Month: May 2017

1 Samuel 12:1-13:23 ~ John 7:1-29 ~ Psalm 108:1-13 ~ Proverbs 15:4

Today is the 12^th day of May.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I am Brian.  It’s good to be here with you today as we round the corner toward the end of another week. We’re not there yet.  Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.  We have been learning about Israel’s first king, Saul, and he’s had a great victory and rallied the people together and this is a good point to just point out watch this.  Watch this story unfold.  Watch Saul. Look for yourself in Saul.  Not everything is going to be you, but look for the things that he is doing and why he’s doing them because it becomes a very, very close mirror into our lives because we’re very, very quickly seeing cause and effect, like where the road goes, and it is supremely helpful.  So we’ll dive back into this story – 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 1 through 13, verse 23 – and we’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week.  

Commentary

As we’re getting to know Saul, the first king of Israel, we should notice that it is kind of doomed before it ever really, really gets going.  The prophet Samuel comes to Saul today because of what he’s done and basically tells him as much, that this is not going to work out and God is going to pick somebody else.  But we’ve already learned a lot from Saul.  And we’re nowhere near done learning from him, but let’s just look at it.

When Saul is open to the Spirit of the Lord, he becomes something greater than he is.  He is even prophesying with the prophets or he’s rising up and people are following him into battle.  But when Saul is not open to the Spirit of the Lord, he’s diminished and he shrinks. So he’s prophesied with the prophets and that spread through the land to the point of a proverb, like a euphemism, like a slang term.  “Is Saul now one of the prophets?”  This becomes a saying.  That is when he’s open to the Spirit of God.  And then when he’s about to be anointed king and God is calling clans and tribes and families and people out to show who is going to be the king, Saul can’t be found anywhere and when they finally do find him he is hiding.  He’s hiding in the baggage, which should say something to us. When Saul is open to the Spirit of God he’s prophesying.  When he’s not, he’s hiding in the baggage.  Now we have our own lives in front of us.  Boom! Now we have a mirror.  

So what we had in today’s reading is that the Philistines have been provoked and they have been kind of lording it over Israel now.  There is this back and forth between the Philistines and the Israelites throughout most of the Old Testament, but the Philistines have the upper hand at this point and they won’t even let the Hebrews have weapons.  So they are about to go into battle and they have gone into a little battle, but it is just basically assembling the armies. So Saul is waiting for Samuel to come and seek the Lord’s favor in the battle and Samuel doesn’t come on time. And Saul is sitting there watching his army disintegrate.  So he feels like he has to do something and what he decides to do is basically take on the role of Samuel and seek the Lord’s favor for himself with a sacrifice, which is not what God told him to do.  And Samuel had been explicit with the people and with Saul.  “All you have to do is listen and obey.  That is all you have to do.  That is all you’ve ever had to do.  It’s all any of you have ever had to do, but you won’t do that.”  And Saul doesn’t do that.  And what is his excuse?  “I felt pressured into sacrificing the burnt offering.  You didn’t come when you said you would.  The Philistines were assembling.  I thought ‘now they are going to come against me and I haven’t sought the Lord’s favor,’” and so he’s beginning to see all of the excuses, all of the elaborate intricate ways that Saul is trying to explain himself while deferring blame for his own actions onto some other set of circumstances or some other person which he will continue to do.  

We do this kind of stuff and I point this out now because there is a lot to learn from Saul.  We went through the entire life of Joseph.  It seems like forever ago, way back in those early books, but Joseph was doing the right thing in spite of every wrong thing happening.  We learned a lot from Joseph.  There is plenty for us to learn from Saul.  

Prayer

Father, we invite you into this territory that we’re in, this good fertile ground, this trail, this patch of path that we’re following through this hard portion of the Bible.  It is so rich in drama and intrigue and humanity and choices and people and it is a retelling of so much of the story of our own lives.  So we invite you, Holy Spirit, to begin to awaken us to these facts. To not just listen to stories that have drama and keep our attention, but to also look deeper and understand that these stories are speaking to our hearts and they are telling our story and you are giving us such wisdom in where these paths lead.  So come Holy Spirit, we ask.  In Jesus’ name, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here, so check it out.  Be sure to check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources that are available for the journey along this path that we’re on going through the Bible this year.  And check out the Prayer Wall while you’re there.  People are continually posting and praying and responding and it is a great place for that.  So check it out.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link.  It’s on the home page.  Thank you. Thank you.  Thank you for your partnership.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button that is in the lower right-hand corner or if you prefer the mail, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Hello Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Leonard from Brooklyn, NY.  I’m Saved by Grace and I’m calling because I’ve been meditating on a scripture for the last few days and I would like to share.  It’s 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and it states, “Rejoice and pray continually. Give praise in all circumstances for this is God’s will concerning you in Christ Jesus.”  These are commands, Daily Audio Bible family, commands we can’t possibly hope to fulfill on our own, but if we ask anything according to God’s will, he hears us and we can be confident that he will answer us.  So my prayer request for me and for the rest of you guys, let’s pray for this together, is that we can do this and our lives would be a testimony.  We won’t need words as much because we’ll be living out the gospel.  That would be such an amazing testimony to the glory of God. Thank you.  Thank you, Daily Audio Bible family.  Thank you, Brian.  I love you guys.  Be blessed. Be encouraged.  Thank you.  Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible.  My name is Sarah.  I’m a longtime listener, first-time caller as I’ve heard many people.  I’m calling for I have a prayer request for my children, for their salvation, that God would draw them closer to him.  And I pray specifically for my younger son and his girlfriend as she has just been diagnosed with a liver disease and they are talking about hospice.  They are so young.  I just pray that God would do a miracle in their lives.  I pray for their salvation, that God will open doors that will allow us to go into their lives and share God’s love with them.  They are pretty private.  I just ask that they would be open to letting me sit with her and just love on her and pray with her.  Pray with me that God would lead them to the right doctors, that people would explain things to them because there are a lot of things that they don’t understand and they are going to the doctor alone.  I just pray a miracle, that they would just be surrounded with God’s love, that God would use these doctors as his tools.  God is in control.  He is our physician.  Ultimately, he knew her before she was born.  He wove her in her mother’s womb and I just pray for a miracle for their lives, both my son and his girlfriend.  I thank you all for your prayers.  I thank you in advance as I pray with you daily, every single prayer request I am in agreement.

Hi, this is Pastor Joanna.  This is the first time calling.  I’ve been listening for several years now.  I love the program.  I want to reach out to I think it was a grandmother who was talking about their grandchild who is not tolerating the formula.  I think they were premature.  Anyway, we had the same situation with my grandson.  He wasn’t premature but he had a really bad allergy to the formula they were giving him and we found out he could not drink any formula that had a milk base. He ended up going through 12 different formulas by the time he was two months old and they finally prescribed him a formula that is amino acid based.  It has no milk whatsoever in it and he’s tolerating that just fine and he’s going to be eight months old and he’s doing great.  So I just wanted to reach out to you and hope that helps you.  Maybe you would want to talk to the doctor about it, but I want you to know that I’m going to be praying for your grandchild.  God bless you.  Bye-bye.  

Hi, this is Megan calling from beautiful British Colombia.  First time calling in.  God put it on my heart this morning to encourage those of you who are thinking about going to Israel, who have come up with lots of excused not to go, to trust God for provision and for protection on that journey.  I know that I had an experience two years ago to go.  I didn’t want to go to Israel.  I didn’t have the money or the time and God removed all those obstacles for me and allowed me to go.  It was an experience I will never forget.  He really changed my heart in the Holy Land, so I want to encourage.  If you’re thinking about going, I want to encourage you to trust God to guide you there.  Thank you family.  And I thank you for your prayers and I pray for you all every day.  Thank you.  

Hi, this is Stanley from Maryland.  Hello to Stan from Maryland.  I’m glad we acknowledge that we both have the same name.  Hey, I just wanted to let you guys know that I’m praying for you guys. I am seeking the Lord myself and he’s been so great to me.  He’s been showing me how much he loves me lately and how he cares and that he is a faithful God.  You know, I change but he stays the same.  He is a God of love and he chooses to love us throughout whatever we go through, so I’m just here to give a word of encouragement to trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding, but in everything you do, acknowledge him and he shall direct your path.  Thank you so much, Father, for everything that you’re doing in our lives.  Thank you that even though things don’t always seem hopeful, things don’t always seem happy, things don’t always seem right, things don’t always seem good, things don’t always seem like they are going to work out, we thank you that you are faithful and that you have come for your people and that the prayers of the righteous will not be forsaken.  Thank you so much Lord.  We love you. You are our hiding place.  You preserve us from evil.  You surround us with songs of salvation.  And as we go throughout the rest of this day, may your Holy Spirit be with us.  Alright you all, have a good rest of your day.  Bye.  

1 Samuel 10:1-11:15 ~ John 6:43-71 ~ Psalm 107:1-43 ~ Proverbs 15:1-3

Today is the 11^th day of May.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I am Brian.  It’s great to be here with you today as we follow the trail that leads us through the entire Bible with all its peaks and valleys in a year.  So we’re following a stretch of trail right now in the Old Testament that is introducing us to the prophet Samuel and a kingship among the Israelite people, so we’ve met this man named Saul and we’re going to continue with his story today.  We’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week, 1 Samuel chapter 10, verse 1 through 11:15.    

Commentary

So in the book of John today Jesus thins the herd in a hurry because he starts talking in a way that they are not quite tracking with.  By the way, it leads to one of the saddest scenes in the Bible to me.  I mean, there are many sad scenes, but this one in particular, but we’ll get to that in a minute.  

So Jesus basically gives what I like to call his vampire monologue today. “I can guarantee this truth.  If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have the source of life in you.  Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life and I will bring them back to life on the last day.  My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.  Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I live in them.”

Okay, so if you’re one of the people in the crowd and you hear that, that is when you start taking slow, imperceptible steps backward until you feel you’re at a good running distance and you can get away clean.  Right?  You hear somebody talking like that and you’re like, “Yeah, I knew something had to be wrong with this story.  This was too good to be true.”

So Jesus said, “Did what I say make you lose faith?”  

And for many, for many it did.  But was it real faith in Jesus or was it faith in his ability to do something that looked like magic or was it faith in the kinds of things he was saying? What is going on here?

And then we do get to this sad moment where Jesus looks at his twelve, his close friends, and says, “Do you want to leave me too?”  

That is sad to me because it is like I’ve been the one to walk away like that in my life.  I’ve had those times, but now that I know Jesus, love him, and am in awe of him, just the thought that it comes down to these 12 last friends and he has to say this is just really sad.  It is God in the flesh and there is like no one left.  Thankfully Simon Peter gets it right.  There are times he gets it wrong, but he really gets this right.  “Lord, where would we go?  Who can we go to?  Your words give eternal life and we know you are the holy one of God.”  That is a beautiful response and the response that has to well up within us.  

But back to the vampire monologue.  It is pretty clear that Jesus never was trying to be a Rockstar.  Death metal hadn’t even been invented yet, so he wasn’t trying to pass as a Dark Rockstar.  He was not trying to do this ever.  He told people to keep everything secret, not tell anybody, constantly, constantly deferring in every possible way with the people.  He was constantly pulling away to be with the Father.  He was constantly disappearing and they find him, the crowds find him.  So he is not trying to build an army here.  He’s not trying to build a fan base here.  When he says this stuff that he says today about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, it is just one more instance of Jesus being himself. This thins it out because he is looking for a people who can hear his voice and understand what he is saying. The people that understand, they come to him and it is because God has awakened something in them.  They have been awakened.  And he says as much.  So when he unpacks what he was saying, it becomes very clear.  So in his words, “The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual.  They are life, but some of you don’t believe.”

We can see how, but we can also see what Jesus was saying.  God has been sustaining this chosen people all along. I mean, we’ve been following this story all along and this whole thing got started with people looking for more food. He had just fed 5000 and now they are looking for manna, so Jesus kind of thins the whole thing out and gets it back to its base level.  He is saying, “God has cared for you and your physical wellbeing for a very, very long time and now God is here to care for your spiritual nourishment, your spiritual wellbeing, to reunite your spirit and your flesh, to make you how you were created to be and this will lead you into eternal life and I am the path.  I am telling you how this works.  I am showing you the way to go.  People can’t come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me.  And I’ll bring those people back to life on the last day.”  So, in other words, he is saying if you’re getting what I’m saying, and you come to me, then you have pressed through, you get it.  

So as we look for all of the solutions to our lives in our own strength and then we consider the offer of the gospel, we have to come to the same conclusion Peter did.  “Lord, to what other person could I go?  Your words give eternal life and I want to feast on them.  I want to be nourished from the inside out.  I want to come awake.  I want to come alive.  I want to be resurrected with you.  I want to be enlightened.  I want to be who I was made to be and how I was made to be.”

Prayer

Jesus, that is our prayer, that we would come awake, we would see things clearly as they really are and that with you within us, your life within us, we are living an eternal life.  We are here to be your hands and feet, so come Holy Spirit as we ponder this today. We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on.  We’re going to be going back to this land of the Bible.  So many of these places that so many of these stories happen in that we’re talking about almost every day, we’ll be putting our feet on those places, in those places.  Like all of this that we’re reading about in Jesus’ life takes place in Capernaum. That was his home base.  It was kind of his adult hometown.  We’ll be going there.  This story can come alive to you in the place that it happened.  So you are invited.  I am also told that capacity is filling up quickly, quicker than any other year, so if it is on your radar, if it is in your heart, check it out.  You can check it out at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Just kind of scroll down and look for the Initiatives.  You’ll find this little banner that says Israel 2018.  Or you can just go to www.DailyAudioBibleIsrael.com and that will take you right there, give you the details, tell you what you want to know.  Looking forward to it.  Looking forward to seeing you.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the common mission that we share to continue to bring the spoken word of God to anyone who will listen, anywhere on this planet, anytime of day or night and to continue to build community around that rhythm so that no one ever has to feel alone in this faith journey, if that has been life-giving to you, if that resonates with you, then thank you for your partnership in allowing it to exist and allowing what we have to exist.  Thank you. So if you want to partner, you can go to www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link on the home page.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press 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, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Good morning family.  This is Redeemed in Him from Virginia and I have had Chante on my mind since she called about her work issues.  Chante, the Lord brought me back to a prayer that I wrote over myself and my family and the DAB sometime in April and I wanted to pray this over you.  Some of the grammar may not fit right or seem right, but I want to pray this prayer over you.  That is what the Lord has brought on my heart.  So Jesus, I pray for your continued anointment to resolve and set forth the way in everything Chante touches, that you know its purpose which she cannot see, so I am thanking you ahead of time for all the work you are giving her now and all that you will give her forever.  I pray she will grow ever stronger and more joyful and happy in each and every task you give her.  I pray she will forever know your perfect peace in her life forevermore. Praying that her and her family and anyone connected to her will be a blessing everywhere they go and that lives will change for your glory and that you will protect her from all harm from the evil one.  Thank you that you love her so very much.  We praise you and worship only you.  In Jesus’ name.  

Daily Audio Bible family, this is Keith from New Hampshire.  I’ve been gone for a while, but I’m back and I wanted to tell you and thank you all.  Several years ago I called with prayer requests for my oldest son.  He was a teenager at the time and was really, really struggling with his faith and his choices and he was going with this youth group to Haiti at the time.  I reached out and asked that you pray that the experience would change him.  I don’t know whether it was Haiti or your prayers or what, but I just want to let you know God is good.  My son is 20 years old now and he is born again, loving Jesus and working for Jesus and making good choices and he is an example to me.  He challenges me.  It is amazing how good God can be if we just surrender to him and trust him and I wanted to let you all know.  Thank you so much for praying for him.  I’m so proud of him and I’m so grateful to our Lord and Savior.  

Hi.  This is Abba’s Theresa and this message is for Asia from Munich and Walta, the burning bush that will not be devoured for the glory of our God and King.  I just listened to today’s podcast which is May 9^th and I heard both of your testimonies of God’s goodness in your lives.  Asia, your testimonial list of thankfulness and Walta, your testimony about what happened to you in Liberia, it brought me to tears.  I just had to call and express to both of you how much you are so loved and how hearing your voices on the DAB means so much to me.  I don’t call in very often, but I listen every day and I pray along with every single person who calls in and I also pray for those who don’t call in.  But anyway, I just wanted you to know, both of you to know that you are so very much loved by me and by everyone on here.  I pray that God blesses you both abundantly, above and beyond what you could ever hope, imagine, dream or think.  This is Abba’s Theresa and I hope everyone has a wonderful day.  God bless you all.  

Good morning DAB family.  This is Rachel in Houston.  I was just calling to update you guys on my teammate who her son took the bullet for her. She has been back at work for about two weeks and she is having a really hard time focusing.  She said that she is not sleeping and she is having nightmares. They caught the killers and arrested them and they were plastered all over the news on Friday evening, so yesterday was really, really hard for her.  In fact, we sent her home from the office.  I would just like you to please continue to lift her up in prayer.  I can’t even imagine how that must feel. We are trying to be supportive and move her into the right way.  She believes in God and we have prayed together and we’re just trying to love on her as much she we can.  But if you can keep lifting her up in prayer, that would be great.  I love you guys and I will talk to you soon.  Bye.  

Oh, Annette A. from Oklahoma City, it’s Dr. John from Jordan.  Do you like to hear a grown man cry?  That letter from Alex was absolutely beautiful and I know his fear of you not loving him and not accepting him is absolutely unfounded.  I can’t wait to hear about you wrapping those mama bear arms around him.  That is fantastic.  Praise God.  I’m just ecstatic with tears of joy.  So thank you for sharing that even though it made me cry.  Chante from Detroit, just rest in God and know that if you’re in a place where you’re not able to do what you’re supposed to do, that may not be where you’re supposed to be.  And I don’t know if I told you guys that I got fired from my last doctor job and really being where I wasn’t supposed to be.  I got comfortable in my discomfort being where I wasn’t meant to be.  So Chante, be prayerful as to whether God wants you to stay there.  If he does, he will give you everything that you need to do that job.  If not, he’s got another plan for you and he will provide for you.  By the way, say hi to my buddy June Bug and I hope things are going well for all you guys. Take care.  Bye-bye.  

1 Samuel 8:1-9:27 ~ John 6:22-42 ~ Psalm 106:32-48 ~ Proverbs 14:34-35

Today is May 10^th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today and I guess I’m ready.  I have this little preflight checklist in my mind, but I think we’re ready.  Coffee is here.  Microphone is here.  Headphones are here.  Sound is happening.  Everything is ready to go.  Are you ready?  Okay, here we go.  

We’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week and our reading from the Old Testament will be from 1 Samuel.  We’re getting to know Samuel.  We learned of his childhood and the events that were surrounding the time of his life, some of the things that were going on.  He is a prophet in the land and a judge in the land, a ruler, a leader, but a new context for leadership is about to enter the story. So we’ll dive in.  1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 1 through 9:27 today.  

Commentary

So in the book of 1 Samuel today we meet somebody that we’re going to get to know quite a bit better.  His name is Saul and he’s from the tribe of Benjamin.  You’ll remember the tribe of Benjamin from just a couple days ago in the book of Judges.  We watched the tribe of Benjamin just about be wiped out from the face of the earth and, over time, little by little they’ve been growing.  They’ll never be the biggest tribe.  They are the smallest tribe.  Saul comes from this tribe.  We’re going to get to know his story quite well.  Not a bunch of spoilers here.  Just remember, look into Saul’s life as a mirror because there are things in Saul that we will find in ourselves.  That is how the Bible really works, I have found.  We can read history.  We can read stories.  We can read customs.  We can read rituals.  They are fascinating and very, very interesting, but when the Bible becomes a mirror, then it changes us.  Saul’s story is extraordinary, but the things that motivate Saul’s heart are the things that pull us as well, so there is much to learn there.  

When we get to the book of John today we have something very, very fascinating going on.  It kind of connects with what I was just saying.  Jesus has come into the world and he’s speaking light into the world and he’s showing people how to look at the world and how to look at their lives and how to live and it is connecting, but he is speaking far more than just the physical issues of any given day.  Yes, those are important things, but there is more going on.  Jesus is trying to say there is more going on and expose that to show a more holistic look at an integrated spirituality and physicality.  

We are spiritual beings and we are physical beings and Jesus’ message is appealing to the heart, which is why he uses stories a lot, why he tries to unpack concepts that people have been blinded to for so long, including us.  So we kind of see that.  Jesus has just fed 5000 people and walked on water.  That was in yesterday’s reading, so today’s reading is the next day and people are trying to figure out where Jesus went and they eventually find him in Capernaum.  It is here that we see what is going on.  We can see the undertow of conversation.  

Jesus has just fed 5000 people.  This looks like the ancient story that these people know.  They know that in their history there was a season where they were wandering in the wilderness and they had nothing to eat and God fed them manna from heaven to sustain them.  So when they find Jesus, Jesus says to them, “I guarantee you this. You’re not looking for me because you saw miracles.  You’re looking for me because you ate as much of those loaves as you wanted.”  

You can almost imagine what people were saying.  Like, “We saw this happen.  We ate this.  Maybe this is bread from heaven.  Somehow this is miraculous.  We need more of this.”  

And Jesus, as he’s having this conversation, shifts it like he always does. “Don’t work for food that spoils. Instead, work for the food that lasts into eternal life.  This is the food that the Son of Man will give you.”  So he’s turning it from the purely physical to a more comprehensive look at things.  

So as they’re trying to get their mind around it, they just simply ask, “What does God want us to do?”

Jesus’ response to that (and that is a big question) is “God wants to do something for you so that you believe in the one he sent to you.”

They immediately move toward miracles.  “What miracle are you going to perform?”  And then they suggest the one that they would like Him to perform. “Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert.  Scripture says he gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

Jesus’ response is “I guarantee you Moses didn’t give bread from heaven. That’s my Father.  My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.”

And they said what we would say.  “Okay, great.  Can I have some of that bread?”

Okay, so that is like a really, really open, important question.  This is a time when Jesus answers back directly with the truth instead of an illustration.  If you notice, when Jesus answers, when all of the questions have been answered and all of the illustrations have been given and he has to give the straight truth, this is when it offends people.  This is when they can’t handle it.  They can’t get their mind around it.  They can’t quite make that leap from beyond just their physicality, from just beyond their physical senses to understand there really is way more going on in their existence than simply what their bodies can interpret.  

So Jesus answers directly, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never become hungry.  Whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. I’ve told you that you’ve seen me but you don’t believe in me, but everyone who the Father gives me will come and I will never turn away from anyone who comes to me.”

So the people want magic.  They want manna and Jesus is shifting the story.  “There is spiritual nourishment, there is a nourishment that informs all other hunger.  There is a full that touches every other kind of hunger and I am it.  So just come to me.”  And even coming to Jesus, when we think of coming to Jesus, we have to acknowledge there is more going on than our physical senses can comprehend. There is more going on.  

Prayer

Jesus, we want that bread of life.  We want to never hunger and thirst again.  We want to hunger and thirst for righteousness and your presence in our lives. But we realize, just like your hearers at this time, we’re very, very tethered to the input of our physical senses and so often believe this is really all there is.  So everything that we have to do with you goes through that filter.  Everything that we want, everything that we desire has something to do with circumstance as opposed to being drawn into a larger story, a bigger view, a greater understanding of a much bigger story that is going on in your kingdom on this earth. So come Holy Spirit, expand what we think that we know.  Let our hearts reach out in truth for you, to be filled once again so that we will never hunger and thirst, and so that every other thing in our lives will be oriented properly because we are whole, we are full from within.  Come Holy Spirit.  We ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  Check it out. It’s where you find out what is going on.  Check out the Prayer Wall that is there, resources that are available there, and stay connected.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, that can be done at www.DailyAudioBible.com as well.  There is a link on the home page.  Thank you humbly, honestly.  Thank you for all of these days that we’ve been able to do this together.  And thank you for helping us in the future, tomorrow, the next day.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  If you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

Good morning my fellow Dabbers.  This is the day that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it.  I wanted to just reach out to you all and just let you know that I’m lifting up all the prayer requests.  I listen to them.  I write them down and I pray over them, interceding often when I’m in prayer. This is Pamela calling from Huntington, NY.  Just thanking God for this wonderful, wonderful day and all of you.  Just want to encourage those who are in marriages who are struggling, that God is able.  I want you to hold onto that.  And for those of you who are going through financial difficulty, the Lord is able to bless you as well, but you have to give in order to receive.  Very, very important.  You have to give in order to receive, giving your tithe, giving your offering, give to others and as you give, you’ll receive.  God is a god of principle.  I just wanted to say that.  Continue to pray, please, for me and Pastor Gary.  Don’t forget him.  Keep him in your prayers.  God bless everyone.  

Hey Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Lance in San Diego and it’s May 8^th.  Anyway, the first thing I want to let you guys know is I’m praying for all your prayers out there, every single one, and many others also. Many of us listen to every single prayer.  Even if you’re on the Community Prayer Podcast for the week there, we get through all those and we pray for all those.  If God puts anything on your heart to call about, you should just call in and trust God that we’ll be praying for you.  And that’s kind of why I’m calling.  God keeps putting something on my heart to call in and share about and that is to share about my experiences with fasting.  A lot of people are fasting and I fast too.  I’ve done some longer fasts in the past, so God just kind of put it on my heart to talk a little bit about that.  I really don’t share…I haven’t really ever shared, but fasting for me has always been a very personal and spiritual tool that God has used in my life and I’ve always kept it private, as he talked about in Matthew 6, but I feel God is leading to share specifically how to prepare for a fast if you want to do a longer fast or if God is putting it on your heart to fast. And if God is putting it on your heart to fast and it keeps coming up, something in your heart you should try, fasting is a simple thing to do.  All it is is not eating.  Some people fast something, but what I’m talking about is fasting food.  Simply two or three day fast to begin with.  So over the next few days I’ll be calling in. I’m preparing for a fast.  I’ll be going through my preparation phase where I first make sure I’m sleeping enough hours every night.  I get to bed at 10:00 and the next week I’m going to start cutting out caffeine because I love my coffee like many of us do.  It is sitting here at the desk looking at me.  And then on the __ week I’ll be preparing my diet as well.  So that is about my time.  I’ll be calling in later on how I’m doing.  Talk to you guys later.  Bye.  

Hi DAB family.  This is Paula calling from Albuquerque.  I’m going to try and talk fast, which I know I don’t normally do, but after listening to the Community Prayer from Saturday, what day was that, May 6^th, I really felt led that I needed to call.  Praise report:  My little miracle grandson after nine weeks is off oxygen completely.  He is gaining weight.  He weighs like 8-½ pounds from 4 pounds when he was born.  Please continue to pray for him, for his little system.  He is not tolerating the formula that they have him on.  We need provision for that.  My kids need to both get back to work and keep their focus on that as well so they can move out and get their own place.  Also I had asked prayer for my ex-husband.  He had his surgery for colon cancer on Thursday.  The doctors say that he is cancer free.  I ask for continued prayers for my sweet friend Alaina here. I’ve called before.  They said the cancer is spreading and they have only given her two options and she is refusing to accept what they say.  The other thing is Annette, my eyes are just now drying after you reading that letter.  I work for an organization that operates under this imaginary letter that we would get from our customers and what you read is a letter I would love to get from my own son.  And I’m sure that there are others that feel the same way about their prodigals.  Also praying for marriages, for addictions, for healing, for standing for the right thing.  Thank you Joe.  I love you guys and listening and praying as I go.  Have a blessed week.  Amen.  

Hello, my name is Jackie from Vancouver in Canada.  I am calling for our brother, I think you said your name was Ken from Orange County in California and you called because you’re struggling to know how to let go, how to give it to God and let go.  I just had to call.  I am way behind in listening and I listen every day.  I wanted to tell you, my brother, that you are doing exactly right.  You called in to ask for prayer.  That is how to start to let go.  I’ll just tell you from my experience I’ve had __ with a breakthrough to unrequited love, for actually being with someone and trying to let go.  I know how difficult it is and I understand where you’re coming from.  From my history, I woke up every day and I said to God every day, out loud “God, help me let go because I don’t know how to do it myself.”  And then I prayed to the Holy Spirit, “Help me in the day to let go.”  And you have to do that repeatedly every day out loud so that you’re saying it with your brain, with your heart, with your everything, asking for God to help you because you can’t let it go yourself, only God can.  I love you.  I’m praying for you.  I’ve been there.  It will be okay.  Thanks family.  I’m praying for all of you.  Bye.  

Hi, this is Daniel from Wisconsin and I have a praise report I’m sending your way.  Oh, it is so great.  My wife was under the knife a couple of days ago for a reported cyst the size of a football. Everything has been removed.  It is benign.  It is cancer free and it is just a miracle, just a miracle.  We thank you.  We thank you, Lord, for all that prayed for us.  Again, this is Dan from Wisconsin giving praise for my wife Trudy.  Thank you very much.  Have a great day.  Bye.  

1 Samuel 5:1-7:17 ~ John 6:1-21 ~ Psalm 106:13-31 ~ Proverbs 14:32-33

Today is May 9^th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. It’s good to be here with you today for the next step forward in the grand adventure that we’re on together through the whole of the Bible this year and we’re well on our way.  If I’m adding right this is the 129^th day of the year, so we’ve got a good thing going.  And we’re going to keep going and in order to keep going, we’ll dive back from the point we left off yesterday in 1 Samuel.  We’re kind of getting the back story of who this person Samuel is as he begins to emerge and take a leadership role in the Bible and in the lives of the children of Israel.  So from the God’s Word translation, 1 Samuel chapter 5, verse 1 through 7:17 today.  

Commentary

So in 1 Samuel the Ark of the Covenant had been taken in battle.  We read about that yesterday, and the Philistines had conquered and been able to take this Ark of God’s covenant into their homeland and they had kind of five major outposts/cities that were walled and kind of like city states, Philistine city states and they had their own kind of kings, but they were a collective.  So they go back to Ashdod, to the Temple of Dagon, and you know, we just read the story.  Dagon falls over.  But then weird things start happening.  People get sick.  They begin to find a respect and even terror of Israel’s God, so they start moving around until they send the Ark back.  

There are two locations – Ashdod and then the return, Bet Shemesh.  So the Ark of the Covenant began its captivity in Ashdod and then its freedom in Bet Shemesh.  The thing is, those are real places.  Those five Philistine cities, the ruins of them still exist.  So like when you’re at Bet Shemesh it is ruins, and they’re not even that huge.  Like it’s being excavated, you can walk up onto this rise and look down at the fields and just see a pair of cows coming along the road with a cart and the Ark of the Covenant coming back into Israel’s hands.  It’s pretty remarkable because there is kind of like a line.  There is the ancient borders along that area.  The Valley of Elah is very, very close to ancient Bet Shemesh.  Of course, the Valley of Elah is where David fought Goliath.  This was between the Israelites and the Philistines.  So all along that valley are other cities, some of them you can get to, some of them you have to hike to, some of them you have to have a four-wheel drive to get to, but all along that valley is this ancient border.  

So these cows, they bring the Ark back across the border into Bet Shemesh and the Ark returns home.  But it doesn’t go back to Shiloh where it always has been.  It is like everyone is figuring out what they are supposed to do. This is the time when everybody is doing whatever they think is best, and we will see, since we’re reading the book of Samuel, Samuel’s involvement in what comes next for as long as he lives. We’ll continue with that story tomorrow.

In the book of John we have this very, very short retelling of Jesus walking on the water.  The circumstances are very basic and very stark and give us an opportunity to really look at some things in our lives.  

So the disciples, and these are experienced people on water.  I mean, they’re fishermen.  So they are going back to Capernaum after this great feast that Jesus has provided for 5000 people and Jesus comes walking on the water.  So the wind had started to come up, it was blowing and stirring up the water and they had been rowing really, really hard for several miles and then Jesus comes and they are terrified.  It is incredibly disruptive.  It’s sort of like we’ve already got enough problems trying to deal with this wind and these waves for some spirit to come up out of the water to terrify us.  By the way, that was kind of the local lore.  That was the myth, that these strange, very, very aggressive storms could come up on such a relatively small lake and people believed that ghosts, that demons lived beneath the sea and they could stir up the waters.  So for a figure to come out, as it were, of the water or be walking upon the water, that terrified them and kind of confirmed what they believed.  

Okay, so they are rowing against the wind.  The waves are high, plenty of obstacles against them and they are muscling into it and they are just trying to get to shore when a great disruption in the storm appears before them and they are terrified about it.  They don’t immediately go to, “Oh, it’s Jesus.  Of course, he would know we were out here. Of course he would come.”  They are not thinking that.  They are thinking it is just one more level of things to be afraid of.  

If we do look at our lives, we can see the seasons that look kind of like that, like we’re rowing against the wind, like the water is too choppy, like the harder that we work, the further away we get from where we’re trying to go and then new things disrupt us, so we either give up or just try to work harder. In this case, it was Jesus bringing a disruption.  Their perceived new level of terror was actually their rescue.  So if we look at our lives and we think of the disruptions in our lives, a lot of times we don’t look at what they are.  We just know they are more problems to deal with.  We don’t take the time because we don’t want one more thing to worry about, when actually the disruption can be our rescue.  It can be Jesus.  

So Jesus is out there with his terrified friends and the only thing he says in this story is “It’s me.  Don’t be afraid.”  So maybe it’s worth looking at some of the disruptions that maybe we’ve been facing lately.  Rather than working against them, maybe we should just look and listen to see. Rather than thinking that God has abandoned us and we have to work really hard because we’re on our own now to get out of this, maybe we should look.  We’re not alone.  We’ll never be alone and maybe God is in some of that disruption.  Maybe it is leading us where we shouldn’t go.  Maybe we should listen.  Maybe Jesus is saying “It’s me.  Don’t be afraid.  I’m here. I’m with you.  I’m showing you the way out.  I’m rescuing you.  Don’t be afraid.”

Prayer

Jesus, we have plenty of those kinds of situations.  Sometimes they are really, really big.  Sometimes they are more minor, like they are just disruptions in our lives and we don’t want to be bothered.  It’s too busy as it is.  We’re already moving at warp speed.  We already can’t keep up.  So a disruption is immediately perceived as a negative thing.  Help us to slow down, Holy Spirit.  Help us to have the margin in our lives that when you come and you knock and you shake and you disrupt, we can see that it is a change of direction for us.  It’s a rescue for us as opposed to one more thing that we have to worry about.  You said you would never leave us or forsake us. So that is the truth.  So help us.  In all of the issues of our lives, especially the ones that disrupt us, help us look for you. Are you in that?  Because you will be.  Even if you are not in the disruption, it is something that we have to overcome.  You are there to rescue us.  Sometimes you are in the disruption because we’re moving in the wrong direction.  So help us to have the margin in our lives to discern, to have space, to not have to make these instant decisions, to know that we can wait a second and walk with you in it.  Help us, Holy Spirit.  We ask in Jesus’ name, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here.  One of the things that I have been talking about is that we’re going back to this land, the land of the Bible next February, February 19^th through March 4^th of 2018 and, yeah, I mean, like Ashdod, Bet Shemesh, these places that we talked about in the book of Samuel today, these are places that we get to see.  Like the story we read in the Bible today.  All of a sudden it has a new context.  All of a sudden it is not an imaginary thing.  It is a real place.  So, yeah, you can check that out.  Love to have you.  Go to www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Scroll down. Look for the Israel 2018 icon and click it.  Or just go to www.DailyAudioBibleIsrael.com and you’ll get all the details that you would want to know, everything that you need to know.  

So I’m looking forward to another pilgrimage.  I’m looking forward to seeing you, seeing you in the land where all of these stories that we’re reading happened.  It will be amazing.  Trust me. I’ve done this a number of times and it is amazing.  The context for the Bible, its people, its stories, it just changes and it is kind of irreversible.  You can’t unsee the places where these things actually happened, so a very powerful time. You’re invited.  Hope to see you there.  

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com.  There is a link.  It is on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com.  Thank you so much for your partnership.  That is how the Daily Audio Bible exists.  Thank you.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner.  If you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Good evening Daily Audio Bible family.  This is Lee from New Jersey.  Today is May 8^th, if I’m not mistaken.  Just calling in.  Just wanted to give you all an update on my daughter.  So we’ve made some changes as far as __ time and we’re talking with the school and the nurse and ever since these kids got their laptops, that things have started to go south for a lot of kids.  So we’re just getting everyone involved and we’re putting all of these issues out in the open so they can be addressed.  Thank you all for your prayers.  Also something that I’ve been meaning to share with you guys.  I just forgot about it, it’s been so long.  My wife this morning after church reminded me that one time she prayed years ago and God revealed to her that I should become a Catholic deacon.  That has been chasing me for years.  My wife brought up all those feelings and reminded me because she said today at the altar when we do the praying it came to her again, that I need to become a deacon not only for the church but also for our family, which, you know, I’m __ for my family, as all men should be and all women should be as well.  But anyway, besides the gender roles and all that stuff, I mean my wife has reminded me of that.  So this is my request for the rest of the family here on the DAB is to pray for that.  Pray for God to reveal to me what I should do because honest to God I have no clue what to do.  I have no clue how to go about this.  I have no clue whether that decision would be good or not.  I’m being honest.  So just asking for prayer on that, so God can reveal to me what it is I need to do and to give me the clarity so I can go through with it or not go through with it. God bless you.  I’ll be calling back soon.  Bye.  

Hey DAB.  This is Jeff from Virginia Tech calling today.  I need to call in for some prayers for myself.  I’ve been feeling kind of down these past few days just because I’ve been writing a lot for my major.  I’ve had to write a couple papers.  I’m a philosophy major and having to write about some of the deeper things in life like the meaning of life and about just stuff like that, it can be kind of draining and I overthink things.  So I just pray that you will help me to battle Satan, to battle any kind of negative thoughts about the Lord or about life and meaning in life.  So pray with me, family, in that.  Pray that I just feel his love just radiate through my soul, through my whole spirit.  Pray that I might just feel his love and that I don’t overthink, that I can get out of my own head because so often the philosophical understanding, I just get in front of that and so pray that I can just know that he is enough and to get out of my own head, to let go of the past, to let go of overly rationalizing life and over rationalizing God’s love.  That would be my prayer for me today and yeah, thank you all. Bye.  

Hi family.  This is Shannon from Salem in Oregon.  On May 4^th it was the National Day of Prayer and two really wonderful things happened.  First, my husband came home from Peru.  Thank you to all of you who were praying for his ministry there.  He was there with a team and hundreds of brothers and sisters were born into the family of God while he was there ministering with the team sharing the gospel all over the place.  And also on May 4^th in our city something really historic happened. Somewhere between 4000 and 5000 Christians from all over our city of Salem came together at the Oregon State Fairgrounds for an event called The Gathering and it was the most beautiful thing I think I’ve ever been a part of this side of heaven.  We had just a ton of different churches, different denominations, different languages, and we were all coming together to exalt the name of Jesus, to worship him together and to pray for our city, to pray for revival. God is doing something here that is totally blowing me away and I’m so thankful.  I’ve been praying for revival for years and God is doing it.  So thank you family for praying.  Please keep praying that we are now obedient to what God is doing and that we walk in step with the Sprit.  And pray that this happens all over our nation, all over our world, that we come together.  And it’s not about churches.  It’s not about any of that stuff.  It’s about Jesus and sharing him with a world that is lost without him.  Please connect with me if you want to see pictures or I can send you links of where you can look at the website to see some of the pictures and information from these two awesome things.  Shannon@innocencefound.org.  

__, __, Alex I., Alexander V., Annette A., Amina M., Bart B., Billy M., Biola, Bonnie A., Carol C., Carol T., __, Crystal T., Daniel Johnson Jr., Debbie M., Delta Alpha Foxtrot, Earline G., Eric M., Garth in the UK, Grace F., Heidi B., Jamie H., Jeannette R., Jeff B., John M. Jr., Kathleen N., Krystal C., Kristy M., Linda Y., Lisa M., Lisa the Encourager, Mark S., Meagan H., Michael C., Michelle H., Michelle W., Mike J., Mike S., Merlin B., Neil G., Olga A., Pastor Gene, Pastor John, Paula N. Rebecca H., Robin P., Ron D., Rumbii, Salvation is Mine, Sheila T., Sheldon W., Tamberly D., Teri E., Timothy W., Tracy A., and Brian and Jill Hardin, thank you all for lifting me up in prayer as I was going through a time of despair a couple of weeks ago being offended about someone misinterpreting my words from the DAB which made me want to leave.  I thank you all for praying for me.  I’m overwhelmed by the love.  You all are very important to me.  I pray and thank God that you guys all reached out to me through private messaging, phone calls, etc.  I love you DAB.  Cheers. Asia in Munich.  

Good morning Dabbers.  This is Walta, the burning bush that will not be devoured for the glory of our God and king. Listening to the readings lately, I’m reminded that yes indeed, as Brian says, we are like the Israelites.  It is so easy that we forget where God has brought us from.  So I just wanted to share my testimony because it is by sharing, the Bible says, that we overcome, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, and although we’ve gone through great things, we tend to forget.  The enemy makes us forget.  So I’ll go ahead and share.  When I was 13 years old I found myself in the middle of a civil war in my country of birth, Liberia, and my family found ourselves surrounded by the rebel soldiers. They had us at a firing squad.  I remember standing there and just everybody was screaming and praying and crying out to God and they were taking people out of our group and executing them.  I remember the chef of the building where we were, they took him out and shot him in front of us.  His wife went to the back with a baby on her back trying to hide and I decided that I was going to go hide in the back as well so that when they shot everyone I would just pretend to be dead because I didn’t want to run because I knew they would shoot me. Anyway, long story short, they grabbed my dad and started to __ him and at that time at the bottom of my heart the only thing that came out of my mouths was “Lord, if you save me, I will live for you.”  And immediately, out of the blue there were like two to three pickup trucks that came with three __ soldiers and they called my dad and called our family and saved us out of there.  This is the short version of this story because I know we only have two minutes, but God saved me out of that and this is just a reminder that there is nothing he cannot save me out of.  I just want to encourage you listening.  

1 Samuel 2:22-4:22 ~ John 5:24-47 ~ Psalm 106:1-12 ~ Proverbs 14:30-31

Today is May 8^th.  Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible.  I’m Brian. How are you?  How are you today?  How is everybody doing?  I’m doing pretty good.  I’m a little tired today but that happens.  It is nothing that this little steamy cup of coffee to my left won’t cure and a little paying attention to the word of God.  So by the end of this I’ll be awake.  Hopefully you will, too.  

We’re reading from the God’s Word translation this week and we just kind of dove into the book of 1 Samuel yesterday which is a turn of the page.  I mean, we’re moving into a new era and so we will continue with the story of Samuel, chapter 2, verse 22 through 4, verse 22 today.  

Commentary

So we’re two days into the book of 1 Samuel and pretty dramatic stories that we’ve encountered like the story of how Samuel was born and his mom praying in front of the Temple and all of that and then this story of great loss today in this battle where Phineas and Hophni, Eli the priest’s sons are killed, but the Ark of the Covenant is lost.  This is such a huge, monumental thing because the Ark of the Covenant has been sitting in Shiloh almost for four centuries.  So this is how far we are into the future, almost four centuries into the future since we crossed the Jordan River, since Moses.  The Ark has been there and it is gone.  It is lost.  This identity of the children of Israel, this is gone and it is never going to come back to Shiloh.  

Kind of intertwined with all of that is this boy Samuel, this boy who grows up before the Lord under the care of Eli, the high priest, and God calls him. All of this is happening kind of in the midst of all this, so everything we’ve done the last couple days is really this context for who Samuel is and now he is about to take center stage.

Then as we kind of go forward we’ll see throughout the rest of the Old Testament that there will be a prophetic voice among the children of Israel and then there will be sort of the national, the kingly, the royal voice setting the pace.  Let’s not think they are two divisions of power.  In some cases they certainly are.  In others, God sends prophetic voices that nobody listens to at all.  

So we see things moving much more toward nationalism, much more toward the royal side of things, and a much more secularized culture that will emerge. But that is yet out in front of us. We’re kind of at this point now where we have a context for who Samuel is and where things sit in history. We’ll watch him emerge as a leader over the next several days.  

Prayer

Father, thank you for your word.  We thank you for these stories, we thank you for this people, these friends that we’re meeting in the scriptures.  They are our ancestors spiritually.  We can see in many cases they had to face things much more difficult than we have to face and in other cases we see them making decisions of the heart that are just simply exactly like we do.  So we find ourselves in their stories because it is the same story moving forward, onward.  So we invite you, Jesus, into that story.  I mean, this is your story.  But we’re living in it and we invite you into that, in everything that we do and everything that we say and all that we are, that you would help us learn what it looks like to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Come Holy Spirit, we ask in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.  

Announcements

Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website.  It’s home base.  It’s where you find out what is going on around here, so check it out.  Check out the Prayer Wall.  Check out the resources.  Connect on social media.  Find out how to do that.  Just check it out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, the website is also the place to go.  I thank you. I mean, the reality is we’re a community and what we do, we’ve done as a community.  It can’t happen any other way.  So thank you for your partnership.  There is a link.  It is on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com.  If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible App, just press 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, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.

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

Hey Daily Audio Bible family.  Let’s pray.  Thank you, Heavenly Father, creator of all things, maker of heaven and earth.  You made a way where there was no way, a way for us to be united with a perfect, just, and holy God.  A way as we as imperfect and sinful people are made holy so that we can be with you.  You sent your son Jesus to pave the way for us.  Thank you, Daddy, for showing us through your word in Philippians 4:6 that we can change all our worries, all our anxieties into prayer and with thanksgiving and praise bring them directly onto the throne.  Matthew 27:51 and Hebrews 10:19 show how Jesus made a way into the holy place.  He ripped a curtain from the top to the bottom and he made a way for us so that we can come confidently to you, our awesome and powerful Father, the maker of all things, with our problems.  When we see our problems in the presence of our magnificent Father they will shrink in comparison because we know your unconditional love will ensure that you’ll make all things work for our good so we can tell others of your wonderful works, Psalm 105.  So we can tell them how Jesus’ finished work on the cross paid not only for our sins, but also paid in full for our sickness and disease.  Matthew 8:17 and 1 Peter 2:24 declare it.  So Heavenly Father, by your Holy Spirit help us to grasp these truths in Jesus’ mighty name.  Amen. Rick from Massachusetts.  

Hi, this is Stephanie in Arizona.  I’m a first-time caller.  Been listening for a few years in the past, stopped, and now I’ve been listening again since the beginning of the year.  I love this program.  Thank you, Brian.  I have been praying for you all, but there have been some on my heart that I wanted to go over and just let you guys know I’m praying for you.  There was a girl in late December that said she needs help with giving into men and staying pure.  Praying for you.  There was Pat.  I believe it was your son, the alcoholic.  There was a man with a brain tumor going in for surgery.  There was a woman whose I think it was 18, 20-year-old son who took the bullet.  He saved her life by getting shot instead of her.  Wow, our whole Bible study prayed for you.  Prophetic Intercessor, North Carolina, your divorce.  There is the mother with four children, praying for her new business to succeed so she can support herself and her children and not let a man in her life until a godly husband comes along.  I’m just praying for your business and for everything to support you.  Keagan, the bipolar problem, and Alicia I think is the mom in Kansas.  There is the widow in Colorado with a son or daughter with a brain tumor possibly I believe.  And her other son is going to Korea.  My son is in the Navy.  He’s 20 and he just got back from Korea and he had the best time of his life there, so praise the Lord on that.  Marriages with infidelity, those who have overcome it, praying for you guys.  The Central Washington couple, praying for you guys.  I had a husband who cheated on me and I divorced, but my eyes have been opened to how much I need to strive to be more like Jesus and forgive.  I love this family.  Thank you Daily Audio Bible.  Have a great day  I’m praying for you all.  God bless.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family.  This is your brother Regis calling from Nairobi.  Just want to give a praise report.  So grateful and thankful for everyone who prayed for me for a job, but it is not the same as the one I had before, but I have one and I can provide for the family.  Thank you so much.  I love you all.  Thank you for praying for me.  I pray with you and I trust God will come through for those who are trusting him also for a job or whatever comes.  May God bless you so much.  You are such a wonderful family.  May God bless you.  I love you. Regis calling from __.  Bye.  

This is Pamela from Northern California.  I got a little nervous when I called in, but this is the main thing I have to say.  I called a year ago and I asked you all to pray for Barry the carjacker, but what I didn’t really realize then was that it was a bigger miracle than Dave and I even realized.  I could not manage to get my hand off the doorknob while Barry was driving away in my car and it wasn’t until I heard God say “let go” that I actually did let go and, of course, there were some injuries that occurred, but my goodness, the car did not run me over that day.  Anyway, so what happened next was that God gave me the courage to go and to forgive Barry in the courtroom and it somehow felt like the most important thing I have ever done or said and what has followed since, so I’ve lived in this beautiful place of forgiving him and blessing him and praying for him and I ask you all to pray for him too.  What happened this week is that I got a letter from him.  We had been writing back and forth and he is still trying to think of what kind of community service he could do or how much money it would take to pay me for what happened.  So it kind of startled me that he didn’t receive the forgiveness that I gave him and so there is a lesson in it right there, that Jesus of course has done everything necessary that we all might be forgiven, but that doesn’t mean that we really take him at his word and allow it in our lives.  So will you please pray for me that I can write to Barry and I can communicate?  

Good morning everybody.  Hey, this is Annette A. from Oklahoma City.  Hey, calling from the back of the blue condor motorcycle.  I wanted to pray for Jeff from Virginia Tech.  My brother, you have been on my heart since the day you called and I know that college can be such a crazy place.  You step from one world right into the other, from the frying pan into the other.  I am praying strength for you and that you are open to any relationship that might lead someone to the Lord, because boy, brother, it sure seems like from the news your place needs it.  I’m also thanking the lady who called in.  She didn’t understand why she was calling in about some new-sounding Bible that she found, but let me tell you that your prayer spoke to me because I was in the park at a place that it just felt like God was calling me to, to cry out for my son, and the words, it is like I just started and the words just failed me and it really kind of upset me that I couldn’t come up with words to pray for my son, but my heart was breaking and your message just spoke to me. I thank you for giving that and maybe not just to me but to many people who try to pray for others, but to know that Jesus and the intercessors are telling God and shouting on our behalf because they know our heart.  And thank you.  Thank you, Mike, as well for telling me that and then this lady here too backed that up. And I thank you guys for that. Christy from Kentucky, my sister, I love you so much and believe me, my heart is breaking because I have been there and I know how it feels to lose a loved one because I was right there when it happened.  But believe me, God is there and he is with you and his angels are…