1 Kings 22:1-53, Acts 13:16-41, Psalms 138:1-8, Proverbs 17:17-18
Today is the 20th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is a pleasure, it is an honor and it is a joy to be here with you today as we prepare to take the next step forward in our lives and in the Scriptures. And this week we’ve been reading from the Contemporary English Version, working our way through the kings in the Old Testament and the story of the early church in the book of Acts. Today 1 Kings chapter 22.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for all of its facets. We thank You for all of the territory that it takes us into, places that we’ve never seen before. And even when we’re coming back through the same territory again, we see it with different eyes. Your Holy Spirit continues to lead and direct us. You continue to show us the path forward, and we’re thankful for this gift. We invite Your Holy Spirit to plant the words of the Scriptures into our hearts and minds so that they can change our lives from within. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray. In the name of Jesus’ we ask. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, and, of course it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.
So, it’s getting to be that time of year. And what time of year is it getting to be you ask? It’s getting to be time for the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk. And if you’re scratching your head and you’re confused cause this is your first year through the bible at Daily Audio Bible, then here’s kind of the short story. The Daily Audio Bible started in 2006. In 2007, so we’re going back a ways now. I mean, it doesn’t seem like it’s that long of a time ago, but technology has rapidly increased in the last decade. But back then, back in the old days, it wasn’t quite as interactive and there was this giant stadium prayer revival type thing that happened here in Nashville in our football stadium and there were like seventy thousand people or whatever. It was just a huge, huge thing. And I went down to that and it was being televised. So, many people inside the Daily Audio Bible community around the world knew about this and were watching. So, we were there but many were watching. It was the first time because Daily Audio Bible was only a year and a half old, first time that we were all able to do something virtually all at the same time. And so we did this and lots of emails came in and there was this one email of a person who had done a prayer walk that day and walked, oh I don’t remember, twenty miles. Like a really, really long time. A really long walk. And a tradition kind of got born. Every July 7 since then, we’ve done the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk
What’s going on right now is the upcoming Daily Audio Bible Long Walk. I believe this is the 11th annual Daily Audio Bible Long Walk. It takes place on the 7th of July. And so those of you who have been here for several years, you’ve probably been on long walks, you know what this is. But for those of you who are taking the journey for the first time, it’s kind of our own little Daily Audio Bible tradition. Almost our own little internal holiday that just came out of nowhere. Back in 2007, we had a big stadium prayer event that was televised here in Nashville. Because it was televised, many of the Daily Audio Bible community, and this is the early Daily Audio Bible community, it just would be our second year of doing this, were also watching along. So, we had this virtual experience that eventually transformed itself into the Daily Audio Bible Long Walk. An invitation to take a day, circle it on the calendar and say nothing is getting into this day. Nothing is taking me from this day. All the entanglements of my life, I’m disentangling for this day. I’m going for a long walk with somebody I need to talk to, someone who knows me better than I know myself. Someone who loves me deeper than any other love on this earth. I’m going for a long walk with God. I mean, because that’s how we describe our faith journey, right? We’re walking with God. So, this is a day to actually go for a long walk. And it doesn’t matter where you are. It doesn’t matter where you are on planet Earth. You can do this. And as you do this, as you go for a long walk with God, you will not be alone. Your brothers and sisters all over the world will be doing this. So, just take your phone or tablet, not so that you can find additional distractions from your day. This is a day to set aside and say everything that you’ve needed to say, the things that have been building up throughout this year, the things that you need to have a conversation with God about, the things that you need his leading and guidance on. So, don’t be distracted. But you don’t want to forget this day either. If you’ve never done a Daily Audio Bible Long Walk before, if you’ve never done this, well it doesn’t even have to be Daily Audio Bible Long Walk, this is just when we do it together. If you’ve never gone on a long walk with God, you’re in for a treat. So, go somewhere beautiful. Well, the first thing you gotta do is set aside the day, the 7th of July, which happens to be a Saturday this year. And then plan where you’re gonna go. Maybe you’re gonna drive a couple hours to somewhere that is meaningful to you. Or a place that you find just exquisitely beautiful. Or maybe you’re gonna drive five minutes to a park that you find gorgeous. The point is, get outside in nature. Disconnect from the hectic pace of life. Give yourself this one day to just be where you are and look at the detail of God’s creation and allow yourself to become aware of his presence in all things and then say what you need to say. Have a conversation and leave enough space for him to say the things that he’s been trying to say to you for a while, the things that he’s wanted to tell you for a while but there hasn’t been time because it’s been too frantic. This is an opportunity at the center of the year to say, Okay, I’m giving this day to God, I’m gonna review the first six months of the year, we’re gonna go back over that, we’re gonna talk about all the fun that we had and all the challenges that we faced and now we’re gonna look forward together, because I’m not walking another day without God. I’m walking into the second half of this year fully aware of where he is leading me to go right now, understanding the context for where it is I am right now and walking into it with the confidence of the Holy Spirit in my life. It’s a beautiful thing. So, take a picture, post it to the Daily Audio Bible Facebook page, which is Facebook.com/dailyaudiobible. And this mosaic just begins to materialize as hundreds of little windows are opened into each other’s lives. And just scrolling through after the long walk is almost like a little bit of a world tour. So, we’ve had this tradition and this is the 11th annual Daily Audio Bible Long Walk, so we’ve had this tradition for a while. And it’s never not been deeply meaningful. So, plan on that the 7th of July.
If you wanna partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. Thank you profoundly and humbly for your partnership. So, 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 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 here is tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hello everyone in the Daily Audio Bible community, this is Keisha and I just want to call and request prayer just for a couple things. My heart…and I’ve walked a Christian life a long time…and I feel very alone in my family. Also, I want to pray for…I’m asking prayer for…I am morbidly obese. I am over 300 pounds and it’s because of depression and living in a family that has a generational curse of depression along with several other things. And I’m so ashamed to ask for prayers in these areas just with my family and my health and my weight and my marriage. But I just…I believe in the power of prayer and I believe in this community and I’m just asking for your help. Brian and Jill, I just thank you so much for your ministry and for your devotion. I love you all and I’m praying with you all and I just…I just need you to call my name. Thank you.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Carol from Arizona and I had called about a month ago and I sent in a prayer request to all of you about my brother who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I want to call in a praise report. And that before my message was played, my brother had some blood work and his liver enzymes came back really off. They weren’t good and the doctor ordered an ultrasound and they were very worried that the cancer was now in his liver and then my message was played on the Daily Audio Bible. And he went and an ultrasound and they did not find any in the liver. And then about a week after that they took his blood work again and the liver enzyme test came back completely normal. And his doctor and the doctor’s nurse just couldn’t believe…they said it’s nothing short of a miracle. They just couldn’t believe it. And my brother knows that I had called a message in. So, he asked that I call in and thank you. Thank everybody who prayed for him because it worked. We know that prayers work. My brother is a strong, strong believer and I thank you all so much for praying for him. Even the nurse said that it’s renewed faith because she knows how strong his faith is. So, thank you family for praying for my brother. We got a miraculous report back and I would just ask that if you could all just keep praying for him. He’s on some experimental chemo medication and we’re going to hope that that’s to shrink some of the…it’s going to shrink that pancreatic tumor so that they can do surgery. I love you guys. I pray for you all time. And again, I thank you so much for your prayers and just ask that you’ll keep praying and I’ll call in these miracle reports. Love you guys. Bye.
Hi. This is Victoria S. Just calling tonight to pray for one of…for some of the DABbers. I want to pray for the lady in Alaska that had the single car accident. She said the mom and one of the kids didn’t make it. I want to pray for that mom and for that family, that these kids will find a place to be. Also, to say hi to Margot in Australia. I wanted to also pray for the lady in Indiana whose husband has Parkinson’s disease that has to have the surgery. I want to pray for him. And I also want to pray for Lynn…who…Lynn regarded to the alcohol. Don’t trust them Lynn. You know, the thing as Christians, we fall down many times. But it’s not the falling down. It’s the getting up. You get up and you get right back on that horse. You can do it honey. You can do it. And God can give you the strength. He can take away the desire. Just continue to trust Him. Gracious Father, we come today. Oh, Father, in the name of Jesus we ask You to touch that mother and that child and the children in those accidents. Lord, the children that made it, Lord, You provide for them Lord in a mighty and special way. Lord, You comfort that family in the mighty name of Jesus. Lord we ask you to touch that gentleman that has the Parkinson’s disease each step of the way. Lord, we ask You to be with him. We ask You to heal him each step of the way. You are a miracle working God. You can do anything but fail and Lord, we want to thank You in advance for healing our brother as he goes through the process. I want to ask You to talk to Lynn Lord. You know that You are a God that can do anything. You are a forgiving God. You are God that can work miracles. Lord, I ask You to touch Lynn. You would have her trust You and let her know that she is not…she can make it. She is more than a conqueror and that You are carrying her through the rough and the difficult times when she is weak. Remember, when you are weak Lynn, He is strong. Continue to…
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. I wanted to say happy Father’s Day to all of the fathers, how much you matter and how much difference you make in our lives. Thank you for being you and for loving us and for showing us a good example, especially for Brian and all the other dads that are so in one with the Lord. And I just wanted to lift up Michaela in the UK. Your heart is so beautiful, that you’re always…you’re ministering to the Muslim community. And I just pray for Michaela’s refreshment, for refreshment Michaela. In Matthew 11:28-30 it’s written that Jesus said, come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you because I am humble and gentle at heart and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light. So, praying, lifting up Michaela as she deals with so many of the stresses that we all face in life, like her…I mean…workloads and conflicts in relationships and financial uncertainties and that as Michaela struggles with these issues, that she is not alone, the Holy Spirit lifts her up and empowers her and refreshes her and that she has fellowship and support of other Christians and that she continues to live and work in a cross-cultural environment adding that additional element of God’s love and reaching people and how will they know if we don’t tell them. So, I am just praying for refreshment and protection over Michaela in the UK. Thank you, brothers and sisters. In Jesus’ mighty and precious name I pray. Amen.