Ezekiel; 10:1-11:25, Hebrews 6:1-20, Psalms 105:16-36, Proverbs 27:1-2
Today is the 4th day of November welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is…it’s wonderful, truly wonderful to come in and take a seat around this Global Campfire with everybody and let the cares of this life diminish, allow them to kind of be put into context in their proper place and just relax for a minute. We have permission. We have permission because we’re here to learn from the Scriptures, and to allow them to speak into this day. And, so, it’s wonderful to be here with you today. We will be working our way further into the book of Ezekiel, as well as the book of Hebrews today. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Ezekiel chapters 10 and 11.
Commentary:
Okay. So, yesterday the voice of wisdom out of the book of Proverbs gave us this one sentence that was very stark about lying and making victims out of people who you lie to. And, so, hopefully we did. We prayed about that yesterday and hopefully we’ve contemplated that. Today we have wisdom again speaking pretty directly to us, giving us a wise counsel, wisdom that we can actually incorporate into our lives and the way that we behave and the way that we live in this world. So, Proverbs says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” In so many ways this is an invitation to be present in the present. Maybe a more popular pun or proverb would be “don’t count your chickens before they hatch”, right? So, we can find security in our well laid plans, but we have no idea. I mean, we can’t even accurately predict what will be happening one hour from this very moment. I mean, we may have an idea, but we have no control over all of the little things that a day can bring, just the millions of sensory inputs in a day. And I’m a planner. I’m…I’m like this. And, so, I’m like yeah, I get this because we can be so lost in some other time, right, like the future. We can be so lost in planning for the future that what’s happening right now never even really registers. So, we live in a place that isn’t happening or we’re stock in the wounds of our past. And, so, we spend so much time regurgitating conversations that had…even one…that we had, even yesterday’s conversations. We keep playing them over and over. But the thing is, that’s not happening either. The only place where something’s happening is now. And, so, rooting ourselves in that, at least being aware that life is happening now, and we best live it fully, is wisdom. The proverb goes on to say, “let another praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips.” And we probably all know folks like that who, even if they call you up, what they wanted to call you up to talk about was themselves, right? Or if you have coffee, what you’re meeting about isn’t to catch up on things. It’s for you to sit there and listen to them catch up with you on what’s going on in their life and how their children are just doing wonderful in sports and they’re just acing everything at school and, I don’t know, on and on and on. You know what I’m talking about. On and on and on in sort of a self-absorbed balloon that just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger and more and more and more full of hot air. And I suppose we could psychoanalyze and go, “well there’s something underneath all that.” And that would be true, but what the voice of wisdom is starkly saying is that’s not a good idea. Like that’s not healthy behavior. That’s not walking in wisdom. And, so, it’s easy enough for us to say I know people like that. It’s a little harder to say, “yeah, I am like that.” What wisdom is essentially saying is that true affirmation isn’t something that you have to force people to do. You have to force people to sit down and listen to you spew about how awesome things are for you so that you can, in some sort of psychological way, feel that your superior or have some sort of dominance in the situation. That’s not going anywhere. It’s just like we were talking about yesterday. We have the identity of identities. It has been bestowed upon us- children of the most-high God. That can’t be earned. We can’t compete with each other over it. It’s something that is. And becoming self-absorbed to the point that all we can really talk about is our kids and our job and our vacation ultimately reveals that we’ve lost the plot. And again, that doesn’t mean you don’t catch up with your friends and tell each other what’s going in your lives. This is an example. But again, wisdom pushes deeper and says, “what’s motivating us? Why are we always doing this? Why in any 10-minute conversation are eight of those minutes spent on ourselves, one of those minutes on listening, and one of those minutes in silence? Like why do we dominate about ourselves in so many situations? What is that? What is going on there?” And again, wisdom has given us some things to think about because what we’re being told is, yeah, you can do this stuff. It just doesn’t work. It’s just…like if you know that kind of a person, who every time that you meet with them you can’t get a word in edge wise because they’re too busy telling you the stories of how awesome things are or even how bad they…I mean it can be in reverse, just how bad things are. You know people that all they can do. You can talk to them, check in on them and all they’re gonna do is bring you down for an hour of nonstop how bad it is for them. Ultimately, that kind of behavior, whether extreme positivity or extreme negativity, right, it eventually becomes repellent. You eventually go, “wow I don’t know if I got time to invest in that right now.” And, so, we find excuses to avoid it. So, the thing that the person wants, which is to be seen and heard actually works against them because people don’t want to see and hear it anymore because they’re so full of their own experience, Some more things for us to think about that are direct and that are clear and that are straight into our lives from the voice of wisdom today.
Prayer:
Father, we invite you into that again. We have all experienced this. We have probably all participated in this to some degree or another, but we also know the extremes of it. We’ve experienced the extremes of it. Maybe we have perpetuated the extremes of it on some other people, but we know what we’re talking about here. We know what we’re getting at. And we know that some…to some degree, we… we’re all guilty. And, so, again just like yesterday Holy Spirit, we invite you into…to exposing to us the wise of these things because that’s where the gold is, that’s where the transformation can happen. That’s where a complete change can happen, if we can get to the root of things. And, so, Holy Spirit, we invite you to lead us into the roots of some of these behaviors so that we can understand ourselves better and so that we can understand each other better. Holy Spirit, come. 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.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Hi DAB family this is Aussie Bear in Australia. It’s almost 10:00 PM on Sunday October 31st and today marks exactly a year since I left a job that I absolutely loved because of workplace bullying. I was at that job for four years and for that entire four years I was bullied by a coworker. And it got to the point where I had to leave. And today is exactly a year and in the last few weeks I’ve been really convicted and…and encouraged by God to pray for the woman who bullied me. I still see her almost daily because where I worked was at a supermarket and I live in a small town and there’s only one supermarket and she still works there and of course I have to go there on a regular basis. So, I still see her. And I’ve dealt with so much anxiety in the last 12 months since leaving that job but still having to see her on…on such a regular basis. And she’s still cold and horrible but I…I really feel prompted to pray for her. But I’m struggling with that because I don’t like her. That’s the honest truth. I don’t like her. She’s not a nice person. And…but I just really feel really convicted. And…I mean…I’m usually dead to the world by now but she’s in my mind. And, so, I just feel like God’s really pushing for me to change my thinking toward her. And I just I really need help with that. So, if I coan get you guys too pray with me and help me pray for this woman. Her name is Jody.
Good morning DAB family God bless you all Terry Shield of Faith I am praying alongside you. I am praying for full time job for you in the name of Jesus. I am thankful that the Lord has allowed your family to stay together in the name of Jesus. I am believing in the name of Jesus for the full restoration of your daughter. I am believing that the Lord is going to use these doctors to help her in the name of Jesus and she’s going to be fully recovered in the name of Jesus. A woman from Egypt called in regard to your two friends. Sammy I am praying for you in the name of Jesus. I am praying for your healing. Father God I am asking you to come to Sammy Father God. Reveal Yourself to Sammy that he’s able to see You in the midst of his great pain Father God. Show him that You are their Father God. Hold him Father God with Your everlasting love in the name of Jesus Father God. I am praying for your friend whose husband left her and the kids to be with another woman who also left her family. Father God I am praying in the name of Jesus for restoration of marriages Father God and families Father God, that that relationship will end and that they will each return back to their homes Father God in the name of Jesus. God’s Smile, yes God always provides, and we are so blessed when we are able to see these provisions in our trials. Thank you, Jesus. Father God, I can see You in everything, Father God. I love you and Peter. God bless you both and I’m so glad that you’re healing well. Yes, He is our footstool. He is definitely our footstool. May we worship Him. Yvonne from Chicago feeling super blessed for your birthday and the DAB for many years even though you went through some really challenges in your…in your divorce. I am praying for you, that God continues to bless you, that He can give us more than we can ask or imagine. Amen. Hallelujah. Oh, family I love you all. I love you. Esther from Haines City.
Hi DAB this is Thankful and Still and I was calling to pray for the son of joyful noise. You called in and how it’s been along hall with mental health and…and…and depression and…and suicidal thoughts and the…being under attack. You said you were taking a road trip. So, I just pray that…that God have victory into this all and He strengthen you as a parent step by step and that your son would have joy and that God would refresh him as well through this. I know it's…it’s a long journey and I just pray for resilience in it all in Jesus’ name. And I pray for disciple who loves. I pray for your daughter every time I pray for my own children. So, I will just continue to pray for him and for you as a parent. And I do seek your prayers today. I’m picking up my son now from school. He hasn’t seen a therapist. He’s refused for about four months. And I finally got an appointment with one that he's…he’s gonna go see today. So I’m just praying that Lord you would help my son to be receptive, that there would be good chemistry between them and that the unprocessed traumas of the past would be processed and that the un-delt with hurts, disappointments would be dealt with, and especially the anger that results from it all, that You would help my son to have a focus on the future and just help me to provide support along the way lower. May Your Holy Spirit guide and lead and work the way only You can Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Thank you.
Hi this is a friend from Pennsylvania. I’m calling for prayer for one of our dear friends, Dave. Dave has been in the hospital for over a month now from COVID related injuries. He got sick in early September, and he continues to be in the hospital, first on a ventilator and then he had a tracheostomy. He has been on a paralytic for too many weeks now and we’re praying for his recovery. He is a Christian. In fact, there are many people that are listening to Daily Audio Bible including myself that are listening because of Dave. I want to ask for prayer for him. I want to ask for prayer for the doctors and for his family. His wife Kathy has been a tower of strength through all of this. They have three children, two older children who are in college and one who still in high school. I pray for strength for the family. I pray for strength for Kathy as she has been, as I mentioned, a tower of strength through this sharing daily updates about her husband. And I pray that this week would be the week that his lungs would start to respond. They don’t seem like they’re very damaged. They’re just not responding. Please lift him up in prayer that he might be healed from this horrible disease.
Hello DAB family this is Elaine in Colchester England. I haven’t called in before I’ve been listening to daily audio Bible for four or five years now. I need you to pray for my son Daniel. He’s very low about himself. He’s 13 and he thinks that nobody likes him and he's…he’s no good. His father had mental health problems. We don’t see him anymore, but he was calling him nothing and worthless behind everybody’s backs for years. Daniel told us after he left. And, so, he’s got these core beliefs from a young child that he really is no good and he started to want to not live anymore, and my heart is breaking and I’m so worried and I have got help but I really ask for your prayers. And I thank you for them. Thank you for Daily Audio Bible. And I listen every night and I…I really appreciate it. Thank you, Brian.
Hello Daily Audio Bible and fellow DABbers. My name is Paul and I’m calling for the first time from Washington and I’m pleading with you for prayer, that…I’m a father, I have a daughter and she is choosing to follow the world and it really concerns me. The schools have had a huge influence on her and I’m just pleading as a father to you people out there please pray for my daughter who I…I’ve been praying for her every day and I’m just asking you as a father even if you don’t have children please pray for my daughter. My name is Paul and I’m very concerned about her, my wife and I and it’s become a real struggle. And I’m seeing the way that the world it'…it’s become a battle of good and evil. And please I’m pleading with you, begging you, please pray for my daughter. Thank you. I know that so many people out there if you pray, please help. Thank you. Bye.