Micah 5:1-7:20 ~ Revelation 7:1-17 ~ Psalm 135:1-21 ~ Proverbs 30:5-6
Today is the 16th day of the month of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you as we forge our way toward the end of another of our shrinking number of weeks left in this year. It’s exciting. It’s exciting because we are rounding the bend without a doubt. So let’s get to it. We’re reading from the English Standard Version this week and we will conclude the book that we began yesterday, the book of Micah. Today chapter 5 verse 1 through 7 verse 20.
Commentary
We completed the book of Micah today and of course Micah is speaking prophetic words and some of them are very specific to the time and place that he is speaking them, but some of them are timeless and simple enough that if we could just simply absorb and then integrate by being awake and aware, integrate these things, it would be so profoundly helpful to us.
He is musing about the situation that they are in and the prophesy is of judgment to come, but he is musing about how can we move back, how we can get back to where we need to be with God? How is it that we humble ourselves and repent and actually be back in that place that we’re supposed to be? And the way he says it is:
With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high?
And then he kind of goes through this list: Is it that I need to sacrifice burnt offerings, the special kind? Would that please the Lord? If I could come up with thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil, is that what we need to do? Or even do I give up my children for my transgression? Is that what would wash away the sin of my soul?
What we have to do here is the question that gets an answer.
He has told you, oh man, what is good. What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?
It is like boom! Mic drop moment, right? Mic drop, walk off the stage, what else is there to say here? It always boils down to something simple that is very understandable but very complicated to actually live into because it requires the diminishment of our own will and desires in most cases. But it is this will and desire of ours that runs rampant, that gets us into so much trouble. It is this same will and desire that got us into trouble in the first place in the book of Genesis chapter 3. So we’re always kind of looking for how it is we can invoke God when there is nothing to invoke. He is within us. We must walk with him in collaboration.
So Micah is talking about what about these grandiose external things we can do, right? These big offerings. These rivers of oil, even the idea of giving up the children, which is over the top and something God never, ever asked for. In fact, God even says in the scriptures that kind of thing has never even entered my mind. But we always think it is like some kind of huge, huge thing that has to be done that somehow gets God to maybe pay some sort of attention when he is paying attention. He is totally paying attention and what Micah points out is it is not in the bombastic external things. It is in the simple internal things of the soul. What does he require of you other than to do justice, to be just in all that you do and to love kindness in all that you are and to walk humbly with your God? If those are our practices, if that is what we do, then we are moving toward wholeness. There isn’t really anything else required outside of just believing this.
So especially now in this season where goodwill is supposed to be all around us as we anticipate the arrival, the celebration of the arrival of the human one come to save us and long for the total restoration of all things at his second arrival, may we just understand that if we do justly in our lives and we love kindness and we walk humbly with our God, we will be doing what we are supposed to be doing. It may take many shapes. It may have many nuances based on our own personal life story and those within our sphere of influence and where we even are on this planet, it may take its own shape inside of us, but it is fundamentally leading us to repentance and wholeness. May we heed the words of the prophet Micah so long ago and apply these things so fundamentally in our lives that they are burned in like a tattoo. They are there. They cannot be taken away. It is written on our hearts that we must do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with our God.
Prayer
Father, that is our heart’s cry. The thing is we acknowledge that we can’t do this without your Holy Spirit’s involvement. We can try to be good. We can try to behave. We can discipline ourselves for a certain period of time, really correcting ourselves, and those things are very, very important, but we can’t pull this off before you truly without the collaboration of your Holy Spirit. So we ask, come Holy Spirit. Come. Let us do exactly this, what is good. What you require of us is to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with you, our God. Help us live into that today and tomorrow and every day that follows it, for all of our days. We ask this in the name of Jesus who makes this a possibility. Come Jesus, we pray in your name. Amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is home base. It’s where you find out what is going on around here. The three things that we’ve been talking about every day, I guess two of them have dropped off. We are sold out of the Daily Audio Bible Christmas Box for 2016. You can obviously and of course still get resources from the Daily Audio Bible Shop in time for Christmas, but the Christmas cut-off is midnight of the 18th, so just two days from now. That’s if you are in the United States. If you are hoping for something internationally for Christmas, then that deadline is past. We will happily send things out, but we’re kind of down to it as are most people who are shipping things these days.
But the one thing that is instant and still very, very much on the radar is the More Gathering for Women that will take place this April 6-9. It is our annual women’s conference and it makes for really, really one of the most unique gifts you could give to a woman because you’re not just giving a trip or something like that. You’re giving time and space to unpack and just be. That is something we all have to fight for and rarely get. So to have a few days where you don’t have to really do anything, you are just kind of guided through among friends some thoughts, some things to consider, and then go consider and really dig deep into your own life and the trajectory it is on and where it is headed and really have the space to hear from God and move forward and make whatever changes need to be made so that the path becomes clear, there is just a lot of value there and it is very unique. So if you’re looking for something really, really unique for the woman, the spouse, the sister, the girlfriend, well, then check out the Daily Audio Bible Women’s Conference. It’s called the More Gathering and you can learn all about it at www.DailyAudioBible.com. Between now and the end of the year we have the special advanced price discount that we offer each year around this time so you can take advantage of that.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in the final days of the year 2016, then we absolutely thank you and are humbled that Daily Audio Bible means enough to you to keep it moving forward. Thank you humbly. There are a few ways to go about this. The Daily Audio Bible website, www.DailyAudioBible.com. There is a link that is living right on the home page. If you’re using the app, you can push the More button in the lower right-hand corner. Or if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174. And really, thank you. Thank you for helping us get ourselves into the new year safe and sound and strong.
And of course, as always, as a community we consider one of our most distinctive things the fact that we are a loving community that shoulders each other’s burdens and prays for each other, and if you are carrying a load and you would like your brothers and sisters to help shoulder that load, then there is a number you can call – (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 Requests and Praise Reports
Hi dear family. This is Pastor Gene M. from Bradenton, FL. I love you very much. Let’s pray. Father, I thank you and preemptively go on the offensive against the enemy of our souls that comes to _________, to destroy, to lie to us. I rebuke him from our family relationships. I rebuke him from our friendship relationships. I go against him, Lord, because you say in your word that when we pray to you, we should ask to be delivered from evil, Father, and we ask to be delivered from evil, even before he attacks. We know that he plans for us our __________ and to disrupt our lives. We take authority in the mighty name of Jesus and take every thought and every __________ that is not according to your counsel to the cross of Jesus Christ. We submit it to the power of your resurrection. O dear Father, help us. Help us, Father, to resist. To those of us that are married, help us to see when the enemy is attacking us, that our struggle is not against flesh or blood. It is not against our spouses but against the enemy of our souls. Help us as the enemy lies to us in our relationships with our children. Help as the enemy tries to interfere as we try to minister and witness to others about Christ. Help us when the enemy tries to plan sedition and wants to make us __________ that our devices and social media that do not bring glory to your name and that makes us win an argument but that affects our testimony with others. Father, in the name of Jesus, Father, I pray for Alicia from Kansas and ask that you will continue encouraging her. I pray for the daughter of my sister Melisa, pray that you will continue to strengthen her and take out all those suicidal thoughts. I pray for the continued restoration of Abbie, daughter of my sister Jen and I pray for my brother New Creation and ask that you will continue to…
Hello Daily Audio Bible members. Thank you for praying for everyone that you’ve prayed for all these years. I’m calling, I don’t normally ask people to pray for me, but something has been happening to me that has made me so frightened I need to. Father, we know that wherever two or more are gathered in your name, that you are there among them and so that is why I am calling you today, Daily Audio Bible members. I’m withdrawing from a medication that I was given and it has been very painful because it has given me seizures. My name is Anthony, if I didn’t say that. But it is giving me basically convulsions and seizures and they are unpredictable. I can never predict. They happen all through the day and they even happen at night when I’m attempting to sleep. This has been making it difficult to meet my own responsibilities, to be there for my family and loved ones, and it has also just been very frightening for me in many ways including on a spiritual basis and I just ask if anyone is willing to pray for me that I can be healed from this condition. The doctors don’t know how to help me right now and it has been the most traumatic experience for me. But thank you and I’ll continue to pray for you and those of you that I hear about. God bless you. Thank you. Goodbye.
Hey DAB brothers and sisters. This is Byron out in Florida. Jordan out in Detroit, I got a message for you straight from God. God loves you. God loves you. God loves you. God loves you. I can’t think of a time where I’ve spoken so forcefully on the prayer line, but Jordan, don’t you dare give up on this 30-day challenge because if you have nothing else to say, you can say that God loves you. Whether you feel it or not it is the truth. You can call in every day and just say that, but you have to keep this going. You have to. God shows up for those who do not quit so don’t quit. God loves you. It is the truth whether you have a good day or bad day, whether you’re feeling it or not. It is the truth. Don’t give up. I am praying for you. I’m rooting for you. We’re all rooting and praying for you, Jordan. Don’t give up. God loves you.
Family, I hope you’re all doing well. This is Biola from Maryland. Shout-out to you, Egbert, my brother. I’m praying for you. I did get your message. God bless you, my brother. I pray that God would continue to help you in your walk with him. Carol? I don’t recall, but the sister who lives in Minnesota but couldn’t go to Israel because of an accident, I am praying for you. The word of God says that he gives his beloved sleep. The Bible says that you shall lie down and your sleep shall be sweet and I plead that word over you right now. I generate it in your life. I make it active, in the name of Jesus. Sister, when you lie down your sleep will be sweet and you’ll be fully healed, in the precious name of Jesus. Blind Tony, I hope you’re doing much better. I’m still praying for you, in Jesus’ name. God bless you, my brother. I want to pray for the brother also who talked about addiction to porn and alcohol. Brother, the Bible says that he who the Son has set free is free indeed. The devil is using these to make you feel condemned and give you guilt. I pray in the name of Jesus that the power of this will be broken in your life and your daughter’s life. She is also addicted to porn. In the name of Jesus I decree and declare, brother, that you are set free in the name of Jesus and you will be completely free, in Jesus’ name, that when you think about porn or alcohol, it will be disgusting to you, in the name of Jesus. You will no longer have any satisfaction in looking at porn or drinking alcohol, in the precious name of Jesus. As I have decreed, so it shall be, in Jesus’ name. Brian and Jill, shout-out to you. God bless both of you. Okay, people. Women, start registering for the More Conference. This is a plug. Jill did not tell me to do this, but I’m telling you it’s an awesome conference. You need to start registering and start taking up your spaces before the spaces fill up. It is awesome. I can’t tell you how awesome it is. God bless you.
Hi Brian, Jill, Tyler, China, Ezekiel, Cristian and the DAB family. This is Garth from Bromley Kent, UK. As a family this year, we’re doing something different over the holiday season. We’ll be traveling with friends to places we’ve never been before. Recently I saw a few of Jill’s posts on the DAB Facebook page that have had me thinking and reflecting. After hearing Brian’s prayer on the 12th of December, it triggered me contemplating about intentionally experiencing Christmas in a different way. Always prevalent at this time as you look around are joy, peace, and love. The Holy Spirit was fundamentally bringing about the birth of Christ and his fingerprint is all over the biblical narrative, so this Christmas, apart from focusing on joy, peace, and love, which are easier to do, why not intentionally look for ways of enhancing the other Fruit of the Spirit in ourselves, in our environment and in those we come into contact with: Kindness, goodness, patience, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness. Against such, there is no law. Brian, Jill, and family, thank you for your sacrificial giving to the Daily Audio Bible. The Lord continue to bless you and keep you. May the Lord continue to make his eyes shine upon us all this Christmas as we continue to focus on him. We ask all this in the precious name of his son, Jesus. Amen.
Good morning Dabbers. Today is December 13th. I’m a burning bush that will not be devoured for the glory of our God and King. This morning I heard many requests including a man who called and basically mentioned again how this time of the year can be difficult for some. He lost his brother on Christmas Day. I am praying for you. A lady also called. She is also estranged from her kids, and another lady, sorry I didn’t get the names because I’m driving, but you mentioned something about giving in to thoughts, negative thoughts in your mind that cause you to go into a dark place. I might be paraphrasing it, but I believe it happens to the best of us. I just want to say this. Whatever we focus on we empower to have complete control over our thoughts, our will, our emotion and our action. So I am just challenging us today to focus on God. Focus on what God has done for us this year. In Liberia the end of the year there is a song we sing New Year’s Day. We say Happy New Year, we don’t die all, which means thank God, Happy New Year, I didn’t die. I know it sounds like not a lot but if for nothing we have that to be thankful for. I love you guys.