Category: DAB Transcripts

Haggai 1:1-2:23, Revelation 11:1-19, Psalms 139:1-24, Proverbs 30:15-16

Today is the 20^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is an honor to be here with you today as we come around the Global Campfire on a busy week, this being Christmas week and just kinda let it all go for a second as we come together and warm ourselves by the fire but take the next step forward. And our steps forward are definitely leading us to the end of the year. And it’s like if we were taking a voyage and we had sailed, we left the shore a long time ago and we’ve been in the deep for a long time but we can see land now. We can see our destination. And it’s great to be here with you so we can see it together. And the way that we will get to our destination is the next step forward. And, so, that will lead us back into the book of Revelation in the New Testament. That’s where we’ll be until the end of the year, but today we have reached the 10^th out of the 12 books that are known as the minor prophets, and we’re gonna read a whole book again today. This is the book of Haggai.

Introduction to the book of Haggai:

And if you noticed a little bit of a trend with these minor prophets we don’t have a lot of personal information about who they were. There are some things known about each one of these people. There are even traditions and legends about some of them. And although we don’t have a ton of information about Haggai’s life there is a lot of information about the context for this prophecy. So, we undoubtedly remember the conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians and the 10 tribes that were carried away and disappeared. We will also undoubtedly remember, we spent so much time on these, that the Babylonians conquered the kingdom of Judah and destroyed Jerusalem, deporting its people into exile. We remember when we read from Jeremiah that the Lord spoke to those exiles that they should thrive and prosper, where they are while they’re waiting. It’s gonna take 70 years. Haggai was among the first who were able to return from the Babylonian exile and go back to Jerusalem, probably in the first wave to go back to Jerusalem, which would’ve been in complete rubble, would’ve been a disaster. We know that Haggai probably wasn’t just more like a lowly common…commoner because in Haggai we see that the message was delivered to important people, people that we’ve already met. Like this message was delivered to Zerubbabel who was the governor of Judah. And we learned of Zerubbabel’s story when…when we read Ezra and Nehemiah. And this message was also given to Joshua who was the high priest at the time. So, he could have been just a commoner but having access and being able to deliver a prophetic message, and then having that prophetic message understood and accepted and then preserved, yeah, he probably had reason and stature to have access to the leadership. And the reason for the message that we’re about to…to read is to motivate the people, to kinda get them moving, but to…to really come to grasp this, we need to go back. So, Babylon conquered Jerusalem. We’ve read that over and over…like a references to it over and over. We have experienced this story and this happened historically in 586 BC as people are being exiled and deported away from Jerusalem. And Babylon itself was then conquered by the Persian Empire. And that happened historically in 539 BC. And it’s the Persian king Cyrus that allows the first people to leave exile and return to Jerusalem and begin to rebuild for the glory of the Lord. And that happened under Zerubbabel’s leadership and that happens somewhere around 538 BC. Haggai message comes 18 years later in 520 BC. And I’m like rattling off all these dates and it can be like how do we know this. It’s in the prophecy. Some…some of the most precisely dated statements that are in the Bible are in Haggai because the dates are in the book. August 29^th through December 18^th 520 BC. So, for 18 years people have been able to return and come out of exile and…and to rebuild and yet the temple 18 years later is still incomplete. And there have been plenty of opposition and intimidation, both political and just physical intimidation. Some of those stories we’ve already read as we’ve moved through those stories, but the threats had stalled the efforts and so the people started like building their own homes and building their own lives and actually not paying attention to the fact that the temple had always been the centerpiece of the people. It was like the centerpiece of all of God’s people, the place where God would dwell among his people and this place is to finished. And, so, Haggai brings a voice from the Lord that is essentially going “why…why are you building luxury and homes? And why are you building a life for yourself when the centerpiece of your life in this culture is still in ruins”, which is the temple. And through Haggai it’s revealed that since the people have come back they’ve been working really hard to rebuild all kinds of things and to have all kinds of crops and care for themselves, etc. etc. but they’ve…they been thwarted all along the way. Haggai is revealing that that is because they’ve neglected the centerpiece, the temple. And, so, if we zoom out and just kind of look at the situation, the people have been using their energy and their freedoms to try to make a life of their own on their own without the centerpiece, without the temple, without God in their midst. But that was not working. They were working hard but gaining little ground because they were putting themselves first and ignoring God and…and the place where God would dwell. And they learned that if they had put their trust in God first, God would’ve flooded the prosperity of the surrounding nations into the temple. So, their work would’ve yielded more had they put God first in their efforts instead of being self-absorbed and in their own strength trying to build a life for themselves which, again, these minor prophets…we’re like, “what is going on here?” But they’re like, boom! Once you understand the context you realize this stuff is still going on. This stuff is in my own heart. I find myself doing these kinds of things. I need to pay attention and listen because we can spin our wheels and work as hard as we possibly can to make gain for ourselves, as hard as we possibly can and it feels like we’re just inching our way along when maybe we’re forgetting that there is one who would lead us if we would get our priorities straight and really truly understand it, really truly isn’t all about us, then maybe our efforts would yield so much more. Not only for our own well-being and happiness but for God’s kingdom in this world. And, so, we will read in its entirety the book of Haggai.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for taking us through the book of Haggai today, reminding us yet again in our own strength we can hope for so little. In Your strength nothing is impossible. We thank You for the reminder from Psalm 139 today that there is nowhere we can flee, there is nowhere that we can go to escape You. Wherever we go You are there and that is so comforting. And may we embrace that reality and truth. We have never been alone. We will never be abandoned. You are with us and we are grateful and deeply, deeply thankful that You care so much about us. How can that even be? And yet this week is a celebration of just the lengths You have been willing to go to in order to capture our attention and our hearts. And, so, as we continue these days toward Christmas, as we continue through this Advent season of longing and paying attention to our hearts we long for You, long for Your return, we long for all things to be made new. Our heart cries out for this. We know that something’s not right. And we know that only You can redeem and restore. And, so, our hope is in You. There is no other hope. But there needs to be no other hope. You are our hope and You are the God of heaven’s armies and You are our Father. And, so, we hope in You. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that is home base. That’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And you can do that using the Daily Audio Bible app as well, which you can get for free from your app store, wherever that might be, you can find out what’s going on here around here as well.

This is Christmas week. And, so, all of us are kind of moving our hearts and minds and probably bodies with all of the last minute things to do. As we navigate this week let’s remember to stay immersed in this season of Advent, stay immersed in these stories that we have been tracking with, not only in the Bible but as we move through this season. Super easy this week, the Christmas week to get pulled in all kinds of directions, all kinds of last minute things, all of the different kind of anxieties that come up, all kinds of people maybe traveling into town or us traveling out of town or just all of the last minute things. Let’s just make sure we  stay rooted and grounded in the story that makes Christmas even a holiday, makes it even possible, the arrival of Christ in this world to rescue us. And, so, let’s keep our hearts tethered to that story as we navigate all of the other little side stories that are going on in our lives.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here at the end of the year you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There’s a link on the homepage. If you are using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner of the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. That is the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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:

Dear Lord thank You for this day, thank You for all You’ve given us. I pray for Jimmy and Mrs. Bell. And that she’s doing fine with Mr. Bell and Jimmy finds a home. Mr. Row because he’s out of the hospital and his family. Bliss because she’s still really sick and Josh. And I pray for my mom my grandma and my aunt because six years ago on the 23^rd of December their dad died, and my grandpa’s husband died. So, I pray…I pray that you help them with that. Amen.

Hi DAB family it’s James here from the UK. It’s been I don’t know a couple of months since I called in and I just want to say a huge thank you for your prayers. At the time when I had called in, I was in a really low place and life had got tough, really really tough. And, you know, my wife and I we’re still together, we’re still trying to push through. We’ve really benefited from so many things recently but counseling and just a chance to really recognize and appreciate how important we are to each other again. And, so, I think that’s in no small part due to the prayer support that I’ve had that been coming my way. And there’s many people out there that…just supporting many of us, many of us couples in prayer. I just want to pray for anyone that’s going through challenges with their marriage at the moment, and just trying to work it all out and ask, you know, what’s the point, where am I going with this? And I tell you, the point is to stand supportive even when things are difficult, even when you’re sometimes pitted against each other, to recognize that we haven’t got a huge amount of time on this planet and we’ve got to try and make the most of it in terms of what we do to speak into one another’s lives, to lift each other, to break through the coldness that can happen in life, the sadness that can happen in life, to embrace each other and to show God’s love to each other. Amen.

Good morning, everyone it’s Susan from Canada Gods Yellow Flower. I love you my dear family. And today is December 16^th and Brian spoke on Micah 6…excuse me…to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with the Lord. And yes, like when Brian says we do that sometimes, but those words hit me right in the gut and I want to live them constantly. So, I just pray Holy Spirit that you would convict me whenever I am about to do something against that verse. I want to do justice. I want to love mercy. And I want to walk humbly with God every day of my life, but I need your help. So, I just pray this for myself and for everyone else who was convicted buy these desires of God that we should all do as God wills and one day hear those words, well done my good and faithful servant. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Good evening, DABbers this is God’s chosen from Georgia. Thank you, Brian for that reading today. And what really got me was the question you asked, what gifts are we giving to Jesus? What are we giving to the Lord? And it got me thinking, what do we have in our hands, what have we bought to give to Him, what is the gift that you are going to give to Him? And I think of so many mothers at this time who are either hurting for their children and all whose hearts are broken, what do they have that they want to bring to Jesus? In the midst of their despair, in the midst of their calamity, in the midst of their brokenness what do they have that they want to give to Jesus? And, so, Lord I pray this evening that you will look into all hearts that are broken, all those whose hopes have been crushed, those who do not even have anything to bring, those who are angry, those who seem to be lost completely, those who are in doubt of your love. I pray that in a divine way you will visit each of them during this season. I pray that your love would overshadow their heart. Amen.

Hey DAB fan this is Dawn Rising in Michigan and I just wanted to call and tell you a story of failure and God’s love. So, the scene is I was in a grocery store after work with my kids and I was standing in line and the checkout person was extremely chatty with a woman in front of me and I was just annoyed, right? I wanted to get home, wanted to get on with my day. And here’s this woman and she had $200 in whiskey sitting on the belt and was talking…just complaining. She was complaining about the…you know… she doesn’t have a car, she could only be…use the bus and it’s always late and it doesn’t drop her off in the right spot and just kept going on and just was complaining. And here she is buying all this alcohol. And I just…you know…in my mind I was like, yeah, she’s probably getting ready for a party. But then I was listening, and she said that her best friend just died and she didn’t have any friends around her because when she moved up here with her husband her husband died. And, so, she was completely alone, and she was just going to get through the holidays with all of that alcohol. And she wanted it in a bag, so she wasn’t embarrassed when she rode the bus home. And I need to tell you of my absolute failing. Instead of having compassion and warmth and sadness and everything that she was going through I was annoyed. I just wanted to get through the line. And, so, I completely failed her, and I have just been sobbing for days about this because God has convicted me and showed me of my shortcomings. So, although I did not do God’s will for this woman, I’m coming on here to ask you to pray for her to pray for someone who can intercede for her and to stand in the gap in her time of sorrow. And I know that’s you family. Thank you.

Zechariah 2:1-3:10, Revelation 13:1-18, Psalms 141:1-10, Proverbs 30:18-20

Today is the 22^nd day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is fantastic to be here with you today. It's…it’s fantastic to be enjoying Christmas week together with you even though we’re celebrating with all our friends and family and kinda moving our way toward Christmas day it is fantastic. We’ve been through all of the different seasons together and it is fantastic that we can walk together through the Christmas season. And, so, let’s dive in and take that next step forward. We began the book of Zechariah yesterday and we talked about Zechariah as we began and I mentioned that Zechariah’s gonna carry us all the way till the 29^th day of December, I believe, just a couple of days before the end of the year. And, so, we’re gonna take the next step forward into the book of Zechariah, one of the great sources of text from the Hebrew Bible that discusses a coming…a coming one…a coming Savior. And we touched on that little bit even with our first reading yesterday, but today is today. We’re reading from the Voice this week. Zechariah chapters 2 and 3.

Commentary:

Alright. So, this is Christmas week and…and in the book of Psalms today we got about the best advice imaginable for the coming days. And actually again, this Psalm isn’t about the Christmas holiday in 2021. It’s about life and this should be the way that we live every day. We’re kind of moving into the holiday season where we’re gonna be reunited with probably family, maybe friends, maybe even people we haven’t gotten to see for a couple years because of all that’s been going on in the world, but maybe people that we see often enough. But when everybody’s altogether than everybody kind of falls back into the some…some sort of role that we played in our family or whatever. And, so, those old hurts can kinda creep in or those…you know…those kind of words that…they look like they’re nice but inside there’s like a razor blade or something. And these little things that have always been offensive to us or have hurt us even from child or whatever, they can come up and creep in and boom! Then everything’s blown and we just feel like a child again. Psalms speaks to what…what we could do before any of that, before any of that happens or before we do that. Because maybe it’s us. Maybe we’re the one that has daggers hidden in our paragraphs. So, I quote from the Psalms. “Guard my mouth oh eternal one. Control what I say. Keep a careful watch on every word I speak. Don’t allow my deepest desires to steer me toward doing what is wrong or associating with wicked people or joining in their wicked works or tasting any of their pleasures. Let those who do right strike me down in kindness and correct me in love.” And, so, this is written by King David a long long time ago. But you can see if we listen to that counsel right now, predetermined and pay attention to the triggers that can blow the whole thing up and move forward then we’re seeing that we can choose in advance before anything gets said, before anything happens how we’re going to handle it if and when it does. It’s not a good time to remember this verse, you know, after the volume is at 10 and you can’t unsay what’s being said. The way to avoid some of that conflict is to predetermine and pay attention. Because the Bible has taught us very vividly out from a number of angles that we are light, and we are of the light. and we should have no darkness and we should not be participating in the darkness. It’s best to remember that from the peace and serenity of the light. It’s much more difficult to try to enact anything like this when we’re in the pitch black darkness and it’s a raging inferno of words that are not helpful. These days now and leading into Christmas, this is a time where our soul, especially if we’ve kind of been paying attention through Advent and stuff, we…we should be rejoicing. We shouldn’t really sense of joy to the world. We should really understand that God came for us and we have no business perpetuating darkness at a time that commemorates the light of the world coming to rescue us.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that and we predetermine, we decide in advance that we’re not gonna take the bait, that we’re not gonna get triggered that, that we’re not gonna cave, that wherever there is darkness if we experience it or witness it, we will do all that we can to replace it with light and good news and love and joy. We will certainly fail if we try to do this in our own strength. Only with Your guidance can we navigate this, only with us being aware that we’re not moving through Christmas alone. We’re going through it with You together. We’re celebrating together and nothing’s going to take that joy away. So, we’re paying attention to what’s being said. We won’t succeed at that without You, but You would never leave us. And, so, we have to confess that so often we’re not paying attention and we need to and that needs to be a habit of our lives or just…just the normal for us, is that we are paying attention because You are present. And, so, come Holy Spirit. We have an amazing opportunity here to practice this, to put it into practice. And, so, come Holy Spirit we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here.

It’s Christmas week. That’s what’s going on around here, kinda counting down the days and they’re some of the more busy days. And, so, let’s remember what…we talked about this. We talked about it even back in October saying this is final quarter of the year and by the time this quarter is over we’ll be at the end of the year, but we’ll also be right in the busiest time of the year for most people. And, so, staying locked into this rhythm that we’ve had all year can really help us navigate. And, so, let's…let’s finish strong because the way to begin our New Year’s resolutions and to begin strong is to end well and to end strong. And, so, let’s do exactly that as we…as we share the final stretch of our journey.

Man, if this journey has been meaningful to you, if our rhythm every day step-by-step day by day moving forward through the Scriptures and through life, if that has been life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership here in the waning days of this year. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com or if you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, of course, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that is the little red button up at the top. Tough to miss. Looks like a Hotline button. You can hit that from anywhere in the world or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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:

DABbers it’s Kara Contrite Spirit. I don’t usually get nervous making my calls but I’m just…I’m feeling a little nervous. This is a plea in desperation to all of you guys, you prayer warriors. I need prayer cover for, you know, I always call for my son Nish but this is…I’m asking for prayer cover for him and also for my area, for my…I live right next to a light rail station and the powers and principalities I feel are working here hard core through meth. That’s what I’m focusing on right now. And they work through one particular young man. He’s homeless. He seems to think that the steps to the light rail station are his office for selling drugs. And there are a lot of children in my building. I’ve actually seen him talking to children and he’s been known to talk to children. There’s been posters put up on the doors of all the residents of my building. The authorities knew about him. I see him sometimes talk to, you know, 20 people a day and he's…it's…it's…it’s Satan working through him. I know my son gets drugs from him too. And it's…he’s been doing this for like three years. My son has been back here a year and it’s just…I need your help guys. Please help. I thank you so…

Good morning family it’s Saturday morning the 18^th of December. I’m out walking my dog and just finished listening to DAB and I’ve heard the prayer requests and this song came to my heart. I might have sang it and sent it before. I obviously can’t remember but I just want to do it again. [singing starts] When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word what glory he sheds on our way. While we do His goodwill He abides with us still and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey. For there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey [singing stops]. Obey the word of God. Obey the path that His word shines the light on that you’re supposed to walk. And then in the unknown, in the darkness trust trust trust His faithfulness. Trust He is there. Trust His promises that say He never leaves us no forsakes us. Trust His word that says I am the Lord I change not. Hallelujah. Trust and obey. Be blessed my family. I love y'all. Praying for you. Jesus. Hallelujah.

Hello DAB family this is Carol from upstate New York I’m calling to ask you folks if you would please uphold my church in prayer. Today our pastor, Father Steve died from Covid. He had been sick for a few weeks, but he was young, he was fit. We…I guess he just was one of the people that you wouldn’t expect that would pass away from this illness, yet he did, and his loss is huge. He leaves behind six children, a wife who he adored, he just loved her dearly. And if you would pray for them, but especially for his youngest child who he and his wife just adopted from foster care just about five weeks ago. They went to court and the adoption was finalized. This is gonna be a huge loss for this little boy and as it is, all of us. Our pastor was an amazing man. He ministered to the poor. He preached the truth. He was just a blessing to everybody. He…no one had anything bad to say about him. He was just beloved. So, if you could please keep us all in prayer I would so appreciate it. Thank you.

Hello DAB family this is Colorado Cab and at the end of today’s message I just feel compelled to pray with you a very similar prayer that I pray every time after I hear the requests that are recorded each day. Lord Jesus thank you for today. Thank you for each and every caller that was brave enough to call in and either offer prayer and encouragement to others or to just boldly ask for prayer themselves. Dear Lord Jesus for every caller that’s recorded we know that there are thousands who do not call in. I ask your blessing upon all those who write on the prayer wall, the Facebook page, those dear Lord Jesus who call out privately from their homes and prayer from hospital beds, their cars, prison cells, homelessness. Dear Lord Jesus we know that there are missing and exploited people all over the world right now calling out to you in prayer. Be their refuge dear Lord Jesus. Come to their aide and bring them comfort. Dear Lord Jesus please come. There are so many who need you. You know each and every one of their names and you know every hair on their head. So dear Lord Jesus I stand in agreement for all the prayers that are recorded but dear Lord Jesus also for the thousands that are not. I ask all these things in your precious sons names Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sovereign Lord we lift up our world to You. We thank You for it, the beauty of Your creation and the places where we are. Lord thank You for all of the countries and all of the…all of the nations represented on this podcast that’s part of the community and all of those on the sister podcast as well and all of those not represented. Thank You, Lord for all the different countries in the world and all the different people. And we pray Lord that…we lift up their leaders, lift up our leaders Lord and pray that You’d be giving them wisdom as they have to make difficult decisions every day. I pray Lord that they would be making the best decision to serve their people. And Father God we…we lift up the health services of all of our different countries and thank You for each individual that makes…that makes it…that is a part of it and we pray that You’d be giving them strength and energy and inspiration and motivation and whatever they need to continue serving the people. Lord You know what they need, and we thank You that You are the provider and I ask that You would provide. We entrust our world to You Lord. Thank You that we can trust in You. Thank You that You love us. In Jesus’ holy and precious name. Amen.

Zechariah 1:1-21, Revelations 12:1-17, Psalm 140:1-13, Proverbs 30:17

Today is the 21st day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is great to be here with you. It is wonderful to be enjoying Christmas week together as we move step-by-step and day-by-day toward Christmas day which is how we will wrap up this week together, celebrating Christmas. And today, it’s another one of those days that gets stuck in my memory, it would been my parent’s anniversary today. I don’t know what they were thinking because I wasn’t around but they decided to get married a few days before Christmas. So, it’s days like this that I miss them because they have both gone on and so I would be Facetiming or calling them or whatever with a happy…happy anniversary. But that’s not possible. So, I guess I share with my community here. Nevertheless, we have some work to do. We have the next step forward in the Scriptures and we have been moving our way through the minor prophets which brings us today to the beginning of the 11th of the 12 minor prophets. And it might seem like the last week and ½ or whatever has been kind of a blur, we’ve been moving fast through a lot of territory. Now, we will begin the book of Zechariah, but we won’t read it in its entirety today, nor will we complete it tomorrow. The book of Zechariah is gonna take us right up to the last two days of the year and then those last two days will be spent in the final book in the Old Testament known as Malachi, the final of the minor prophets. But that will be several days from now, over a week from now. So, let’s orient ourselves to what we are going to be spending the next space of time reading the book of Zechariah. There was another minor prophet named Haggai and we read that work. Zechariah and Haggai were contemporaries with each other. Although Zechariah continued his ministry long after Haggai and they were actually in the same place and generally at the same time uttering prophecies for the same reason and that reason was rebuilding the temple. So, Zechariah is grandpa, his grandfather was named Edo and he was among the first leaders of the priestly families that came back from the Babylonian exile with Zerubbabel. And remember Zerubbabel’s name, probably because it’s memorable but we read of Zerubbabel reading Ezra and Nehemiah, but Zechariah coming from a priestly family and that being named and probably means Zechariah was a priest as well, or at least part of the priestly family. And the name Zechariah means God remembers and actually God remembering the covenant, that is central to the theme of the book of Zechariah. Now, when we read Haggai, we read it rapidly. Zechariah is a lot longer than Haggai. And it’s got a lot broader scope. For example, Zechariah had a lot of visions, 8 of these visions are written down. They were night visions, and they have an apocalyptic literature type of feel to them, which won’t be all that different than what reading in the book of Revelation. And in light of the subject matter, which is the rebuilding of the temple, we see even through these visions that God wants the Temple rebuilt because it sort of inaugurates, it unleashes part of what he wants to do next which is broad hope and restoration upon the people, but it wouldn’t just fall out of the sky, like it would be a collaboration, the people would have to respond and that’s why we hear words and Zechariah like return to me and I will return to you, which is not dissimilar to any of the prophetic utterances that we’ve read. Zechariah is also a text that reveals that there would be a coming Messiah, part of the foretelling of a Messiah to come, comes from Zechariah, and those those passages we would recognize them. We will recognize them and there’s language about a humble servant riding on a donkey, we find Zechariah quoted in the book of Matthew and in the book of Mark, and in the gospel of John and in in the book that we’re reading in the New Testament right now, the book of Revelation, all drawing corollaries or making reference to Jesus as this Messiah. So, as we read this over the next days, we will see a sovereign God who is absolutely sovereign in all times and all places and in all things. So, as we continue to get the message that really, really becomes front and center, especially in the New Testament as we reach the end of the year, the theme of enduring, let’s also embrace, even in the theme of enduring that God is sovereign overall and God sees us as his children, and so we begin Zechariah chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and now we have reached a place where we will settle in for a few days and move through the same books as we’ve been doing all year and so we invite Your Holy Spirit to speak to us Lord and it’s not as if you aren’t. Perhaps a better way to say it is, we pray that You would help us be aware of what You are speaking, that we would intentionally pay attention, that as we move toward Christmas and then through Christmas in the week in between, that we would focus our attention upon the Scriptures and focus our affection upon You. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is where you find out what’s going on around here. If you are using the app, of course you can find out what’s going on around here from within the app, so check that out. There’s little drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner of the app screen that opens a drawer and you can access different parts of Daily Audio Bible there, so check that out and stay connected and stay tuned in any way that you can or any way that you want to. I remind us that the Community section, that is where the Prayer Wall lives and that is a wonderful resource for reaching out and looking outward in prayer toward our brothers and sisters but also a place to ask and receive prayer from our brothers and sisters. It’s beautiful, so be aware of that, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, here in the remaining days of this year, thank you, humbly, profoundly, we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together and so thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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, this is the Greatest Trucker from Way Out West, it don’t take much to be the greatest trucker and sometimes the greatest trucker well, he ain’t so great. I wanted to call in this morning and thank you all for your prayer requests and praises. I got a prayer request for my wife Terri. She’s sick and been sick, off and on. Has been tested for COVID, it’s not COVID but just kind of a bad cold that just kinda keeps coming back. I’m away in the truck, we have a very good church family there in South Dakota, where we moved about six months ago. And they’re supporting her but I’m not able to be with her when she’s sick like this, it’s really hard. I’m just putting out a prayer for all these people that are away from their family and can’t be with them when their sick. She’s so precious to me, I love her so much. It’s just asking ya’ll to pray for her to just get back her health, in full, full heath. And I’m praying for all the people that ask for prayers on the prayer chain and I thank you for sending in your prayers and I’m sorry I haven’t called in a long time but I’m calling now, so. Love you all, in Christ and pray for ya’ll when I hear your request. Thank you, adios.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. I just want to share, I think my best known experience is throughout this year. It’s been a year of ups and downs where there are times when our faith, my faith, has been put into tests. And sometimes you would meet people who would challenge you, what you believe in and it’s really difficult sometimes to put up an argument and no matter how much you what to push them away with their ill intentions and teachings that are earthly and that contradict our Christian faith, what gives me comfort is the fact that scripture actually foretells that there will be individuals who will be like this who will come up with these things. And it gives me hope that it’s actually found in the bible and that it was foretold and these are things that actually gives me strength. But in a nutshell what I would want to say is to encourage anybody listening, even in my next life or even if I died today and I noticed that Christianity isn’t real or heaven isn’t real, I would never ever regret it because my faith, the word, my belief in Christ, every single day that I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible has given me faith. I has helped me through my difficult moment, it does help me through situations that I feel like that I couldn’t have coped. Listening to how people have overcome their experiences, all of these things tells me, this is real you know. So, I just wanted to share that.

Good morning, DAB family, greetings from South Africa. My name is Olephela. And I’ve just listened to now, today the 17th of December and there was a young, young chap who I think his name is Mandy or is it Mandy, yeah or Bandy I’m not to sure, it was quite clear, lost your grandfather and your really touched me. And, you know, condolences, deep condolences to you and your family from Africa with love, really. We are moved by your prayer request. And nothing like spending Christmas without your grandfather. Let’s pray, pray in the name of Jesus that Lord, that you just come along side this family, that you would comfort them in the name of Jesus. We ask that you just come along side them, this morning, this day, may they feel Your presence through and through. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello, good evening to everyone in the world. I am coming to everyone to ask for prayer for my marriage. I have been married for a year and ½ now and we got married in a pandemic. So that was a struggle and we continue to struggle with communication and we to continue to struggle with…with giving each other grace and…and keeping our hearts soft, I pray that the Lord continues to help us and show us how to keep our hearts soft for each other and my husband is a believer and I know that the Lord is speaking to him and I just pray that he is in the right space, in the right mind to hear the direction from the Lord and to keep his heart soft for me. I am fighting for my marriage because I love my husband and I feel that the Lord brought us together for a reason and I want to continue having this…this kingdom marriage so I can so we can both glorify God and His creation of marriage. So, I ask for prayer. Thank you so much in advance I believe in prayer, but I need more of it, thank you.

It’s me again, Saved by His Grace in Happy Valley. A while back one of my favorite people, Blind Tony called in with a poem about seeing a drunk and maybe laughing at him. But if that drunk were your son you wouldn’t laugh. Or a woman who was prostituting herself for drugs and you feel uncomfortable and look down on her but if she were your child, you wouldn’t. And then, Brian talked about how broken we can become and today, I read a devotion that used Psalm 31:12: I am forgotten as though I were dead, I have become like broken pottery and it occurred to me that we all start with a clean slate and then life attacks us, the world attacks us and were all broken, but take heart, dear DABers, God can and will make us whole again. Just like the broken pottery that they use gold to fill in the cracks, we will be more and precious then ever when He’s finished with us. Love you all. Bye.

Zephaniah 1:1-3:20, Revelation 10:1-11, Psalm 138:1-8, Proverbs 30:11-14

Today is the 19th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we greet a brand-new shiny sparkly week and yeah, this is Christmas week. Today happens to be the final Sunday in the season of Advent and the season of Advent will end on Christmas eve as we ring in Christmas day. And we’ve talked about it several times. I enjoy, personally, Advent, the season of Advent. I didn’t grow up really knowing anything other than having heard the name Advent before and thinking it was something some people do, but I don’t know, we don’t, nobody that I know does but as I have grown older and got more familiar with the heritage of our faith and the fact that there is a Christian calendar and Advent is a season in the Christian calendar; It has become very meaningful to me, it’s not in the Bible, like Advent as a season of celebration or observation, that’s not in the Bible. So, there’s no command to pay attention to Advent but if you ever want to be able to kind of point your heart in a direction toward something so that you can fully truly appreciate it and Advent is such a season. It is a season, the 40 days before Christmas. That’s, well there are Advent calendars that have you coming back every day so that you’re kind of reminded and some of those calendars have goodies in them and the little gifts every day that kind of moves you forward. But underneath it all is really a sense of longing. So, if you have a calendar and every day you moving toward this final day and you get a little something or whatever, however, that however you do that. It is meant to pull you forward toward this one point, which is Christmas day and it’s about the longing of the soul really. We know that before Jesus came people were longing for a rescue, for a Savior. And then the Savior came with great joy to the world. And so, to put ourselves in that position, longing, waiting, needing a rescue, a Savior and we put ourselves in that position then Christmas becomes very, very meaningful as we go through the traditions of it, but as I have said before Jesus came, we read about that, we believe in that, we study his life, we try to become Christ like in our lives but we realize that we too are also waiting because we believe that there will be a second Advent, which means arrival and so we participate in the waiting, and in the longing for Christ’s return. Even as those so long ago waited longingly for his arrival. This is Christmas week. So, before this week is out, we will experience Christmas together and you can feel it in the air. We’ve been through so much the last couple years and that there may be plenty to go through but this time of year, there’s some kind of lift, something new in the air that reminds us that all things will be made new and that there is hope. Hope for the world, joy to the world. And so, let’s enjoy this week fully. And as we dive in today for our next step forward in the Scriptures, we will do what we seem to be doing most every day, reading a whole book in the Bible in one sitting. We’re camped out in the book of Revelation in the New Testament. So that’s where will be for the remainder of the year, but in the Old Testament were moving through the 12 minor prophets and today we’ve reached the ninth of the minor prophets.

Introduction to the Book of Zephaniah:

This book is known as Zephaniah and like so many of the other minor prophets don’t know really a whole lot about who Zephaniah was, maybe the…the most substantial information that we can get about Zephaniah is actually found in the book. At the very beginning, the Lord gave his message to Zephaniah when Josiah’s son Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Cushy, son of Gedeliah, son of Amoriah, son of Hezekiah so, that’s what we know about who Zephaniah was. One thing that’s interesting that has been noted by biblical scholars in that particular description is that Zephaniah wasn’t like the son of so-and-so, nor did he trace his ancestry back like 15 generations or something. He went back four generations, which some scholars find to be intentional and interesting. And a possibility might be that Zephaniah, because we went back four generations to Hezekiah that he might be a descendent of the reforming King Hezekiah who was up right before the Lord and made great reforms among his people to return them to God. So, if Zephaniah were a descendent directly of a king, that would give him credibility, that would give a reason maybe to preserve his work, but it would also perhaps explain his awareness of the world’s situation like the political climate that he was in. The name Zephaniah means God has hidden and as we just read the book itself states that the message was given during the reign of Josiah, which would put him around the mid 600s BC and that would make him contemporary with other prophets that are found in the Bible like Jeremiah. And textual scholars have found similarities in the prophetic writing, well, there are similarities in prophetic writings in general, some are more considerable than others. Zephaniah has a language and tone that is been recognized as similar to prophets like Isaiah. Course, like so many things this is kind of piecing the story together to sort of get a sense of background. So, it seems that based on the style of writing of Zephaniah that he was familiar with Isaiah’s prophecies. Now we have read a lot a prophecy over the last few months. And so, we kind of get the arc of it and we also know that most of the prophets that are found in the Scriptures, their prophecies to God’s people to warn them and to call them back. We remember when we read the prophet Jonah that Jonah was actually not sent to God’s people but was sent to God’s enemies to prophesy and invite them to repent. Zephaniah’s a little different than both of those because his prophecy, he seems to be prophesying judgment on the known world, which included his people in the land of Judah. And so, we will hear about the day of the Lord, and we’ll hear of it because…because we’re being encouraged as hearers of this work to repent before it’s too late. But let’s remember here as we’re going into Zephaniah and as we continue through Revelation God isn’t trying to destroy people, He’s destroying evil, not people, but if people want to be evil and…and want to walk a pathway of evil then…then there gonna be, they’re gonna destroy themselves, they’ll be swept away. But the loyal and lowly and humble will be secure, those who trust in the name of the Lord and Zephaniah will…will have the same kind of arc as other prophets where we…we hear of impending judgment, but we end with promise and hope and restoration. And so, we begin and end the book of Zephaniah, we will read from The Voice this week.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word, we thank You for this brand-new shiny sparkly week that we are moving into, the final full week of this year, with this week ending with Christmas day and so we only have one more shiny sparkly threshold to walk-through into another week. And that will be a week from today and that will lead us to the end of the year and that is hard to believe. And it would be easy enough to just sort of feel like we’re done but we’re not. We have these days remaining as we push to the conclusion and we pray Your Holy Spirit speak to us, lead and direct our step’s we pray as we move to finish this year strong, so that we might begin a new year strong. Holy Spirit come we pray into all of this; we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi family, this is Susie from Colorado. I wanted to reach out to WWW who has a hand injury and is just really worried about how she’s gonna work, if her hand has to be operated on. I’ve gone through something similar and I am…I am, you’ve been on my heart for the last two days because I know it’s scary and I just pray God would heal the bones in your hand that there would not even be a need for the surgery. Please keep us posted but I’m praying for you. Also, family, would you please pray for two new babies that we are taking custody of, permanent custody of. I named one, a 10-month-old Joseph and then I named the one that we believe is 3 to 4 years old, he’s so malnourished it’s very, very hard to tell his exact age. I named him Gerald. They both have hydro-cephalic syndrome and we will be taking them into our orphanage tomorrow, God willing, in Haiti. So, please pray for these two little boys to…to get well that they can be treated with surgery and not have to suffer this…this terrible disease. And also, little Elijah, I asked you to pray for him before too, he has hydrocephalic syndrome as well. He’s not doing very well would you please pray for him. His situation is inoperable and I just I don’t want him to suffer. Thank you so much.

This is Redeemed from California calling for Irene. She is Zambian and was adopted by white parents here in America. The current polarized climate and blatant racist acts she’s witnessed recently has planted fear in her heart as she prepared to leave for college. Father, I pray that Irene might recognize that her Zambian roots, her American adoption, her beautiful soul, her beautiful skin color and the unique gifts that you have bestowed upon her are not by accident and that You intend to use them for Your, her uniqueness of her family formation for her good and Your glory. Father, she has done the hard work of preparing herself for college and now the enemy is walking around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour her hopes for a good future. Protect her from the enemies’ attacks on her thought-life, that she might not shrink back to who you created her to be. Give her wisdom and discernment to recognize the difference between the deceivers lies and the voice of Your truth, so that the spirit of fear does not become a strong hold in her life. Give her holy boldness as she navigates towards her independence. When she witnesses hateful acts, let it be a reminder of how important it is for her to be a vessel of Your love regardless of their nationality or station in life. Now Father, You’ve opened up the world of opportunities to Irene, so give her a peace that surpasses all understanding and restore her excitement about her future You have planned for her. Help her to meditate on Philippians 4:6-9 that reminds us to be anxious for nothing and tells us what kind of things to think on. Thank you for the good job her parents have done and thank You for answering this prayer, in advance. And we look forward to hearing her testimony of Your faithfulness. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hi, this is Just Judy in Jesus from Wilton, California again. I would like to give a testimony, a quick testimony because I’ve wanted to do this for so long and we quit going to church because of COVID and I just, I feel like I just needed to tell everybody about how I praise God how I love Him so much. He has brought me through, time and time again, of bad times and He continues to…to bring me through everything. When I was younger, I met my husband when I was 14, we got married when I was 16. We went through a season of hell until we were 50. I lost my children through miscarriages or whatever but God still, still after having a hysterectomy gave me a baby. The girl just set the baby on the table and said take care of her and I’ve had her 43 years. Her name is Shannon. She’s the best little angel God ever put on this earth. But God brought me through my addictions. I’ve been through heavy, heavy bike traffic, fast bikes, fast men, fast women for my husband he just liked to never settle down. Leave me alone for a long time and a lot of times. But God brought me through it all and He’s still taking care of business. Leukemia patient, oh my test, things were just perfect today. I cannot tell anybody how much I love Him, how I love Him so much, He is the best God, He is a good, good God. And people, pray for me. I love prayer, I pray for all of you, I listen to this every day. I love you, I love Jesus. Thank You Lord, Father God, thank You for being my Father God. Amen. Thank you, guys, bye.

Hi, this is KD out of Atlanta. Calling in, I’m a little bit behind but I was just listening to the December 10th prayer line where ___ and Joe the Protector were requesting prayer for their children and Joe for his family cause it might be a possible divorce on the horizon. So, I was just calling in to pray for, letting you know that I heard your request and I am praying for both of you. Also, for everyone else who Lord, is just going through things with their children, I am going through some things with both of my older kids too. So, I was just calling in praying for all the parents of wayward children who are experiencing difficulties right now with their children going astray. Just letting you know that things do get better. My daughter, she’s in therapy but my son, we’re still praying for him as well. So, just calling in to let you know that I am still praying for the both of you. Bye.

Hi this is Andrew for Washington. This call if for the lady who called in and said that she had a brain operation back in 18, had optical damage and first-time in four years they put up a Christmas tree. Man, just wanted to say that your story touched my heart and I felt compelled to call in and just tell you that I’m so happy you called in and shared and that you found joy and peace and contentment through DAB family and God’s goodness in your life. Wish you a Merry Christmas and blessed new year.

Habakkuk 1:1-3:19, Revelation 9:1-21, Psalms 137:1-9, Proverbs 30:10

Today is the 18^th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it’s great to be here with you as we reach the conclusion of another one of our weeks together. And it’s been getting customary that we’re moving really rapidly through territory, especially in the Old Testament. Now that we’ve reached Revelation in the New Testament we’re…we’re…we’re in the last book. So, we’ll carry that all the way through the end of the year, but in the Old Testament we’re moving rapidly through the minor prophets. Seems like we’re reading a book a day. And that’s pretty close to true and that will be true today as we close out this week.

Introduction to the book of Habakkuk::

We have the eighth book of the 12 books in the grouping known as the minor prophets and our book today is called Habakkuk. And since we will be reading the whole thing today. Let’s just talk about what we’re going to read. This person named Habakkuk, it’s almost as if there’s less known about who Habakkuk was than any other biblical writer practically. There are some traditions. There’s a Jewish tradition that associates Habakkuk as the son of the Shunamite woman that was resurrected in Elisha’s ministry. And that’s found in the book of second Kings. You probably remember that story. It’s a tradition. We read that story. There’s nothing about Habakkuk in that story and second Kings, but that’s a long-running tradition. There’s an apocryphal tradition about Habakkuk, which means he’s written of in books that may have been contemporary with the…the biblical narrative and maybe even books that were revered but didn’t end up in the canon of Scripture. And Habakkuk is mentioned in one such book as almost like a minister to Daniel while he was in the…the lion’s den. I don’t know if that would make him a spiritual being…like it's…the thing is most…most scholars find these kinds of traditions to be legendary like this last one we just talked about with Habakkuk being in the lions den with Daniel. I guess anything is possible. It’s just not in the Bible in the book of Daniel when we read the story of Daniel and the Lion’s den. So, they’re traditions and…and…and probably legends, but that doesn’t mean that Habakkuk wasn’t important. It has been preserved as a biblical prophecy. We are about to read it out of the Bible right now and there are passages in Habakkuk that are very famous. So, for example we have read all of the letters of the apostle Paul, we have read the book of Hebrews and in those letters and in the book of Hebrews we would hear things like the just shall live by faith. This is like a central core Christian doctrine that is repeated in the writings of Paul, especially, but that idea, that saying, it comes from Habakkuk, but the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. So, we could probably say with pretty good assurance, Paul being a studied Pharisee was familiar with the prophecy of Habakkuk. And actually what we’ll read in Habakkuk is a…a bit of a conversation that is fairly direct. Habakkuk doesn’t like what’s happening around him. He doesn’t understand the way that the Lord allows things to happen. And, so, we kind of move from that place of frustration and confusion and watch the whole thing move toward worship in the end. And, so, we begin and end today the three chapter book of Habakkuk.

Prayer:

Thank You, Father for another week in Your word, a busy week indeed. We have covered so much territory in so many different books and we are grateful, and we rely on You Lord. We rely on You to plant what we have heard into…into our hearts, into the field of our heart, that in due season the fruit of the Spirit might be born in us. We thank You for the gift of Your word. We thank You for the gift of salvation that we cannot earn. It is a gift. We thank You for the opportunity to have the gift of life that we are conscious, that we are aware that You exist. And may we become more and more aware of Your presence on a continual basis because You never leave or forsake us. And, so, as we continue forward from this point into Christmas week which is one week from today we invite Your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. May we stay in alignment with You. May we pay attention through this season to all that You are leading us to and all that You are leading us away from. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s homebase, that’s the home of the Global Campfire, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app which is a free download from your app store whatever device they you’re then you can access all the things from within the app as well to find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to do that. Stay tuned. Stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in these remaining days of this year, thank you. Thank you humbly. Thank you deeply. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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:

Hey guys it’s Daniel from Georgia just wanna say how much I love you guys and I’m so thankful that you guys are part of my…my life and just…and this podcast and I’m just so proud. I just wanted to ask for prayer of that, you know, I would continue to walk with the Lord and that I would continue to be steadfast and have endurance that sort of thing. __ for a lot of things. And I just want to ask for His vision and all that I do. And I appreciate you guys prayer’s. God bless all of you. Always listening and that kind of thing. Alright. Bye. Love you.

Hey DAB fam this is Sparky. Hey y'all. Brian was reading through Revelation today and it really kind of struck a chord. And pardon me, I don’t have it in front of me but when he was addressing the fact that you say that you’re rich and I don’t need any help pretty much to paraphrase him. But you’re stubborn. And it really rung a bell with me because I’m a working man. I keep a roof over the…a roof over the kids head. You know, that’s all my kids. And when things are going right I feel pretty rich and I don't…I don’t necessarily push so hard for God ehen I feel like I’ve got what I want. And man. that that just stoned. It really did. DAB fam that…that stoned to where I think God said don’t just come to me when you’re poor. When things are going good don’t lose sight of me. Don’t quit looking for Me. Don’t quit listening to you DAB. And got to thank Brian. Revelations the tough one to get through for me because it came up when it was fire and brimstone and then there’s a lot of good lessons in this. I love you DAB fam. I’m praying for you, all of your community prayers, especially Eyes of a Dove. My wife and I are praying so hard for you. We love you guys and I hope you all have an awesome week. I’ll be praying as I go through the community…

Howdy DAB family this is Darren from College Station. I had called upon y'all to pray for one of my coworkers and her…I believe I labeled her as her auntie but it was actually her mother-in-law but nonetheless we had her name and she had COVID, she had pneumonia and a bacterial infection and I just received confirmation that she is back home and she’s out of the hospital. So, praise Jesus. Thank you so much for your prayers for her. And I also just wanted to call in and ask for prayer for my wife Lynn Whin Marraccini to receive Jesus in her heart. She is…we have been married for 13 years and I have been praying for this for 13 years and I haven’t called this in to my family. So, it’s time for me to do this. I need you all to pray for my wife Lynn’s heart to receive Jesus as her personal Lord and savior, to recount anything else that she is choosing to believe in, and to accept Christ as her Lord for the forgiveness of her sins and for her salvation. Can you stand in agreement with me family? Thank you.

Hi family today is Tuesday December 14^th, and this is Robert P from Tennessee. I wanted to thank you all for your prayers and support. I’m on my way to the hospital this morning to see the status of my wife. The doctors tried a procedure yesterday to put a drain in her abdomen for ascites fluid from her liver failure and unfortunately, they perforated one of her intestines and that’s not gonna be very good. They cannot operate to fix it and basically, we’re just gonna bring her home. Please pray for my family and thank you for doing that. And just pray that we can send her to the arms of Jesus in peace and tranquility. And pray for my decision-making abilities as this is just difficult. Thank you, family. God bless you all. Robert P from Tennessee, subaruman.rt@gmail.com …

Hello good morning my name is Emmanuel. I really want to thank God for the platform Daily Audio Bible. It’s helped me a whole lot and it’s been a source of God, you know. It helps me in a way that even when I wake up from my…from sleep and I get to hurry to do the day’s job, you know, I just plug in my headset and there I am listening to the word of God. I wanna thank pastor Brian for this initiative. Also, I would like to, you know, would like this community to remember me in prayer as regards God’s direction for my new walk, my new walks of life because as it is currently I’ve been having struggles trying to know the right path and what next to do. I trust God to help me out. So, I need my family of faith to join hands with me to seek the face of Abba, that His divine direction for the path that I need to tread, the path that will give me the time to worship, the time to do God’s will, and also to be there for my family, my immediate family and the body of Christ as a whole. I…

Jesus, thank you…

Nahum 1:1-3:19, Rev 8:1-13, Ps 136:1-26, Pr 30:7-9

Today is the 17th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and do what we’ve come to do, take the next step forward in the Scriptures which will bring us to some new territory, brand-new book, the seventh book of the Minor Prophets.

Introduction to the Book of Nahum:

The book of Nahum which we will read in its entirety today and there are plenty of unknowns about who Nahum is, there are plenty of knowns. The name Nahum, means comfort and we’re told in the book that he was from Elkosh, although where Elkosh is…is an unknown. Nobody knows if this was larger kind of town somewhere, or if it was a little tiny village that’s just disappeared. Where Elkosh is…is unknown but dating when Nahum may have been written is a little bit easier because there are historical events that are contained within the prophecy. So, Nahum mentions the conquest of Thebes, which is in Egypt yet the Assyrian conquest of Thebes, that’s a historical event, it happened in 663 BC. So, if Nahum is mentioning this event than we can sort of say that the prophecy happened after that date, but a lot of the prophecy in Nahum is about the destruction of Nineveh and that also is a historical event that happened in 612 BC and so, somewhere between those two years is likely when this prophetic utterance happened. And like I said, this is about the destruction of Nineveh. And it’s just like a few days ago reading the book of Jonah with another prophet who ran away from God because he didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he feared that God might have mercy on Nineveh, which he did. But we’re like 150 years into the future now from Jonah and the Assyrians, they had conquered the northern kingdom and destroyed it and carried all of those 10 tribes away into exile where they are gone, they were never tribes ever again. That has happened and their brutality for conquering peoples was legendary so they repented for a time after Jonah came to Nineveh. And you can only imagine that the word of Jonah being swallowed by a fish and spit out on dry ground, that would spread pretty fast and so that would give him some credibility. But this is 150 years later and they’re not thinking about Jonah’s prophecy anymore. They’re thinking about conquest and God is displeased and this is an Oracle about the destruction of Nineveh. There…there are plenty of scholars that think that Nahum may have written this prophecy down from like a city like Jerusalem in the southern kingdom knowing what had happened to the northern kingdom and issuing this Oracle of destruction on Nineveh on the Assyrians, which would’ve been received as words of comfort to those who had lost everything including their families. And this would be the second time we’re encountering prophecies about Nineveh in two different books so we can see from Jonah that God is merciful and patient, but we see from Nahum, He’s not…He’s not a pushover. He’s not gonna be pushed around, He’s not gonna allow injustice, no mercy and no humility, which is what we we’re reading about yesterday in Micah. He won’t let that go on forever. So, with that we will read the three chapters in their entirety, the book of Nahum.

Prayer:

Father, we are ever thankful for the gift of Your word, which is the centerpiece of why we gather around this Global Campfire every day. It is to allow the Scriptures to speak into our lives and they speak into our lives in so many ways, we find ourselves in the stories of people who have gone before us, we find their…their attitudes and convictions are similar to our own. It shows us that thousands of years can pass, many cultures can change, the…the clothes that we wear and the technology that we use and the transportation that we have may change, but the heart of humanity, we are still trying to sort through the same things thousands of years in the future and we will never sort any of this out without walking with You in a straight line consistently and we see this over and over and over. This is what You keep calling Your people back to, through the prophets, come back, come back. We have a covenant, return and so there’s no way that we can’t get this message on a daily basis, as we move through this particular territory in the Bible and so we’re getting the message loud and clear. And so, each and every day a little bit more, we invite Your Holy Spirit to continue to chip away as we open ourselves to You completely, chip away and remove and demolish the things that separate us from You. We…we may hear of the destruction of a city and walls falling down and armies entering but that isn’t unlike what we need in our own hearts that the walls come down in Your Spirit just floods in eradicating all of the things that separate us from You and Your will for our lives. And so, come Holy Spirit into this as we continue to seek Your counsel and comfort as we continue to humble ourselves before You and Your sovereignty. Change us God, we pray, help us to collaborate with You in that change, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base. It is the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here, has been Christmas time all around here and all around everywhere. I guess we’re kind of getting down to last call. It’s a week from today, it’s Christmas Eve, and so, we have had well the Daily Audio Bible Christmas box that is available. Promised Land, Photographs from the Land of the Bible is available, as well as all of the Christmas music that we’ve been talking about that is available for Christmas time, but anything that you’re wanting shipped to you is kinda, last call for that. We will continue to ship but it’s been hectic shipping and receiving time in the world all over the place so don’t…don’t delay, but you can check out all of these items, any of the items in the Daily Audio Bible Shop, whether that be at dailyaudiobible.com or whether that be in the app, you can access the Shop from either place. And so, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here as we approach these final days of this year, hard to believe but final days of this year and it’s been a challenging year for sure. But if what we’re doing here together, around the Global Campfire is a place of life for you then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper left-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And of course if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app from anywhere in the world or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hey Daily Audio Bible friends, my name is Mandy and I’m calling to ask for prayer for me and my family. My Papa, who is my maternal grandfather passed away on the 1st and he was like a second father to me and this Christmas is going to be really hard for us. So, if you could pray for us and especially me that would be very appreciated. Thank you. Bye.

Hello friends, this is Brother Doug from Florida. I’ve been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for two or three years now and I’m a first time caller and I’m calling because of Robert P. From Tennessee he shared a story on today’s Daily Audio Bible and regarding his wife Bonnie of 31 years, and Robert, you said something that really touched my heart and that was you don’t know what to do. I can so relate to that. 12 years ago my wife was in her final stages of…of cancer and when the whole thing started two years prior, I didn’t know what to do. And I was impressed to love, love her, love her, love her and do everything I could. So, I’m going to encourage you Robert to love her and I know that you love her, but I want to encourage you also with some Scripture: 1st John 4:18, part of that the last part of it says perfect love casts out all fear. That’s for you as well because when you think that you’re not doing the right thing that’s fear coming into your mind. Place perfect love on you my friend. First Peter 4:8: above all love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. That’s another way, just love her as much as you possibly can, show her, speak blessings to her. Ephesians 5:25 husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. It’s all about love at this point, Robert. I know you love Bonnie. I know how you care for her or else you wouldn’t be so concerned and so worried about what’s going to happen. O my friend we love you as well. I’ve never met you but I feel like I know you. May the Lord Jesus Christ richly bless you and give you all love and encouragement that you need in this season.

Father God, Lord, I’d like to pray today for those who are going through the sadness of losing a loved one. Lord, I’d like to pray for those who are suffering with the agony of seeing life being leached away from people that they adore. It’s wrong Lord. Death is wrong. Suffering and pain are wrong. Illness is wrong. You never made the world this way. Not initially, it’s our fault through Adam that this is among us. That this is our situation and this is our lot. And Lord, we thank You so much that through Your Holy Spirit we can know about the sacrifices that Jesus made so that this suffering, this pain actually has a purpose. That there is light at the end of the tunnel and that that light is You. Father God Lord, we ask You to comfort those that are suffering such things at this time especially with it being Christmas. When each one of us consider those that we’ve lost and wish that they were near and wish that they were here. And wish that we could just buy them a Christmas present. Tell them that we love them. Father God Lord, we raise them up, in the name of Jesus. Amen. This is Tony the Narrator, I love all of you, have a Merry Christmas.

Hi, DAB family this is Lindsey calling in from Minnesota. I’m out on a walk this morning and it’s pretty cold so hopefully everybody can hear me okay. But I just wanted to call in and really echo and reinforce the prayer that I heard from Child Advocate out in LA. The prayer for those who are incarcerated just really touched my heart, impacted my heart. I know a couple of people here in Minnesota who work with juvenile detentions centers and with youth who are incarcerated and I just echo your prayer Child Advocate that the Lord would be with these people. That they would come to know You and that they would truly feel your presence dispite being in this isolated circumstance. And also, that if they’re able to, you know, be free from incarceration, that they can continue on a path in life where they can help others and let others know about You. I just pray this in Jesus name.

Hey DAB, this is Refined by the Fire in Ohio. I have two things on my heart this morning. I just wanted to call in and first is just to pray for people that the holidays and Christmas are not a joyous time, whether that’s we’ve lost somebody or we have painful memories from our past, it’s just not something that we necessarily look forward to. Lord, I pray that You would surround each individual with Your presence and Your peace that they would experience You in new way this season Lord. That would build a new category for what this season means to them and that it would begin to override and erase the pain and the hurt that they have carried with them Lord. And that the season would bring on a new meaning full of joy and hope that they have not experienced before. And, also just want to pray for the marriages. Lord, marriage is such a difficult institution in this world Lord. It is beautiful and difficult and Satan wants nothing more than to destroy it. So, I pray Lord, that we would now and always that we would view our spouse as You would view them. That You would help us to have a heart for them to be able to see the pain and the struggle that their having. And that we would use the love that You have given us and to overflow that to them as well Lord. And to try to protect it at all cost. Thanks guys, I love you all have a great day.

Micah 5:1-7:20, Revelation 7:1-17, Psalms 135:1-21, Proverbs 30:5-6

Today is the 16^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you today. And now we have crossed the center of the month. And, so, we are in the back half officially of the final month of the year. And we have some tremendous ground to cover yet in these next couple weeks that are left. And of course, Christmas is coming in that timeframe as well. And, so, it’s the most wonderful time of the year, but the most busy time of the year. So, let’s embrace it with joy and continue our journey forward. Our next step will bring us back into the book of Micah. We began the book of my kite yesterday and we talked about that then. We will conclude the book of Micah today before continuing our journey through the book of Revelation. So, we’re reading from the New International Version this week. Micah chapters 5 through 7 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, it’s no secret that Christmas is right around the corner and some of you have all your shopping done and everything is wrapped and under the tree and you’ve got it goin’ on. And some of you haven’t even started yet but what are gonna give God for Christmas this year? If you were gonna give God a gift for Christmas this year what would it be? What des He want? Let’s…let’s do a little gut check from Micah as we concluded Micah today. God had a couple questions in our reading today. “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.” It becomes a gut check when we personalize it. Instead of my people think of your own name – Tom, Mary, Jane, George, on and on we could go - what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. That’s a tough one, right? If we had to answer that question, we wouldn’t probably have all a lot to say. And yet when we’re not putting it in terms of a question back from God, we have plenty to complain about. And this was true in the time of Micah. And the Lord finally says, “what did I do to you? How am I burdening you? Answer me.” And then God begins to say what He has done. “I brought you out of Egypt. I redeemed you from slavery. I sent Moses to lead you. I gave you Aaron and Miriam. Remember, Balak the king of Moab and Balaam? I rescued you from that.” The Lord through Micah is just going down a list of how He is always preserved and rescued and cared for Israel. And they have consistently betrayed, rebelled, committed spiritual adultery, rejected, disobeyed. Like, you name it. And, so, finally the Lord is like, “what did I do to you? How am I a burden to you? I have like rescued you from everything. I have saved you. Answer me. What’d I do to you?” And Micah is getting the point. God hasn’t burdened his people. He hasn’t done anything to them but save them. And, so, in response, Micah begins to ponder what could we give to the Lord in response to this question that is so penetrating and flattens us. We have nothing we can say. What can we give to God in response to the way that He is expressing himself toward us, the way that our decisions and behaviors are making Him feel? How do we respond? And, so, I quote because Micah’s musing about that, “what shall I come before the Lord, and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come with burnt offerings, with year old calves? Will Lord be pleased if we give Him thousands of rams as a sacrifice? If we give Him rivers of olive oil will He…will He be satisfied? Is that what he wants? Should I give my firstborn for my sins? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Will that make Him happy? Of course, the answer to those questions is no. That’s now what would make Him happy. And then you realize there’s nothing, that He has done it all and I have been the complainer. I have abandoned the gifts. I have walked away in rebellion. I have run in the opposite direction away from the Lord like Jonah, which we just read a couple of days ago. There is nothing Lord that you have done to burden me. You have done nothing to me. And if I were to give you a thousand sacrifices or rivers of olive oil, if I were to do these things that wouldn’t make this okay. That wouldn’t balance the scales compared to what you’ve done for me. And it is here at this point that we find out what God wants. And I hope this will be branded on our hearts or etched into our souls like a tattoo that we cannot get away from, that we cannot stop remembering this because this is what God wants. And I quote from Micah. “He has shown you all mortal what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? What does he want from you? That you act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” We’re gonna do everything that we can that is within our power and within our…our budget to provide for those that we love the things that they want. It’s the season of giving gifts. And although the book of Micah is not about Christmas it does give us some insight into what God wants from us. And this is as good of a time as any to be very very vigilant and intentional about giving Him that. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.

Prayer:

Father we’re taking it heart. It is so…we…we already know this. We've…this is a famous passage of Scripture, but it’s becoming immediate, it’s becoming personal, it’s becoming important that we pay attention to this now Lord. We will not succeed in being just or loving mercy or walking humbly all of the time on our own. We will fail. But Your Holy Spirit is here to guide us. And we first become aware of that and then we ask Holy Spirit that You begin to help us retrain ourselves. If we’re gonna love justice and love mercy and walk humbly with You then we’re going to have to decide in advance that this is what we’re going to do because these things are not just reactions. They’re not the way we react. We react usually in anger, and any other number of emotions that are reactionary whereas to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God, that is an intentional decision about a way of life. And we confess, we have done these things well at times and have failed miserably at other times when this is supposed to be the normal way that we live. We want off this seesaw. We don’t want to be tossed to and fro as if we’re being thrown around by the waves of the ocean. And to get off that ride or that seesaw we have to become intentional about how we’re going to conduct ourselves, what our life is going to be shaped like. Instead of just letting it all happen to us we have to decide what we’re going to be and move in that direction. And Your Spirit is always there to guide us into all truth. And, so, we take this to heart and invite Your Holy Spirit to help us, to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with You, our God. And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is homebase, and that is where you find out what’s goin’ on here unless you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app. Then you can find out what’s going on within the app as well.

It’s been Christmas time. We are rounding the corner aren’t we. A week from tomorrow’s Christmas Eve. So, we’re…we’re right down to it and we’ve had a number of resources that have been available for Christmas time this year. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas box, Family Christmas, 2021. That has been available…it is available. And we will continue to ship them. Although it seems like we are very very near to shipping for Christmas arrival. But the Christmas box is still available as well as Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible, our coffee table addition that opens windows into some of the most significant places that happened in the Bible, some of the most significant things that have happened in humanity are captured in that book, and they open up little windows to allow us to visit. And, so, it is a beautiful thing to accompany the journey through the Bible. But its a beautiful thing, period. It’s a beautiful thing to have on the coffee table. So, that is available as well. Both of those things are available in the Christmas section of the Daily Audio Bible Shop, which can be accessed through the app or through the website. So, check those things out.

And, if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission that we have shared all year long to bring the spoken Scriptures to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night offered freely and read fresh daily and to build community around just showing up every day for the next step forward together. If that brings life into your life then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or there are a number of numbers that you can call. In the Americas 877-942-4253. If you are in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

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:

This is a message for Eyes of a Dove regarding Brayden. Your message really really touched me. This is John in Barcelona. And I’ve been in similar situations with a similar crisis so I can totally understand that and I’m definitely praying for Brayden and for you. And I’m just praying the Lord’s peace over your heart, that you just put this in His hands and for Brayden for the Lord to just come through, which He will. I know similar crisis and a Lord comes through. And…and a more practical vein, you know, you and I were rescued from the Kingdom of darkness by the Lord’s unconditional love. And it was a love and a truth that broke through a lot of lies. And…and, you know, it’s obvious that Brayden is being fed a lot of lies by the enemy about the worth of his life. And the Lord haha sees it totally differently. He loves him with an unconditional love. And, you know, He created Brayden in your womb with a purpose. And I can’t remember where I read it but I read recently that men and women struggling with this often have a strong calling evangelists. And the enemy wants to stop that at all costs. So, I just would counsel you to hug him, hold him, listen to him, show unconditional love. Just tell him I love you the way you are. Let’s work through this together with Jesus. So, peace be unto you and just know that you’re held and upheld in prayer. And so is Brayden…

Good morning folk at DAB world it’s Tim Brown here Tim Brown from North Yorkshire. You know I want to give a praise report this morning because this time last year I was in the process of getting __ but God…but God has brought around. This year has been and awesome year, a wonderful year. He has done so much. He has set us free from years and years of debt. He has set us free from depression. He’s brought us back from Scotland where we’d been for the last 20 years and brought us back to Yorkshire. And I just want to share a word that God gave us before we moved down. There’s a word that He gave us as a confirmation when we…when we came to come down to North Yorkshire. And the word is this. I the Lord your God have called you and placed in your heart this calling. I called you to this land many years ago and you spent a season in the wilderness feeling like you’re going around in circles with no purpose. But I say to you, my child now is the time. I’m calling you forth out of the wilderness out from the bondage of debt and depression and into a life of joy and purpose. You can see the giants and I see those giants too says the Lord. Go, for I’m giving you the victory. I’m giving you the land as I have prepared the way. Be bold. Be brave. Look not to the left not to the right. Listen not to those who mean well but hear My voice. Seek My face and follow Me. Allow Me to guide you into your calling and your destiny. And, oh boy, has He done that this year. He has so done that. So, if you find yourself in a place where it feels like there’s no hope, no future do you know what? God is for you. God has prepared a way. Go…

Lord Jesus I lift up a prayer for your son, your son Brandon. Jesus, with the news I’ve just heard makes me feel downcast. A 15-year-old boy Lord struggling with homosexuality ideals and to live a life that is right now between sinning against you in that finding pleasure and then living with you finding joy. Jesus, I lift up your son Brandon to you Jesus. I don’t have the right words to say but I just lay kneeing down to you face to the ground God. Please, please, please God I want to see Your way. And I just pray that You would be with Brandon spirit, that You would strengthen him and that he might come to terms with himself and with You. Jesus heal that relationship. We thank you for his mom and all she’s doing on this DAB and I pray that she would continue to bless and that You would continue to bless so that she might continue to bless Brandon. Thank you, God for the family style. I love You and I just pray Your will be done in Jesus’ name, mighty name. This is People on the Water from Indiana.

I listen to the Daily Audio Bible every day. My name is Jowan. I don’t really call in, but I want to let you guys know that I’m praying for you guys every day. I listen to the prayers every single day and I’m praying for you guys. I was wondering if you guys could pray for me for my relationship with God and that the Holy Spirit will walk through my life. And also I’m dealing with a very very serious court case right now and I ask that you let the judge and the DA soften their hearts toward me. The situation is very complicated, but I thank you so much for your prayers and for this…

Hi Daily Audio Bible family members I’m just calling. I don’t remember if it was…I think it was a week before last…today is December 11^th and I think it was the week before last. A woman called in and I think maybe she was from Canada and maybe her name was Susan. I’m not sure. I might have that all wrong but the main thing is what she called about. And she talked about the very end of the podcast where there’s music that plays and it’s just quiet. It’s usually about a minute or maybe 2, not very often is it two though. It’s usually about a minute and I always get to that part and like she says she used to do and they just hit that little arrow it’s like de de de de de, kind of hurry that time up so that I can just go ahead and close out that part on my phone. And I’ve done my…my…I don’t hurry through my reading. Of course, I can’t hurry through it but I don’t linger at the end. Once, you know everyone has finished with their prayer requests and praise reports then I consider this over until I heard her say that that’s when she really felt God and was quiet and enjoyed that last minute. So, I’ve started doing that and I want to thank you and tell you that it just made my evening. I do my Bible in the evenings. And I play I close my eyes and I feel like that I’m a little infant in the arms of Jesus. And I just…I just totally let everything go out of my mind. I don’t pray. I don't…I don't…I try to make my mind just blank, just wipe it slate clean. And I just lie here…I do it while I’m in bed when I listen to my Daily Audio Bible. Sorry, I’m trying to talk. But I just lie there and feel like He’s holding me as an infant and I…

Micah 1:1-4:13, Revelation 6:1-17, Psalm 134:1-3, Proverbs 30:1-4

Today is the 15th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it’s, like always, a joy to be here around the Global Campfire together with you as we move forward to take the next step into and through the Scriptures. And in the Old Testament we have been moving rapidly through some of the shorter books in the Bible, known as the minor prophets, which we’ll continue to do today and just by way of reminder the minor prophets aren’t because they’re less important it’s because there shorter. And so, on the number of days now, we have read books in their entirety in one, in one day.

Introduction to the Book of Micah:

Today we will be capping out for two days in our next book in the Old Testament and it is known as the book of Micah and this is the sixth of the 12 minor prophets and there is very little known about who Micah was, outside of the book but the book gives plenty of clues for scholarship to be done. Micah, the name Micah, means who is like God and we’re told in the book that he’s from the town of Moresheth which can be somewhat confusing but many scholars associate Moresheth with Moresheth-Gat and this would place Micah in the low lands,  what’s known as the Shefalah, the low lands in the southern kingdom of Judah, which would be southwest of the city of Jerusalem, so that gives us a sense of location. The book tells us that God gave Micah the message during the years that Jothem, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah and that the visions that God gave him concern both Samaria and Jerusalem. And that gives us a lot of clues. Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, Jerusalem was the capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah. So, we know that what Micah is prophesying is to the entire people that came out of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites, even though they have separated themselves and their allegiances into two different kingdoms or two different countries, nations. Because the names of the kings are mentioned that would date Micah somewhere in the early decades of the eighth century BC and there’s another clue that is outside of the book of Micah because Micah is mentioned in the prophecy of Jeremiah and Jeremiah would be like a century later than Micah and so if Jeremiah is mentioning Micah a hundred years later than the prophecies of Micah were preserved and carried forward and held in high regard. And so, we know that Micah, as a prophet, had some authority as he spoke and had some trusted credibility. The prophecies in Micah aren’t unlike other prophetic messages that we have heard as we’ve been moving through the major and minor prophets, right. The prophecies often start with words of caution and then judgment, followed by words of hope and restoration, that is true of Micah. It’s just that this happens three times in a short amount of time because Micah is not that long. So, this kind of three times judgment and restoration pattern has been noticed and it seems like this is an intentional thing about the book of Micah and within the book of Micah we see promises of a coming deliverer, a Messiah, an expected anointed one. This would be one of the passages than that are referenced in the New Testament to reveal to the readers in the first century, about Jesus that this was expected which is one of the main things about the early church among the Jewish population. This was expected, this was supposed to happen, we were waiting for this to happen. That resonated with many people, of course, many people rejected that because the Messiah doesn’t get crucified, the Messiah takes over at least in their way of thinking and we spent plenty of time talking about that through the journey that we’ve been on, but Micah is quoted in Matthew referencing Jesus but…but you O Bethlehem are only a small village among all the people of Judah, yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past will come from you on my behalf, and even Jesus himself during his ministry quoted from Micah when he said don’t think that I came to bring peace on the earth, I came to bring a sword. So, that tells us Jesus of course knew of the writings of Micah, understood them, quoted them during his ministry and we’ll see what God is displeased with as he speaks through Micah is the corruption and idolatry and rebellion and those who exploit the less fortunate, which brings social justice back into the mix, which was one of the major themes of the book of Obadiah which we read just a few days ago. And it’s not as if we had never heard that God is displeased with this kind of activity but this is one more iteration where he is displeased with this activity because it leads to destruction but because of the re-repeated pattern of hope and restoration following judgment we see that God hates the corruption but he’s very passionate about the restoration for those who keep his covenant. And so, with that we begin our journey through the book of Micah. We’re reading from the New International Version this week, Micah chapter 1 through chapter 4 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. Thank You for another day as we continue step-by-step day by day forward, and we thank You for bringing us into the book of Micah and once again through the prophets, we see that the crossroads is before us always and it’s basically that we can choose life or death. We can choose destruction or redemption and so often the words come to warn us, You’re going in a direction that will lead You to destruction, come back, return, repent, don’t go that way and we see this pattern repeated over and over, over many generations in the Bible. We see that this is a common and constant message that You kept before Your people and we take to heart the fact that this has been given to us as a tangible gift in the Bible. And so, we too are continually reminded and warned and when our spirit bears witness to the fact that we are going in the wrong direction, we know that, we just don’t always count the cost and understand that this leads to destruction, and that we can turn around and go in a different direction and so we’re praying for that, Holy Spirit that You would convict, that You would make us aware, that we would pay attention to You, we would see the regions and portions of our heart and lives that are not gonna work, that are leading us down a path that is only going to hurt us, help us to see this so that we don’t have to experience it, so that we can heed Your counsel and retreat and return to You, we ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that is the website and it is indeed. Let us stay connected and find out what’s going on around here and it’s Christmas time obviously. 10 days, we are 10 days out, 10 days from today is Christmas day and so it is very nearly upon us and those 10 days, those are some of the busiest days of the year, sometimes, maybe most of the time. So, we’re…we’re in it, and thankfully we have this rhythm together that keeps us grounded and rooted. We also have a number of resources that are available for this gift giving season. The Daily Audio Bible Christmas box for 2021. We are pretty well outside the ability to ship those internationally for Christmas arrival and we’re very near that for domestic shipping as well. But we will ship them as long as we have them and so the Daily Audio Bible Christmas box is available. Go to dailyaudiobible.com or in the app, push the drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner you’ll find the Daily Audio Bible Shop at either one of those places and there is a Christmas category and in the Christmas category you’ll find the Christmas box as well as Promised Land, Photographs from the Land of the Bible, our brand-new photography resource, a beautiful coffee table or an end table book that when it’s cracked open, opens windows into the places where the Bible happened for these stories that we’ve immersed ourselves in actually happened. So, that is available, so check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission that we have shared to bring the spoken Scriptures read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who will listen to them, if that has been life-giving and meaningful to you then thank you for being life-giving. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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 family this is Hope in Nebraska. And I just felt lend to call and and just share with you, you know, God of Hope. How mighty, how mighty God is. You know, I became a believer when I was a teenager. You know, I grew up in a house believing in perfectionism. You know, being in the church and I just felt like having to do everything a certain way. And mental illness took a grip of me, I battled that for many years and had strayed away from God. But he never left, he never does, he just always there. And I just, in many ways, you know, He had been working on me to bring me back and I had just woke up one morning and didn’t want to die without seeing the face of God without having his arms around me. Without feeling his love and to know that ….

Hi, this is Jon Rising in Michigan. And this prayer goes to Eyes of a Dove for your son, I’m just broken to hear that he is going through this struggle. I rebuke any evil that comes against him and is tormenting him. Satan is just wreaking havoc in our kids and schools and I just rebuke all of that. So, I ask protection around your son. I stand in agreement with you on this prayer and I will be praying for your son as well. Take care and know that you’re being lifted up and people are standing in the gap for you and praying and holding your family up.

Dear Jesus, I lift up to you Braden. I ask speak prayers of life over his body. He is a son of a one true God, the bride of Christ. He is wanted and not rejected. He is loved and not hated. Satan, you have no authority over Braden’s life in Jesus name. I plea the blood of Jesus over his life. I speak against the spirit of suicide. Flee back to the pit of hell where you belong. Braden, you were created for purpose, you were bought for, with a price and your name has been written in the book of life. You will live and not die. We, your brothers and sisters in Christ, love you so much. In Jesus name. Amen.  

Good morning, everyone, it’s Susan from Canada, God’s Yellow Flower calling and I want to lift up Eyes of a Dove today. Dear Sweetheart, you have so much going on right now, it’s unbelievable. And my prayer for you is that God, you will clearly see God’s plan as you fast and pray, I know it’s so hard to fast with a house full of people but I pray that God will strengthen you and walk alongside you and give you insight and give you courage to face each and every day, and that His name be praised through all this that’s going on in your life. Trust in him my Lord, sorry trust in Him my sweety and He will direct your path. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Hi DAB family just want to call in and ask for prayer for all those out there who are struggling during this holiday season. I know it’s so difficult for so many people while others find so much joy in this season and so it’s hard. I have a nephew, a daughter-in-law, an employee, a brother-in-law, so many people I personally know that just really struggle during this time and I just ask the DAB family to lift these people up. I know you, so many of you probably already are because that’s what we are is prayer warriors. I just ask that these things drive people into the arms of Jesus where they can find that peace that is available. Thank you. This is Child of God.

Jonah 1:1-4:11, Revelation 5:1-14, Psalms 133:1-3, Proverbs 29:26-27

Today is the 14^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it’s awesome to be here with you today around the Global Campfire that is burning hot and warming us and giving a nice firelight glow onto each of our faces as we warm ourselves together and come into our oasis, our place of peace for the day where we let everything else go. It’s all there. It will still be there in a few minutes. But we need this time to exhale and give ourselves permission to just relax and allow the word of God to wash over us and inform our day and the next choices and conversations that we need to have. So, it is lovely to be here with you today around the Global Campfire. And as we take this next step forward, we are encountering yet another one of the minor prophets. We will read it in its entirety today and it is a super famous story that we probably have all heard before. Maybe we didn’t know it was book of the Bible. But if you’ve ever heard the story of Jonah and the whale then that is the territory we are heading into as we read in its entirety….

Introduction to the book of Jonah:

…the book of Jonah, which is a supremely interesting story in and of itself, but a very very immediate story when we apply it to our lives. Jonah was a prophet and he lived in the northern kingdom of Israel. We remember the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Jonah was in the northern kingdom just…just west of the southern part of the Sea of Galilee is where he…he came from, and he lived during the reign of King Jeroboam the second. Where things start to shift as far as the story goes that most of the prophets that we read of in the Bible were called to their own people and they were called with a message from God that was ultimately a message of repentance - return come back, repent, change your mind, turn around, come home. Jonah was a prophet, but he…he was not invited by God to speak a message similar to that to his own people. He was asked to go to the city…the city of Nineveh. And Nineveh is like one of the largest cities at that time. So, we think of Mexico City or New York City or Los Angeles or Sydney or London or any of the large metropolitan areas in the world. So, this is a small-town man, a prophet, but a small town person who’s invited to a major city with a message for the whole city and it so happens that those people are not friends of Israel. They are the enemies of Israel. Therefore, they are considered the enemies of God. Why is God telling this small-town Galilean prophet to go to a major metropolitan area that is an enemy of Israel and an enemy of God to tell them to repent and return to the Lord? He does not want to do it. What if God has mercy upon His own enemies? What if He has mercy if they do repent and He has mercy upon Israel’s enemies? What’s it gonna look like when he gets back home? And…it's…it’s not like he had a little hike through the mountains to get to the nearby village. He had to go a thousand miles and there are no airplanes or cars. The ruins of Nineveh still exist today. They’re near the city of Mosul in Iraq and a lot of the ruins of Nineveh have been destroyed during kind of the reign of ISIS in that territory. So, Jo…Jo…Jonah does not want to do this and he decides he’s not going to do this. And, so, he actually goes in the opposite direction. He goes toward the Mediterranean Sea to catch a ship. He’s literally going in the opposite direction of where God has told him to go. He’s running from God in the opposite direction. And we know how the story goes. We will read the whole story in just a second. He ends up in a fish. He ends up alive. He ends up obeying. And we’ll see that all play out. But we might just need to consider this even before we read Jonah so that as we read Jonah we can apply this to our lives. There are times in our lives where we feel as if the Lord is instructing us to move in a certain direction for a certain purpose or to behave in a certain way or to say certain things, to take on a certain posture that we don’t want to do. And sometimes He wants us to be loving to our enemies. Imagine that since it’s commanded over and over and over throughout the Scriptures. Sometimes He actually asks us to do that. And for all kinds of reasons, we decide He didn’t say that or for all kinds of reasons we decide we can’t do that or for other reasons we decide we’re not going to do that. And then we find ourselves on the run going in the opposite direction. And I don’t know. I can’t speak for everyone. I can speak from my own life. If I have ever found myself in that position, running in the opposite direction from what I truly believe supposed to do it feels like life begins to swallow me alive. And it usually isn’t until I cry out to God for mercy and repentance that that…that that ever really lets up. Maybe that’s just me. I doubt it. But maybe that’s just me. So, I can really relate in different seasons of my life as I look back to the story of Jonah. We probably all can. And, so, with that in mind, we’re reading from the New International Version this week and we will read the four chapters of the book of Jonah in their entirety today.

Prayer:

Father we thank you for your word. We thank you for the book of Jonah. Again, a story, an entire book that we were able to read in one sitting and apply it to our lives. And we confess Lord, we have run in the opposite direction on many occasions in many different kinds of ways and we have borne what that…that brings. We have reaped what we have sown. And in the end as we move through Jonah. We find you have pity and compassion regardless of our prejudices against people that we consider our enemies. You love them and that is stark because it’s easy for us to think that you love us and that you put up with us and that you can handle our sin and those that we love. They’re all in, but once we get further and further…further out to people who maybe don’t believe the way we that we do or don’t function or live in the same kind of culture that we do it’s so easy for us to treat them as our enemies, especially if they’re treating us as their enemies. And yet we read the book of Jonah and we see clearly a posture that emerges from the Scripture that is not the same. And, so, Holy Spirit come as we consider our own thoughts, words and deeds, the things that we do, the things that we leave undone. Help us to remember this is not about our rights and this is not about our wrongs. This is about us, humbling ourselves under your sovereignty and working in collaboration with you in this world. Holy Spirit help us to understand that this is the way to peace, this is the way to actual life, this is a way to be true. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that is and always has been home base its where you find out what’s going on around here. If you’re using the app you can find out what’s going on around here as well.

And it’s been Christmas time. It’s Christmastime everywhere. And, so, there are a number of resources that…that are for Christmas like the Daily Audio Bible Christmas box 2021. That is available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop in the Christmas section.

The brand-new Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible. That’s also available in the Christmas section.

And the Christmas music that we have produced over the years for your listening pleasure, wherever it is that you get music, wherever you download music into your device or stream music on your device. You can find…well the new Christmas album for this year called Christmas Time. That’s by Maxwell Hardin. We also have Family Christmas and you can find that by searching for my name Brian Hardin. And then O holy night, the single that we released last year with Jill. You can find that by looking for Jill Parr. So, add those to your streaming or listening festivities, your background, your atmosphere for the holidays. They are made for the community here for just that. So, check those things out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. And I thank you. If what we’re doing here, showing up every day taken the next step forward together, immersing ourselves in the rhythm of the Bible each year, if that has been life-giving to you then thank you, thank you humbly for your partnership. So, there’s a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If using you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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:

Hello good morning family this is Hope in Nebraska and I just want to thank you guys so much for your prayers. Been listening to all of your encouragements. I just want to say, you know, it’s just amazing how God puts people in your path, you know, when you're…you’re struggling, you’re having a hard moment, hard time. And there was a woman today, she…she approached me with such kindness, and I was just, you know, almost in tears, you know, it was so beautiful. And I just wanna say I pray that for all of you, that the Lord will put somebody in your path that will show you some kindness. And I hope you guys all have a great day. And I love you all.

Greetings Daily Audio Bible family I’ve called in a few times and posted on the Prayer Wall about being a caregiver for my mom with dementia and transitioning her into a memory care facility. Today is December 9^th and I moved my mom in earlier this week over the course of Sunday and Monday. And after giving her just a few days to get acclimated and adjusted in the new place I went and visited her to spend some time with her today. And I’m calling in with a bit of a praise report. You know, despite how hard a decision this is and, you know, how sad I’ve been, you know, not having my mom at home with me and, you know, even despite some of her confusion about what was going on during her move I’m happy to share that she seems happy. She’s still a little confused about why she’s there but I feel really comfortable with the caregivers at the facility. When I went to see her today she was very happy and chipper and telling me stories about friends that she met, how she’s been playing the piano for her, you know, neighbors in the building and just meeting people. And, so, it just made things a lot lighter for me. I’m still, you know, missing her very much and, you know, still, you know, obviously just worried and want her to be happy but I’m going to see her today and seeing her, you know, not afraid and not sad and, you know, not confining herself to her apartment just really made me feel that much better about the decision. So, I think…

Good morning DAB family today is December 8^th 2021. Family I had craniotomy surgery February 27^th 2018 to remove a brain tumor that had swollen and caused my brain to swell and damaged my optic nerve. And you guys, that being said we have not put a Christmas tree up since then. We haven’t put a Christmas tree up since 2017. And you guys, I was just in a deep depression. I was like why should I put a tree up if I can’t see it because I have boys and they…they wouldn’t, you know, they wouldn’t appreciate it like I did…they wouldn’t have wanted perfect like I would want it. And I was just depressed because I couldn’t __ bit. But as the time go by you guys, I’m thankful for what I do have. I’m thankful for the __ who has never left my side. I’m thankful for the family who have, the family and friends who have left me because God was just making room for my new family, which is my DAB family. That being said, you guys, we put our Christmas tree up last night and it is beautiful and I’m so thankful. Thank you to Brian and Jill for this podcast. Thank you for everybody who continues to pray for each other. And I hope everybody have a Merry Christmas. I love you guys.

Hello this is Donna northern…His Northern California Warrior Princess and calling for a praise report. A…months ago…over the summer I called in with some prayer requests about a…business dealings that were going on that were really really negative and I needed courage. And I wanted to thank you my prayer warriors because I was able to send in the legal paperwork that was needed and now it’s just going through the process. So, continue please, I…for prayers of covering, that really the people that are involved in this lack of integrity and unethical business dealings need God, need please to be saved. So, I’m praying for that. At the same time, I also, if they’re not willing to do that is just, you know, just that they’re…this be used in a way that helps them get to that place or that shows them that get’s to that place that tears down ego and pride. And I pray, pray, pray that I stay steadfast during this process. Most importantly though I was convicted. Hearing Brian’s message at the beginning here where it says well done you don’t have to carry everything by yourself. I’ve been listening for six years, and I was journaling yesterday, and the Lord just really cleared…clarified for me that problems are never too small, that He cares about every single solitary hair on my head. But I grew up in a household where they said don’t tell anyone your secrets and there’s a lot of shame and pride and ego from that upbringing. And, so, I thank you Brian, I thank you all of my family here on DAB and listening every day as I’m __ self. I’m literally…

__ again. I’ve called in once before. My name is Crystal. I’m from Texas and I’m just asking for prayers for…for myself and my family. Anybody out there. I’ve been standing for my marriage for a couple years now. My husband for restoration of my husband soul, that he would turn back to God and away from his sinful lifestyle, that a restoration for our marriage and a love from God and for unity in my family we have in our children, that they would be restored and healed as well. Holidays are always difficult for us all as a family when he comes around. And I pray that God would give me the glory and the…and the joy to include everybody and that we would enjoy this holiday season and just focus on…on Jesus. And I…I just pray for a miracle turn around and…and love God. I’m so thankful. Even through my own trials and pain, I’m thankful for His love and I know that He’s with me and God is in control. Thank you guys. And I love listening to everybody. And I thank you for all your prayers.

Obadiah 1:1-21, Revelation 4:1-11, Psalm 132:1-18, Proverbs 29:24-25

Today is the 13th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today as we continue the journey forward.

Introduction to the Book of Obadiah:

We have a brand-new book that we are encountering today in the Old Testament another of the grouping known as the minor prophets. This book is known as Obadiah and it is the shortest book in the Old Testament. So, we will read the entire book of Obadiah today and it’s probably hard to notice that we aren’t moving rapidly because we’re moving through shorter passages of Scripture. So, it’s easy enough because we’re doing this all-in-one day to just, ah, just kind of glance across it, just glaze over it, because we can get in the mindset, these are just ancient prophecies there…there things that were important, there things that God did, there things we should pay attention to but they happened a long time ago. And that would be true about Obadiah, but the theme, what’s being talked about in Obadiah is very current, very relevant to us today and also gives us a chance to, look back at some of the territory that we will remember moving through earlier in the year. So, the book is called Obadiah. Obadiah identifies himself as the author of this work but nobody knows hardly anything about who Obadiah was, his name means servant of Yahweh, but it seems that Obadiah wasn’t an uncommon name and so trying to date this prophecy has its challenges. Most scholars, kind of come to the conclusion that Obadiah was a prophet and probably contemporary with Jeremiah and that he’s prophesying using the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians as his context and if that is a…a correct assumption, then that would date Obadiah to the late 500s BC when Babylon did conquer Judah and destroyed Jerusalem. That is some territory that we have been looking at for a while now and so we’re…we’re fairly familiar with the exiles and the Assyrian and Babylonian conquests. But what Obadiah is dealing with is much, much longer running problem, a much deeper issue, actually, it’s a family issue. And there’s only 21 versus and Obadiah and so he gets right to the point because Obadiah is essentially a prophecy against the Edomites. And so, let’s remember our journey, let’s go back to Genesis, let’s remember the people, Jacob and Esau, the brother’s. Remember Jacob steals the birthright. Jacob steals the blessing and has to flee from Esau and they are reunited decades later, and in the process, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and that’s how his children became to be known as the children of Israel. But Esau also had descendants and they also prospered and flourished and they became known as the Edomites. So, we have the descendants of the two brothers, family. And as we know eventually the children of Israel ended up in slavery in Egypt and then God freed them from their slavery in Egypt through the plagues and then they began to wander around waiting for God to send them into the promised land, the land that had been promised so long ago. And so, they had to move around in the wilderness, but at times tried to navigate around other nations and many times the nations would not allow them to pass, even though they’re like we will stay on the road, we will pay for the water, we will pay for anything, we just we only need to get through we don’t have any plans. Well, the Edomites were one of those nations, their brothers and the Edomites would not let their relatives pass through their land as they went on toward their own land. And there are other points when Israel is in the promised land, but they’re being attacked and they’re at war and the Edomites would not come to the rescue of their brothers. They stood by and allowed them to be attacked, passively. But they weren’t always just passive. The Edomites, brothers to the children of Israel were…were willing to pillage their own family while they were suffering. And so, we’ll see that Obadiah is prophesying the destruction of Edom. Where this becomes really immediate to us is that as believers in Jesus, as Christians we believe we have been redeemed through Jesus and that redemption, of no merit of our own, has made us children of God. And so, all of us who have been accepted into the family of God, we are family. We are brothers and sisters and it…it’s part of our church history that this has been going on all along, but it is very evident today. It’s very easy because of technology to see the family at war with itself, to be violent toward each other with our words. And often enough, we see this stuff going on and people being hurt and we stand by silently, just let it happen. Just bear witness to it or we might pillage or we might even cross our arms and shake our heads at the people who are suffering and say they’re getting God’s judgment, they’re getting what they deserve, as if we would now and as if we would have any say what so ever. The way that this plays out in the Bible, especially in this book that we are about to read is that God rejects that posture and hates that posture enough to send a prophet to tell the Edomites that they’re gonna fall apart. God takes no pleasure at all in that kind of behavior, that should be a little bit of an “ouch” and an opportunity for reflection and repentance. So, let’s read together in its entirety Obadiah.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for what we encountered today in the book of Obadiah and the things that it causes us to consider because we remember those stories as we went through them earlier in the year, the Edomites. Now, as we approach the end of the year, we see in Obadiah how you feel about family, on family hatred and we confess because it’s obvious we are still dealing with some of these issues. So, we invite Your Holy Spirit into our space, into our hearts, where is this lingering in us. Because this is where the change begins when we take ownership and responsibility for ourselves and our own actions. And as we approach the holidays we need this message, we need to remember this and so Holy Spirit would You plant this in the soil of our lives that it can linger, that we can continue to meditate upon it through the remainder of this year. And we thank You for what we read today in Revelation and so this is what our prayer is, this is what we say as we conclude today Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. There is none like You God, which is a silly understatement to say the least. But there is none like You and that You have grafted us into Your family and adopted us as children. What do we say besides Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come? We worship You. We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is home base and it’s Christmas time around here. So, everything is Christmas around here like everywhere. I can’t, it's…it’s next week so we have come to sort of the end of when we can ship, we will ship as long as we have resources available to ship but we are kind of past the deadline for any kind of international arrival. Although we will certainly ship all the resources your way. Domestically, I would say we’re right there. So, if you want to check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop and check out the Christmas section, find the Christmas box for 2021 there, Promised Land, Photographs from the Land of the Bible there, as well as any other resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Check those out. Some of them make for really unique and well-timed Christmas gifts. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174. And thank you, thank you, humbly. If what we’ve been doing all year to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and given to whoever will listen to it, if that has been life-giving to you and as we approach the end of the year, thank you for being life-giving to it.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

I’ll call myself WWW that’s Western Wyoming Warrior. I’ve been listening for about the last four years, off and on. And until about October it’s been steady. All the trauma and tragedy I’ve heard, it’s so sad. There’s also the triumphs, praise our Blessed Father in heaven. I just praise Him. I just came from the doctor yesterday with the devastating news that my injury from my break in my hand is not healing. The bone is said to look like Swiss cheese and it’s very painful. I’m gonna have to have major surgery but it’s gonna take a year of recovery. And I just can’t afford to that I live by myself and don’t have the insurance that I need. I’m a medical assistant and mainly a phlebotomist and I really need my hand. And I’m just asking for God’s favor. God’s will be done. I praise my God in heaven for an answer and a head of this request. And I just pray for healing. Thank you all DABers for your prayers and I praise God for all you out there, I pray for you every day. Blessings everyone.

Hello DAB family, this is Cassie from Arizona. I’d like to request prayers for myself and my household, also as well as my best-friends household. Shealynn and Vinnie, her husband has a pre-existing condition and we’ve all come down with COVID19. If you guys could just pray for us that we all make it through this okay. And we get through this together. I thank you and I love you all. Thank you for your prayers.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is New Eyes in Tennessee and I have really continued to enjoy you all calling in and lifting each other up. And so today, I have a prayer request that I would ask that you would lift me and my family up. My daughters are struggling and they have been believing lies and my husband and I are desperately trying to just affirm them, love them in the love that Jesus. We are walking in the truth no matter what our daughters believes as teenagers, about themselves or about the world or about us, even as their parents. We are believing Jesus and the Bible and the truth that it speaks. And we are just asking for wisdom, I could really use wisdom. I feel like, I have said a lot of things that I regret and I’ve confessed to the Lord and I believe that He is able to redeem, even the things that I’ve said that I regret but I would ask that you guys would lift up our family and speak against the lies of the enemy that confuse and entangle our young people and that we would have peace in our home. And that God would be glorified and that my children will be made whole. Thank you, guys. I love you.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family I want to just come in, this is Willa. I just want to come in and thank God’s Chosen for her prayer. I heard her prayer this morning, it’s Thursday, December the 9th. And I want to thank you for praying for all of us intercessors and I praise God that you were obedient in saying your prayer. And I ask God, in the name of Jesus, to continue to bless you and to continue to give you those things that you need and encouraging you along your journey. And for those who I have not prayed for on the line, I whisper Daily Audio Bible on a daily basis. And Brian I want to thank you and your family for your faithfulness and I have thoroughly enjoyed all the Christmas music from your son and from your wife and I just thank you for continually being faithful to what God is telling you to do because it is very encouraging and this is Willa from Marietta signing off, have a great day everyone.  

Good morning DAB family this is Paula, the Child Advocate from the LA area calling. I’m calling in today specifically to pray for those who are incarcerated. Last weekend my husband and I took a trip to Colorado to a small town and every day on our way to the place that we stayed we passed a correctional facility, it was a regional correctional facility. And it just broke my heart to see all that barb wire and the towers. And then on our way to church, on Saturday, we went through another town called Florence and we passed a federal penitentiary. We came to find out that there are seven prisons in this small region. And seeing all that barbed wire and the towers and all the walls it made me so sad for all the inmates. They were not able to go to the Christmas tree lighting that we went to in this small town, they weren’t able to see the Christmas parade with the fire engines and the bands and the cement trucks and I just really had an impact on me and so I wanna pray that Lord Jesus, please come to those who are incarcerated. Please send someone to them to bring in the light of Christ. Please send someone to bring the joy of the Christmas season to them and please Lord help them come to you so that when they’re released, they could start a new life in you. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Thank you DAB family, I love you all, I listen every day, I’m a long-time listener and I’m gonna keep listening into 2022. Love to all, bye for now.