Month: April 2018

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

Today is the 14^th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure to be here with you today as we prepare to close down and release another week. And it’s a pleasure to come to you from the mountains of north Georgia where the More Gathering is taking place as we speak. And it’s the weirdest things because we’ve been here a day and ½, right? But it feels like a week has gone by. It’s just…a lot gets packed into these days. So, we’re getting ready for another full day today. But before we can do anything as a community we need take this next step forward as we continue to move through the Scriptures this year. And that will, of course, take us back into the book of Joshua where we be camping out for a while. And Israel has gone into the Promised Land. So, we are in the Promised Land and a couple of bottles have been fought and won, but it certainly got the attention of everybody around. And, so, now we have we have a lot of kings in a lot of the territory banding together as allies to push out these people who have invaded her land. And that’s where we find ourselves today. We’re reading from the Good News translation this week, which, of course, ends today. Joshua chapter 9 verse 3 through 10 verse 43 today.

Prayer:

We thank You Father for Your word. We thank You for another week that we’ve been able to spend together in community journeying through the Scriptures. And we thank You for all that You have spoken to us this week. And we look with anticipation to all that is yet to come before us as we continue to make this journey this year through the entirety of the Scriptures. We thank You for this gift that draws us together and aims us in a common direction and that pulls us toward You. And Father, even as we’re here at the More Gathering, we thank You for all that You are doing in and among us on top of this mountain. And we thank You for what You will speak today. And we thank You for all that is in store. And we ask for Your Holy Spirit’s presence hovering over all of it. Thank You God, for Your kindness and in for Your never-ending patience and willingness to be involved in our lives. It blows our minds because it is beyond our comprehension. And yet Your love is true and personal and inviting. And we accept the invitation to collaborate in this world in Your work as we reflect Your glory upon the earth. Come, Holy Spirit, and make that true for each one of us. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here.

Of course, the More Gathering is going on and you know, like I said at the beginning it feels like we’ve been here a week, but we’ve got today. And this is our last full day and then we’ve got a ½ a day tomorrow. And just like that, it comes and goes but a lot is deposited into our lives at these events. So, as a community we continue to hold a canopy of prayer up over all of it as we’ve been doing. You have no idea. If you’re here on this mountaintop, you know. You can feel the presence of this community around the whole thing. If you’re not here I am just telling you, your prayers are felt. This is not a joke. This is not just cute little thing. It’s not a metaphor. It’s real. We feel your prayers and it matters. So, thank you for continuing to pray over all that is happening here on the mountain. And we’re very grateful.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link that’s on the homepage. I cannot thank you enough. I mean, speaking of community, this community doesn’t exist if we don’t do this together and your partnership as part of that. So, thank you. There’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 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 and Praise:

Hey Daily Audio Bible family. This is Kristi in New York. I just listened to the calls at the end of the April 4^th broadcast. And Sophie from Oregon you just, you know, tugged at my heart. And I feel for you. And, so, I’m going to leave some prayer with our Daily Audio Bible family. So, pray with me for our sister Sophie. Heavenly Father, we lift up to You our tired and weary sister, Sophie. And she says that she’s broken Lord. She feels broken. And in those places that she feels broken Lord we ask for You to fill in the cracks, to glue her back together, to find her missing pieces, and to sew them back on, and to make her into Your masterpiece, imperfect, beautiful, wonderful masterpiece. We ask for You to make Yourself known to her so that she can feel Your presence and hear Your voice and know that it’s You, know that You care, and know that You are doing something about her situation, that You gave her this life, You gave her her situation and her rest and You didn’t just leave her there. You don’t leave any of us there. You support us through it and You guarantee us that there will be hard times, but You also tell us that there will be wonderful times. There will be a year of Jubilee and there will be a dry year. And we just have to look to You. It doesn’t make it easy and happy, but it makes us stronger. And, so, in that time we need to fill in the gap for our sister Lord. Amen. Kristi in New York. Bye.

Good morning all you Daily Audio Bible community. It is quarter to 6 in the morning on Monday, April the, oh, I think it’s the 9^th ? I was listening, I’m trying to catch up, so I was listening to April 5^th and, oh, Brian read the Deuteronomy 28 with the curses and the blessings and then Luke, when Jesus said, if your eye is clean then everything is clean. So, what do you see? What do you see? And, so, I am so grateful and thankful for, that I went back and caught April the 5^th. And I’m so happy that I can put a little checkmark when I read it. And I saw that I hadn’t read April 5^th, so I did. So, I say shalom, shalom. Nothing is missing and nothing is broken. And Lord I am going to see clean and clear. I’m going to see as You see, think his You think, speak as you speak - blessings only and not cursing. I’m praying again for the lady that has a daughter on drugs and bipolar for what good advice was given to her, to watch her mouth. And I’m going to watch my mouth too. Oh, that we would learn to speak only good and…

Hey what’s up everybody it’s Miguel from Santa Rosa. I just wanted to call and tell you a little about this last week and the word that the Lord showed me. Just a little bit of context. I run my life in a Sprint. I have my 40 hour a week job. On top of that, I have everything that we do as a church, where we have midweek prayer one evening, we’ve got midweek men’s group that I go to, that’s another evening, I am in a mentoring relationship with a college student, I am preparing worship sets for church. On top of that, my home life, I’ve got my wife and three kids, age 4…almost 4…and twin two-year-old’s. I live life as a sprint. On the eve of Easter my wife and I had a sit down and just talked about just how burned out we were. Just missing a lot of marks with each other lately. And we had a good talk. And we said, you know, we’re going to have a booster week, is what I’m going it, where we just take a break from everything and just focus on the family. And that’s what we did. So, we said no to everything extracurricular. I took a vacation day. And it was really good. In the midst of this, I heard the word from the Lord in the later part of Luke 10. Mary and Martha, where Mary was at the feet of Jesus and Martha was so stressed out and anxious. And I saw that. And I saw the word that Jesus gave her, just, I see your anxiety, I see your worry. I just invite you to be at my feet. I invite you to be in my presence. That was such a good word that Brian had in the commentary and it really spoke to me. It continues to speak with me today. All that being said, I ended up coming to Sunday. It was a good Sunday at church. I got the sit at the feet of Jesus even though I did have to play on our worship set last-minute. That’s a whole another story. But praise God that He is the one that invites us into His presence to see what He has for us. Amen.

My name is Eileen. Me and my mom listen to the Daily Audio Bible. Me and my baby brother have issues about reading, walking, and talking. I’d like to ask for all y’all prayers. Thank you.

Hi. This is Melody from Canada and I just heard Shiloh’s husband from Ontario Canada. Sorry I can’t remember your name, call in for his wife. And I want to pray for you. Father, I pray for Shiloh and her husband. God, I pray that Shiloh will see Your glory, that the scales will fall from her eyes and that You will bring her into your kingdom, that Your will will be done in her life and that You will give her husband peace and that You will help him to draw a really close to you in this time. God, thank You for bringing light into his darkness. Amen. I also want to ask for prayer. My husband __ are planning on going to __ in New York in about two weeks. And I still have a bit of pregnancy nausea and I’m just hoping that it won’t interfere with our trip and we’ll be able to have a good holiday. I was in the hospital again for the last two days getting IV treatments. So, it’s still kind of up and down. I’m feeling really good now. But we’re really just hoping for good holiday and we’ll bless my relatives there who don’t know Christ and some of our friends. So, thank you for your prayers for that. Bye.

Joshua 7:16-9:2, Luke 16:1-18, Psalms 82:1-8, Proverbs 13:2-3

Today is the 13^th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s wonderful to be here with you today. Coming to you from the More Gathering in the mountains of Georgia where things are off and running and we’re excited about the day ahead. But before we talk about any of that, let’s center ourselves in what we’ve come to do, which is to take the next step forward, a step that we take every single day, one step forward as we move our way through the Scriptures. And we’ve been using the Good News translation for our steps this week. And our next step takes us back into the book of Joshua, where the first city in the Promised Land named Jericho was conquered and the second city named Ai handed Israel its first defeat in battle. And Ai was a much smaller city than Jericho. So, this has thrown everyone into confusion, not the least of which being Joshua, the leader of Israel. And he’s got a lot of anxieties percolating because he feels like, you know, the reputation of God went before Israel into the land of Canaan when they crossed the Jordan. And Jericho fell, which was a very powerful city . So, things are moving in the right direction there, but then there handed this defeat and he feels like when the word gets out all of the different kings of all the different regions will rise up against them and destroy them. But as it turns out the Lord has instructed Joshua that someone has stolen, essentially someone has taken plunder from Jericho against God’s command. And we can think, what’s the big deal, but the children of Israel have been working their way toward the Promised Land for almost the entire time we’ve been in the Bible. And now the first time they face an enemy in the Promised Land there’s rebellion. So, it’s kind of a big deal. And that’s where we find ourselves. Joshua chapter 7 verse 16 through 9:2 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so, in the book of Joshua, the defeat of AI left the children of Israel searching for answers and they were confused about how they were defeated and they were found. And incidentally, little side note, little sidebar having nothing to do with this, Ai, the city, Some people pronounce it “A” “I” and I pronounced it that way for a long time because that’s what I was told; however, I’ve been there and the place is being excavated now. It’s really interesting because it’s kind of almost in a residential place off the side of a road and not a ton has been excavated. It’s being excavated but archaeologists and scholars both call it Ai. So, that’s what we’ll do. So, anyway, back to the story. So, Aikin, this man had stolen plunder from Jericho when God had commanded before they ever across the Jordan River, I mean this was all very clear, God commanded that everything was to be destroyed. And, so Aikin’s story is a story of a man who broke covenant with God and he ended up meeting with an unpleasant end, but Aiken allowed this lust to enter his heart for these possessions and he wasn’t confused about what he was doing. He willfully, specifically broke covenant with God and did exactly what he knew was wrong in rebellion to what he was commanded. I mean, man, anything in our lives that we exult above God or that interferes with our relationship with God is an idol, it’s idolatry. And, so, that’s what happened here. And nothing good can come from that. It’s going to only lead us further from God, which is what Jesus was talking about in the gospel of Luke, right? No one can serve two masters. You will hate one and you love the other. You will be devoted to one and you’ll despise the other. So, in both old and new Testaments we see the themes of obedience and faithfulness emerging as qualities that are irreplaceable on the path toward wholeness. And we can’t underestimate this like Aiken did. I mean, like, all the time we’re asking God to give us what we want or need, but we often want to increase without having to be faithful, right, without having to be obedient. And God doesn’t seem to work like that and it has nothing to do with God’s desire to be a control freak. He’s not going to give us the things that are going to get control over us that will eventually replace His sovereignty in our lives and become an idol that we give ourselves in worship to. And this has nothing to do with God’s insecurities. He’s not going to do that because he’s not going to let those things destroy us. And if, you know, those of us who are parents, we should be able to, very clearly, see this idea, this concept. So, as were asking God to intervene in our lives in some sort of way we have to consider the implications of Him actually doing what we’re asking. Are we being faithful to God? Is what we’re asking for something we can actually handle? Does it have the possibility of seducing us away? Are we being faithful with what we’ve already been given? Because Jesus said, be faithful in little things be faithful in large ones. If you’re dishonest in little things you’re not going to be honest with greater responsibilities. So, we see the importance of faithfulness and obedience in our reading today. And if we’re frustrated that we can get over a certain hurdle in our lives and we keep asking God to bring us an increase so that we can move forward in whatever way that might mean to us, we have to ask ourselves, am I being faithful now?

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we invite You into all of that because it brings up a lot. It gives us plenty to think about and meditate upon today. And, so, we give this day to that, invite Your Holy Spirit to continue to bring up things in our lives. We may have some work to do. Come, Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here.

And what is going on around here is that, well, the More Gathering for women has begun. It began yesterday afternoon as everyone arrived in camp and got settled in and for the first dinner together, the first session together last night. So off to a great start and in for a big day today. And every year I actually mention this because Friday, this day at this conference, is a day where quite a bit heavy lifting gets done spiritually. Plenty of things to consider. A lot of things to just sit with. And there’s plenty of time for that and it’s a beautiful place to do that. But some of the things are challenging to just kind of sit with certain things and invite the Holy Spirit to bring up things out of our history and our stories. It can be a difficult thing because we like to run and we have a society that’s really made it easy to just be distracted all of the time. But today is a day where we invite the Holy Spirit into a lot of different things. And, so, this is a day as a community that we pray over all of that, that we pray that the Holy Spirit’s clarity will hover and that our hearts will be open to all that He wants to say. And, so, as a community we continue to pray over this event because this is…I mean…whether you’re here in person…great…but most of us aren’t here in person…but this is us, this is our community, this is what we’re doing together. And, so, whether we’re here in person or here in spirit, we pray over all that God wants to do today. We pray over stamina. We pray over health. We pray over technology. We pray over everything. And of course, we have intercessors here praying continually as this event takes place but as a community we continue to soak and bathe this entire event in prayers. So, thank you for your continued prayers over the event.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that makes its home on the homepage. Thank you profoundly for those of you with clicked that link. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 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 and Praise:

Hi family. This is Karen from Pennsylvania and I am just reaching out because I need prayer for my son Jacob. Jacob is 18 and for the last two weeks he’s been having numbness in his legs and pain in his head. And I took him to the doctor repeatedly here and then went to Erie and they think he may have MS but he’s suffering. He’s going through so much right now. I just don’t know, I don’t know what to do. I know our Father is with us and I know Jacob belongs to Him.  I don’t want to be, but I’m afraid. And I’m trying not to be. I can’t help but wonder is this, is it because, you know, we did things? Is it because of something I did or didn’t do. I just don’t know what to think. I mean, I have, I have, I have fallen in love with somebody that’s not a believer and I want to grow there and I want to be with this person and marry this person. So, I wanted Jake to go with me, but I don’t know, I don’t know. Yeah, we go all over the map trying to understand, is something I did? Am I tempting the Lord? So, I just want to be vulnerable. I want to just ask for your prayers for Jacob, for me. I want to just…

Hi there Brian and Jill __ for all you guys too. God bless you. And DAB family, I am honored to hang out with you by the campfire. Don’t mind if I sit down and throw a log on the fire as I just want to call in with some encouragement for some DABbers today. Victoria S., Blind Tony, His Little Sharee, Pastor Gene, Drew, Daniel J. Jr., and so many others. You all bring such amazing favor to this community and I love that we all are here in oneness for the glory of our God and Savior. Jordan, your call was bitter sweet as it was so good to hear from you but really sad that you are hurting in one of the worst ways, matters of the heart. I am praying for a good resolution my brother. Mark S. I’m praying that your mom is doing better and I haven’t heard from you in a few days but I hope that you are doing well. Praying for you my brother. Walking by faith, no that I am praying for God’s grace for April the 11^th, that you will hold onto God’s unchanging hand and that, you know, he will administrator to you in a very special way. Hang in there my sister. Rumbie, you are continually in my prayers. Keep your eyes on Jesus my sister. He loves you. Asia, it was so good to hear from you. Praying that the Lord will look favorably upon your family and grant your desires. Candace, I remember my promise to try and sing the remainder of the 23^rd Psalm for you, but I will have to call back as I’m running out of time. Finally, for today, Lisa the Encourager. Thank you for your kind words. As usual, you are so very encouraging. You’re anointed my sister and this community is blessed to have you. I pray that the Lord will continue to use you for His glory. And that’s it for today. I will talk to you guys soon. God, bless.

Good day Daily Audio Bible family. This is Sherry calling from British Columbia Canada. I just wanted to take a step away today from my idolatry calls and I just wanted to say thank you to Sean 316 for your shout out that you gave me on the April 7^th community prayer. I just wanted to tell you that call came at the right time for me because our pastor today was talking about how we need to be transparent and I usually am a pretty happy, joyful person, but I was having a really bad day yesterday and I was feeling guilty about why I was sad because, you know, I don’t really have a reason to be sad, but I was. And so, normally when that happens, I think I’ve told you guys, I go through my 101 blessings, I count my blessings, I have them written down. And, so, I got to about blessing number 27 before I started to ball and I was crying and I just felt so guilty that, with all of the things that God has blessed me with, you know, why am I sad? But then I got to realize that it’s okay for me to be sad because when I let God know that I’m sad and others know that I’m sad that it’s not the earthly things, like my husband trying to make me lunch and give me a back rub that’s going to help, it’s God right? When we let God know how we are feeling and we let Him come into that sadness and then He’s the one that gives us the joy. We don’t bring it upon ourselves. And, so, being thankful for everything that God has given me just reminded me that our joy is from the Lord. So, all that to say, Sean, thank you so much for your call because that really lifted my spirits and today was a much better day. So, thank you for your call. Love you DAB family. Have a great day.

Family, this is Viola from Maryland and I hope you’re all doing well. It’s been a while. God bless you all. Brian and Jill God bless you. Father, I’m praying for the More Conference. It’s almost here. Father Lord, I pray for every single person Oh God that will be participating. Those behind the scenes oh God. __ Brian’s son…I’m trying to think of his name right now…and also China, Jill, Brian and his team. I’m praying your grace upon them oh God, Your anointing in the name of Jesus. And am praying for every woman that will be going oh God. Holy Spirit go ahead of them. I pray in the name of Jesus Lord that You will deliver, You will save oh God, You will restore oh God Lord in the name of Jesus. And ladies, I just want to encourage you to take full advantage of all those quiet times built into the program, they’re so powerful. So, use them to stay in the presence of God. God bless you. Salvation is Mine, you’ve been on my mind. I’m praying for you. I hope things are better for you and I’m praying healing for vision for you in the name of Jesus. And I’m praying that everything __ that__ you, I put a stop to them right now and bind them in the name of Jesus. __ From Florida, I have a feeling that you’ve probably gone to court right now for defending your lawsuit. I’m praying for you brother, that God will step into your situation and have mercy. You have a great heart about this and I pray that God will honor that in the name of Jesus. Teresa, I’m praising God for your marriage. I’m praying that your husband will come to know the Lord and he will have breakthrough regarding his job and God will give you both wisdom in the name of Jesus. And my brethren, I wanted to lift up the whole __ family. Your prayers pastor Vivian J.,  the wife of Bishop Jackson went to be with the Lord on April 2^nd. So, just pray for that family and pray that God will just comfort them and wrap His arms around them. God bless you.

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon Daily Audio Bible family. Stanley from Maryland calling. I want to pray for the women of the More Gathering today. Father, I thank You for the More Gathering, I thank You for all of the women who are going to be attending. I thank You for all of the staff and workers doing things behind the scenes. I just want to be an extra person to pray for our women and pray for the heart of our women Father. I pray for an encounter with You, Jesus, and I thank You for always being willing to come into our lives and to change us. Thank You for the relationships that are going to be formed at the More Gathering. Thank You for the people that are going to see each other again, the women that are going to see each other again. And thank You for the prayer warriors praying behind the scenes for these women. We love You and we thank You so much for this opportunity and we thank You for this community and this program that brings so many people closer to you. All right Father. I love you community. Later.

Joshua 5:1-7:15, Luke 15:1-32, Psalms 81:1-16, Proverbs 13:1

Today is the 12^th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today from the for the mountains of Georgia, where the More Gathering for women will begin later this afternoon. And we’ll talk about that in a little bit. But before all of that, we continue our rhythm through the Scriptures this year by taking the next step forward. And that next step forward will take us back into the book of Joshua where we have crossed the Jordan River and have planted our feet in the Promised Land, really for the first time. And we can almost get a sense of the wonder of it all, this mythical place that had been promised centuries before has become a reality against all odds. So, we’re reading from the Good News translation this week. Joshua chapter 5 verse one through seven 15 today.

Commentary:

Okay. The gospel of Luke today, Jesus tells three stories, all to illustrate the same point and there’s a couple of things we got a notice. One of the things we’ve got to notice about Jesus is that he doesn’t use shame as a weapon or as a device to control people and that is in pretty sharp contrast to the world that He lived in and the world that we live in. So, we read the 15^th chapter of the gospel of Luke today and the whole thing starts out that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, that the religious people, are grumbling because Jesus is hanging out with outcasts. These are the people who have been shamed all along, even by their own religion and their religious leaders. And on the one hand, these religious people could be like, yeah, we’re kinda shaming them if you want to call it that. What we’re trying to do is call them to a higher standard. We’re trying to pull them forward. And, so, you know we disassociate from these people, trying to show them a better way. And that would be a way of rationalizing it. It’s as a way that’s used of to rationalize it even today. The irony is that Jesus didn’t do that. Rather, He had a reputation for hanging out with them and even eating with them, which is the thing that’s got these Pharisees and teachers of the law up in arms. He welcomes outcasts. He even eats with them! Gasp! Can you believe that a rabbi would even do such a thing, such an unspeakable thing as eat with an outcast? So, Jesus tells three stories - the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. All back to back, all as a response to what’s being said about Him - that He’s hanging out and welcoming outcasts and even eating with them. And you have to love the way Jesus uses stories to unveil a person’s heart and make them look at the whole situation from a different perspective. So, He’s not like, well, I eat with the outcasts because they need me. Nobody else cares about them. Rather, He tells a story to reveal everyone involved, all of the hearts involved and in the process revealing the heart of God. Suppose one of you has a 100 sheep and loses one of them, what do you do, Jesus asks? And, of course, the answer is that you would leave the 99 sheep to go find the one and then you would rejoice and be so happy that you found your lost sheep that you would want to celebrate. Okay. Jesus is telling that story because that’s why he’s hanging out with outcasts and even eating with them. Or suppose a woman was 10 silver coins loses one of them. What does she do, Jesus asks? And essentially what she does is she does everything she can, she looks everywhere and when she finds her lost coin she wants to celebrate. She’s so relieved. She’s so happy that she found her lost coin. And Jesus said, in the same way, so, just like that, the Angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents. That’s why I’m hanging out with the outcasts. And then Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. Super famous story. A young son comes the father and says, give me my inheritance now, give me my portion of what you own that you’re going to give me, give that to me now. And the father agrees, okay, and he gives it to him and the kid goes often and squanders everything. He loses it all, right? And, so, he ends up feeding pigs and realizing, if I were a servant in my father’s house I would have it better off than I do now. I’m going back to my father, not as a son, but just asking for a job, because if I could just have a job with my dad I would be better off than I am now. And, so, he goes back to his father. We know the story. The father rejoices and throws a big party and the older son is just ticked off about it. And we’ve heard this story enough to know what Jesus is illustrating. He’s illustrating the father’s heart toward his children. So, the older son is just ticked off about it because he’s like, when did you ever give me some resources so I could throw a party for my friends? I’ve been working for you like a slave. So we have this beautiful picture of the father’s heart to the son who is returning from the depths, the son who was dead but is now alive again. The father rejoices and throws a wonderful party welcoming his son home. So, the son who had never left and had worked as a slave, the problem wasn’t with the father, the problem was this older sons perspective on things. He’s saying, I have been faithful to you, I have worked diligently for you, I have never left you, and that’s not the point. In Jesus story the father says, son you are always here with me, everything I have is yours. This isn’t about me throwing a party in your honor. Everything is yours. But your brother was lost to us and so we have a moment of rejoicing because he is no longer lost to us. He is home, but all this is yours So, like, I hear the calls. I know that there’s a lot of prodigal’s out there and we are sweating it out over them and worrying after them and wondering what to do about them. Or maybe we are the prodigal, right? Many prodigals are in this community right now trying to find their way back. I get it. What we seen this story, in all of these stories, is that God loves all of his children. So, in this story, the father didn’t stop loving his son when his son left the left. He loved and watched out and waited for his return. He loved him the whole time. And he didn’t love his faithful son any more or less either. He loved him. He said, you were always here with me, which is a beautiful thing for God to say to you. You are always here with me. Everything I have is yours. So, if you have a prodigal in your life, God hasn’t stopped loving your prodigal. There’s nothing your prodigal can do. There’s nothing your prodigal can do. There’s no depths that your prodigal can go to that God does not still love them. And we reach a point where we have to say, okay, okay, this is beyond my love, this is beyond my ability. I can do nothing to bring my son or daughter home to me. But that’s not where they’re headed anyway. They have a father who will not stop coming for them. And if you feel like you are that prodigal then you have a father who loves you and will not stop loving you, no matter what you do. So, what is the point of feeding with the pigs? What is the point? What is being accomplished by destroying yourself? What is gained in that scenario? You aren’t being shamed, not by God anyway? He’s looking for you. He wants to eat with you. He wants to be with you. He’s willing to be shamed on your behalf. And if you’re the faithful one standing on God’s promises, being faithful, doing works of service, trying to be the kind of godly person that you believe you were created to be, it’s all yours, everything the Father has is already yours. What we see in the gospel of Luke today is one of the most riveting pictures of the heart of God toward humanity toward you, toward me, toward the prodigal, toward the one who was lost that we have in all of the Scriptures. And there is no shame in any of these stories. There is only rejoicing. There is only a welcome home. That is the heart of God toward us. So, why do we use shame against each other, against ourselves? If God isn’t shaming or ashamed. May we give that some thought today as we watch the ways that we interact with people. Are we like the Pharisees or are we like in Jesus?

Prayer:

Father, we invite your Holy Spirit into that question. And even Lord as we move into the More Gathering now, when this is the central message, when this is exactly what this is all about, we invite your Holy Spirit to come and help us realize that You’re not shaming us. We may shame ourselves, we may shame each other, and we may have done things that we should be ashamed of, but You’re not shaming us. You’re inviting us. Maybe we’ve been too ashamed to even believe that could be true. And to even think that you would welcome us back? It just it just feels like the kind of love that we’ve never experienced, that you could be that gracious? And, so, we continue to shame ourselves and estrange ourselves from You, but what is that going to accomplish? Nothing. Nothing but separation, a separation from You that we’re instituting, not one that you installed. So, Holy Spirit come. We want to hear You say, welcome home. We want to hear rejoicing. The rejoicing that is described in the Scriptures, we believe this to be true. You wouldn’t have described, using these stories, what your heart is like if it weren’t true. And, so, this is how You feel about us, whether we are the faithful servant, whether we’re the prodigal son, whether we’re the lost sheep. All of these stories end with rejoicing. So, come Holy Spirit, let us feel this washing over us, that everything that you have You are giving to Your children and when Your children return there is great rejoicing and a beautiful welcome.

Song:

Welcome Home -Antonio Neal

Joshua 3:1-4:24, Luke 14:7-35, Psalms 80:1-19, Proverbs 12:27-28

Today is the 11th day April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. And it is great to be here with you today as we take the next step forward, which is what we do every single day. Every single day. A step forward through the Scriptures. And we stepped into the book of Joshua yesterday and we’re just getting going there so we’ll pick up where we left off. We’re reading from the Good News translation this week.  Joshua chapter 3 and chapter 4 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So as promised, we’ve moved into the book of Joshua and the book of Joshua is moving us into the promised land. And so today we have the retelling of crossing the Jordan River on dry ground and into the promised land. So for us as readers, as we’ve moved our way through this story all the way from the book of Genesis, until now short of just observing what the very few spies in two different generations observed, we haven’t been in the promised land. Now we’ve crossed over the Jordan River with the children of Israel and for the first time are in the promised land. So it’s actually a pretty big day for us in the Scriptures. We’ve been  moving toward this moment for a very long time. Since the beginning of the year. And let’s notice what happens because it will happen again and again and again. We’ll notice it if we’re looking for it. Stones were taken out of the bottom of the Jordan River, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Stones were put back in the Jordan River. And these stones were piled up, not as a place of worship to bow down to, build a false idol or anything like that. Stones were piled up and left as a memorial. A memorial for the people who had been there and seen the event themselves, a memorial for future generations so that when children pass  by that way with their parents and said what do all these rocks mean, they can be told this is where we crossed the Jordan River, this is where we came into the promised land. So that no one will ever forget what happened there. This is a custom that still exists all around the world today, right? So if you go to, I don’t know, a park or a city square, you may see a monument of some sort. It may be a statue of a person. It may be just some sort of a memorial for those who were lost in battles that died from that area. It may mark something specific that happened in that area. We do this for the same reason. These things get erected so that when people come there they can see them and ask what happened here? And then find out what happened here and remember. So as we encounter this happening in the Scriptures today, it’s not the first time we’ve seen something like this and it won’t be the last time. Because remembering is part of our human experience. In fact, it’s one of the primary things that makes us human beings. Our ability to remember and retell the story, right? We re-member the story. We bring it back to life in the retelling. So we’ll see this over and over in the Scriptures all the way down to Jesus sitting at his last meal saying do this in remembrance of me. Remembering and retelling is a major part of our human journey. I didn’t realize that until a few times through the Bible when I kept seeing this theme emerge, realizing that the tradition is something that we have continued and do continue as people until today. And in the Scriptures I found it wasn’t just erecting monuments of some sort. It was also to write things down so that they won’t be forgotten. For example, Moses, before he died, which is just recent for us in the Scriptures, he announced about future kings that they should write in the presence of the Levites the entire law in his own hand so he would have his own copy in his own hand that would not be forgotten. And it was there that I began to connect the dots to some of the practices of my own life with the journaling and realizing when you write down these things, not necessarily events of the day, oh I ate fast food and I shouldn’t have eaten fast food today, that kind of stuff, but truly the path of things that you were feeling, the people you encountered, the stuff that happened that is the essence of your life. When you habitually write that down, you are writing it down for future generations and you are writing it down so that you do not forget what happened. And as that adds up over the years, you have a memorial of God’s faithfulness in your life. And don’t we need that when we have forgotten the plot of the story. And the times that we’re thrashing around wondering what in the heck is going on. And we’re not able to take the long view, we’re just thrashing about. And we can’t seem to hear the voice of the Lord and we’re lost in it all and it’s just coming down upon us. So many things that are written about in the Psalms capture those sentiments and remind us that God is faithful. If David hadn’t written those things down we wouldn’t have them. If you don’t write things down then they won’t exist. They won’t exist for future generations, they won’t exist for you to remember. So we have a reminder here in the story that happened as the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River. They set up stones. One for each tribe of Israel. So that they would not forget where and what happened there. And we can do the same with our lives by simply getting a pad of paper that we keep and a pen or something to write with that we keep and just simply writing out our thoughts. And we can think of journaling as this sort of really involved process and it can be or it can be simply writing down the best moment of your day everyday. Or the most important thing that you learned today. It can be as involved as you want it to be or as simple as you want it to be because there are no rules about it other than this is something that helps you remember. And as you look back over time, you see the thread of redemption and God’s faithfulness in your life even in the challenging times, which buoys out faith in the days and decisions that are ahead of us. So we have the rhythm of the Scripture in our lives everyday. Here is an opportunity for another rhythm to incorporate into the rhythm of the Scriptures. Because these rhythms, they keep us tethered to our lives and they help give us context for what is going on. So I encourage you. Go through that junk drawer and find a pad of paper and start writing things down. Or go to your favorite store and find some nice paper and a nice writing utensil and write things down. If you can’t figure that out, then go to dailaudiobible.com in the shop. We have journals there. They’re our favorites. They’re the ones we created and that I use. And as of the beginning of 2017, I’ve been journaling with pencil. And so we have Blackwing pencils. The best pencils you can get on the planet in the Daily Audio Bible shop because serendipity lead me to them. My mom was dying literally. December of 2016 was such a difficult difficult season for me. I just got back from Israel. We went in November of that year. I was jet lagged. My mom…. she was losing it in her mind. And it was just really really erratic. She was just failing so fast and fighting so hard and Jill and I we took a couple hours one day just to go for a drive and ended up at this little gallery out in the country and I encountered these Blackwing pencils and became fascinated with them and bought a box of them and started writing with them and then became enamoured with it and realized after I got over the weirdness of being enamoured with a box of pencils that I was being rescued. God had brought something into my life that I could use. This little stick of cedar wood with graphite in the middle was a utensil that in my hand became a way for me to express my heart. And it became a rescue. And so we started building the best journal. The kind of journal we would want to use. Something that can be carried around. And so we have those. We made them. So if you don’t have one of your own or you can’t find something of your own you can go to Daily Audio Bible shop. We got the Blackwing pencils and all the stuff that goes with it. And the Daily Audio Bible journals. Those resources are available for this rhythm. Of course, you ( don’t have) to get the Daily Audio Bible journals or the Blackwing pencils. You can grab whatever you want. Whatever works for you. We just have these resources available because they are part of the rhythm of the Scripture. Part of the rhythm of life. Obviously anything will work. Whatever works for you. Just consider what memorial stones, what remembrances are you bringing into your life and documenting in some way so that you won’t forget and that will be available for future generations? What might you leave for your great great great grandchildren? What would you like them to know about now and what God is doing in your life now? And what you were struggling through right now. Because you have the opportunity to say these things and you will be here to say them with your own mouth. And when you consider it, a very very generous portion of the Bible is exactly that. And look how it speaks. Look how it challenges and gives us a clear path. So memorials, remembrances. We see these things all throughout the Bible. Very inconspicuous. When you watch, if you’re looking, you’ll see this theme emerge over and over as we move through the Scriptures and it’s an invitation for you to write your own story.

Prayer:

So, Father we thank You for Your word because it tells us the story of our spiritual ancestors and Your faithfulness in it all. And we realize as we read these pages from the Scriptures that this is our story as well. The issues of heart mind and will, our thoughts, our words, our deeds. They haven’t changed that much over time and we find ourselves reaching and longing and wondering about the same things. And so we thank You for Your word and what it represents in our lives. And we thank You for… Just the reminder that we can write our story, our journey with You, down. We can put pen to paper or in whatever way we want. We can tell the story for ourselves, for our own hearts and for future generations. We thank You for this reminder that this story that we’re reading in the Scripture is an ongoing story that we are a part of. And You are a part of. And when we collaborate together in the stories, something beautiful always happens. Something redemptive always happens. So when You speak, Lord, we want to take notes. And we thank You for this reminder. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here.

Tomorrow.  Tomorrow is when the More Gathering for Women begins. So today is a day of travel and work and set up and preparation and prayer and technology and all kinds of stuff. So thank you for your prayers over that. Tomorrow the women will begin to arrive at camp and off we will go. So we’ve been talking about this for a long time and we’ve called the prayer warriors in for a long time. And so the canopy is raised over the camp and we just ask for continued intercession over everything. Everything that happens. Because we can set all this stuff up but if the presence of the Holy Spirit isn’t involved, what’s the point? I mean, what’s the point of all the work? What’s the point. So we pray and intercede that God has his perfect way in all of it as we move into the conference. And thank you for your prayers.

So dailyaudiobible.com is home base. It’s where you find the prayer wall. It’s where you can pray for each other. It’s where you find the Daily Audio Bible shop where there are resources that are available for the journey. Just like we were talking about the journaling. It’s all in the Daily Audio Bible shop. You can find it by clicking shop at dailyaudiobible.com. Or if you are using the app, you can find the shop in there as well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if what we’re doing here is bringing rhythm that brings light and life and good news into your life, that reorients you to God everyday because his word does that. If that brings life to you than thank you for your partnership and bringing life back into the community. Literally we can’t do this if we don’t do this together. That has never not been true. But it is as true now as it ever was. We can’t do this if we don’t do this together. So thank you for your partnership. There’s a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 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 and Praise:

Hi. This is Candy in Tulsa. I think I’m, what, an 11 year listener. I call and every once in a while but usually my calls are for, anonymously, for those who are like me that pray or our in prayer and ask for prayer silently with everyone that are like myself. But today I am in prayer and call out to other prayer warriors for the families, for the mothers and fathers, that it’s the mothers heart that carry the grief because mothers hearts are the strong. Fathers carry the home but mothers heart’s the strongest for their children who are prodigal and we’ve had several of those calls. We must remember mothers that we only have them for short while and that we do our best and our best is never perfect. So, there’s only one perfect parent but that we loft our prayers and our concerns to the Lord. And recast our cares to him and that we do our best with our children and then it is up to them to do their best but that we could do nothing but love them through all of their pain and concern. I’m praying for you all.

Hi it’s His Beloved from Nashville. I am sending out an SOS, pretty much for my family again. It’s a precarious situation. We deal with a lot of afflictions, everybody does, a lot of people do. But I pray for sleep myself. I pray that we may overcome, we as a family may overcome the negativity, that just the bitterness, the absolute bitterness towards life, honestly. I pray that Jesus has the victory in it all. Yeah, again, I need sleep. I’m just not making sense I’m sure, I don’t know. I want to pray for my sisters, they’re both sick with a…we’re all sick really…we’ve all got an illness. But they…they are really sick. They’ve really been hit with it. Please feel my pain. Please, anybody, somebody, anybody. Thank you. Thank you.

Hey Daily Audio Bible family. It’s Laura in Houston. I hope you are all well. So, I just wanted to call and share some of my…I don’t know…just greetings. Blind Tony some of your poems lately, especially the one about parents, that reached my heart, praise the Lord, praise the Holy Spirit. And I wanted to reach out to I think it’s Eileen in Canada. I haven’t heard you in a while and I’ve been thinking of you. And Sophie in Oregon. I’m not sure, but are you the same person I met at the More Conference. If so, God still sees you and I remember you. I missed the More Conference this morning. I felt like I missed it like a missed a friend, probably because I made so many friends, sisters in Christ. Yeah, I will be praying, I am praying that the Holy Spirit will really speak to people, that God will heal hearts, start that healing process or continue it. He is good. And lastly, I want to let you know family that I’m getting married next month. The man, Toby, that I’ve been in relationship with on and off over a successful 3 to 4 years, we’ve had a lot of things happen, especially after the hurricane. And I would appreciate your prayers. We’d both appreciate your prayers as we go into this very serious covenant. And I feel the need to let you know and ask for your prayers. Thank you so much. I love you. I love listening to you. I pray with you. Bye.

Hi fellow DABers. This is Seeking in Dallas. I am a first-time caller and I’m calling about an ache in my heart that just won’t seem to go away. I’ve been seeking to know the Lord for over 20 years now, since when I moved from Atlanta in 1996 I guess. And I’m in Dallas now and I know a lot about Jesus, I read the word, I listen to the podcast. I do a lot with my church, but I just don’t feel like I know Jesus. I’ve never known God’s love and it’s affecting my relationships. I’m single, never been married, no children, and I’m almost 50 years old. I have such a sinking loneliness in my heart and I manage to destroy every relationship I’m because I never believed that I’m loved. I just don’t want to go on like this. I don’t know what to do. I just listened to the April 2^nd podcast where says to love your neighbor as yourself and I left the room and walked back in and Brian was saying love yourself so you can you love other people. And I just don’t know how. Anyway, they also mentioned the More Gathering on the 12^th and probably if this airs I’ll already have decided but I just quit my corporate job with nothing, no future job, not a lot of savings, just a little 401(k), and maybe I’ll just go to the More Gathering. Anyway, please just pray for me. I pray for you all every day. I love you all. And thank you Brian and family for this wonderful podcast. It’s life-changing. I’ve shared it with many people. Anyway, everyone, have a wonderful weekend and a…

Hi everyone. It’s Sharon from St. Louis. It’s been quite a while since I’ve called in but I have been praying. And I’ve been praying like a lot of others for Lisa, Sharon, Sophie, and Micah and all the other DABbers that are just going through a lot of struggle, depression, despair. But as it says in the Bible, God uses all of this to make us more like him. I just think about James and the first part of James, James 1 in 2-4 and what it tells us in that, consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters when we face trials of any kind because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance, that perseverance finishes work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. And then also, Romans 5, 3 through 5 also goes through the same kind of thing. God uses these things. And as hard as they are, He is using them to make us more like Him. And, so, I just want you to know, yes, please get with other brothers and sisters, reach out to those that are in Christ who can love on you, that get into the truth of the word. We’re going through Bible Study Fellowship. We’re going through Romans. And I just love what my teacher had to say about Romans 8:28 and 29. A lot of people like to throw 28 out there, whenever bad things are going on with people, but we ask these “why” questions in our heart. It’s only human. And, so, that “why” question is answered in Romans 8:29, because He is conforming us to be like Jesus. So, I don’t know about you, but I love how the __ has __ in them. And you know, when we go through these things it helps our roots grow deeper and deeper. And, so, I’m just praying for you brothers and sisters out there that struggle, that we can shine on like crazy diamonds because you are loved.

Deuteronomy 34:1-Joshuah 2:24, Luke 13:23-14:6, Psalms 79:1-13, Proverbs 12:26

Today is the 10^th day of the month of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you today. Briefly back in the rolling hills of Tennessee and then we’ll be heading for the rolling hills of Georgia and the beginning of the More Gathering for Women 2018. That begins this Thursday, day after tomorrow. So, it’s great to be here with you today. We will be concluding the book of Deuteronomy here just momentarily. Which means we will be concluding what is known as the Torah or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible and then moving into what comes next, which is the book of Joshua. And we’ll talk about that when we get there. But let’s conclude. Reading from the Good News translation this week. The book of Deuteronomy, chapter 34.

Introduction to the book of Joshua:

And that concludes the book of Deuteronomy, which brings us to the book of Joshua, which is an exhilarating book to step into.  Because we’ve been at this fourteen weeks since the beginning of the year, I have to count. But something like that. We’ve been at this day by day, moment by moment, moving through the stories here. And almost from the very beginning of the Bible we’ve been hearing about this thing called the promised land. So, by this time it’s almost mythic. It’s like a mythic land that was promised in advanced to Abraham and then Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. All of these people we met and followed their stories. And learned a lot about our own story in their stories. And throughout all of their stories, there’s this whisper of hope. All throughout the formation of the children of Israel and their captivity. And their exodus into freedom and the establishment of a new culture. Everything that we’ve gone through so far has been toward the promised land. And here we are. We’re about to cross over the Jordan River into the promised land. And this is the second time they’ve been right at the precipice. The first time they were thwarted. Forty more years were spent wandering in the desert. An entire generation was lost because of their disobedience, their fear, their lack of trust in God. And now as we just read in the conclusion of Deuteronomy, Moses has died having seen the promised land but not entering it. And that’s kind of where we are in the Scriptures. We hear of it. It’s mythic. We’ve kind of seen it but we haven’t gone into it. And now Joshua has stepped up as the leader of Israel. And Joshua translated to English means savior. If we go back to the original Hebrew, Joshua is Jesus. Yeshua. Joshua. So, I’m not saying this man Joshua that we’re about to read about is Jesus. I’m just saying the parallels of redemption are just so intertwined in the Scriptures. So, we’re gonna cross the Jordan and we’ll see that God has prepared this land for his people. He’s promised it for generations. But they’re not just march in and take it. They’re gonna have to fight. They’re gonna have to contend for it. They are on a great mission with God. And to accomplish it, they’ll have to partner with God against all odds to take the land. And in this conquest, we’ll notice God asking them to do very unconventional things. God continually confounds conventional wisdom with almost bizarre instructions that sometimes wouldn’t make logical sense to the human mind. This is no different for us today. This is why we must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. This is why we must be a people of prayer. Otherwise we’re just sort of bulldozing our way through life, hoping for the best decisions when we actually have our creator to guide us. And his very kingdom to bring. So, in a very real way for all these years the children of Israel have been learning to obey the Lord. And now they must go into this land with full faith that God will show up. And full faith in the promise that he gave their ancestors that this land was the promised land. And we’re gonna see one of the most glorious moments in the Bible. One of the most glorious times in the lives of the children of Israel even though we’ll see stumbles along the way. Right now as we move into the book of Joshua the people are fully engaged. And it gives us a glimpse of what a unified church even could look like. Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the story. We’ll get to that soon enough because it’s not really that much of a spoiler. They do fall away and return and fall away and return for the next several hundred years, but right now we’re at this glorious time. A new generation, a new leader. And the entering of the promised land. So, as we go into Joshua right now, the first five chapters will document the preparation for crossing the Jordan for battle and even their first encounters, their first battles. And the next seven chapters will recount the main battles and the actual taking of the land. And then the last part of the book is the division and settling of the promised land. Everything in the story of the patriarchs comes to these great moments. This is the promised land. The giving, the taking, the settling of the promised land. Everything that has been promised is about to be fulfilled. And so we begin. Joshua chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we’ve turned the page and entered into a new era as we move through the Old Testament and into the book of Joshua. And, so, here we stand on the banks of the Jordan River with the children of Israel looking over into the promised land and we’re about to enter. And the story will take a completely new complexion as we move into this new generation and to this new era and a shift takes place. And we can feel this in our own hearts. There’s things that we have long, long desired, things that we have seen but not been able to experience. We ask, Holy Spirit, as we watch the children of Israel move into the promised land and all the things that they will have to face in it that, You will begin to speak to us about our own moving forward. Because so many times when we’re dreaming something we idealize it even when You are leading us and we forget to count the cost. We’re going to have to trust You to degrees that we didn’t even know about. Because You’re not leading us forward in life so that we can have new toys. You’re leading us forward in life so that we can discover new levels of intimacy with You. So, come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here.

And so right around the corner here is the   beginning of the More Gathering for Women, which is the day after tomorrow. So, between now and then a lot of orchestration has to happen. A lot of moving parts, a lot of technology, a lot of travel, a lot of all kinds of stuff. And, so, this is the time where we really do join together, lock arms, lock hearts as a community, the tens of thousands strong and raise this canopy over this event and intercede over every aspect of it. So as a community, every time the Holy Spirit might bring the More Gathering to mind, just say a prayer. Ask for God’s blessing and wisdom and instruction and protection over the hearts of everyone involved as we move into the latter parts of this week and through the weekend. And I’ll be down there and doing the Daily Audio Bible from the top of Sharp Top mountain and keeping us all informed. So, thank you for your prayers.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link that just lives on the homepage. Thank you. Thank you for your partnership. We can’t do this if we don’t do this together, so thank you. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the give button in the upper right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee, 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 and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible community my name is Robert. I live in Canada in the province of Ontario and I’m a new listener and I’m really trying to listen the right way. And, of course, there’s nothing that I did…nothing that I did to get here. I always understood that the blessings that God showered upon me are new every morning but I just took it for granted, I just took it for granted. And I really feel like there is a period of darkness in my life just really lifted. And I feel like…Gods…I’ve battled some dark stuff in my life. And I’m sorry that I’m so emotional but I don’t really know how to process this all too well. And here I am, I’m calling in, with some prayers for me, please. Please guys, my wife, Shiloh, isn’t a believer and we’ve been fighting about this kind of stuff. And I’m trying to just release my marriage into God’s hands so I can do. Thanks for hearing my prayer. Her name is Shiloh. Shiloh __ pray for you __. Thank you. Okay. I love all of you guys so much. I love all of you guys so much. Bye.

Hello DAB family this is Linda from Alberta calling. I was just listening to some of the prayers and I heard Sharon call in, that she called in for her daughter and her husband and she herself has some health concerns right now. But Sharon I just wanted to try to encourage you right now. I really can say I know exactly how you feel and I have my own struggles and challenges with my daughter, who also has an addiction and mental health problem. She, right now, we are in a crisis in our family but that’s, you know, not what I wanted to call in for right now. But Sharon, often I go to my closet door and I open it up and I have a paper taped and there. And this is the prayer that I pray when I’m feeling really, really uptight about things and worried about my daughter. So, I’m going to read you the prayer and I hope that ministers to you and it is actually from the reading I did once. It’s A Child’s Window. So, God, You are at work and You are in control and Lord God You know this is happening. You are at the beginning and You will bring it everything that occurs to a conclusion that results in Your greater glory in the end. Sharon, I hope that this will minister to you as well as anyone else that needed to hear that today. God bless every one of you. Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Nathan from Bloomington Illinois calling for thoughts for the day, that this is thoughts for the day. I’m suggesting that you go back and listen to the last two days, April 4^th and April 5^th commentary because Brian ties it together and nails the head right there. So, he said what do we see with? What if you were to look around and all you see is the glory of God? Now, we know God created everything that is around but sometimes we do sit in the darkness. Sometimes our life is stuck. And then he talked about ask, seek, knock. Ask, seek knock. It begins with asking. So, a lot of times we ask for prayer and we ask others to pray for us and that’s important, but we’re also asked to seek. Not just seeking the answer but seeking help from others like the DAB prayer line or from a counselor. And then not. When I think of knocking, I want to suggest that that tells us to do something other than just asking and seeking, seeking for answers, that it suggests not sitting and doing nothing or doing very little. So, just something…something to think about. My wife says, you can’t do the same thing and expect a different result. So, I’m expecting different results when I do something different other than just asking, seeking, and knocking sometimes. So anyway. Just some thoughts for the day. Have a great day. Make it a great day.

Your heart my home. I live and breathe and have my being in Your heart. Your heart my home. I live and breathe in Your heart. Your love is gracious, deep, wide, and true. You have forgiven me. In You I’m free. Oh Lord, restore me to who You really made me to be. Your heart my home. I live and breathe in Your loving heart. I can’t be good unless You free me to. You release me, the real me. I want to be real. Only You can take me there. Every hour, every moment, Your heart my home. [singing] Let’s pray always, worry never and love deeply. Pray always, worry never and love deeply. I can’t be good unless You free me to. You release me. The real me. I want to be real. Only You can take me there. Every hour, every moment, Your heart my home [sing ends].

Good afternoon Daily Audio Bible. This is Prosperous Pam from the San Francisco Bay Area. I just gave myself that name. Praise God. I wanted to hear a couple of things. Brian, that message that you gave today. Today’s date is, I believe it’s April the 5^th, is it Wednesday, Thursday, apologize. That was such a blessing. I’m going to listen to it over and over again, how you were speaking about, help me to see better, praying that the Lord allows me to see, you know, the light. You know, a lot of times we do get stuck in some different ways and we just, you know, focus more on the darkness but there’s magnificent things all around us. So, thank you for that. Also, you can probably tell, I’m very uncomfortable speaking in front of a group. So, He’s working on me on that too. This is actually a praise report because I’ve been out of work for year. I called about a year ago in March when I didn’t have a job and I was like really having a hard time. And I still am going through my different stages, but God has just given me such power. He’s strengthening me during this time. I am still unemployed and looking for work, but I’m still praying according to His will, not my will. And I’ve never been out of work this long but He’s strengthening me, He’s maturing me, He’s loving me more. I’m so closer to Him. I’m getting so connected with the body of Christ like the Daily Audio Bible. And I have a family here that I just love so much. Declare victory in the bay area. The overseer is Pastor Dion. I’m just being so blessed. And I just wanted to share that. Praying just lives someone up who’s listening, who’s going through something, who’s waiting for that job. God has just done so many things. He’s purged so many things out of me throughout this year that I haven’t been working. So, I just hope that lifts someone up. And I still ask you to keep me in prayer. I am looking forward to going back to work when God has willed for me, the place that he has for me. My flesh has been wanted to but…

He DAB family today is April 5^th and just catching up and just listening to the Easter April 1^st podcast or I think it was the April 2^nd one. Yeah that was funny, that April fool’s joke that you guys played. Anyways, so, I just wanted to call in and let you guys know that, Michaela from the UK, and Lisa the Victorious, I heard your prayers, I heard your prayer requests. And I want you to know that I just spent, probably, the last 20 minutes praying for you both. So, just calling because I find that just knowing that somebody’s thinking about you helps. And, of course, I don’t have to tell you, God doesn’t forget you, He doesn’t leave you, He doesn’t forsake you. He hears you even when nobody else does. And Lisa I also prayed for your daughter. I hope that you understand, I’m sure you do, that you don’t have to give up your life for her. Jesus already did that. He’s got her. So, I hope you take that. Hope you hold onto that and rest secure in His victory because he is victorious. Hey, have a great day DAB. Thanks, so much Brian again.