hand and through your sacrifice.  So once again, all our hope is in you.  So often we will declare that and it encourages us and it causes courage to well up within us, it en-courages us, but it has only ever been true.  Our hope is in you because you are the only hope there is.  So we start from gratitude because without you, without you there is no hope.  So we place all of our hope in you, all of it, for everything.  We sit with the fact that this cost you dearly.  To give this hope to us cost you dearly.  You love us so much that you left everything to come and suffered tremendously on our behalf.  So we accept with gratitude the gift of life that you have offered us, the gift of a forever, an intimacy with you that is never-ending, and we invite your Holy Spirit to make the cost and the victory so evident in our lives today.  You are the Savior.  You are the King.  You are the Master.  You are the Friend.  You are the Lover.  You are The Way for us.  You are The Truth for us.  You are The Life for us.  And it is a wonder and it is a gift that is beyond price, that is beyond cost, that is beyond economy.  You have come to heal our broken hearts and so we trust you.  All of our hope is in you and we invite you into these broken places because you were broken for us so that we don’t have to live that way anymore.  Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you, Lord, for your sacrifice on our behalf.  We love you and we worship you.  We worship you, Jesus.  We give our hearts and we turn our hearts toward you and give them to you as an act of worship.  And we pray these things in your mighty and victorious name.  Amen.  

SONG played on Good Friday’s DAB “Oh The Power” Kari Jobe http://apple.co/2onNa28

Joshua 7:16-9:2 ~ Luke 16:1-18 ~ Psalm 82:1-8 ~ Proverbs 13:2-3

Today is April 13^th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today and we’ll take the next step forward.  That is what we do here and that is what we do every day, another step forward as we move our way through the scriptures, completing the Bible from front to back, every word spoken out loud in a year.  

So we have crossed the Jordan River, we have found ourselves in the promised land, we have seen the first battle, which was the taking of Jericho, we have seen the second battle, which was a defeat to a small town named Ai, which is not too far from Jericho and has an active archeological dig happening now in the land.  That was quite confusing.  A great city, the city of Jericho, one of the oldest settlements on the planet was defeated, so a powerful city, only to find defeat to a small city and the people are confused.  That is where we pick up the story.  Reading from the Contemporary English Version this week, Joshua chapter 7, verse 16 through 9, verse 2 today.  

Commentary

Let’s think about something.  How many words do you say every day?  I mean, I know there are studies on this, but how many do you think?  10,000?  20,000? 50,000?  How many of those words would you say are ill-tempered?  How many of those words would you say have a little bit of a sting to them, some sarcasm, some meanness in them for whatever reason?  And how many of them would you say are intentionally kind?  We kind of weigh that in the balance and which way do you think the scale is tipping?  

And then how many of those words spoken in any day are about someone else, maybe a juicy story, a nice bit of information that is just waiting to be passed along?  Maybe you’re grabbing coffee with a girlfriend or maybe a couple guys are getting together, a few guys are getting together for coffee, another person that is not there comes up in conversation.  How many words in a day do we spend saying things that we’ve heard and we’re passing along about someone else?  Then we kind of weigh that in the balance.  

The book of Proverbs, what we just read, speaks directly to that:  You will be well rewarded for saying something kind, but all some people think about is how to be cruel and mean.  Keep what you know to yourself and you will be safe.  Talk too much and you are done for.  

This isn’t metaphoric language.  This is just direct, straight up talk.  Sometimes we have to weigh these things in the balance because the way that the scales tip shows us the trajectory of our lives and I’m not saying that as a metaphor.  I mean, our tongues kind of are the rudder for steering the ship of our lives and the things that we say, they do matter.  Sometimes if we’re thinking ‘why doesn’t anybody like me?’ it’s because we don’t like anybody really.  It’s because we’re not truly really in relationship with anybody.  We can backstab anybody at any moment to the next person that comes along that is also our kind of, sort of fake friend, our sort of acquaintance, but we would betray them if we had to.  That’s not good though because it’s not true.  That’s the real problem here.  It’s not true.  Our words and deeds and thoughts are not in alignment with each other.  So may we take the counsel of wisdom and may we remember this.  When we began the book of Proverbs, it was a female voice speaking as wisdom, calling, pleading, begging, but then she goes on to say later that she was there when God created people.  She was there when God created the earth and she rejoiced in what he had made and she is here to help us.  So may we listen to the voice of wisdom when it comes to what will come out of our mouths today because we certainly can choose to be cruel and mean and snappy and biting and that may be our normal course of action, but we will be well rewarded if we say something kind.  

Prayer

Father, we say things before we think about them a lot.  We find ourselves reacting to things a lot.  We don’t pause before we speak.  We just speak.  Yeah, we’ve scorched the earth before with things that should have never been said into this world ever, and so we ask your forgiveness for that and we thank you for your counsel from the lips of the beautiful wisdom today that we should think about what we’re saying.  We should weigh those things in the balance and see which way the scales are tipping because that is informing the direction of our lives.  So we invite your Holy Spirit into this moment and we’re choosing to listen to wisdom’s voice and speak kindness even in the face of someone being cruel and mean to us.  Come Jesus, because we need your help.  We ask this in your name.  Amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what’s going on around here.  The thing that I’ve been mentioning here for a little bit is the fact that we’ll be going back to this promised land, the land where the majority of the Bible takes place for another pilgrimage.  We’ve been doing this for years.  My story is I didn’t care to go, but then once I went, I got it and I never looked at the Bible the same ever.  I can’t.  I couldn’t because just kind of understanding how far things are from each other and the dramatic change in such a small area, the dramatic change in geography and climate, it is very striking.  But just to have these things in context as we move through the stories of the Bible is life-changing because you don’t approach the Bible the same anymore.  You know what is being talked about.  You know what it looks like.  You know what it smells like.  You know what it sounds like and you can put yourself in the story in a much more deep and meaningful way.  So we do this because it really is a pilgrimage.  Every part of our lives gets touched in some way and it’s remarkable.

So we’ll be going back February, February 19^th through March 4^th of 2018.  You can get the details at www.DailyAudioBible.com in the Initiatives section.  You’ll find Israel 2018.  It’s easy to find.  Click that link and you’ll get the information that you need and, yeah, if this is something that has been on your list of things that you would really like to see, then you are invited.  Check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link.  It’s on the home page.  Thank you profoundly for being a life-giving source to this community so that we can continue forward into the future.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, 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, of course, 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

[Singing] I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will never die.  I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will never die.  I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will never die.  [Singing ends]  The Spirit and the Bride say come and let those who hear say come. Whoever is thirsty, let him come and whoever wishes, let him drink the free gift of the water of life.  O Dear Jesus, I, Candace from Oregon, am one of a great cloud of witnesses who brings you praises.  We thank you, Lord, with all our hearts for saving us from sin and death.  We claim all the power of what you have done for us and we rise now to walk in the newness of life.  Thank you, Lord.  

This is Truth Speaker 5, 2, calling in to read a collaboration of scripture prepared by Jonathan Baxter, 1813-1872.  I am black but comely.  Behold, I was shapen in inequity and in sin did my mother conceive me.  Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty for it was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon me, saith the Lord God.  I am a sinful man, O Lord.  Behold, thou art fair, my love.  Behold, thou art fair.  I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.  Thou art all fair, my love.  There is no spot in thee.  When I would do good, evil is present with me.  Be of good cheer.  Thy sins be forgiven thee.  I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.  Ye are complete in him, perfect in Christ Jesus.  Ye are washed.  Ye are sanctified.  Ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God that ye should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Song of Solomon 1:5, Psalm 51:5, Ezekiel 16:14, Luke 5:8, Song of Solomon 4:1, Job 42:6, Song of Solomon 4:7, Romans 7:21, Matthew 9:2, Romans 7:18, Colossians 2:10, Colossians 1:28, 1 Corinthians 6:11, 1 Peter 2:9.  Be blessed even now, in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

Hello my friends and family out there in Daily Audio Bible land.  Hey, this is Annette from Oklahoma City.  Oh my goodness, what an amazing conference, huh? Oh!  I tell you what, every one of you people touched my life.  I cannot believe it.  What a great time that we had learning how to overcome things and break bondage and rewrite truths in our life.  And I tell you what, Biola, my sister, I love you so very much.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  I had such an amazing time with you and everyone else that I met.  Hey, we had a lady from Norway, way at the top, and she is next to people from Russia at the top of her country.  I would like to pray for her and I hope that she gets to spread the message not only in her country, but to the people of Russia up there and help spread the word around there.  It’s amazing. I wanted to thank the gentleman from Northern California for praying not only for us, but mainly for the people who had stayed behind and when I told that to my husband that you had prayed, it was like he almost started crying because I know that it is difficult for people to let their wives go to places that are outside of their comfort zone where they can’t protect them and watch out for them.  And they got their __________, eh, Lisa?  So anyways, I really thank you for praying for that because the reason we want to turn our phones off is because I know like three of us got hit with sick animals and kids and had we actually looked at our phones, that would have been a bad distraction.  So I thought that was kind of interesting.  

Good morning DAB family.  Today is Monday, the 10^th of April.  This is Yvonne from California.  I haven’t called in a little while.  I just wanted to call in to say hello to all my DAB family, to ask for prayer for this week for me.  Yesterday, Sunday I started a fast for seven days, Sunday to Sunday, for 7 days this week. A fast for everything, for my __________, my sons, the obsession with the alcohol that, thanks to the Lord, is diminishing day by day.  I just wanted to offer these seven days to God, to my Father, my Heavenly Father, and to praise Him and just to have these seven days to contemplate all the suffering and the leading to his death of this week and then, of course, the resurrection on Sunday.  I haven’t been to a church, a physical church in a long time and I’m already making plans to go to the church where I was baptized, at Berkeley Mount Zion.  I’m going to go to church after a long time this coming Sunday, Resurrection Day, and complete my fast and just worship and honor God.  That is what I’m doing this week, just being very present with God and just every day and every moment trying to just ask him to be with me and to strengthen my faith, strengthen everything that needs to be strengthened in me.  I’m asking for your prayers.  Thank you.

This is The Greatest Trucker from Way Out West.  Got a prayer request for you.  A lady called in, well I’m hearing it on the 10^th.  Sherry from La Estancia, CA called in for her sister’s great-grandson.  His name is Lester and she has been listening for two years, but this is the first time she’s called in.  Lester I guess is a very, very young boy that has leukemia, he’s been in the hospital for six months and I am begging you people to pray for Lester, that he comes home well and whole.  Please pray for Lester, little Lester out there in California.  

Hi family.  It’s Shannon from Texas and I need for you to please continue to pray with me for my friend Sonya.  I’ve called in before several times regarding her and her situation with her children. Her son Conrad, the one that was shot and was actually robbing someone when he was shot and was in the hospital and he fled and she went to go pick him up from another state and had him with her here, which wasn’t a brilliant idea, but she __________ about that situation and I was at her house one day and __________ felt like I needed to go in and talk to him.  She didn’t go __________ her life goes on, but he had been abusing her and was using drugs.  Anyway, I just started praying about it and wanted him to go to church with us, but of course he wouldn’t go.  But anyway, he ended up beating her up, nearly beating her mother up.  I think he did hit her mother, so, of course, she called the police.  This was after I had been praying and I know she had been praying too.  Of course, this is her baby and he had been sexually abused by his father and I think after she found this out she had so much guilt that it is why she does some of these crazy things.  Anyway, please pray for him.  He’s back in jail which is probably where he belongs.  Really, it’s not where he belongs.  He needs to be healed, is what he needs, so please help me pray.  Help me pray for her, this whole family, her daughters, her other son. Only God can do this.  Only God can heal this woman’s heart after he has beaten his mother and his…