Isaiah 54:1-57:14, Ephesians 6:1-24, Psalm 70:1-5, Proverbs 24:8
Today is September 28th, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian, it is wonderful, like every day, wonderful to be around the Global Campfire together with you. We together create this oasis in our lives just a little peaceful place to go and let God’s word speak to us. A place where we leave the cares of the world and the obligations and responsibilities outside the circle and we can gather all that stuff back up if we want when we’re done, but it sure makes a difference to sit it down for a minute, allow the Scriptures to speak into our lives, reorient our hearts to God, it just changes the perspective. So, I am so grateful to be here together with you for the next step forward and that next step forward will take us back into the book of Isaiah today, chapter 54 verse 1 through 57 verse 14.
Commentary:
Alright so, we concluded the letter to the Ephesians, today and there are many famous passages in the letter to the Ephesians and…and we looked at them as…as we went through. But as Paul closes this letter, we encounter a very famous passage dealing with the armor of God, it’s very famous. We talk about this stuff all of the time. Suit up with your armor, did you put your armor on, etc., or we’ve memorized this passage and so we recite this passage as if we’re putting on the armor of God, but have we ever actually contemplated what this armor is and what it’s supposed to do. Paul says put on the belt of truth. If you think about a belt, well if I think about a belt, it holds my pants up but if it’s a tool belt then it’s got equipment on it, things that I need right at my hand, my fingertips. We understand that concept, but do we make the correlation that, that belt is truth that we walk in the truth and that we tell the truth, that’s how we use this tool, this belt. So, if we’re willing to be duplicitous or deceitful or kind of curating things in such a way that a ton of stuff is hidden then we don’t have the belt of truth on and that holds everything else together and makes things available at our fingertips. The metaphors pretty clear but we need to not forget that the belt is truth. We’re also told to put the breastplate of righteousness on, this is like to cover the vital organs. It’s like body armor. It’s the righteousness of God that protects our hearts. So, let’s just have an idea of ourselves, all suited up and armor like were armored up, the righteousness of God is our breastplate. And then on our feet, typically we wear shoes and so shoes…are you, shoes are the gospel of peace. The readiness to walk in the gospel of peace. So, let’s just like expand that, we understand that if we put shoes on our feet and go out the door, then the likelihood of the shoes being on our feet and going wherever it is that we go are pretty strong. We’re supposed to be wearing shoes or sandals that represent our readiness for the gospel of peace. In other words, where ever we go we take the gospel of peace. And we have a shield that can stop things being flung at us, fiery arrows of the devil. The bible says that can block things that are shot our direction. That shield is faith. If we don’t have faith, we don’t have a shield. And on our head is a helmet, it protects our minds. It makes us aware and alert and able to participate in what God is doing that helmet is salvation. And so, these things protect us. They keep us safe and moving in the right direction. But we are also given an offensive weapon, a sword. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And then to tie it all together, pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. Obviously, this is a famous passage of Scripture and as I said many of us have it committed to memory. If you, don’t it’s worth committing to memory. It’s in the sixth chapter of Ephesians. You can go back and examine all of this for yourself, but looking closer at what the tools, what the resources are, as opposed to the metaphor of armoring up, which is the metaphor Paul chose, like it’s a great analogy, but so often we just look at ourselves and think about being suited up and protected and not look at what those resources actually are. Those resources are the truth. The righteousness of God. The gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and prayer. If those things are present then we are wearing this armor.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, we confess sometimes we’re half dressed, sometimes we’re out in the world naked with no armor, sometimes we’re fully suited up, sometimes we don’t know what we are, but we have clarity here in this letter for what we need if we wonder how Jesus might have navigated in this world, we can look at these resources that are made available to Your children freely, that we might navigate successfully in this world. So come, Holy Spirit, and help us pay attention to what the armor actually is so that we might actually participate in the gifts that You have given us. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Good morning DABers. This is God’s Chosen from Georgia. I’m asking for prayer for my friend and sister Lisa. She’s going to be having surgery on Tuesday. She’s a mighty woman of God, she loves the Lord. She’s a prayer warrior and she’s an amazing person. She has transformed so many lives, just touched so many lives. So, please pray for Lisa that the surgery will go well on Tuesday. Pray for her husband, Coach, that God would give him the strength he needs to be able to wait on the Lord. To be able to trust Him as we all also partner together with them to lift out before the throne of mercy. Thank you, Treasured Possessions for that powerful prayer this morning, just hearing you intercede, it gladdens my heart. And to all DABers, all those that take time to pray, to intercede for other people’s needs, I pray God’s blessings over each and every one of you. Jill, Brian, Ezekiel, Max, China, Tina and Chris and all others working behind the scene, we can never thank you enough for making this real and blessing our lives. Thank you again, please lift up Lisa. God bless you and have a wonderful weekend.
Hi beautiful family, this is Susan calling from Albuquerque. I was moved today by Sharon’s request for her daughter ShaRon who was given a, who was told she was gonna need open-heart surgery. Father, I want to lift her up and her daughter up in prayer to You, today. And, thank You so much for carrying both of them in Your hands, Your beautiful loving and healing hands. We ask, that if this is indeed the path that You need them to go down that it is, that they will find the right surgeon to this surgery. And that You will bring him confidence in his abilities, comfort and that they can go into this with peace and free from worry. And, we know that, if this is indeed is the path she needs to take, that she is going to be given a much healthier healing and restorative life in her physical feeling. I’m sure that if she, the reason she found this out is she’s not feeling to well. So, if this is a change it’s gonna make her life much better, we thank You so much. We lift her up to encourage her, to comfort her and to give her a feeling of peace that all will be well. We thank You so much for Your love for Sharon and her daughter ShaRon. Amen Father. Thank you family.
Hello brothers and sisters this is Royal, I hope that your heart has been able to find at least one moment of peace in reflection of God’s beauty around us. I’m calling to lift up those who are sick and ask that you would join me in lifting up my cousin Jenna, who is getting married next Saturday, it’s a week from today. And, bless her heart, the poor thing has come down with Bronchitis and she’s trying so hard not to be a bridzilla but she’s just really stressed out, there’s just a lot of things still left to do to get ready. And I’m one of her bridesmaids so I’m trying to help as much as I can. And also, for my sister Alyssa, sadly just found out her landlord passed away so now her and her three kids, my nieces and nephew, have to figure out a new house situation and the market here is just really difficult. So, God, we just come before You with grateful hearts and give You glory in advance because You are faithful Lord and Your faithful when we seek You. Your faithful when our hearts are far from You. God, I lift up those who are just sick and come down with anything respitory or just stressed induced. God, I just ask that You would flush out the toxins from their body and help them be restored to full health again and full strength again and help them be refreshed and to just breath in a breath of life. Just thank You for giving us breath every day, Lord. God, I lift up my cousin to You, pray that You would just help this Bronchitis to be healed in time for her to say her vows. I lift up my sister to You that You would provide and open doors Lord. Give You the glory. Amen.
We are all reflections no matter what we say or do
And most of the times we tend to reflect those things that we believe in our heart to be true
Even though Scripture warns us that the heart is deceitfully wicked and very easily mislead
Scripture also advises us to pay close attention to those things upon which our hearts are being fed
Because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and our words become the reflections of those things our hearts seek
How much influence does social media exert on the things you do and say?
How much time do you spend on the internet in the course of a normal day?
How much time to do you spend reading God’s word, how much time do you actually spend in prayer?
Our actions are the outer manifestations of what’s internally there.
Are you reflecting God when you open your mouth to speak?
Or are your actions more self-serving, reflecting passions and desires that run deep?
Because it’s nice to receive love and praise from the world and our peers
But that too fades with the passing of years.
And only that what you do for God has the power to last, social morays and fads all eventually pass
Proverbs says that gossip tastes sweet when you first take it in
But it turns into a poison once it gets deep down within
That’s why it’s so important to feed daily on God’s word and prayer
And not be so quick to ingest those things from the internet that people are so eager to share
Pray for God’s Holy Spirit to lead you to all that is true
And try to be an accurate reflection of Christ in all that you say and do
Blindtony1016@gmail.com I’d like to give a shout out to David Michael Thice and Darlene Thice, know you’re both very much loved and prayed….
Hello family, it’s Drew from the Bay Area. Listen I’m just calling, I had a rough day yesterday at work. I believe it was a spiritual attack. I see thousands of people every day and I had somebody just yell at me throwing F-bombs at me the other day, yesterday. And, I want you to pray Ephesians 4:5 says that there’s one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one Father of all who is in…who is over all and through all and in all. So, I’m one with you brothers and sisters, we are one together. Please pray for us all as this is a very trying time in this world right now. People are on edge. And, in the beginning of that…that chapter it talks about us being humble. Be gentle, be patient, be bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity and the spirit through the bond of peace. And that’s a lot more difficult than we think when we’re trying to live in the world and not walking by faith all the time. So, pray for me. I’m praying for all of you. Brian and Jill, thank you for this ministry that you have. James, the teacher from LA, it’s so amazing to hear your voice again, I’m glad that you’re well. And God’s Smile, we’re praying for you, climb those stairs, keep smiling. Kiss Kiss.