A Walk Through The Word

Isaiah 57:15-59:21, Philippians 1:1-26, Psalms 71:1-24, Proverbs 24:9-10

Today is the 29^th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather and take the next step forward together, which is what we do every day. And what a beautiful rhythm it is. We can always look forward to being back together the next day. And, so, we’ve been working our way through the book of Isaiah. We still have a little ways to go. We’re most of the way through, but a little ways to go. And, so, we will continue that journey. We’ve been reading from the Good News Translation this week, which is what we’ll continue to do this week. So, today Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15 through 59 verse 21.

Introduction to Philippians:

Okay. So, yesterday we concluded in our New Testament reading the letter to the Ephesians and we did a little reflection, looking back at what Ephesians was telling us in these grand views of the gospel, these grand views of what it…what the implications are to our own lives. And, so, now as we continue our journey through the New Testament today, we’re opening the letter to the Philippians, another of Paul’s letters. And as I have mentioned before, there’s like not very many things in the Scriptures that haven’t been debated by scholars along the way over thousands of years. And this touches the letters of Paul as well, whether all of them were actually written by Paul or some of them maybe have…may have been written later in Paul’s name. But following along with what Paul taught and for all of the tools that are available to the historian or the linguist or the textual critic or theologian so many things boil down to the best scholarly assumption that can be made and what can and cannot said. But there are letters of Paul that are…that have consensus generally and are undisputed and Philippians is one of them. And when I say disputed, I don’t mean like disputed like it belongs in the Bible or that it speaks truth. I’m talking about when, where, how, who. Some of these things we don’t know for sure. What we do have is the gift of the Scriptures to inform and transform our lives and the apostle Paul has certainly helped shape the way we look at our faith. But when it comes to the letter to the Philippians, we believe Paul authored this letter. We believe Paul was incarcerated in prison in Rome when he wrote it. We believe it is one of the earliest Christian documents that have been preserved. For example, the letter to the Philippians would’ve been written before the Gospels or the book of Acts. So, it’s a very early Christian document. We know that Philippi where this letter was written to the Philippians in Philippi were in the Roman Empire. It was a Roman colony in the region of Macedonia which is now today northern Greece. Philippi was a prosperous city in the Roman Empire but the church in Philippi wasn’t wealthy. They were rich in other ways, though - rich in love, rich in their concern for Paul. And Paul acknowledges and expresses gratitude for this. The brothers and sisters in the congregation in Philippi knew that Paul was in prison, and they sent one of their members named Epaphroditus all the way to Rome to find out how Paul was getting along and how he was doing and to bring resources, to bring a gift from the congregation to encourage him. And it did. Paul was overjoyed and Epaphroditus stayed a long-time serving Paul while he was under arrest. And while he was with Paul, he became deathly ill, nearly died, but God did restore them back to health. And, so, Paul was determined to send Epaphroditus back to Philippi carrying this letter, which is a personal greeting and shares of his personal circumstances. But the letter isn’t just like, hey thanks for sending Epaphroditus. He almost died, but God restored him to health. Thank you for the gift. I love you guys. Hope to see you soon. Love Paul. Like he has more going on here. Paul speaks of the joy of our salvation in the letter to the Philippians. And if we’ve been in a dry season or just trying to find our joy again, we can drink deeply from Paul’s letter knowing that he’s writing this while he is awaiting a life and death sentence. And, so, knowing that, famous passages that are found in Philippians like, “we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” can have a deeper meaning. The world has been a crazy place all along. We see some crazy times in the Bible. And, so, we can look at our world and go it’s never been more crazy than this, but it’s been crazy all along. And, so, we…we live in times of uncertainty at all times and Philippians helps us to rejoice in what is certain, and where true hope and where true joy can be found, which is in Christ alone. And, so, we begin. Philippians chapter 1 verses 1 through 26 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for this brand-new territory that we are moving into, the letter to the Philippians. And we confess Lord, there are dry seasons where we can’t seem to remember where we laid our joy down. And, so, we’re having a hard time retracing our steps to find where we lost it. May this letter compel us to rejoice in the joy of our salvation. We love You. We cling to You. You alone are God. You are the only one who can rescue us. You are the only one that knows the way to life. And, so, Holy Spirit come and lead us, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com. That is home base, it is where you find out what’s going on around here. Alternatively, the Daily Audio Bible app puts that in the palm of your hand. And you can download the app free from whatever app store is connected to your device. So, check that out.

And as I say often, check out the different sections. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Check out the Community section. Get connected in any way that you can or in any way that you want to.

And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well or in the app by pushing the give button in the upper right-hand corner. So, if the mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to whoever may encounter it wherever they may be whatever time of day or night it may be, and to build community around this rhythm of showing up around the Global Campfire every day, if that is life and good news to you then thank you for your partnership. Like I said, there is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app you can press to 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 and you can hit that Hotline button from wherever you may be in the world or there are a number of numbers that you can dial if you want to be old-school and dial in on the phone. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. In the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call. 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 Saved by His Grace and happy valley and I’m listening to today’s podcast and a woman has just called in named My Heart Belongs to Jesus and I have to say of all the people who call in your name fits you perfectly because of your wonderful prayer for your husband’s uncle who sounds like a person who is beyond redemption. He’s hurt people all of his life including your own daughter and yet you are concerned that he’s been injured and is dying and doesn’t know Christ and you want him to know Christ. You definitely are a part of the body of Christ my friend and I will join you in prayer for your husband’s uncle and for all of those whose lives he has harmed and for your husband’s family. Your heart for them and your concern for their eternal lives humbles me when I have trouble forgiving others. Thank you for your call. May God bless you richly and I will join you in prayer. God bless you. Bye.

Hey this is Jane Truth from Nebraska and I wanted to share something with you. Back when I was at Rivercrest Bible Camp in Fremont NE I had a counselor at camp and I went there from when I was like 9 years old until, I don’t know, somewhere into my teen years and one of the counselors had sat down with each one of us girls that were in her cabin and had given us a life verse. And she gave me the verse John 16:13. But when He the spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own. He will speak only what He hears end He will tell you what is yet to come. Now an interesting thing that has happened since I realize how important that verse was in my life is that I’ve been realizing that since I’ve been at the Daily Audio Bible that I have the mind of Christ. Now I did a lot of drugs, and I did a lot of alcohol and I did a lot of stupid things but one of the verses that has become really important to me is that I have the mind of Christ. And I keep thinking about how important the word of God has been in my life and the idea of truth and the word of God. And I think about how amazing it is that we each have the truth in the word of God. And this is so profound that everyone of us have the truth of God. Think about that people. Amazing.

Good day DAB family this is Mark from New Hampshire. It’s been almost two years since I last called in when I asked for prayer for my grandson Ezekiel Alexander who was born having seizures. I wanna let you know that he’s a month away from two years old and he’s perfect. The cat scans or MRIs showed that he had lost one sixth of his brain capacity because of a stroke at birth. And I know because of all your prayers that God healed him. He is perfect in every way. He has a beautiful personality and a great sense of humor. He’s at or beyond everything that he needs to be for his age and it’s just a miracle that after having such a traumatic brain injury during birth that he could be just such a perfect and wonderful young man and a young boy. And I know that God did this, and I know that you all prayed that. And, so, I want to thank you all so much. I am especially asking though at this moment prayer for my sister who was struck by a truck when she was crossing the street. She has some brain bleeds and is in critical care and I want to ask you to pray for her as you did with my grandson, that God would heal her injuries and that there would be no lasting effect. I want to thank you so much. I want to let you know how much I appreciate this ministry and all of your prayers and that my wife and I pray for you all every day. Thank you so much.

Hey listeners it’s __. My daughters going through some of the same issues. She’s been trying to have kids. Can’t. But I know that she would make a great mother and I know that for a fact. You don’t have to prove anything to anybody. All you gotta prove to is God. And you know that you would be a good mother. So, just walk in there with her your held high and answer the questions like you know you would. Don’t let it bother you that you have to prove yourself to them. We all have to prove ourselves at some point in time in our life. And it’s not right that we have to do that but just keep your head up. I know you're…you’re a good…you’d be a good mother. My daughter would be a great mother. So just keep…I’ll keep praying for you. Keep praying about it and God will find a way and push it through for you. Just don’t let it put so much stress on you that…that…that you can’t handle it. Just kind of…I don’t know…pull it off your back. Put it on God. He’ll take care of it. I promise you that. You just give it to Him. I’ve lived it and I’ve seen it. Just don’t give up. You’ll get there.

Good morning this is Sue from Bullet Texas. I’m a first-time caller been listening for a long time, and I love listening to the prayer requests and the prayers that y'all offer and ask for. I’m calling today to ask for prayer for my best friend Cindy who four years ago lost her husband suddenly. And having walked through that, two months ago her daughter, son-in-law, and one of her grandsons were killed in a very tragic car accident. Cindy is now raising her six-year-old grandson who survived some traumatic injuries in the same accident and they’re having the memorial this week for the three family members that they lost. So, I ask for prayer for Cindy as she walks through this grief again and her whole family as they go this week to honor those that they lost. I also ask for strength for her as she takes on the task with joy and some fear of raising a 6-year-old in her 60s. So, that’s not going to be easy, but she has so much love for him, and I know she can do it. But I just ask for prayers for her at this time. I’m also asking for prayers for my daughter who just lost a baby yesterday in a miscarriage. Her name’s Bailey. Thank you.

Good morning DAB family it is Sunday September 25^th. I just heard Renzo’s plea for some prayer. He’s graduating from high school this coming May and his desire is to be a Christian rap artist. Renzo I’ve heard you several times. I love hearing your sweet voice. I love hearing any young person who loves the Lord and is in this community. It just really warms my heart when I hear you and I certainly am praying for you and your success in the rap music delivery of God’s word because I’m quite sure you’d be very successful. Regardless, I love the fact that it’s in your heart to do this. I just I have a warm spot for young people who love the Lord. My own daughter who’s 34 is not a believer and I pray daily that someone will cross her path that will bring her to Christ and that she does see me as a good example of someone who led a wild and crazy life and has turned to Christ. I also am praying for you Val in Vegas. And I so understand your shoulder pain. I’ve been there. And, so, I’ve been meaning to call in and pray for you for a few days now and I just heard Renzo and I said OK I just gotta call. So, I love this community. I pray for you all all the time. There are so many that I’m praying for right now. I can’t name all the names. I do write them down though and you’re always in my prayers. I love you DAB family and Hardin family. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Isaiah 54:1-57:14, Ephesians 6:1-24, Psalm 70:1-5, Proverbs 24:8

Today is the 28th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you today. It is a joy that we live in a time where we can gather the way that we are, no matter where we are in the world and move forward together. And so, as we dive in for the day, we will return to where we left off yesterday, and that is in the Book of Isaiah. Today, we will read chapter 54 verse 1 through 57 verse 14.

Commentary:

Okay so, with our reading today, we concluded the letter to the Ephesians. And as the letter comes to a close, we encounter some very famous, very quotable verses from the New Testament. And so, I quote from Ephesians, “finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of His mighty power. Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the devil’s evil tricks. For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.” So, again, as with many famous passages that we may have heard a thousand times, it can be easy to go, I’ve heard that and just kinda checked out and move on and…and just accept it. But the implications, that’s one of the things that we’ve been talking about as we move through Ephesians these…these viewpoints that Paul is laying out when you stop and consider like, pulling off to the side of the road and getting out of the car, on your way up the mountain, to look out at the vista that is materialized before you, is remarkable. So famous passage or not, if what Paul is saying is correct, then it really should explain a bunch of things. If it’s true that we aren’t fighting against flesh and blood, or as our translation this week would say, fighting against human beings but rather we are fighting against wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age, then why are most of our battles waged with flesh and blood, with other human beings? Even battles that we would consider spiritual battles. I mean, just take a gander on social media and the Christian world and you will find people at war with each other for different verses and different ways of looking at things, all of the time, with hopefully the intent of bringing out what we believe, but most of the time we think like God’s appointed us to correct everybody’s doctrine. And so, media is not the forum. And I just use that as an example of the ways we can kind of be pulled into a flesh and blood battle, when the battle is a spiritual battle. I mean just that alone. There was a lot in today’s reading, as we closed Ephesians but…but just that alone. If we could just take five minutes and think about how we live into our faith and how we face the obstacles that come toward us and how most of the time the battle is waged in the realm of flesh and blood. What Paul’s saying is basically, that’s not how it works. Our battle isn’t with other people, our spiritual battle is against wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age, cosmic powers affecting and influencing the world that we live in. We can go in all kinds of directions from here, but if we could simply understand, even though most of our back-and-forth is with other people, there is more going on than we are normally paying attention to, even that awareness alone is very helpful. Paul’s intention here seems to be making us aware that there is a lot more going on than we’re paying attention to and then to describe for us spiritual tools that we must understand and utilize, in order to actually fight the battle that we’re really fighting. If we’re in a contest that we intend on winning, now we’re going to have to understand what the resources are that are available to us in the contest in order that we might master and win. Right, like, you may run around your house naked, but you’re probably not going to work naked, you’re probably not going out your front door with only your car keys and your birthday suit. We seem to know how to get dressed, we seem to know how to deal with this from a flesh and blood perspective, but we also need to realize that often we’re going out the front door spiritually naked or half naked and unprepared. And so, Paul describes what is offered to us in this battle. He tells us there is a belt of truth, something that we have to put on. I’m wearing a belt right now on my pants, maybe you are too, maybe you don’t need one. Maybe you have a drawstring or something. Or who knows, who knows what you’re wearing today, I don’t know.  I have a belt on, my belt holds my pants up. If I had a job that I needed to use tools for, I would clip those tools to my belt, it would hold it all together. And so, working through what Paul is saying, truth holds it all together. If we’re not going to walk in the truth and be truthful, truthful with ourselves, truthful before God, truthful before the world, then we’ve walked into our day missing the thing that holds it all together. That could explain a lot of things. Paul also describes a breastplate of righteousness. Right, so a breastplate covers the vital organs, especially the heart. And so, we are being told that there is essentially spiritual body armor to protect us, especially our heart and that breastplate is righteousness. And we know, full well, from what we’ve been reading in the New Testament thus far in the year, righteousness isn’t something we can achieve on our own. Righteousness is the state of our believing what God has said. Right, like, remember we’ve gone all the way back to Abraham several times. Abraham believed God, and God counted that belief toward Abraham as righteousness. This has been given to us to protect our hearts. The very place where God dwells, His righteousness protects us, and it is given to us. Paul also says we have essentially the footwear, the shoes, the sandals, however you want to imagine it in your mind, the shoes of peace, that comes from the gospel. This is our awareness of what God has done in our lives in rescuing us and our awareness that He will never leave, or forsake us, which then allows us to be confident in whatever we walk into. Wherever we go, God is there, He is within our hearts, protected by the breastplate of righteousness. Wherever we go, we carry the Gospel with us. Wherever we go, the presence of God is within us. We are also told that we’re given a shield, the shield of faith, to stop the fiery arrows of the evil one. And we’ve learned over and over in the Scriptures, that faith is what makes it all possible, our belief, our faith, is what allows us to receive salvation. And these gifts that we’re talking about right now, the shield of faith protects us, because it blocks the fiery darts or fiery arrows of the evil one. It can’t be penetrated. It blocks them, unless we drop our shield of faith and throw it on the ground to make ourselves vulnerable. We’re also told that we have a helmet to wear, and that helmet is salvation and if you have a helmet on, it is there to protect your head. Right, it’s there to protect your head, to protect your brain, it’s there to protect our mind because we have been made righteous before God, because of his loving gift to us, because we have received salvation and are in right standing with God, then intimacy, friendship, adventure, and collaboration are available to us. We are the children of God. This is our identity. This renews and protects our minds. That helmet of salvation. And all of these gifts are to defend us and to protect us. But we’re also given something to fight back with, a sword. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And finally, we are instructed to pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. This lets us know that an ongoing dialogue, an ongoing, always on, never off, relationship with God is not only possible but instructed. This can change the way we live by informing the choices, the thoughts, words and deeds of our lives. So, when we look at what Paul is telling us, we realize we’re equipped, this is the way Jesus lived, we are equipped. It’s just that, we often find ourselves running out the door half naked. And I suppose the most concise way, the way Paul would probably, well I don’t know, I don’t want to speak for Paul, I don’t know what he would say but he’s very direct and he would probably say, stop doing that. Like, stop going out half naked, suit up, put on the full armor of God. And then you will be equipped for what comes your way. So, that is worth some thought and contemplation today and that is worth some action, as well.

Prayer:

So, Father, we take what we’ve learned from the letter to the Ephesians, and we put it into practice. Help us, because truthfully, what we need most is to simply be aware, to be paying attention, to be intentional in this direction. And as with everything else, we’re not capable of this, I mean, we can try for a while, but ongoingly, to make this a habit of our lives, to make this our lifestyle, we need Your Holy Spirit. So, come, Holy Spirit, and lead us into all truth. Thank You for allowing us to know that this is an always on, and never off thing. That You are always with us and have richly given us what we need to navigate. May we pay attention to where we’re going. We pray this in the precious and mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is home base, home of the Global Campfire that we gather around every day and so be aware of that. The Daily Audio Bible app is that in the palm of your hand, as well. So, you can download the app from whatever app store is connected to your device. Certainly, check into that. And while you’re doing the checking out, check out the different sections, the Initiatives Section, the Community Section, which is where to get connected, that’s where the Prayer Wall is. Of course, the Daily Audio Bible Shop is full of resources for the journey that we have embarked on all these months ago and wound our way, all the way to this is very day, so, check that out.

If you want to partner the Daily Audio Bible. If you find that being together like this in community and taking the next step forward, each and every day, brings life and good news sends hope into your life, then thank you, humbly and profoundly for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together and so thank you. 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, that’s 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.

Prayer and Encouragements:

I want to pray for my sister Kelly, she has medicontrail disease. She doesn’t know that Lord that well. She knows what she’s caught on to from me. She’s, my buddy. I don’t want her to hurt anymore. She needs prayer. Thank you, thank you.

Good morning, good morning, good morning, DAB family. This is Jazz from the Bay. First time calling in, but I just wanted to give a praise report. I’m not too sure if many of you remember but several months ago, I posted, not several, but yeah, a couple months ago, I posted on the Wall stating how I was in a very hostile environment with the provider I was working for and how it just took a very bad toll on my mental health and etc. God did bless me to get out of that position and I moved into another position. And I just kept praying, I just kept praying cause I still wasn’t super happy, I just felt really restless. So, long story short, with you guy’s prayers and God’s work, I was hired with one of the leading health companies in the country, I think. But I finally did get in with them and it’s been ten years and I just want to say thank you to everybody because without you guy’s prayers it wouldn’t have worked. So, thank you. Also, I just wanted to tell you all how much I love you, how much I appreciate you guys. You guys get me through the day, every single day I listen, and it just gives me the motivation I need. Lastly, Val from Vegas, I just want to tell you I love you, I love you, I love you. And I’m decreeing that God is going to touch your shoulders and touch any other pain that you have and that you haven’t expressed to us. And He’s gonna heal you. If He doesn’t heal you immediately, He’s going to touch those doctors to heal you. Nonetheless, I love you all. This is Jazz from the Bay and I pray you all have a blessed …

Hey DAB family, this is Jonathan from Denver. I’m just calling in to say and to admit that I’m not doing to hot. I’ve been feeling very emotionally drained, very far away from God. Just like, I’m just like I’ve been in sort of a dark valley. I just, I’ve been behind in listening to DAB. Haven’t really been in the word. Haven’t really been praying. I’m just tired and I realize that I can’t do this on my own. I just need my people and come around and pray for me. Pray for restoration, hope and joy. Pray that I would draw near to God again, feel whole again, be able to make it through, you know, another day, another week. So, thank you, thank you for your prayers. I appreciate all of you. I hope you have a great day. Love you.

Hi, this is Brooke from Texas. I wanted to call in and pray for Zach from Phoenix. You called in and said that you and your brother were going to have to make some kind of life changing decisions regarding your mom because of her health. And I just wanted to call in and just pray for wisdom and discernment for you and your brother as ya’ll make those decisions and for peace for your mom, that she would be willing and understanding of the decisions that need to be made. I also, remember you said that you were just lonely and struggling with that, I just want to pray that you are able to just find fulfillment and peace in where you’re at in life and I don’t know if you’re lonely without friendships or without a relationship or whatever your circumstances are but I just pray that the Lord would meet you in your circumstances and would remind you that you are not alone and that He would provide the community around you that you need and that would just remind you of His goodness and His presence and His faithfulness. Yeah, I just wanted to call in and pray for you Zach. I just life you up in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you, guys.

Shalom DAB family. This is Leo from Kathleen, Pennsylvania, first time caller. Thank you to Dawn of a New Day for encouraging me to call in. I’ve been listening since we began the Book of Job on August 21st, and the date is September 23rd. Just about one month. Thank you so much everyone for your faithfulness in praying. I just want to ask for prayer for God’s will. I trust Him and I know His purposes will prevail but it’s so hard to see His will in my life right now. I’m not really sure where I’m going, I just know the one who is leading. I’m a nursing student in community college, I’m serving Christian leadership. I’m a part-time custodian. I’m 24-years-old and this is my first W2 job since May. And honestly, I don’t know, I feel like I want to quit. I want to work in a job that involves more human relationships. I want to spend more time learning my dad’s trade, who he works with __ clients in this area. I also interpret and do paperwork for them and taxes. And honestly, I know I can’t do everything, but I want to. It’s uncharacteristic for me to be over committed but I am lately and I’m starting to let people down. And I just want to ask for prayer to honor God in all that I do. And I just, yeah, I think I want to move out of my parent’s house because they have a lot of tendencies, they’re not willing to change, that kind of drive me up the wall. But I also know that living with them has, just as moving out, has its own pros and cons, just different ones. I just, you know, I trust God with everything. I thank you so much for the prayers but just calling to let you know who I am. Love you all. Shalom.

Good morning, DAB family. My name is Lizzy and I’m calling to ask for prayer for my daughter Raquel. She had to be hospitalized last night. She had a horrible, horrible, nervous breakdown. And it seemed like she was completely out of touch with reality. She’s a Christian, she knows the Lord wonderful, wonderful, sweet girl. Something is oppressing her. The enemy just wants to destroy her. She was talking about killing herself and saying horrible things. She, she’s otherwise a healthy, healthy young lady. This is definitely supernatural. And I believe in prayer, I believe in community prayer. So, her name is Raquel. Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you so much. God bless you all.

Isaiah 54:1-57:14, Ephesians 6:1-24, Psalm 70:1-5, Proverbs 24:8

Today is the 28th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you today. It is a joy that we live in a time where we can gather the way that we are, no matter where we are in the world and move forward together. And so, as we dive in for the day, we will return to where we left off yesterday, and that is in the Book of Isaiah. Today, we will read chapter 54 verse 1 through 57 verse 14.

Commentary:

Okay so, with our reading today, we concluded the letter to the Ephesians. And as the letter comes to a close, we encounter some very famous, very quotable verses from the New Testament. And so, I quote from Ephesians, “finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of His mighty power. Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the devil’s evil tricks. For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.” So, again, as with many famous passages that we may have heard a thousand times, it can be easy to go, I’ve heard that and just kinda checked out and move on and…and just accept it. But the implications, that’s one of the things that we’ve been talking about as we move through Ephesians these…these viewpoints that Paul is laying out when you stop and consider like, pulling off to the side of the road and getting out of the car, on your way up the mountain, to look out at the vista that is materialized before you, is remarkable. So famous passage or not, if what Paul is saying is correct, then it really should explain a bunch of things. If it’s true that we aren’t fighting against flesh and blood, or as our translation this week would say, fighting against human beings but rather we are fighting against wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age, then why are most of our battles waged with flesh and blood, with other human beings? Even battles that we would consider spiritual battles. I mean, just take a gander on social media and the Christian world and you will find people at war with each other for different verses and different ways of looking at things, all of the time, with hopefully the intent of bringing out what we believe, but most of the time we think like God’s appointed us to correct everybody’s doctrine. And so, media is not the forum. And I just use that as an example of the ways we can kind of be pulled into a flesh and blood battle, when the battle is a spiritual battle. I mean just that alone. There was a lot in today’s reading, as we closed Ephesians but…but just that alone. If we could just take five minutes and think about how we live into our faith and how we face the obstacles that come toward us and how most of the time the battle is waged in the realm of flesh and blood. What Paul’s saying is basically, that’s not how it works. Our battle isn’t with other people, our spiritual battle is against wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age, cosmic powers affecting and influencing the world that we live in. We can go in all kinds of directions from here, but if we could simply understand, even though most of our back-and-forth is with other people, there is more going on than we are normally paying attention to, even that awareness alone is very helpful. Paul’s intention here seems to be making us aware that there is a lot more going on than we’re paying attention to and then to describe for us spiritual tools that we must understand and utilize, in order to actually fight the battle that we’re really fighting. If we’re in a contest that we intend on winning, now we’re going to have to understand what the resources are that are available to us in the contest in order that we might master and win. Right, like, you may run around your house naked, but you’re probably not going to work naked, you’re probably not going out your front door with only your car keys and your birthday suit. We seem to know how to get dressed, we seem to know how to deal with this from a flesh and blood perspective, but we also need to realize that often we’re going out the front door spiritually naked or half naked and unprepared. And so, Paul describes what is offered to us in this battle. He tells us there is a belt of truth, something that we have to put on. I’m wearing a belt right now on my pants, maybe you are too, maybe you don’t need one. Maybe you have a drawstring or something. Or who knows, who knows what you’re wearing today, I don’t know.  I have a belt on, my belt holds my pants up. If I had a job that I needed to use tools for, I would clip those tools to my belt, it would hold it all together. And so, working through what Paul is saying, truth holds it all together. If we’re not going to walk in the truth and be truthful, truthful with ourselves, truthful before God, truthful before the world, then we’ve walked into our day missing the thing that holds it all together. That could explain a lot of things. Paul also describes a breastplate of righteousness. Right, so a breastplate covers the vital organs, especially the heart. And so, we are being told that there is essentially spiritual body armor to protect us, especially our heart and that breastplate is righteousness. And we know, full well, from what we’ve been reading in the New Testament thus far in the year, righteousness isn’t something we can achieve on our own. Righteousness is the state of our believing what God has said. Right, like, remember we’ve gone all the way back to Abraham several times. Abraham believed God, and God counted that belief toward Abraham as righteousness. This has been given to us to protect our hearts. The very place where God dwells, His righteousness protects us, and it is given to us. Paul also says we have essentially the footwear, the shoes, the sandals, however you want to imagine it in your mind, the shoes of peace, that comes from the gospel. This is our awareness of what God has done in our lives in rescuing us and our awareness that He will never leave, or forsake us, which then allows us to be confident in whatever we walk into. Wherever we go, God is there, He is within our hearts, protected by the breastplate of righteousness. Wherever we go, we carry the Gospel with us. Wherever we go, the presence of God is within us. We are also told that we’re given a shield, the shield of faith, to stop the fiery arrows of the evil one. And we’ve learned over and over in the Scriptures, that faith is what makes it all possible, our belief, our faith, is what allows us to receive salvation. And these gifts that we’re talking about right now, the shield of faith protects us, because it blocks the fiery darts or fiery arrows of the evil one. It can’t be penetrated. It blocks them, unless we drop our shield of faith and throw it on the ground to make ourselves vulnerable. We’re also told that we have a helmet to wear, and that helmet is salvation and if you have a helmet on, it is there to protect your head. Right, it’s there to protect your head, to protect your brain, it’s there to protect our mind because we have been made righteous before God, because of his loving gift to us, because we have received salvation and are in right standing with God, then intimacy, friendship, adventure, and collaboration are available to us. We are the children of God. This is our identity. This renews and protects our minds. That helmet of salvation. And all of these gifts are to defend us and to protect us. But we’re also given something to fight back with, a sword. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And finally, we are instructed to pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. This lets us know that an ongoing dialogue, an ongoing, always on, never off, relationship with God is not only possible but instructed. This can change the way we live by informing the choices, the thoughts, words and deeds of our lives. So, when we look at what Paul is telling us, we realize we’re equipped, this is the way Jesus lived, we are equipped. It’s just that, we often find ourselves running out the door half naked. And I suppose the most concise way, the way Paul would probably, well I don’t know, I don’t want to speak for Paul, I don’t know what he would say but he’s very direct and he would probably say, stop doing that. Like, stop going out half naked, suit up, put on the full armor of God. And then you will be equipped for what comes your way. So, that is worth some thought and contemplation today and that is worth some action, as well.

Prayer:

So, Father, we take what we’ve learned from the letter to the Ephesians, and we put it into practice. Help us, because truthfully, what we need most is to simply be aware, to be paying attention, to be intentional in this direction. And as with everything else, we’re not capable of this, I mean, we can try for a while, but ongoingly, to make this a habit of our lives, to make this our lifestyle, we need Your Holy Spirit. So, come, Holy Spirit, and lead us into all truth. Thank You for allowing us to know that this is an always on, and never off thing. That You are always with us and have richly given us what we need to navigate. May we pay attention to where we’re going. We pray this in the precious and mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com that is home base, home of the Global Campfire that we gather around every day and so be aware of that. The Daily Audio Bible app is that in the palm of your hand, as well. So, you can download the app from whatever app store is connected to your device. Certainly, check into that. And while you’re doing the checking out, check out the different sections, the Initiatives Section, the Community Section, which is where to get connected, that’s where the Prayer Wall is. Of course, the Daily Audio Bible Shop is full of resources for the journey that we have embarked on all these months ago and wound our way, all the way to this is very day, so, check that out.

If you want to partner the Daily Audio Bible. If you find that being together like this in community and taking the next step forward, each and every day, brings life and good news sends hope into your life, then thank you, humbly and profoundly for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together and so thank you. 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, that’s 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.

Prayer and Encouragements:

I want to pray for my sister Kelly, she has medicontrail disease. She doesn’t know that Lord that well. She knows what she’s caught on to from me. She’s, my buddy. I don’t want her to hurt anymore. She needs prayer. Thank you, thank you.

Good morning, good morning, good morning, DAB family. This is Jazz from the Bay. First time calling in, but I just wanted to give a praise report. I’m not too sure if many of you remember but several months ago, I posted, not several, but yeah, a couple months ago, I posted on the Wall stating how I was in a very hostile environment with the provider I was working for and how it just took a very bad toll on my mental health and etc. God did bless me to get out of that position and I moved into another position. And I just kept praying, I just kept praying cause I still wasn’t super happy, I just felt really restless. So, long story short, with you guy’s prayers and God’s work, I was hired with one of the leading health companies in the country, I think. But I finally did get in with them and it’s been ten years and I just want to say thank you to everybody because without you guy’s prayers it wouldn’t have worked. So, thank you. Also, I just wanted to tell you all how much I love you, how much I appreciate you guys. You guys get me through the day, every single day I listen, and it just gives me the motivation I need. Lastly, Val from Vegas, I just want to tell you I love you, I love you, I love you. And I’m decreeing that God is going to touch your shoulders and touch any other pain that you have and that you haven’t expressed to us. And He’s gonna heal you. If He doesn’t heal you immediately, He’s going to touch those doctors to heal you. Nonetheless, I love you all. This is Jazz from the Bay and I pray you all have a blessed …

Hey DAB family, this is Jonathan from Denver. I’m just calling in to say and to admit that I’m not doing to hot. I’ve been feeling very emotionally drained, very far away from God. Just like, I’m just like I’ve been in sort of a dark valley. I just, I’ve been behind in listening to DAB. Haven’t really been in the word. Haven’t really been praying. I’m just tired and I realize that I can’t do this on my own. I just need my people and come around and pray for me. Pray for restoration, hope and joy. Pray that I would draw near to God again, feel whole again, be able to make it through, you know, another day, another week. So, thank you, thank you for your prayers. I appreciate all of you. I hope you have a great day. Love you.

Hi, this is Brooke from Texas. I wanted to call in and pray for Zach from Phoenix. You called in and said that you and your brother were going to have to make some kind of life changing decisions regarding your mom because of her health. And I just wanted to call in and just pray for wisdom and discernment for you and your brother as ya’ll make those decisions and for peace for your mom, that she would be willing and understanding of the decisions that need to be made. I also, remember you said that you were just lonely and struggling with that, I just want to pray that you are able to just find fulfillment and peace in where you’re at in life and I don’t know if you’re lonely without friendships or without a relationship or whatever your circumstances are but I just pray that the Lord would meet you in your circumstances and would remind you that you are not alone and that He would provide the community around you that you need and that would just remind you of His goodness and His presence and His faithfulness. Yeah, I just wanted to call in and pray for you Zach. I just life you up in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you, guys.

Shalom DAB family. This is Leo from Kathleen, Pennsylvania, first time caller. Thank you to Dawn of a New Day for encouraging me to call in. I’ve been listening since we began the Book of Job on August 21st, and the date is September 23rd. Just about one month. Thank you so much everyone for your faithfulness in praying. I just want to ask for prayer for God’s will. I trust Him and I know His purposes will prevail but it’s so hard to see His will in my life right now. I’m not really sure where I’m going, I just know the one who is leading. I’m a nursing student in community college, I’m serving Christian leadership. I’m a part-time custodian. I’m 24-years-old and this is my first W2 job since May. And honestly, I don’t know, I feel like I want to quit. I want to work in a job that involves more human relationships. I want to spend more time learning my dad’s trade, who he works with __ clients in this area. I also interpret and do paperwork for them and taxes. And honestly, I know I can’t do everything, but I want to. It’s uncharacteristic for me to be over committed but I am lately and I’m starting to let people down. And I just want to ask for prayer to honor God in all that I do. And I just, yeah, I think I want to move out of my parent’s house because they have a lot of tendencies, they’re not willing to change, that kind of drive me up the wall. But I also know that living with them has, just as moving out, has its own pros and cons, just different ones. I just, you know, I trust God with everything. I thank you so much for the prayers but just calling to let you know who I am. Love you all. Shalom.

Good morning, DAB family. My name is Lizzy and I’m calling to ask for prayer for my daughter Raquel. She had to be hospitalized last night. She had a horrible, horrible, nervous breakdown. And it seemed like she was completely out of touch with reality. She’s a Christian, she knows the Lord wonderful, wonderful, sweet girl. Something is oppressing her. The enemy just wants to destroy her. She was talking about killing herself and saying horrible things. She, she’s otherwise a healthy, healthy young lady. This is definitely supernatural. And I believe in prayer, I believe in community prayer. So, her name is Raquel. Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you so much. God bless you all.

Isaiah 45:11-48:11, Ephesians 4:1-16, Psalms 68:19-35, Proverbs 24:3-4

Today is the 27^th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian and of course it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and move forward together. And moving forward together looks pretty much the same every day. We pick up wherever we left off and move forward from there. And, so, that’s what we’ll be doing today, which leads us back into the book of Isaiah. We are reading from the Good News translation this week. And today Isaiah chapters 51, 52, and 53.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we covered some pretty well-known territory in the letter to the Ephesians today about wives and husbands, probably territory that we have been through before at some point in our lives. I’ve heard this passage about wives and husbands my whole life actually, well before I ever knew anything about having a wife. And kinda as I came up hearing this, this being in church world culture, sort of the dominant piece was that the husband is the head of the wife. And, so, basically the way that everything was distilled down was…I mean…out of all of this the takeaway was the husband, the man of the house has the final. And, so, many years ago, a very long time ago now in the first few years of the Daily Audio Bible we come through this passage and I would read this passage and say, wait a second, and then kinda read it again…wait a second. Like that’s not really the takeaway here. This isn’t the proof text for the power of the man of the house. Because so often I had just kinda heard it in this context that made it feel like, okay ladies, you know, stop griping and complaining and get on board. You’re not the boss. What I began to realize just from reading this over and over is that husbands have an unbelievable role to play in this equation. And, so, let’s just take a look at this. “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord.” Okay, that’s a big deal. “As to the Lord.” That’s a big deal. “For”…Paul says…“a husband has authority over his wife, just as Christ has authority over the church.” Okay, that’s a big deal too. “And Christ himself is the Savior of the church’s body. And, so, wives must submit themselves completely to their husbands just as the church submits itself to Christ.” So, since it comes first and it’s shorter than the husband piece it was like that’s where the whole conversation begins and almost that’s where the conversation ends. But my goodness, let’s continue now to the husbands. And I quote. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.” Okay, that’s a big deal. And then jumping forward. “Men ought to love their wives, just as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.” And, so, one take away from looking at the entire passage is that wives should submit themselves to their husbands as to the Lord and that husbands should love their wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it. So, basically if she’s supposed to submit herself to her husband as to the Lord well than the husband needs to act like Jesus, laying his life down for her. What Paul is discussing here is a beautiful submission to one another. And I need to just take kinda take a sidestep for just a quick minute because I’ve been around church culture for all my life like I said. And, so, invariably being in ministry you encounter situations that are actually abusive situations. Submitting harder doesn’t make abuse end. And if you are in a situation and you’re just trying to submit yourself to the Lord and so you submit and you’re being beaten or you’re being abused in some sort of way, then someone’s not acting like Jesus. I mean to make that work out and say I just need to…to submit harder would…would force us to believe that Jesus would be willing to be abusive to us. Because the husband is supposed to love his wife just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it. We don’t have any examples at all of Jesus being abusive to anybody and there’s good reason for that. He wasn’t abusive. And, so, like pulling us back on track here, let’s take another sidestep and backtrack into what we read in the book of Isaiah today. And…and…and I’m a husband. And, so, I can…I can call of us husbands to pay attention to this for a second because it’s important that we do. And I quote from Isaiah, with clear allusions to Jesus here. “But He endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should’ve borne. All the while, we thought that His suffering was punishment sent by God. Because of our sins He was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment He suffered, made whole by the blows He received. All of us were like sheep that were lost each of us going his own way, but the Lord made the punishment fall on Him, the punishment all of us deserved.” Okay, that is how Christ loved the church. That is how we husbands…I mean with that level of commitment and endurance are to love our wives or quoting from Paul again, “husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.” It’s way easier considering submitting to someone that you know has your best interest, that you know loves you with all of their heart, that you know would lay down their life to keep you safe. It’s very difficult to think about submitting to an abuser. So, when I read this passage of…passage of Ephesians I see that it is mutual submission, but I see that the husband has to lead the way by being Christ, by being Jesus in his home, and I don’t mean that in some sort of weird way. But in so many ways because we are part of the body, we become the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. And if we are a husband, is there anyone we should be Jesus to more than our wife? And, so, let’s give that some thought today.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. Anybody who’s married knows that it’s complicated and has many many layers at any given moment, and there’s all kinds of stuff going on as we try to intermingle our lives and allow that marriage to shape us into something different instead of us always trying to fill our brokenness with someone else. And, so, we acknowledge the complexity. We also acknowledge Your word. We also acknowledge Holy Spirit, Your presence. This is like everything else in our faith. We can’t do this on our own. We can keep ourselves on the best behavior we possibly can. And it…it’s easy when it’s easy. But when it’s not easy and it’s complicated well then, it’s complicated and hard. And usually in those times we are paying the least amount of attention. May we pay attention to our love for one another. May we love each other as You have loved us. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does that as well and you can search for that on the app store that is connected to your phone or your tablet or whatever device. So, check that out.

Check out the different sections like the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources in that Shop in different categories that are for the journey that we are on through the Bible in a year. And, so, certainly check into it. Check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if being around the Global Campfire is meaningful and life-giving to you then thank you profoundly and humbly 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 at the Hotline button in the app. That’s 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:

I’m calling to respond to Big Dog. He called in and talked about the spiritual battles that are waged against him. And, so, I just want to call and give him some encouragement. My names Delta Alpha Foxtrot. I’m from a little town called that’s just West of Corpus Christi, Robstown and just wanna encourage Big Dog that I…I understand where he’s coming from. I know what he’s talking about, and that know God is going to give him the strength to overcome all of those things. __ is a thing that, you know, is unfortunately out there in the world. It’s just like witchcraft and we can overcome it through the blood of…the blood of Jesus and the power of the cross. And, so, Big Dog I’m out there, I know where you’re coming from I’m praying for you I’m going to send you a prayer that…that helps every day if you pray that prayer. You’ll get that spiritual protection over your…over yourself, over your household, over your kingdom, over your domain. This is Delta Alpha Foxtrot calling from the southern Texas front. God bless you.

Hello DABbers, this is Joseph from Southeast Asia I’m a first time caller but I’ve been part of the community for the past 2 ½ years and I’m calling in for a prayer request. I call myself Joseph because just like Joseph and Genesis went through being sold off as a slave and eventually through his persistence and faithfulness God turned it around, I’m praying that that would be the case for me. The year started off quite promising with a new business and partners but just turned horribly wrong and not as expected even though it’s a good company and does a lot of good for the community. We have a good product. And I’ve just been completely caught off guard by this as well as the death of my father with the impact that financial pressures have on my family as well. I just pray your prayers. I also want to give a praise report. I’ve asked God to help me with wisdom and he’s done that through your very good teaching and some of that may help some of the other prayer requests that came in. Patrick from Seattle. __ as well as Lisa the Encourager and Isaac from Saskatchewan. I’ve really learned the valuable lessons in the company that’s taken me about 20 years of breakthrough prayer and hopefully it will be a blessing to you as it was to me. I pray for my brothers. I pray for Isaac and I…I pray that there would be a breakthrough in wisdom for you just as there was for me and I pray for Lisa the Encourage just as the passing away of a family member of yours. I pray that you may be encouraged just as I pray for encouragement. Bless you all. Thank you.

Hey Val in Vegas this is your sister and voice Annette Allison from Oklahoma City. You know, you don’t know how many times I got asked if I was going by a different name because people thought I was you or you were me. It’s pretty funny. But anyways. Hey sister, oh I’ve been there, I’ve been there, I’ve been there, I’ve been there having surgery after surgery after surgery and years and years of sickness that nobody could figure out what was wrong with me. And boy you get that down in the dumps feeling and…and you just feel like you can’t take another day. And sister, you can, and God would not put it on you if you couldn’t get through it. And He’s got some light at the end of the tunnel. I just know it’s for you and I just want you to know you’re not going through this struggle alone by yourself. Your sister Annette out here is praying for you, and I’ve got you covered, and it just warms my heart every time I hear your voice. You inspire me and I want you to know that I’m out here pulling for you, okay. And I was even looking at a trip to go to Vegas and I was hoping that you and I would someday get to meet, and I we just think that would just be the best. Alright. So, anyways. I love you I love you I love you I’m sending great big hugs and whenever you’re having a hard time do you just think about me sitting right next to you holding your hand, okay? When it’s hard I say Annette, I know you’re there. I know you’re with me. The Lord is with us all. Okay? And he’s there too. I love you and take good care and you’ll get through it. Okay? Bye-bye.

This is Peggy in Dallas and tonight I’m praying with Christy and with Tim in Kentucky. I heard the message as so many of us did and it’s good to know that many of us are praying right now, that we are with You in heart, and we are seeking the Lord. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that You will be with Tim in a very special way. We thank You for him and we thank You for Christy and we thank You Lord that they are seeking You. I ask though Father that the suspicion that the doctor has that there’s a neurological problem that it will not be so. I’m asking for You complete healing over his body. I pray Father that You will touch him in such a way that his hands will not…will not have these symptoms, that You will minister to him in a very real way blessing him with health. And I ask this for Your honor and Your glory trusting You knowing that all things are possible with You. And Father, I pray for the young couple in Dubai and the mother who requested prayer for them and knowing all the stress that they’re going through with the new baby and work and trying to get ahead and the great job and all that…all the pressure that they are…

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Connie and Walla Walla WA southeast Washington and I’ve been listening consistently this year and on and off for five years. I was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the last couple days, and I am…just turned 50 this year. Three children, two of which are teenagers and one of which is 20 years old and married to my husband for more than 20 years and together 25 years. I need your prayers. I need your prayers to help me continue to take this new condition I’ve been suffering for a few months I just found out now in the last couple days what the diagnosis is. And the prognosis isn’t great. So, I need your prayers to deal with continuing and growing pain, numbing pain, an inability to eat. I haven’t been unable to eat anything of substance for more than two months. I’m getting weaker. I’m going to have tests and to consult with a surgeon on the 28^th and 29^th of September at the best possible cancer center for pancreatic cancer. I suffer with the fear of leaving my family behind. I…I feel regretful and sorry and guilty for that, of the thought that my children won’t grow up without their mother. And I want to combat those feelings and believe in the potential of healing and the potential for…

Hi DAB family this is Celeste I’m on here asking for prayer for myself today. I’m pretty lost. My hearts really hurting right now because there’s a lot of people that are trying to hurt me from my past mistakes. And they’re…I just think the enemy is recruiting people and they’re using my children to hurt me. You know, about five years ago I made a mistake and it hurt, you know, my family and me and I’ve repented of those things, but I just feel like I’m still being punished for those things. And I’m in…I’m new in my faith, fairly new, about one or two years following Jesus but I feel like I’ve been lukewarm. And I just want so badly to just to be close to God and be obedient but in my flesh it’s hard. I’m in an abusive marriage and I’ve been fighting, you know, just to see my children for a couple of years. And I’m all alone and it’s been so hard. So, please can you just pray for my faith and that I may be strengthened through Jesus. Thank you. I love you guys.

Isaiah 45:11-48:11, Ephesians 4:1-16, Psalms 68:19-35, Proverbs 24:3-4

Today is the 27^th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian and of course it is wonderful to be here with you today as we gather around the Global Campfire and move forward together. And moving forward together looks pretty much the same every day. We pick up wherever we left off and move forward from there. And, so, that’s what we’ll be doing today, which leads us back into the book of Isaiah. We are reading from the Good News translation this week. And today Isaiah chapters 51, 52, and 53.

Commentary:

Okay. So, we covered some pretty well-known territory in the letter to the Ephesians today about wives and husbands, probably territory that we have been through before at some point in our lives. I’ve heard this passage about wives and husbands my whole life actually, well before I ever knew anything about having a wife. And kinda as I came up hearing this, this being in church world culture, sort of the dominant piece was that the husband is the head of the wife. And, so, basically the way that everything was distilled down was…I mean…out of all of this the takeaway was the husband, the man of the house has the final. And, so, many years ago, a very long time ago now in the first few years of the Daily Audio Bible we come through this passage and I would read this passage and say, wait a second, and then kinda read it again…wait a second. Like that’s not really the takeaway here. This isn’t the proof text for the power of the man of the house. Because so often I had just kinda heard it in this context that made it feel like, okay ladies, you know, stop griping and complaining and get on board. You’re not the boss. What I began to realize just from reading this over and over is that husbands have an unbelievable role to play in this equation. And, so, let’s just take a look at this. “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord.” Okay, that’s a big deal. “As to the Lord.” That’s a big deal. “For”…Paul says…“a husband has authority over his wife, just as Christ has authority over the church.” Okay, that’s a big deal too. “And Christ himself is the Savior of the church’s body. And, so, wives must submit themselves completely to their husbands just as the church submits itself to Christ.” So, since it comes first and it’s shorter than the husband piece it was like that’s where the whole conversation begins and almost that’s where the conversation ends. But my goodness, let’s continue now to the husbands. And I quote. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.” Okay, that’s a big deal. And then jumping forward. “Men ought to love their wives, just as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself.” And, so, one take away from looking at the entire passage is that wives should submit themselves to their husbands as to the Lord and that husbands should love their wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it. So, basically if she’s supposed to submit herself to her husband as to the Lord well than the husband needs to act like Jesus, laying his life down for her. What Paul is discussing here is a beautiful submission to one another. And I need to just take kinda take a sidestep for just a quick minute because I’ve been around church culture for all my life like I said. And, so, invariably being in ministry you encounter situations that are actually abusive situations. Submitting harder doesn’t make abuse end. And if you are in a situation and you’re just trying to submit yourself to the Lord and so you submit and you’re being beaten or you’re being abused in some sort of way, then someone’s not acting like Jesus. I mean to make that work out and say I just need to…to submit harder would…would force us to believe that Jesus would be willing to be abusive to us. Because the husband is supposed to love his wife just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it. We don’t have any examples at all of Jesus being abusive to anybody and there’s good reason for that. He wasn’t abusive. And, so, like pulling us back on track here, let’s take another sidestep and backtrack into what we read in the book of Isaiah today. And…and…and I’m a husband. And, so, I can…I can call of us husbands to pay attention to this for a second because it’s important that we do. And I quote from Isaiah, with clear allusions to Jesus here. “But He endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should’ve borne. All the while, we thought that His suffering was punishment sent by God. Because of our sins He was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment He suffered, made whole by the blows He received. All of us were like sheep that were lost each of us going his own way, but the Lord made the punishment fall on Him, the punishment all of us deserved.” Okay, that is how Christ loved the church. That is how we husbands…I mean with that level of commitment and endurance are to love our wives or quoting from Paul again, “husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave His life for it.” It’s way easier considering submitting to someone that you know has your best interest, that you know loves you with all of their heart, that you know would lay down their life to keep you safe. It’s very difficult to think about submitting to an abuser. So, when I read this passage of…passage of Ephesians I see that it is mutual submission, but I see that the husband has to lead the way by being Christ, by being Jesus in his home, and I don’t mean that in some sort of weird way. But in so many ways because we are part of the body, we become the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. And if we are a husband, is there anyone we should be Jesus to more than our wife? And, so, let’s give that some thought today.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. Anybody who’s married knows that it’s complicated and has many many layers at any given moment, and there’s all kinds of stuff going on as we try to intermingle our lives and allow that marriage to shape us into something different instead of us always trying to fill our brokenness with someone else. And, so, we acknowledge the complexity. We also acknowledge Your word. We also acknowledge Holy Spirit, Your presence. This is like everything else in our faith. We can’t do this on our own. We can keep ourselves on the best behavior we possibly can. And it…it’s easy when it’s easy. But when it’s not easy and it’s complicated well then, it’s complicated and hard. And usually in those times we are paying the least amount of attention. May we pay attention to our love for one another. May we love each other as You have loved us. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. The Daily Audio Bible app does that as well and you can search for that on the app store that is connected to your phone or your tablet or whatever device. So, check that out.

Check out the different sections like the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources in that Shop in different categories that are for the journey that we are on through the Bible in a year. And, so, certainly check into it. Check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if being around the Global Campfire is meaningful and life-giving to you then thank you profoundly and humbly 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 at the Hotline button in the app. That’s 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:

Coming soon…

Isaiah 48:12-50:11, Ephesians 4:17-32, Psalm 69:1-18, Proverbs 24:5-6

Today is September 26th, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you, as it always is every day, as we move forward together in the Scriptures and through the Scriptures. So, we’ll will pick up where we left off yesterday, obviously, that’s what we do every day. And that leads us back into the book of Isaiah, we are, I’d say 75% through the book of Isaiah-ish and picking up where we left off yesterday will bring us to chapter 48 verse 12, through chapter 50 verse 11 today.

Commentary:

Okay so, several years ago reading through this passage that we read today in the letter to the Ephesians, I was reading through it and thinking of it in terms of wholeness and new nature, becoming who we were intended to be. In other words, like the full offering of what the Gospel brings to us, this transformation into a righteous and holy, set apart person. And I was trying to think like, what describes this state of being of wholeness and of course wholeness probably is the best word or shalom, the way things were supposed to be. But as I was thinking it through, I was like, what is the modern vernacular of what we’re going for, because everybody, I mean everybody, nobody really thinks they’re perfect and so we all know the things that are visible that are imperfections about us. And I don’t just mean just physically but in our character or whatever. We also know the things that are hidden really well that we’re working on, but nobody usually wakes up in the morning and thinks there’s just really nothing to work on. I’m perfect. So, everybody is aware, to some degree of some deficits in their lives. Ironically, that’s part of the cultural equation, that’s the pool we’re swimming in. And so, entire industries centered around marketing things, key into that knowledge that there are things that we want, there are things that we want to do, there are things that we very much want to improve in our lives. And so, often in like a marketing campaign is centered around showing us what we lack and showing us the solution to that lack. And for 99.99 you can fix that lack and that thing will be fulfilled, and that thing will become whole. So, as I was thinking this through a few years ago, I thought of a very, very popular thing to say. I’m trying to be the best version of myself, and I ended up using that analogy, even in writing ‘The God of Your Story’ because I think we can understand that. If we have a lack, the commercial comes on, tells us of something that we didn’t know that we needed but because of our sense of lack we realize this thing, I want this thing, because if you can become closer to the best version of yourself, why wouldn’t you want that product or service. And in so many ways this vista, this little pull off on the road of Ephesians that we get to get out of the car and look out across today, is discussing with us how to achieve or how to move toward the best version of ourselves. So, just listening to Paul as he begins in our reading today and I quote, “in the Lord’s name then, I will warn you, do not continue to live like the heathen whose thoughts are worthless and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn. They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.” That is probably a really decent description of not the best version of who Paul’s talking to and not the best version of ourselves. Right, I mean, living like the heathen, worthless thoughts, minds in the dark, completely ignorant, stubborn, no feelings of shame about any of that, a person was given themselves over to vice and does all sorts of indecent things with no restraint. I suppose we should all be willing to agree, that’s not the best version of anybody. So how do we move away from that category and move toward the best version of ourselves? Quoting from Paul, “get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to. The old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.” So, that is the best version of ourselves, that is the version we were intended to be, but that’s not just acknowledge that this would be the best version of ourselves, let’s understand what’s being said here. You must put on the new self. Okay, if we must put on the new self, then it must be possible. And this new self, according to Paul, is created in God’s likeness, in the image of God. Can we just acknowledge that because of Jesus’s love for us, that is even a sentence that can be said that we must put on the new self, which is created in the likeness of God and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy. It is so encouraging to understand that what our soul longs for and what we keep seeking, which is wholeness, is not a product or service that can be bought but is a gift that is bestowed freely upon us. First of all, that it’s even possible, is mind blowing. Second of all, that it’s freely available. Now, we got a vista here that is life-changing. This is the best version of ourselves a new self, a new nature in God’s image. This is what being made new or justified or sanctified through faith is. There is no commercial of any sort that can show us any product that we need to buy that can do this for us. It is a gift, but we have to collaborate in this gift. We have to maintain this gift. We could receive the gift of a brand-new car and drive that brand-new car right into the ground by not maintaining it at all. So, what would it look like to first of all, realize the magnitude of the gift that we’re talking about and through faith receive this gift and then collaborate by maintaining what we’ve been given freely. What would that look like? I quote from Paul, “no more lying, each of you must tell the truth to the other believer because we are all members together in the body of Christ. If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin and do not stay angry all day. Don’t give the devil a chance. If you used to rob, you must stop robbing and start working in order to earn an honest living for yourself and to be able to help the poor. Do not use harmful words but only helpful words, the kinds that build up and provide what is needed so that what you say will do good to those who hear you. And do not make God’s Holy Spirit sad, for the Spirit is God’s mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the day will come when God will set you free. Get rid of all bitterness, passion and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and tenderhearted to one another and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you, through Christ.” Let’s just acknowledge if this is how things are supposed to look, then they are possible. The best version of ourselves is to acknowledge, receive, and live into the fact that we are created in the image of God. We have been made Holy and set apart to God. This is how we we’re made and there are things in our lives, like, if we just go back and reread what I just read the Paul said, we’ll realize we have some work to do. But in paying attention to this and doing the work, collaborating with God and opening our hearts to his transformation inside of us. We are becoming the best person we can be, the most available person to God’s work that we can be. What we want is available. So, let’s give that some thought today as we enjoy this vista from the book of Ephesians.

Prayer:

So, Jesus, we love You. Why would You do this for us? Why do You love us like this, and even beyond what we can comprehend? It is a mind-blowing mystery. And that we can be completely transformed from the old self, the person that we were, into something brand-new, created in Your image and that this is free, that this is freely offered to us. All we can do is, humbly, express gratitude and a deep hearted surrender. And so, we surrender to You, Holy Spirit, inviting You to make us more and more aware of the transformation that is, not only available but that is occurring inside of us, day-by-day. Thank You, we love You. We want to live as the best versions of ourselves, because this is how we were made, and this is what is necessary for us to be about our Father’s business in this world. So, help us live into this we pray, in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that’s where you can find out what’s going on around here. Alternatively, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, which you can download free from the App Store that works with whatever tablet or phone or device that you’re using, then you can find out what’s going on around here in the app as well. So, check that out. Check out the different sections. Check out the Community Section. You’ll find different links there to get connected on the different social media channels that we participate in. Good to kind of follow along with Daily Audio Bible that way, if there is an announcement or whatever it can show up in your feed, but it’s also way to connect with each other. Also, there in the Community Section is the Prayer Wall and that is a resource that is always on and never off. And so, no matter what time zone we’re in, what continent we’re on, what oceans may lie between us, it doesn’t really matter. We can reach out day or night, any time, just pray for one another, read each other’s stories. Let each other know that we’re praying for one another. Also, share what’s going on, what we need our brothers and sisters to come around us and pray and lift us up over. And so, that is the Prayer Wall. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to bring the spoken word of God, read fresh every day and given freely to whoever will listen to it, wherever they are on the planet or in life, whatever time it is, day or night and to build community around showing up around this Global Campfire together and taking the next step forward. If that brings good news and life and hope, into your world, 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 P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s 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.

Prayer and Encouragements:

This is Hands to Heaven. Father God, I lift the burdened ones to You today. You know them Lord, though many others don’t. They rarely speak of the burdened and carry the burden in their heart. Sometimes they’re embarrassed, sometimes they’re ashamed, sometimes they’re uncertain who they can trust because their trust has been betrayed, once too often. Many walk through the doors of our churches Sunday after Sunday after Sunday with a smile pasted on their faces, while inside, their hearts are bleeding. Some have held on to the burden so long that they don’t know how to let go. I lift up the burdened ones to You Father. Let them know that You can be trusted with every burden, every care, every obstacle beyond which they cannot see. Lead them to the one Lord, the brother or sister in Christ that You have chosen to share their concerns and lead them to You. You are the only one that can relieve the heaviness in our heart, but You call all of us to be Your hands and feet here. Lead the burden ones to those of Your children Lord who have experienced Your relief, firsthand. So, that they can share the encouragement and comfort You have given them. And one day Lord, let the burden ones be the very children who lead the way for others to lay down their cares at the foot of the cross. Let their stories inspire the next generation of burden ones to reach out for the hope that rests in You alone. In Jesus name I pray. This is Hands to Heaven. God Bless you all.

Hey Daily Bible Audio, this is your brother in South Florida. And I’m calling today, September 21st to answer to a prayer request from a sister who called, who’s prayer request was played today, on the 21st podcast. You didn’t leave your name my sister, but you mentioned of being in a bad place and that you needed prayers but your mental health. Holy Spirit, Heavenly Creator, Eternal God, Power of the Blood of Jesus Christ, Angels of Heaven that protects us daily, You know everybody’s heart. You know everybody that calls to this prayer request, the Hotline. You know their heart, You know their names. This sister did not leave her name, but I want to pray for her. I want to pray for her mental health, she’s in a bad place. Holy Spirit, that You fill her heart with Your love. And this prayer be heard, this request to be heard by You. Not of the ears of anyone here Lord, but You, Holy Spirit. You know her heart. She came to be in a bad place right now and I talk to You and I ask You to please deliver her to a better place, to her promised land. To a place of peace, that you bring her mental health to an ease, God. That You’re the one that controls everything Father, and she said she’s new at this podcast. Allow her to be filled with love here in this prayer request. And I pray to You God that You’ll hold her and that You’ll lift her up in Your grace and Your glory and Your love. That You allow her to feel love by You and You only. That she not look for religion but instead she looks for a relationship with You, Holy Spirit.

I have no idea how I’m gonna do this in two minutes. But I guess I’m, I guess I’m just scared. I, I’ve struggled with my faith my entire life. With really wanting to connect to it, with trying, with but something just always just felt wrong or like it wasn’t working. And I, I don’t know, I guess today I’m feeling like maybe I, maybe I just had a moment of honesty with myself, or something, I don’t know. But I, I don’t think I’m a Christian. Which is scary in part because if, because of how I was raised and because of some abuse and that but also, I just don’t know what that, what that means for me. I want to be a Christian or I thought I did but it just doesn’t ever, it’s never seemed to work no matter how hard I’ve tried to get to know, I don’t know. I ….

Hi, I’m calling from Norway. How you doing my DAB family? I’m so grateful for this community. I’m just calling because I need your prayers right now. I’m not married but I have children and my boyfriend doesn’t want to get married. I feel very shameful to go to church because I’ve been told by the pastor that I have to get married. And it’s considered fornication. I don’t do that, of course, I believe what he’s saying, and I believe in the Bible. But I feel so shameful to go to church, to bring my children to the church. And right now, I’m pregnant. I just don’t know what to do. Please pray for me. Thank you, and I know I made mistakes, like everyone else of course, but I feel so shameful. I pray Jesus for forgiveness, that He would wash me with His blood. But I need your prayers. I need to get things straight, get married and have a family like everybody else. Go to church with my husband, God willing. Thank you DAB family, God bless you. Have a blessed day. In Jesus name. Bye.

Good morning DABers, I called in a couple of times before, but I’ve never left a name. And I decided that it would Rock Hound. Anyway, I’m calling in today for Travis, he called in for friend, Lindsey, who’s mom was killed in a car accident. And I’m also calling in for Big Dawg. So, Lord, I thank You so much for Lindsey and I thank You Lord that she survived this horrible car accident. I don’t know if she’s a believer or not Lord, but You know. And I pray that she Lord, and whoever else was in that car will see that You have a purpose for their lives Lord, as they move forward. And though we can’t understand when these horrible things happen, Lord, I pray that You give Lindsey eyes to see and ears to hear Your comfort and Your love spoken over her. I pray hope and healing Lord, over her broken heart and the troubled heart and the terrible hardships that she’s been suffering, Lord. And I also pray Lord, against the spirit of fear. In Jesus name. And for Big Dawg, I pray Lord, that You’d heal his broken heart over that broken marriage too. Help him to see Lord, that when he is weak, You are strong, Lord. Remind him, oh God, that our fight isn’t against flesh and blood but against the powers of the dark world and the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. So, help him Lord, to come against these things, through the power of Your Holy Spirit. And help him to remember God, that greater is he who is in me then he who is in the world. I also pray Lord, that You remind him that he’s so dear to the Father’s heart. Give him a craving for Your word Lord, that can’t be satiated. Help him to stand firm and believe that Your word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. We thank You for Your incredible mercy and Your love Lord. And it’s in Your powerful name that we pray oh Jesus. Amen.

Isaiah 48:12-50:11, Ephesians 4:17-32, Psalm 69:1-18, Proverbs 24:5-6

Today is September 26th, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you, as it always is every day, as we move forward together in the Scriptures and through the Scriptures. So, we’ll will pick up where we left off yesterday, obviously, that’s what we do every day. And that leads us back into the book of Isaiah, we are, I’d say 75% through the book of Isaiah-ish and picking up where we left off yesterday will bring us to chapter 48 verse 12, through chapter 50 verse 11 today.

Commentary:

Okay so, several years ago reading through this passage that we read today in the letter to the Ephesians, I was reading through it and thinking of it in terms of wholeness and new nature, becoming who we were intended to be. In other words, like the full offering of what the Gospel brings to us, this transformation into a righteous and holy, set apart person. And I was trying to think like, what describes this state of being of wholeness and of course wholeness probably is the best word or shalom, the way things were supposed to be. But as I was thinking it through, I was like, what is the modern vernacular of what we’re going for, because everybody, I mean everybody, nobody really thinks they’re perfect and so we all know the things that are visible that are imperfections about us. And I don’t just mean just physically but in our character or whatever. We also know the things that are hidden really well that we’re working on, but nobody usually wakes up in the morning and thinks there’s just really nothing to work on. I’m perfect. So, everybody is aware, to some degree of some deficits in their lives. Ironically, that’s part of the cultural equation, that’s the pool we’re swimming in. And so, entire industries centered around marketing things, key into that knowledge that there are things that we want, there are things that we want to do, there are things that we very much want to improve in our lives. And so, often in like a marketing campaign is centered around showing us what we lack and showing us the solution to that lack. And for 99.99 you can fix that lack and that thing will be fulfilled, and that thing will become whole. So, as I was thinking this through a few years ago, I thought of a very, very popular thing to say. I’m trying to be the best version of myself, and I ended up using that analogy, even in writing ‘The God of Your Story’ because I think we can understand that. If we have a lack, the commercial comes on, tells us of something that we didn’t know that we needed but because of our sense of lack we realize this thing, I want this thing, because if you can become closer to the best version of yourself, why wouldn’t you want that product or service. And in so many ways this vista, this little pull off on the road of Ephesians that we get to get out of the car and look out across today, is discussing with us how to achieve or how to move toward the best version of ourselves. So, just listening to Paul as he begins in our reading today and I quote, “in the Lord’s name then, I will warn you, do not continue to live like the heathen whose thoughts are worthless and whose minds are in the dark. They have no part in the life that God gives, for they are completely ignorant and stubborn. They have lost all feeling of shame; they give themselves over to vice and do all sorts of indecent things without restraint.” That is probably a really decent description of not the best version of who Paul’s talking to and not the best version of ourselves. Right, I mean, living like the heathen, worthless thoughts, minds in the dark, completely ignorant, stubborn, no feelings of shame about any of that, a person was given themselves over to vice and does all sorts of indecent things with no restraint. I suppose we should all be willing to agree, that’s not the best version of anybody. So how do we move away from that category and move toward the best version of ourselves? Quoting from Paul, “get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to. The old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.” So, that is the best version of ourselves, that is the version we were intended to be, but that’s not just acknowledge that this would be the best version of ourselves, let’s understand what’s being said here. You must put on the new self. Okay, if we must put on the new self, then it must be possible. And this new self, according to Paul, is created in God’s likeness, in the image of God. Can we just acknowledge that because of Jesus’s love for us, that is even a sentence that can be said that we must put on the new self, which is created in the likeness of God and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy. It is so encouraging to understand that what our soul longs for and what we keep seeking, which is wholeness, is not a product or service that can be bought but is a gift that is bestowed freely upon us. First of all, that it’s even possible, is mind blowing. Second of all, that it’s freely available. Now, we got a vista here that is life-changing. This is the best version of ourselves a new self, a new nature in God’s image. This is what being made new or justified or sanctified through faith is. There is no commercial of any sort that can show us any product that we need to buy that can do this for us. It is a gift, but we have to collaborate in this gift. We have to maintain this gift. We could receive the gift of a brand-new car and drive that brand-new car right into the ground by not maintaining it at all. So, what would it look like to first of all, realize the magnitude of the gift that we’re talking about and through faith receive this gift and then collaborate by maintaining what we’ve been given freely. What would that look like? I quote from Paul, “no more lying, each of you must tell the truth to the other believer because we are all members together in the body of Christ. If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin and do not stay angry all day. Don’t give the devil a chance. If you used to rob, you must stop robbing and start working in order to earn an honest living for yourself and to be able to help the poor. Do not use harmful words but only helpful words, the kinds that build up and provide what is needed so that what you say will do good to those who hear you. And do not make God’s Holy Spirit sad, for the Spirit is God’s mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the day will come when God will set you free. Get rid of all bitterness, passion and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and tenderhearted to one another and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you, through Christ.” Let’s just acknowledge if this is how things are supposed to look, then they are possible. The best version of ourselves is to acknowledge, receive, and live into the fact that we are created in the image of God. We have been made Holy and set apart to God. This is how we we’re made and there are things in our lives, like, if we just go back and reread what I just read the Paul said, we’ll realize we have some work to do. But in paying attention to this and doing the work, collaborating with God and opening our hearts to his transformation inside of us. We are becoming the best person we can be, the most available person to God’s work that we can be. What we want is available. So, let’s give that some thought today as we enjoy this vista from the book of Ephesians.

Prayer:

So, Jesus, we love You. Why would You do this for us? Why do You love us like this, and even beyond what we can comprehend? It is a mind-blowing mystery. And that we can be completely transformed from the old self, the person that we were, into something brand-new, created in Your image and that this is free, that this is freely offered to us. All we can do is, humbly, express gratitude and a deep hearted surrender. And so, we surrender to You, Holy Spirit, inviting You to make us more and more aware of the transformation that is, not only available but that is occurring inside of us, day-by-day. Thank You, we love You. We want to live as the best versions of ourselves, because this is how we were made, and this is what is necessary for us to be about our Father’s business in this world. So, help us live into this we pray, in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base, that’s where you can find out what’s going on around here. Alternatively, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, which you can download free from the App Store that works with whatever tablet or phone or device that you’re using, then you can find out what’s going on around here in the app as well. So, check that out. Check out the different sections. Check out the Community Section. You’ll find different links there to get connected on the different social media channels that we participate in. Good to kind of follow along with Daily Audio Bible that way, if there is an announcement or whatever it can show up in your feed, but it’s also way to connect with each other. Also, there in the Community Section is the Prayer Wall and that is a resource that is always on and never off. And so, no matter what time zone we’re in, what continent we’re on, what oceans may lie between us, it doesn’t really matter. We can reach out day or night, any time, just pray for one another, read each other’s stories. Let each other know that we’re praying for one another. Also, share what’s going on, what we need our brothers and sisters to come around us and pray and lift us up over. And so, that is the Prayer Wall. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission to bring the spoken word of God, read fresh every day and given freely to whoever will listen to it, wherever they are on the planet or in life, whatever time it is, day or night and to build community around showing up around this Global Campfire together and taking the next step forward. If that brings good news and life and hope, into your world, 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 P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s 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.

Prayer and Encouragements:

This is Hands to Heaven. Father God, I lift the burdened ones to You today. You know them Lord, though many others don’t. They rarely speak of the burdened and carry the burden in their heart. Sometimes they’re embarrassed, sometimes they’re ashamed, sometimes they’re uncertain who they can trust because their trust has been betrayed, once too often. Many walk through the doors of our churches Sunday after Sunday after Sunday with a smile pasted on their faces, while inside, their hearts are bleeding. Some have held on to the burden so long that they don’t know how to let go. I lift up the burdened ones to You Father. Let them know that You can be trusted with every burden, every care, every obstacle beyond which they cannot see. Lead them to the one Lord, the brother or sister in Christ that You have chosen to share their concerns and lead them to You. You are the only one that can relieve the heaviness in our heart, but You call all of us to be Your hands and feet here. Lead the burden ones to those of Your children Lord who have experienced Your relief, firsthand. So, that they can share the encouragement and comfort You have given them. And one day Lord, let the burden ones be the very children who lead the way for others to lay down their cares at the foot of the cross. Let their stories inspire the next generation of burden ones to reach out for the hope that rests in You alone. In Jesus name I pray. This is Hands to Heaven. God Bless you all.

Hey Daily Bible Audio, this is your brother in South Florida. And I’m calling today, September 21st to answer to a prayer request from a sister who called, who’s prayer request was played today, on the 21st podcast. You didn’t leave your name my sister, but you mentioned of being in a bad place and that you needed prayers but your mental health. Holy Spirit, Heavenly Creator, Eternal God, Power of the Blood of Jesus Christ, Angels of Heaven that protects us daily, You know everybody’s heart. You know everybody that calls to this prayer request, the Hotline. You know their heart, You know their names. This sister did not leave her name, but I want to pray for her. I want to pray for her mental health, she’s in a bad place. Holy Spirit, that You fill her heart with Your love. And this prayer be heard, this request to be heard by You. Not of the ears of anyone here Lord, but You, Holy Spirit. You know her heart. She came to be in a bad place right now and I talk to You and I ask You to please deliver her to a better place, to her promised land. To a place of peace, that you bring her mental health to an ease, God. That You’re the one that controls everything Father, and she said she’s new at this podcast. Allow her to be filled with love here in this prayer request. And I pray to You God that You’ll hold her and that You’ll lift her up in Your grace and Your glory and Your love. That You allow her to feel love by You and You only. That she not look for religion but instead she looks for a relationship with You, Holy Spirit.

I have no idea how I’m gonna do this in two minutes. But I guess I’m, I guess I’m just scared. I, I’ve struggled with my faith my entire life. With really wanting to connect to it, with trying, with but something just always just felt wrong or like it wasn’t working. And I, I don’t know, I guess today I’m feeling like maybe I, maybe I just had a moment of honesty with myself, or something, I don’t know. But I, I don’t think I’m a Christian. Which is scary in part because if, because of how I was raised and because of some abuse and that but also, I just don’t know what that, what that means for me. I want to be a Christian or I thought I did but it just doesn’t ever, it’s never seemed to work no matter how hard I’ve tried to get to know, I don’t know. I ….

Hi, I’m calling from Norway. How you doing my DAB family? I’m so grateful for this community. I’m just calling because I need your prayers right now. I’m not married but I have children and my boyfriend doesn’t want to get married. I feel very shameful to go to church because I’ve been told by the pastor that I have to get married. And it’s considered fornication. I don’t do that, of course, I believe what he’s saying, and I believe in the Bible. But I feel so shameful to go to church, to bring my children to the church. And right now, I’m pregnant. I just don’t know what to do. Please pray for me. Thank you, and I know I made mistakes, like everyone else of course, but I feel so shameful. I pray Jesus for forgiveness, that He would wash me with His blood. But I need your prayers. I need to get things straight, get married and have a family like everybody else. Go to church with my husband, God willing. Thank you DAB family, God bless you. Have a blessed day. In Jesus name. Bye.

Good morning DABers, I called in a couple of times before, but I’ve never left a name. And I decided that it would Rock Hound. Anyway, I’m calling in today for Travis, he called in for friend, Lindsey, who’s mom was killed in a car accident. And I’m also calling in for Big Dawg. So, Lord, I thank You so much for Lindsey and I thank You Lord that she survived this horrible car accident. I don’t know if she’s a believer or not Lord, but You know. And I pray that she Lord, and whoever else was in that car will see that You have a purpose for their lives Lord, as they move forward. And though we can’t understand when these horrible things happen, Lord, I pray that You give Lindsey eyes to see and ears to hear Your comfort and Your love spoken over her. I pray hope and healing Lord, over her broken heart and the troubled heart and the terrible hardships that she’s been suffering, Lord. And I also pray Lord, against the spirit of fear. In Jesus name. And for Big Dawg, I pray Lord, that You’d heal his broken heart over that broken marriage too. Help him to see Lord, that when he is weak, You are strong, Lord. Remind him, oh God, that our fight isn’t against flesh and blood but against the powers of the dark world and the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. So, help him Lord, to come against these things, through the power of Your Holy Spirit. And help him to remember God, that greater is he who is in me then he who is in the world. I also pray Lord, that You remind him that he’s so dear to the Father’s heart. Give him a craving for Your word Lord, that can’t be satiated. Help him to stand firm and believe that Your word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. We thank You for Your incredible mercy and Your love Lord. And it’s in Your powerful name that we pray oh Jesus. Amen.