2 Samuel 9:1-11:27, John 15:1-27, Psalm 119:49-64, Proverbs 16:1-3
Today is the 26th day of May, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian; it is great to be here with you today, here in the beautiful, lovely, rolling hills of Tennessee. As things warm up and become beautiful and lush everywhere, and I trust that it is beautiful and lovely wherever you may be. Here at the Global Campfire its always kind of the same, we always have a place, the fires always crackling. We can find our place, find this oasis of serenity, and simply let go of the cares of this life for a minute. We can go back and collect whatever we want, but for a minute, we have this oasis to allow God’s word to speak into our lives. So, let’s dive, in the Old Testament, we are witnessing David’s reign now, we’ve moved through quite a bit of David’s life and how he became the king and he is the king. And he is very, very much establishing himself in the regions all around him, so we will continue with that story today, second Samuel chapters 9, 10, and 11.
Commentary:
Okay, so in Second Samuel today, as we move through the life and times of King David, we have quite a contrast. Like we see David at his best, and then we see David at his absolute worst. We see David at his best when he seeks to find one of Saul’s errors and he finds that Jonathan, his deeply close friend, has a son named Mephibosheth. So, he restores Mephiboshet’s fortunes, gives him back the land that Saul had brings them to the king’s table allows him to eat there, and so this is a beautiful, a beautiful thing. And then, we have this situation were David gets up from a nap and he’s walking around his palace. And like, if you go to Jerusalem, it’s like a very, very hilly region with valleys. Like the Kedron Valley or the Hidom Valley. Like with valleys in between these hills. And so, things are built up on the hills and so David’s palace, high on a hill would’ve been over looking down upon the rest of the population. So, David is walking around on it, on his Terrace and he’s looking out over the city and that’s when he spots Bathsheba. And she’s finishing up a bath and he sees her, and he desires her and he keeps thinking about her and inquires about her find out finds out about her and has her brought to him and they have a night together. And Bathsheba, like we don’t know in the story, whether she was like trying to be seen by the king, but it doesn’t seem that way. And the king summoning her, she’s in a situation where she can’t like, she’s the powerless one in this situation. Nevertheless, they come together and she becomes pregnant and that is a really big situation because she’s married. And she’s not just married to anybody, she’s married to Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s elite soldiers. Uriah the Hittite will be listed, like later on as we get further on into the story, we will find out about these warriors and what their names were, that were the elite warriors for King David. Uriah was one of those. He’s named as one of the elites. So he is fiercely loyal to his king, to his God, to his nation, and he demonstrates that when David summons him to try to cover up, to try to get him to go home to be with Bathsheba, so that, that what happened is covered up and that the baby, like the whole thing is covered up. Uriah has too much honor and it’s just exposing how far David has fallen. We have watched him have this kind of honor. And now Uriah is simply following in his king’s footsteps and being an honorable person and David is, has fallen so far that the contrast is very stark. But it just gets worse because Uriah won’t go home to Bathsheba. So Uriah gets sent back into the battle and he gets sent back into the battle with the intention that he is killed and he is killed. And that’s where we leave the story, it’s just like, this pause, a pregnant pause in the story and we will continue with the aftermath of that because what happened today changes the dynamics of David’s family for the rest of his life. It changes things. And we will get to that in the days ahead.
And in the Gospel of John, we are really moving ourselves toward the end of the final Gospel. And so, Jesus is speaking to His friends before He gets arrested. And we’ve been spending the last few days, kind of going through that discourse. The things, the beautiful, comforting promises, the things that He’s telling them are the things that they need to go forward and we still need all of those things. And so, we have been talking about that. And it says some things today that we need to remember. He tells us that we must remain in Him and He will remain in us. And He equates to like a vine and a branch, that we are branches and are connected to Him, the vine, our sustenance. What we need are the resources that we need to sustain life are provided from the vine. We are the branch. If we are separated from the branch we will die, must remain in Him and He in us, because apart from Him, we can do nothing. And then He goes on to tell them, the way that you do that, like the way that you remain connected, the way that we stay connected together is that when you obey me, when obey my commands you remain in my love, just like I’ve modeled for you, just like I obey the Father’s commands and remain in His love. And then as I read it, it’s almost like there’s a pause, like Jesus takes a deep breath because He’s kind of getting to the end of what He has to say and it’s getting to be go time, like they’re gonna have to get up from the table and leave. And they’re gonna go across the Kindred Valley and Jesus is gonna pray in Gethsemane, but He’s never coming back again. This is the last moment. So he takes is this deep breath, and then says, I don’t call you slaves, a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. I call you my friends because I’ve told you everything. Everything the Father told me, I told you, you are my friends. That is a statement from the lips of God to these men and that should humble us because there’s a big difference between a slave and a friend. And when we remain in Him and He in us, and we remain in Him and in His love by obeying Him, then He too calls us friends, friends, of friend of God. We probably have a friend, we know what the concept of friendship is. We know like a deep and abiding long-term friendship. Friends…friends stick together through difficult times. They walked together, they comfort each other. They keep each other going. Friends…friends have each other’s backs. We could go on and on and on about what…what friendship is like, but could we just acknowledge that the offer of friendship with God is given to us and I know we know this. We sing songs about this in church. I am the friend of God. He calls me friend really like. We know this. We know that He’s offered friendship to us, but we also know what friendship looks like. Are we the friend of God? It’s offered to us and it’s mind blowing, but He’s been faithful to us in a long term very patient way, have we been a friend to God because that’s what he died for, to bring us into relationship and intimacy with himself that we might be friends.
Prayer:
So, Jesus, once again, as we…as we look at these last moments in the Gospel of John, as we move through this loving, caring, teaching that You are giving to Your disciples and then to us through the Gospel of John. That You want to be in a relationship with us is beyond comprehension and we confess that we have taken it for granted as if it’s just something that we can take or leave, unless we’re in trouble and then we need You. You have invited us to be friends and in truth, this is the union our souls crave. It’s the thing that drives everything in our lives and we drive ourselves in all kinds of misplaced ways to fill what You are simply offering: relationship, union, friendship with you. May we honor them by obeying You. And we ask for your help. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus name. 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 Encouragement:
Good morning, everyone, it’s Susan from Canada, God’s Yellow Flower calling. As a lot of you know, I’m looking after my son with stage four cancer and in 2018 he had major surgery, removed his left shoulder, arm and six of his ribs. And right now, he has a cough and when he coughs, his whole chest kind of blows out his left side where there’s no ribs and it’s very painful. So, I am asking for prayer for healing from this cough and from, of course, the cancer. Let’s pray. Lord God, we just ask You Jesus, to be with Keith and all others who are suffering from cancer or other diseases that are so difficult to handle. We know we hear about cancer everyday on this prayer line and Heavenly Father, we just ask Your healing touch to be on each and every one. I pray Lord God, that You would give us strength and courage to face each new day, each new challenge until our healing comes. Lord God, walk with us through this deep, dark valley and help us to cope with all the challenges that come our way. We praise You Lord, we love You Lord, in all circumstances and every single thing in our life, thy will be done. In Jesus name I pray.
Hi, I’m calling in because I heard, she called in as an anonymous caller but she called in for her little girl who is experiencing what they think might be symptoms of schizophrenia at a very young age. And when I heard that I…I just felt for you so much and I got on my knees and I prayed with you because I just want to rebuke that spirit of mental illness right now. I myself have grown up, I grew up in a household with a family member who struggled with schizophrenia. And my dad, who I did not grow up with, I…I learned at the age of 18, when I went to go look for him, that he also struggles with something very similar. And so, I feel your pain and I just want to pray over this little girl. And Lord, Heavenly Father, we come to You right now. We just, we rebuke that spirit of mental illness God, we rebuke the enemy. God, he has no power in this little girl’s life. He has no power whatsoever God, You are the almighty God and we just thank You so much that You are going to take care of her and you’re going to, you’re going to heal her, God. And You’re going to be with her for the rest of her life. Father, this is not her story. We rebuke this in the name of Jesus and we just pray for Your covering, we pray for peace. You’ve not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind. We pray for a sound mind for this little girl. She grows up to be a beautiful young woman, with a family, with full life. Mental illness is not her story. Thank You Father for Your grace, Your love, Your mercy. Thank You for being so kind to us, a good Father, a loving Father. We pray right now for this little girl, God. Be with her every, every step of the way. Thank you, Jesus so much. In the name of Jesus.
This is Telay, calling from Texas. And I’m calling regarding the lady that called and mentioned that her daughter, who’s 8 years old, may be suffering from schizophrenia. And I just want to just take a moment to say a prayer for your daughter. My spirit has led me to call in, say this prayer. I pray Heavenly Father, God in Heaven that You touch Your child, You touch Your daughter. That any mental illness that may be coming upon her, Lord, from the pits of hell, shall be destroyed in the name of Jesus. I pronounce healing upon her life. I pronounce healing upon her mind, Lord. I cover her with the blood of Jesus. I pray, Lord, that the joy of her salvation, the joy within her shall be returned, in the name Jesus. I pray, Lord, that we should hear a testimony, oh Lord, a new thing shall come to her, oh Lord, and these things shall be things of the past. We thank you, Heavenly Father. You said, each of us should ask our Father for bread and shall get stone of which of us shall ask our Father for fish and would get a snake. Lord, God Almighty, You love us, Lord, and we ask of You, oh Lord, and we know that You will answer us. Lord, but You said whatever we ask in Your name, Lord, You shall give unto us, Lord. So, please, Father, relieve this girl of any sort of mental illness, oh Lord, and let her return back to her normal state of mind. Let her return back to her joy and let her come back to her happiness and be the light that she is to the family and the world, that they may glorify Your Holy name. In Jesus name. Amen.
Hi, this is Trusting in Jesus. I’ve listened to Daily Audio Bible for over a year now and just absolutely loved it. Little did I know that my life would fall apart. Last week my mom had treatment for cancer, went into Hospice unexpectedly. And then two days later my sister, who is five children, went into the hospital emergency room for, they thought was a problem with her colon and they opened her up and she had stage 4 ovarian cancer. So, I am praying for two miracles. I’m not gonna give up on either one of them. And I ask, I plead for your help, and your prayers. And I am going to be taken on their responsibility of caring for her children along with my children. And I suffer from illnesses as well. So, I’m praying for God’s strength. But that is, that doesn’t have anything to do with anything. My primary focus is the two miracles. So, I am desperately praying for two miracles for my mother and my sister. So, DAB Family, I need you now. And you never know when your life is gonna fall apart. So, I know it’s cliché but really, appreciate your family members every moment. So, thank you so much. And God bless all of you and your precious ones. Thank you.
Good morning, guys. This is Be Filled Bridget from New York City. Today’s Monday, May 22nd. And I’m tapping in today to ask you guys for prayers. On Thursday, Michael is going to be sentenced. And we’re going to be allowed to speak or say something. First, I would like you to pray for my daughter who said to me, that she’s struggling telling him that she forgives him. I did tell her that she doesn’t have to say anything that she can just ask God to help her forgive. But at this point, if she’s not ready, she doesn’t have to say it. I don’t want her to force herself to do something that she’s not ready to do yet. I am praying for her. For myself, I’m asking you guys to please pray for me because I’m going to present the gospel to the court. I believe the Holy Spirit has already given me the message. I recorded it for myself and I’m gonna practice it, pray about it, fast and present it on Thursday. So, please, pray for my family. Pray for my daughter, my husband, just for all us and I’ll keep you guys updated. I love you guys. I thank you for all your prayers. I appreciate you all. Brian, thank you for this wonderful place where you tell your story so well. You tell God’s story so well, as well. Thank you, I appreciate you all. I appreciate your prayers. I love listening and just thank you.