Zechariah 12:1-13:9, Revelations 19:1-21, Psalms 147:1-20, Proverbs 31:1-7
Today is the 28th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you as we close down and release into our history the final full week of the year 2019, leaving us with only three days left in our journey together through the Scriptures this year. So, we can see…we can see land. We set sail a year ago, almost and now we have…and now we are approaching the end of our journey, but we are not there. So, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s immerse ourselves in this rhythm that will lead us through the rest of this year. We’ve been reading from the Good News Translation this week, which is what we’ll do today. And we’re reading from the book of Zechariah. Today, Chapters 12 and 13.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word. And wow! Wow! You have brought us to the end of the last full week of this year and we sit with that. So, many things that we could reflect back upon that You have done in our lives through Your word and that have happened in our lives this year, so much to think about. And that’s what we do this time of year, we start looking back, the whole culture does it. It’s in or magazines, it’s in our television programs, we’re reflecting back on things that happened in the last year, people that we lost in the last year, just reflecting as we prepare to move forward. And we read in the Psalms today that You take pleasure in those who honor You, those who trust in Your constant love. And as we look back over the years, we can see clearly that this is true, we can see the times that we have trusted in Your enduring love, that Your love endures forever. And we can also see times when we weren’t sure about that and we can see times when we even almost lost it and just didn’t know. And yet, here we are. Like we’re here and Your faithful love does endure forever. We’re here and You have brought us here through so much. And what we see in the Psalm is that You take pleasure in those who honor You and those who trust in Your constant love. We want You to take pleasure in us God. That is what our hearts long for, that You would delight in us as a Father would his children. And we see from the Psalm that You take pleasure in those who honor You and to trust in Your love. And, so, here we are contemplating what the next year might look like and the things that…the furniture that we want to rearrange in our lives for the new year and this is just blinking like a neon. It should be the thing that we want most in the new year, that You would take pleasure in us and our way of participating in that, in that collaboration will be that we honor You and trust in Your constant love for us, that we don’t set our faith in an expectation of what You might do, but that we would set our affection on You and You alone no matter what You do because whatever You do is good and just and righteous and right. And, so, we must trust in Your constant love and honor You in it. Oh…that is one heck of a New Year’s resolution, to set a goal that we might be Your pleasure. It’s a big one but it seems that all we must do is honor and trust in Your love. And, so, Holy Spirit come. May we follow where You are leading and may we recognize that when we find ourselves in seasons of doubt and perplexed…being perplexed, most of the time we have veered from the path, we have stopped talking with You, we have stopped talking with You, we have stopped the rhythm of our lives that is leading us on the narrow path. Help us to recognize these things. You are the first person we blame on so much that You have nothing to do with. So, come Holy Spirit, take pleasure in us, may we honor You and trust in Your constant enduring love for us. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, where you find out what’s going on around here.
And we’re just in preparations for the clock to strike midnight on the 31st, right? And then everything begins again. And there’s an incredible amount of preparation for that to take place. And so, we’re in the middle of that. And in many ways, you’re probably involved in the same sort of thing, thinking through how to enter into the new year by finishing this one well. And, so, definitely we’re praying for one another in that. This is the last weekend of a decade, and we’re gonna go into a new week, and before that new week is out, we’re gonna be in the new decade and in the new year. So, that brings with it an enormous amount of excitement and an enormous amount of reflection, at least for me. I look back and it’s just…in some ways it’s a blur, but there are…and you look back and you see those moments that really really jump out and you’re like, “that was an important thing.” Like my daughter got married this year. That was an important thing. There’s so many of those. And, so, yeah, I encourage you to do the same. It's…it’s good, it’s good to reflect back on God’s faithfulness in our lives. And even in the difficult times. I have had a couple of really difficult times and last year that I now can look back and say God was faithful. Of course, He was. Of course, He was. He always is. Why did I endure so much suffering that was unnecessary? Of course, He was gonna be faithful. So, yeah spend some time in reflecting as we go through this weekend.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the final days of the year 2019 then I thank you with all of my heart for your partnership. There is a link, it lives on the homepage at 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 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 or you can just press the Hotline button in the app.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you hear tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi DABbers, this is Lucy in Alabama I’ve been listening to Daily Audio Bible since 2015 and I’m a first-time caller. I could really use your prayers. I have been dealing with illness my entire life and never could understand why I always sick when I was growing up. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and then shortly after that common variable immune deficiency. The CVID means that I was born missing a gene that would’ve help me fight upper respiratory infections and I was born with no immunity to pneumonia. That made sense because I almost died of pneumonia when I was six. There is a treatment for the CVID and it’s almost a blessing that I was diagnosed with this because it is a treatment that adds the…what is missing in your genes, it adds it back to your blood. And I had checked with my insurance to see if they would cover it when I started another job in 2016 and they would cover it. And by hematologist discovered that my platelet count was getting high while he was checking my blood count and it just kept getting higher and higher and he stated that he needed to do a bone marrow biopsy in February of 2017. It was when I had that only marrow biopsy that he diagnosed me with Essential Thrombocythemia which is a fancy name for bone marrow cancer. I could really use your prayers. It’s hard being sick all the time. Thank you.
This is a prayer for Diane Olive Brown from Treasured Possession. Gracious heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, I lift Your daughter up to You Father God who is hurting, who…who needs to know the love, the security, the hope, the peace that only You can offer. Our earthly fathers Lord God are a reflection of You, and she is losing her earthly father Lord. I pray that he goes into Your hands Father God. I ask Lord God that You would fill her to the full and overflowing of Your Holy Spirit, give her experiences Father God of Your outrageous love that goes beyond all we can ask, think, or understand. Wrap Your arms around her. You are her Father Father God. You are her Father for eternity. I pray Lord God that You would just hug her and hold her and give her Your piece and bless her in Jesus’ name. Amen.
I thought that I was standing tall but really I was down
smiling broadly ear to ear trying to hide the frown
believing I could do all things while running from the doubt
saying straight and narrow is the path but walking in and out
confident and self-assured trying to hide my fear
growing stronger day by day get dying every year
life is one big paradox we say and still don’t do
help me Lord to reconcile and surrender all to you
blindony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Sherlock and Kim and Michelle from LA and David Michael, know you all are very much loved thought of often and prayed for every day. And once again Brian and the Hardin family, thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. All right. Bye-bye.
This is Holly from Glendale Arizona I would just like to pray for Mary whose husband passed away. Mary my husband passed away three years ago, and I would just like to let you know that the Lord will be with you through all this sometimes day by day, sometimes moment by moment. Seek Him and He will guide and direct each step along the way. I will be praying for you. I will remember you. Reach out to us in times of need. We are there for you. God bless you through this season. We will remember you and your family. I know it’s difficult. It does get easier. You always remember. He will always be a part of you and I just want to let you know that I care about you and I will be praying for you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Hello DAB family this is Eleanor from Albuquerque New Mexico I have never called before, but I have been listening to the DAB from partway through the first year. I am sure there are others like me who have never called in but are listening and praying. Many prayers go up for those who are in need and you won’t know about them, but God knows about them. I wish you all a blessed Christmas and a wonderful new year. God bless you.
Greetings everyone this is Toni from Germany I don’t know when this will be played, if it will be before the new year or after but happy 2020. I…last year I had made a proposal that with the word of the year that whenever we are meeting people for example when they’re giving us customer service or when we are perhaps giving customer service or when we meet someone on train or somewhere, a stranger or someone we don’t know and they ask how are you doing, last year the word was Maintain. And, so, to indicate that we are part of the Daily Audio Bible just in case they are we can say I’m maintaining. So, I think perhaps we can do it this year and say I’m settling or something to that effect, I’m getting settled, I’m focused on being settled. And I think that could be our key phrase or word that should trigger others to know that we are part of the Daily Audio Bible. Someone in the Christmas party said that her word was endure. My goodness, the two really resonate for me together. Settle and endure. Scott, from Portland Oregon, I’m…I’m laughing at what you said. I identify with everything that you said except for I do make it more than two times a month to church. God bless everyone. I hope you’re enjoying the holiday season and I especially think about those who are alone and who are suffering for whatever reason. May God be with you. Amen.