Month: December 2020

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

Today is the 22^nd day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is awesome to be here with you today it’s awesome to be here with you Christmas week. And, yeah, a couple days and we’ll be at Christmas day. So, we’re pressing into it, pressing into the season. I’m sure you are as well. And I pray that you are experiencing moments of Christmas joy, something that’s been in a little short supply, maybe a lot short supply this year. But anyway, we have come to center ourselves in the Scriptures, to exhale all that’s going on around us and just warm ourselves at the Global Campfire as we take the next step forward in the Scriptures. And we began the book of Zechariah yesterday and I mentioned then that Zechariah will take us all the way until a couple of days before the end of the year. Zechariah is the second to the last book in the Old Testament. And yesterday when we began Zechariah, we just gave some context and one of the pieces of context was that Zechariah contains eight different night visions and we will begin with the third one today. Zechariah chapters 2 and 2. And we’re reading from the New English Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay, we were talking about this being Christmas week at the beginning today before we read the Scriptures. And, yeah, this is Christmas week. The day after tomorrow is Christmas eve if you can believe it. And, so, we’re in it and we’re trying to finalize and get everything together and figure out how we’re gonna do everything and…and we’re also likely to be around family, whether that is immediate family or we have extended family, whether we’re getting in a car and traveling, whether we’re gonna get on a plane and travel or whether that’s gonna happen where people are traveling toward us. Likely, whether we’re having a very very large family gathering or whether it’s going to be really intimate we’re going to be together with…with our family and when that happens all kinds of really really wonderful, joyous things can happen. Hearts can be united…just the love for our family and the people that we grew up with or the people that we’ve known our whole lives, it just emerges and we…we feel that warm cozy spirit of Christmas but, you know, in that situation, it…it’s just warm and cozy and dry and one match thrown into the middle of that can just…it can just blow the whole thing up. Like one person who decides that they need to vent about their political views in the middle of all that or one person bringing up some kind of scorn or something from earlier years, any little thing can make a volatile situation explode. And it wasn’t that long ago that we read the book of James or the letter of James, in which he talked about how we can bless people and curse people out of the same mouth and surely that’s not right. And, so, right now is a good time to kind of put some of this that we’ve learned about our mouths and how powerful they are into our pocket and carry it around because usually when the volatile things happen they just…they happen randomly. I mean we know…we may know who’s the likely one to start something. Maybe we’re the likely one to start something. And maybe this year it should be a break for everybody. Maybe we should bite down on our tongue instead of waggin’ it. I mean because we can be the giver of joy. I mean, when we think about Christmas spirit and Christmas joy and we think about how it’s affecting us, like are we feeling it? But the thing is, we can give it, we can build each other up instead of tearing each other down. And, so, we turn to the Psalms then today and we read these words, “O Lord place a guard on my mouth. Protect the opening of my lips. Do not let me have evil desires or participate in the sinful activities with men who behave wickedly.” We should put that in our pocket too as we go into these next few days and determine in advance, if somebody lights the match and throws it into the middle of everything that doesn’t mean that it’s compulsory that we participate. It can be a situation where our…our unwillingness to participate and amp things up is saying a lot without saying anything. If we find that our words that we have determined that we will only build up and not tear down, well that would be quite a Christmas gift to give and it would change the atmosphere. And we may not be able to stop the kinds of things that happened from happening, but we do have control over ourselves. And, so, let’s just remember, yeah, it’s family, yeah, it’s presents and gifts and festivities and Christmas music and lights and it’s just wonderful but what we are honoring is the arrival of the presence of peace. And, so, if we’re not going to actively participate in peace on earth, especially at Christmas…well…there’s a disconnect somewhere. Let’s put our faith into action in these coming days because these are days of great joy.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. Joy…joy flows from You. And when we experience joy, we are becoming aware of Your presence. And this is a joyful time in the midst of a very trying season. And, so, may we experience Your joy and then in turn give Your joy, build one another up, not tear one another down. We pray the Psalm, “Lord place a guard on our mouths. Protect the opening of our lips. Don’t let us have evil desires or participate in sinful activities.” Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, its where you find out what’s going on around here. You can find out what’s going on around here using the Daily Audio Bible app just as well by pressing the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner.

Of course, we’re days away from Christmas. So, that’s what’s going on around here. So, check out the Christmas resources that are available, especially the musical ones. The Family Christmas album, which is an instrumental…just a beautifully contemplative album for the Christmas season, the kind of…it’s the kind of one that you want when you…when you’re trying to wind down. You gotta a cup of cocoa or whatever, you got the lights on, maybe the Christmas lights and nothing else, maybe a fire in the fireplace. It’s that kind of record. So, check that out. You can stream it on Spotify or Apple music or YouTube music or Google play, whatever, You can buy it there at the iTunes Store or wherever you get your music.

And the other…the other Christmas thing is “O Holy Night” that Jill and I put together a couple weeks ago in preparation…she’s gonna sing virtually at a Christmas eve service this year. And, so, we’ll put links up to that on Christmas eve on our social media channels in case you don’t have a candlelight service that you can attend. But she sang it with such heart and passion, and we were just…we were like wow, we should release this. And, so, we did, and you can stream that on Spotify or Apple music or wherever or buy that as well. Just look for Jill Parr and O Holy Night and you will find it. So, check those…check those out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here in the waning days of the year, thank you humbly and truly from our hearts. Thank you for your partnership. I’ve said it…feels like I’ve said it like 360 times or whatever this year. We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. That’s a fact. And, so, we are profoundly grateful that we are moving through another year. And thank you for your partnership. So, there is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button 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:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family this is June in Maryland I am calling to give a praise report. I am just praising God for bringing me through this year. This year started off really rough with some heart palpitations that had me out of work for almost 2 months and then I went back to be a Covid nurse and once I returned to my psych unit, I got Covid. All the while I was still trying to finish school which I did. I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in nursing on December 5^th. So, I’m very thankful to be alive, to be able to breathe, and to have been able to complete this degree despite all of the obstacles and frustrations. So, yea God. Thank you, God. Nothing is possible without God but with God all things are possible. That’s all I have for today. I’ll call back another time. Love you all. Have a blessed day.

Hi this is Sarah from South of England this is my first prayer request and I really need prayer. How to make it brief? I have __. I’ve had a recent relapse after 20 years of…of pretty severely…being pretty severely affected and I just feel devastated because I…I’ve lost so much of what I could do, particularly…mainly with my arms and needing a lot more help. And it’s…it’s just complicated with social services and carers and things. And apart from that I…I can’t do the greater things that…that I most love, that I’ve always felt, you know, that what God made me for really. And I’m…I just really need companionship. It’s just not because of the Covid, but obviously that hasn’t helped. I’m single and I’m 52 and…and wondering if, you know, I’ll ever be able to…to find someone to share my life with. And even if I could socialize and…and have lots of friends, that would…that would…would be okay but I can’t do that. And…but I know that ultimately, I need God to be my everything…to not…to not demand that recovery is the only answer for me. But he can heal me as well. I know that. But just to find peace in him, to find my joy in him because I know he can bring joy no matter what’s happening to us and I need that, I need that desperately. I need to…to get back to that place of…of being at peace with him and trusting him no matter what my circumstances are. So, thank you.

Hi, my name is Jay I’m from Georgia from Rome Georgia. It happens that I lost my job this past Monday and I there’s an appeal process an appeal’s process that I’m undergoing and a few other things that might help but most of all I just want to come to the throne of grace, and I want to ask if all of you can help me pray that I get my job back. It’s hard. It’s a hard time because my…my husband is going to school right now and I was the one who supplied. But God supplies all my needs according to his riches in glory. And I would ask if you would stand with me in faith and ask that God would lead me and guide me. God bless you all.

Good morning DAB family this is Sally in Massachusetts. We’re in the midst of a beautiful snowstorm today. I had to chuckle Little Cherry when I heard you describe getting ready to go to the sunrise. It reminded me of the eight years I lived in Saskatchewan. Mighty cold but I loved it. I love the sunshine. And…and thankful. Lord I’m so thankful for our brothers and sisters scattered all over this world. It’s wonderful to hear from all the different states from…from places like New Zealand and Australia and Singapore and South Sudan and Germany and India and Eastern Canada and all the states that we hear from. Lord, we are so blessed to have You bring us into the family of God scattered over the world. We thank You so much for the DAB that brings us together. Lord I lift up Margo and her husband as they prepare to go back to Liberia. Please strengthen and guide them. Please provide their needs physically Lord, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, financially. Lord we just pray for the wisdom that he needs as he prepares information to be a better pilot and to care for his plane and pray for Margo Lord. Just guide her as she gains insights into being a better nurse. Oh God and we just thank You for the love for the lost, their desire Lord to make You known. We pray Jesus that You would just bless them and guide them. Thank You, once again great and holy God for all You’ve done and all You’re doing as You bless Your church around…

Hi DABbers, this is Alina Jesus Worshiper from Delray Beach. I’m actually calling with a praise report and I wanted to thank you so much for praying for me and my husband. More than a year ago my husband told me that he doesn’t want to be with me anymore and it was a mistake that we got married after like almost 10 years of marriage and it was really painful for me. All of this time we’re separated but together under one roof and I was praying for his salvation. And I’m not sure, I don’t think that salvation happened yet, but God is changing my husband’s heart. And recently my husband came back to me. He came back to be my husband and now he would like to have family and he would like to have kids and he talks about God all the time and I know that God is…God is calling him. And I’m just so excited to share this with you…this journey. God is so faithful to everybody who is struggling in their marriage. I’ve waited for one year to every relationship with my husband. It was so painful and with all this other things that people were talking and 2020 nothing was as hard as just being in the same house with somebody who says every day that he doesn’t love you anymore. But, you know, God is so faithful. God is so faithful. When I was struggling, and I was without my faith he was putting me up and Daily Audio Bible family helped me out so much being connected to the word every day. I want it or I don’t want it. It became my habit after like two years or so. So, I wanted to thank everybody for praying and I pray for you today in Jesus’ name to experience this, the same thing as I did. Amen.

Zechariah 1:1-21, Revelation 12:1-17, Psalms 140:1-13, Proverbs 30:17

Today is the 21^st day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian. Today would’ve been my parent’s anniversary. It’s funny how you remember all these things when they come up. But I obviously have lost both of my parents, but I am grateful that they had a wedding day or none of us would be here doing this right now. So, grateful today for my parents but also grateful every single day for you, that we can come around the Global Campfire together no matter what’s going on and relax, exhale, come into a safe space where all the things that are going on, they…they can wait, they can wait a few minutes, they’ll still be there. But we may need a change of perspective before we come unglued about them. And maybe with a change of perspective we go back out into the day energized, restored, oriented to God as we take the next steps forward in our lives. And, so, let’s take the next step forward in the Bible. And it has been a custom to read a book a day. That custom is gonna end here basically. We have arrived at the 11^th of the 12 minor prophets. And this book is called Zechariah and we’re gonna camp out in Zechariah for a few days. In fact, all the way up into we only have two days left in this year. So, we’re gonna settle in here for a minute and catch our breath before we end the year.

Introduction to the book of Zechariah:

What we know of Zechariah is that he and Haggai, which we…we read the entire prophecy of Haggai yesterday. Haggai and Zechariah were contemporaries. Zechariah would’ve been maybe a little younger. His ministry continued long after Haggai and they were actually prophets in the same place prophesying about the same thing at the same time for the same reason, which is all centered around the rebuilding of the temple. So, Zechariah’s grandpa, his name was Iddo, he’s named in the Scriptures among the first leaders of the priestly families to come back from exile with Zerubbabel. So, from that we can surmise then Zechariah was probably a priest or at least from a priestly family. And the name Zechariah means “God remembers”. And it’s the remembering of the covenant and the restoration from the remembering of the covenant that is central in this book. Si, I said, Zechariah and Haghai prophesying at the same time for the same reason about the same kind of thing, but Zechariah’s way longer than Haggai. So, there’s more context, more scope, more material. Like Zechariah talks about eight different night visions that he experienced that sound an awful lot like what we’re reading in Revelation. They’re apocalyptic in nature which makes them highly symbolic. And what we begin to see is that God wants the centerpiece of the Temple rebuilt to be the centerpiece of the people because He has plans for moving things forward, plans of restoration, plans of good and not harm. But the people have to collaborate, they have to respond. And what they have to respond to is essentially what God says through His prophets, “come home to me, return to me. Don’t stay in rebellion.” And we’ll see that as we read through that Zachariah also talks about the coming of a Messiah. Zechariah is one of the texts that are used in the New Testament in reference to Jesus. In fact, we find quotations from Zechariah in Matthew, Mark, John and the book of Revelation as they refer specifically to Jesus. And, so, ultimately what we receive in Zechariah is prophetic encouragement and once again reminds us that God is the most-high. There is none higher. There is no competitor to His sovereignty, not even close. And if we will remain in a covenantal relationship with God well…well then, we are going somewhere good. And, so, we begin Zechariah chapter.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into this week of rejoicing. We thank You for the comfort of community. And Father as we move through these days, leading right up to Christmas as we move toward the end of the Advent season, help us Holy Spirit to put ourselves in the position of…of the ancient ones, longing, waiting, expecting a Redeemer, a Savior to come. And You came and we rejoice in that, but we put ourselves in that position because…O Jesus we long for Your restoration, for Your return, for all things to be made new again. And, so, Holy Spirit some of these things are mysteries that are beyond us and some of our life is pulled in all kinds of directions during this week because of all the festivities but we want to stay rooted and grounded in deep intimacy with You almost as if it’s our little secret, not that we’re keeping You a secret, but that no matter what we face, no matter what room we walk into and the conversation is going south in a hurry or no matter what situation we are pulled into whether that be envy or jealousy or pride or arrogance, no matter what we get pulled toward we want to have been walking with You, speaking with You, being led by Your spirit so that when we face those things and we see the little triggers that we usually get pulled into we can just smile, we can just smile at each other knowing that we didn’t fall for the bait this time, we stayed connected in a covenantal intimacy with each other and we brought light and good news into any darkness that we face. Come Holy Spirit we pray. We can’t do this without You. We need You. But we can do this with You. Come Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And it’s Christmas time and that’s pretty much what is going on around here, as we…I mean…this is it…this is Christmas week friends. I can’t believe it. And it is our intention to be releasing our annual Christmas party, our virtual get together from all over the world. And that’s literally the truth. We have voices coming in from all over the world, and we plan to release that this evening. So, watch for that. And the other thing that’s going on right now is the Family Christmas album, just reminding you of that. You can stream it wherever you stream music. You can download it wherever you buy music. If you want a physical CD copy you can get that from the Daily Audio Bible Shop. But that is what we have created to be the backdrop, the soundtrack for Christmas around the Global Campfire. So, check that out.

And also reminding you that we released a new vocal single with Jill, my wife, singing “O Holy Night.” So, check that, you can stream that anywhere or download that anywhere as well. So, just look for Jill Parr, that’s P A R R, since that my wife’s…well…that’s her maiden name. That’s what she was known as before she got herself all entangled with somebody like me. And thank God that she did or none of us would be here because I don’t know how I could…I don’t know How I could just exist now without her and her support and…and her love. And, so, yeah check that out at iTunes, Google play, YouTube music, Spotify, wherever you get your music. Just look for her or “O Holy Night” and you’ll find it.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the homepage. And I thank you. I thank you deeply and profoundly as we near the end of the year. I appreciate all of…all of you who have clicked that link. That is why we continue to be able to throw logs on the Global Campfire and to keep moving forward day by day. So, thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Father God thank You for our grandparents and our parents, those…those loved ones who are struggling in their…in their everyday life, whether that be from dementia or Alzheimer’s or something else or aches and pains, whatever it is Lord we entrust them to You. We pray that You would be soothing those aches and pains, You’d be relieving them, You’d be healing them. We pray Lord that You would remove any confusion in their life, that You’d be protecting them from harm, that You would be helping them to enjoy their everyday. Father God we thank You for those that do know and love You and we pray that they would be comforted by You and rely on You during this time and all time. But Father God for those who don’t know You, we pray that…that You would be revealing Yourself to them, that there would be those in their lives that would be able to share the gospel with them and they would be able to understand and respond, that they might know the joy of knowing You, of knowing Your son, of knowing that they are saved and knowing Your love. Father God, thank You for those who are caring for our loved ones. I pray that You’d be supporting them and encouraging them and refreshing them and replenishing them, that You’d be giving them wisdom on how best to offer care. Please be at work Lord in Jesus holy and precious name. Amen. Hi guys it’s Michaela from…

Hey DAB family its Nick just asking for prayers. It’s been a long tough season of ministry and I’m just deflated, I’m just done, and I just covet your prayers, the hugs of God’s people that just will surround me and help me, give me the strength to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward. Thank you so much for your prayers. I know that…that God will bless it.

I just wanted to say good morning to everybody and thank you for Daily Audio Bible. My family, my wife and I and my older kids have been pulled away from the Lord and we got…we got off the rails of our…our life with the Lord and we just thank you Daily Audio Bible family for being that beacon in the dark. I recently downloaded the app and became…listening to the Lord became slowly back to the line with my Christian faith and it’s helped me tremendously. I’m overwhelmed by the things going on in this world, but this beacon of light has helped me put back on the path and give me faith back in the Lord. I just want to say thank you. It’s…it’s helping me greatly. And thank you for being there and being that beacon of light for us who get lost in this world. It’s…it’s a dark world and it’s helping me build my…build my faith back up and helped me in life to pursue and to continue on searching the Lord and given me strength to help me deal with these issues in life and bring me closer to my family. And I thank you. God bless everybody.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family my name is Ben I am calling from Salem Virginia and just wanted to thank all of you guys for being a part of this. I can’t make up my mind whether it’s a holiday greeting or an encouragement or a prayer request. I got it all. You guys have it all. So, Brian thank you so much. I love this program. I just started tuning in this year, but I’ve been so ministered to by you all and this program, the prayer requests, the encouragements, moving through the Bible like we do. I’ve heard God’s spoken word on the inside of me and He has confirmed things as Brian reads and as you guys talk. It’s amazing. I…I…I love it. It is definitely a part of my daily routine and I am so thankful for each and every one of you all and I just pray that this ministry would continue and grow and that this is, you know, it’s eternal, we’re together forever. And I’m thankful and I love each and every one of you. I know that sounds silly, but I don’t know how. I love God’s word and I am…oh man my time is running out. I’m like Jonah I’m in the belly of the whale. I’m looking forward to being spit out. Not sure how much longer I have to stay and pray but I thank you all…

Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling tonight to pray for some of DABbers who are…who are having the challenges. I’m trying to find the ladies name who her husband and her were planning on moving to be around family and you kept getting discouragement. I wanted to tell you to keep on being encouraged and keep on looking and God wants to see do we really want it and He's…just continue to pray and I continue to encourage him. I continue to encourage the lady who said her son went away to…went away to travel over overseas and his car and somebody had taken his passport. I’m praying for that young man. Lord in the name of Jesus you have your way Lord. Let him be somewhere protected. Let him be somewhere safe. O father in the name of Jesus you touch the heart of that young man. He’s only 23 years old. Lord you bless him, you bless him wherever he is. You open doors even in the worst places. In the name of Jesus. I thank you Lord. I want to thank…I want to thank God for China and Ben, pray for their precious little…little…little brown and her are continuing on in the ministry and I pray for Jill and her coming and thanking her for…for the heart and for the love of God enough to come and…and just looking forward to enjoying her. I want to just say thank you to all the people and encourage those who are going through, those who are going through jobs because of this pandemic, those who are going through challenges because of this pandemic as…as Paul said when they were on the ship he said anybody who was whaled onto this ship that they would have a safe landing. And let’s hold onto the ship because God is ready to bring us through out of this 2020 into…

Good morning DABber family this is Walta the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory of Our God and Our King. I just heard Daniel Johnson Junior’s call in with his praise report about the echocardiogram results from last year this time and where God has brought him close to normal. And my brother, I just want you to know that God’s got you. God’s got you. And thank you for sharing your life with us. Your job, your family, everything, God’s got you. And I’m looking back at 2020 myself and I’m just thinking, not just 2020, the last…gosh…the last 13+ years of my life that I’ve spent with DAB and looking at what…what you guys have brought me through. There’s some days that I would turn on DAB and I’d be so desperate to hear the word of God and so desperate for…for some sort of comfort or insight and then some other days it’s, you know, business as usual just listening to it. But you guys, my father’s death, my sons drug addiction and recovery, my mother’s death, you know, job losses, Ebola, now coronavirus, marital problems, divorce, marriage. God thank you for DAB. Thank you for this ministry. And I know that those of you who are listening, some of you guys in the same situation, know that we’re here for you. God is here for you. And, you know, as Daniel Johnson Junior always says, make it a great day. I love you all. God bless.

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

Today is the 20^th day of December the fourth Sunday in the season of Advent and the beginning of Christmas week. So, here we are. And it’s a joy to be here with you in fellowship and move through this week together. And even though we have travel maybe and festivities and just and trying to figure it all out, we have each other and we move through Christmas week together and celebrate together. And, so, let’s dive into our reading for today. And it’s become a custom that we’re gonna read a book a day. That’s not like all across the board true but that’s kinda how it feels as the year speeds up at the end and move through the minor prophets. And we’ll be reading a complete book of the minor prophets and the tenth of the minor prophets. And by the way, there’s only 12. So, we’re right at the end. And the book that we’ll read today in its entirety is the book of Haggai.

Introduction to the book of Haggai:

And like I mentioned many times, like these, the minor prophets, we don’t have a lot of biography to go on. There’s some traditions and we’ve mentioned those, but we don’t exactly know who these people were or where they were in society. And, so, reconstruction kind of happens based on the text and the time. And, so, we know that Haggai was among the first to return from the Babylonian exile. So to kind of put this in perspective, we have Jeremiah prophesying, right? “Behold I know the plans that I have for you.” And we talked about all that. And he’s sending a letter to the people who are in exile telling them to “settle down, prosper. Prosper where you are. Even if you don’t want to be there, prosper. Thrive where you are because I have plans and they’re gonna take 70 years. So, a generations gonna go by and then I’m gonna begin bringing people back.” Well, Haggai is on the other side of that and it seems like he’s the first…one of the first wave of people to return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile. So, right there that makes him compelling since we spent so much…so much time in exile because the Bible spends so much time on it. We also know that Haggai must’ve had access to people in power because it’s indicated in the…in the text itself that his message was to be delivered to Zerubbabel, which is a name that we should recognize. He was the governor of Judah and we learned about him when we were reading the book of Ezra in the book of Nehemiah. And…and also this message from Haggai was to be given to Joshua, the high priest. So, he had access to people who had authority, both a spiritual authority as well as civil authority. And Haggai’s message is generally to get the people moving. And to begin to see why, we just have to add some time, we have to add some dates. So, Babylon conquered Jerusalem. We went through all of that in the Scriptures, lead Jerusalem’s people into exile. This happened around 586 B.C. Babylon then was conquered by the Persian Empire in 539 B.C. And later, subsequently under the Persian king Cyrus the first of the exiles began to return to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel’s leadership. This happened around 538 B.C. Okay. So, Haggai’s message, the one that we’re about to read comes 18 years later, 18 years after the first wave of exiles has come back, around 520 B.C. Actually in 520 B.C. Actually, Haggai’s prophecies are…are…are actually dated…maybe most precisely dated utterances in all of the Bible. August 29^th through December 18^th 520 B.C. Okay. So, let’s like pause our timeline for a second and remember when the temple was built. Remember when Solomon built that first temple and we were at the apex of ancient Israel’s civilization? Well, the temple was to be the center, the heart, the center of society, the centerpiece of the culture. Well, now these exiles have come back, and they have permission to restore the centerpiece of their culture, but 18 years have gone by and the temple remained incomplete. The people and rebuilt their own lives, rebuilt their own homes. They began their culture, but the centerpiece was missing. And, so, Haggai, his message is essentially “we gotta get moving here. God has some things to do and God has some things to say.” And, so, with that we’ll move into the two-chapter book of Haggai and we will read from the New English Translation this week.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for all of the nuances and complexions that it brings out in us as we meditate upon it. We are grateful for the Psalm today that reminds us once again there is no where we can go that You are not, and that brings profound comfort because we can never again say where are You. You are here wherever we are. You are everywhere. We cannot flee from Your Spirit - in heaven, in the grave, on the far side of the earth - no matter where we go You are with us, which means You have been with us every step of the way through this crazy year. And as we move forward into this week celebrating Your arrival, Your Advent, we are again reminded You will never leave us, You will never forsake us. And we need that encouragement now as much as we have ever needed it at any point in our lives. And, so, we rest in that, we relax in that, we lean back into it and find a cozy place in the fact that we will never be away from You. You will always be here, and You have come for us, which is what Christmas reminds us of, which is what it represents, that Your arrived, that You came in person to make things right again. And, so, help us to lean back and relax and then lean into that as we move forward, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base and that’s a website. If…if the .com didn’t give it away, it’s the website, it’s home base for the global community that we have together that we…the Global Campfire. So, check it out. Stay tuned and stay connected to it.

Check out the community section. That’s where to get connected. That’s where the Prayer Wall is.

And then of course, you know, the things that are going on right now are related to the holiday season, the Christmas season because it’s just days away. Like we’re less than a week. I mean a week from now Christmas will be over. It just comes and goes doesn’t it? But isn’t it the buildup? Isn’t it the Advent season, the season of longing, that desire for Christ’s arrival, the hope of the world? Like isn’t that the buildup? And then it happens and then it’s over. And, so, this is the week to really press in and enjoy and really experience the story that’s going on underneath it all, which is the story of the arrival of the Savior of the world. And, so, let’s press into that.

Reminding you of the Family Christmas album that can be streamed anywhere you stream music. It can be bought anywhere you buy music. So, check that out. Also reminding you new this…well…actually like a week ago we released Jill and a new Christmas single, O Holy Night, which is a classic Christmas Carol that is so deeply inspiring. Reminding you that she will be performing it at a virtual….I was just gonna say New Year’s Eve party…but a Christmas Eve service and we’ll post that out on our social media channels. So, those of you who aren’t able or can’t participate in a candlelight service that you could do that virtually. So, we’ll put that on our social media channels. But she’ll be singing O holy night. And, so, we decided to really go for it and…and actually do it right. And it turned out well. She’s a great singer. And, so, we released that and get that. You can stream it anywhere or you can buy it anywhere. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link. It lives on the homepage. And I thank you…I…I mean I can’t thank you enough. Everyone’s who’s clicked that link over the years that's…I mean we wouldn’t be in this if we weren’t in it together. I mean, I say that 100 times a year probably. It’s true. It’s a fact. It’s real. And, so, thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if you prefer, 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, which is the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Oh Lord as I sit at your feet with your hand on my head teach me, guide me, show me how to let the things of this world drift away. One by one I see them leave. I physically cough out any anxiety, any pain, any held on hurt. Lord you are my healer. Breathe into me your breath of life. As I breathe in and expand my lungs I slowly exhale with another deep breath. I hold you in Lord as I do not want to let go. One more deep breath. This breath is feeding every healthy cell in my body as I exhale you Holy Spirit, I ask that you run out of this temple my body all of my pain, all of my unhealthy cells. I see them under your authority Lord marching out of me. Thank you, Lord for making me whole, for making me strong, for living in me. Where you dwell, all things are possible in Jesus’ name I pray. This is joyful J sending my love your way.

Hi DAB family Tony from Germany for a praise report. And I just want to thank everyone for prayers on this whole semester of mine. It’s been very challenging. You know that I lost my mom in April and my dad in October and health problems and it’s like I…I really feel like the Lord was telling me I’ve been in the wilderness. But, you know, that’s formation, right? That’s…I’m studying ministry, and that’s part of our formation, you know, what can God teach us. And of interest as I was reading in my one class was all on the profits where the people were in exile, And, so, it’s like I journeyed with them. But it feels as though I came out maybe of it and you know when you are coming out of a wilder…wilderness when…which is the Lord trying to get us to see things in a new way or to have a new attitude or new approach and then He shows that we’ve arrived at what He’s been trying to teach us. And…and usually, it’s by blessings. It’s so amazing because this is grad school and all of my…everything I do for assignments and write exams are all essays and papers. And my last three I got 100 in each, which is like unheard of. Like how do you…how does that happen? But I felt that was the Lord just showing, “well done”, you know because just because it’s about faith and obedience. And believe me I have failed too. But I wanted to just to thank you and I hope this serves to bless you and I am remembering you guys all in prayers. God bless.

Hey DAB fans this is me Carter my mom Jennifer. We just wanted to say we been wanting to pray for our uncle. He isn’t right with the Lord and we just want him to be right with him. Please pray. Thank you for joining together with us and believing in his salvation. We come together each morning and pray with you guys. We love you guys and appreciate all…

Hi this is AFE calling in for four MA. Just I…I just stopped midway into the prayers just to call in a prayer for…for Byron who is asking for prayers for his son Nehemiah and really just wanting to bring his concerns about treatment that insurance would cover and just asking God for a way through. And just praying with them that just…that, you know, praying with him that, you know, trusting that his decision to go forth with…with this treatment is one that God will just justify by showing a means and showing a solution even though he doesn’t know how it will all happen. I’m just praying that these treatments will be just beneficial Lord and that Nehemiah would just be able to take advantage and just…just grow, just grow through this. Also praying for…I…I forget the man’s name now, but he was asking for prayer for his…his mom, Catherine who’s in the hospital in New Jersey from Covid and for his dad as well, just talking about some of his mom’s fears and her worries. And we just pray that God you just give her comfort, you give her rest Lord you let her trust in you, that Lord though she lay down at night to sleep Lord she will rise in the morning, and Lord that this…this ailment, this Covid, this disease will be behind her Lord as she is able to give a testimony and testify to Your goodness and Your glory. All these we pray in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

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

Today is the 19^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you as we close another week down together and take the next step forward. And as has been the custom lately, like we’re reading a book a day and we’ll be doing that today. We’ll read an entire book in the Old Testament.

Introduction to the book of Zephaniah:

This is the ninth of the minor prophets and its name is Zephaniah. And it’s similar to some of the other minor prophets in that we don’t know much about who Zephaniah was. The only clues within the text is that the message from Zephaniah came when Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. And then there’s a little bit of lineage. Zephaniah was the son of Cushi the son of Gedaliah the son of Amaria the son of Hezekiah. And that little lineage may actually be a major clue because a lot of times in the Scriptures, a lot of times in antiquity, it's…it’s not like an entire multiple generational description. A lot of times when you’re talking about somebody or just saying, “this person who is the son of this man.” For example, my son’s name is Ezekiel and if he were introducing himself, he’s a little guy so he wouldn’t be doing that, but if he were…he’d be…in antiquity he’d be saying, “I’m Ezekiel bar Brian”, right? The son of Brian. He wouldn’t necessarily continue that lineage back to his great-great-grandfather unless his great-great-grandfather were significant. And in this case, it’s possible that Zephaniah was a descendent of the reforming king Hezekiah, which would explain how Zephaniah was aware of his surroundings and literate and also why, perhaps is prophetic utterances would be preserved. Obviously, credibility comes if you’re an ancestor of a king. The name Zephaniah means “God has hidden.” And the text states that the message was given during the reign of Josiah. So, that would put him somewhere in the middle of the 600s B.C., or thereabouts, which would make him contemporary with other prophets that are famous and biblical like Jeremiah. A lot of textual scholars believe that Zephaniah had to be familiar with at least the writings of the prophet Isaiah because there’s a similarity in the language and the tone. And we have read a number…like we’ve been reading prophecies for months now. And, so, we understand that a lot of times and most of the time prophecies are targeted very specific to a very specific people for very specific reasons. Zephaniah’s a little different there, because he's…he’s essentially prophesying judgment on the whole known world, including Judah, including the Hebrew people. And, so, we come across a term that we have seen elsewhere, “the day of the Lord.” and that is the theme in Zephaniah. And, of course, we’re reading the book of Revelation as well. So, this “day of the Lord” this kind of final judgment sort of idea is ever present in front of us as we continue forward. But we should understand what God wants…wanted and wants to get rid of because it’s not people that He wants to destroy. It’s evil that He wants to destroy. And when people want to hold on to their evil…well…then they get what they want. They get to hold onto their evil, but God gets what He wants, and the evil gets eradicated. And, so, the people doom themselves. But as we have learned from biblical prophecy, there is a foretelling of things that…that are to come or that may come if change doesn’t occur, if repentance doesn’t happen. But then there’s the other side of that. What if…what if you do humble yourself? What if you do return to God? And then we hear words of abundant restoration. And Zephaniah is no different. And, so, there are three chapters in Zephaniah. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Zephaniah one through three.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for another week. We are so grateful to You for giving us the gift of Your word, and giving us the gift of each other to move through a year of life together in Your word and community. We are grateful. And, so, as we close down this week we look to the proverb and we identify the kind of people that we don’t want to be. There may be people who curse their Fathers and do not show appreciation for their mothers, may that not be said of us, Lord. There are people who think they are pure when they are as filthy as they can be. May that not be said of us Lord. There are people who think they are so good. How good they think they are. Lord our only goodness, and we declare this and confess it, the only good thing about us is You. You make us good. If we are good, it is because of You. Left to our own devices we know…we know where things go. And, so, may the pride and arrogance spoken of here never be said of us. And there are people who take cruel advantage of the poor and needy, even making a living by taking advantage of the poor and needy. Father the Scriptures over…You have said over and over and over that this has no place in Your kingdom. So, may this never be said of us. And as we close this week down and prepare to move into the next week, Christmas week, we invite Your Holy Spirit to hover and permeate everything that we do and say and think, all of our thoughts, words and deeds. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

And it’s Christmas time around here. And we’re about to go through this weekend and enter Christmas week. Super excited about that.

Next week will be our Christmas party, our annual Christmas…well…it is our virtual Christmas party when we get to hear from each other. Looking forward to that early next week.

Reminding you of the Family Christmas album that is really the soundtrack here around the Global Campfire for the holiday season. You can stream it. Just look for my name, Brian Hardin or Family Christmas and my name and you’ll find it. You can stream it on Spotify, or Apple music or wherever. You can…you can buy it from those places as well. If you want a physical copy, like a physical CD of it, you can get that from the Daily Audio Bible Shop. But adding that into the mix of the Christmas season is…well…I mean it was intended to be kind…just to create the kind of atmosphere that we try to create here every day - serenity, peace, hope, and a relaxing exhale. And, so, check out Family Christmas.

Also, we released last week a Christmas single from Jill my wife, “O Holy Night”, one of the classic Christmas carols of all time. And I mentioned this, I don’t know, the day before yesterday or whatever, when you listen to the words to that song it brings so much context and hope into the holiday season. So, you can stream that at Spotify or Apple music or YouTube music or Google play or wherever. You can also buy it from those places. So, check those out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well and I think you profoundly. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi DAB family this is Dorothy out in California with a small prayer request. I got 39 shot…Botox shots for migraines. And, you know how when you sign a waiver and you never think it’s going to happen? It happens. Aside from all the things that almost…I mean…a lot of the things on the list, the hardest one is that I lost muscle control around my eyes. I have a forehead of a 20-year-old, but I can’t use my eyes. It…it’s…I…it’s actually really hard. I can’t drive. I can only see 1 foot in front of me. Actually, a couple days ago I ate strawberries and anyway I ate slugs in my strawberries. I didn’t see em’. I washed them. I did a good job washing em’ but I didn’t see them. So it’s been…it’s been hard. God assured me before I, you know, before I lost control of both…but God assured me when this started it’s temporary. And I know Botox lasts one or two months but it’s gonna be one or two months of this. And the counter medicine isn’t working. Anyway, I have an appointment with a neurologist on Wednesday. But anyway… so if you could just please pray for me. It’s small, I know, but I love you guys so very very very very much and I love you all. Okay. Thank you. Bye. I appreciate…

Hey, it’s Val in Vegas today’s December 15^th. I’m so happy to come to you guys today in the last 15^th of the year. We made it guys. Through God’s grace we made it. How this year started for me is absolutely unbelievable, but the real joy and power’s in God’s love and grace for me…for all of us and how I’m finishing it. To say the 2020s has been an unusual and challenging year would be an understatement. I just want you guys to know that I am doing good. I know one thing that’s happened this year for me is I have developed a deeper closer relationship with the Lord, and it has been wonderful. I needed to be closer to him in this quarantine as it’s just me and my little dog that live together and the Lord has really shown up and showed out in my life this year. I just want to say thank you guys for all the prayers and well wishes and thoughts and just love. And please know that I am putting that right back into this DAB world. I absolutely love you guys and if you don’t mind, I’m gonna continue calling in on the 15^th of every month. I’ve enjoyed being committed to that and sharing my life with you guys. I love you all so much. You have no idea. So, thank you for holding me up and for loving me and caring for me. Val in Vegas out until January 15, 2021.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is All the Treasures in Wyoming with an update. If you all remember months ago, I asked you guys to pray for sweet Emily who had almost lost her life and was in the ICU. She had thrown some blood clots, her kidneys had failed. I mean it was a really urgent prayer request and you guys came through and you prayed. And even more than that God came through and answered those prayers with a yes. And I got to see Emily yesterday and I got to give her a hug. And she said that she is…she sent me this text…she said that she is walking without a cane and that her brain injury is coming along slowly. She’s off dialysis for now because her kidneys are waking up. And then she said, this is all God’s plan. Maybe not mine, but I pray to him morning noon and night. And if you guys also remember we weren’t sure whether or not Emily knew Him, right? So, I just want to encourage you. When I went to see her and I gave her a hug I asked her, I said, Emily did you get the letter that was dropped off to you while you were in the ICU. And she said yes, I did. And she said I kept that letter with me. It was up where I could read it every single day in my ICU room. And when I went to the long term acute care rehab that letter went with me and it was also up in my room where I could read it every day. And it’s one of those things that reminded me that I wasn’t alone and that I could get through it. And in that letter, I reminded her…well…I share the gospel with her and told her who Jesus was but I also told her who you guys all were. I said there are people all over the world praying for you right now. And she said that that helped her get through. But I do know today that she knows the Lord and I just wanted to thank you guys again for praying. God bless you guys. And to God be all the glory

Eyes of the Dove in Sekomane Washington lifting up prayers this morning 5 AM heading to work for Harold in St. Louis and your son. And I heard another father call in and broken for your son. And my goodness it was like a chain reaction. It made me feel broken too. I instantly thought of Brayden and Rylan my children remembering when they were born and their perfect body’s and their perfect little toes, counting their totes. And as you get the report about his foot, every piece, every part of your precious son is so important. Father, I just lift up Harold and his son. Father, I ask that blood would flow. Father that his body would be…would line up in the name of Jesus that that boy’s foot Father would be healed by Your blood. We call him healed Father. I ask for Your peace, Your peace that surpasses our understanding would be upon this family. And we just put on the full armor of God on Harold God as he goes through this…this hardship. There’s so many things going on this year that he’s having to process and now this. And this is no little thing. And we ask for protection of our children Lord Jesus in every way, their minds and their bodies, that nothing would be touched, nothing would be touched in Jesus’ name. Care about you Harold. Coming around you. You’re not alone.

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

Today is the 18^th day of December welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian and it’s great to be here with you today as we continue the journey step-by-step day by day. Moment by moment together we move through the Scriptures. And it’s not a secret that we’ve been moving rapidly through the Scriptures because we’re encountering shorter texts within the Scriptures. Today is no different. We got a brand-new book in front of us. And this one is called Habakkuk and we will read Habakkuk in its entirety today.

Introduction to the book of Habakkuk:

It’s the eighth of the minor prophets. And who Habakkuk was is pretty well unknown. Maybe we know less about Habakkuk than we do any of the other writers in the Bible. Nahum, we didn’t know much about him when we read that yesterday, but we did have some…some time…like we could locate him in time because of some specific references. Of course, me saying we’re not really exactly sure who Habakkuk was, that’s like not new. People have been wondering, figuring, having traditions about a Habakkuk for centuries, even millennia. There’s a Jewish tradition that speaks of Habakkuk as is the son of a Shunamite woman who was resurrected through Elisha. And that stories found in the book of second Kings. Of course, Habakkuk’s not named in that story. So, it’s a tradition. There’s other traditions, like fantastic traditions, one that’s found in the up apocryphal book “Bell and the Dragon” that talks about Habakkuk with Daniel while he was in the Lion’s den. But like I said, these are traditions, they may be long-running traditions, but they’re traditions and most scholars, especially with, like “Bell in the Dragon” find…find a story like that to be maybe be legendary. Nevertheless, many verses that are found in Habakkuk are famous. Maybe the most famous will be like Habakkuk 2:4 “but the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.” That might sound familiar – “the righteous will live by faith” - is like a mainstay quote from the apostle Paul in his writings. It’s also in…in the book of Hebrews. It’s a core theme in the Christian faith. And scholars have noticed that…that the book itself, the text itself is sort of lyrical in form and definitely has a Psalm or hymn at the end, which leads some to think maybe Habakkuk was a temple musician, possibly. But basically, the book of Habakkuk is a conversation between the prophet Habakkuk and God, and it begins at a place of doubt. Habakkuk is saying out loud the things that he’s seeing, and they are leading him to doubt. He wants to know why God continues to allow evil to exist and to continue forward almost like he…he’s indifferent to it. And then God responds by saying the Babylonians are gonna come punish His own people, which leaves Habakkuk confused even more. Not sure, he’s perplexed. And then God reveals the Babylonians will punish His people and the Babylonians will be punished. Evil will be destroyed in the end. That’s the goal. And, so, Habakkuk begins to realize that God’s not indifferent, he’s not unaware. He has His will. He will continue to move His plan forward. He is a God of justice. And Habakkuk ends up moving into a place of worship. And, so, Habakkuk has three chapters, and we will read them all now starting with chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word and another day to spend together in Your word. And we thank You for Habakkuk, a book that we read in its entirety today, one that shows us a movement from frustration and confusion to worship when we understand fully that You’re not aloof. You’re very, very much paying attention to what’s going on and You are in control. We lose sight of that when we judge that it doesn’t look like that, when we deem that it doesn’t look like that anymore. And, so, we have these questions and these frustrations and then when we can settle into the fact that You are good, You are present, You are the most-high God, You are the all-powerful one and You are our Father. When that context takes hold again, when our actual reality reasserts itself than we, our spirits are again turned toward worship. What else can we do? There is none higher than You. There is nothing else to give our hearts to in worship. There is no other place to put our hope. And, so, our hope is in You and You alone. Come Holy Spirit, lead us forward in truth we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, that is indeed home base and its where you find out what’s going on around here. And what else is going on…on besides Christmas time. We are getting very close are we not? We’re going to go through this weekend and then it’s gonna be Christmas week. How did it get here so quickly? Are we ready? Is everything done? All these things are swirling through our minds at Christmas and those things can kind of cover over what we’re really looking for underneath it all, which is hope for the arrival of the Savior.

So, I mentioned yesterday, we released a new single “O Holy Night” performed by Jill my wife and we’re just releasing it into all of the flurry of activity and festivity that goes on at this time, these moments, these days before Christmas comes. The words to that song are timeless and they root us back to that story underneath it all. Yes, this is joyous. Yes, there’s a lot of chaos involved in Christmas, but underneath it all there is “oh holy night the stars are brightly shining it is the night of dear Saviors birth.” So, you can stream that on Spotify, or Apple music, or YouTube music or Google play, wherever, or you can buy it at any of these places as well and keep it a part of your permanent collection. Just look for Jill Parr. That's…well…that’s Jill’s maiden name, and that’s what she was known of…known as before she was Jill Hardin. So, just look it up, “O Holy Night”, the single and enjoy. Listen to the words of that song and let it lead you deeper into the Christmas season.

The other thing we’ve been talking about is the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are a number…there’s all kinds of stuff in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. Some stuff, yeah. If you’ve taken the 2020 journey, something to remember that journey. This has been an unforgettable year and we might want to forget it as quickly as possible, but we shouldn’t because when we get some hindsight on this thing, we are going to see that we grew up all lot and it was time. We…we were…we were getting soft and pudgy, we were acting like a toddler, we were kicking and squirm…squirming, we were throwing our bottle down on the ground because things weren’t going our way. We were jumping up and down and throwing a fit.  And once and a while things come along and they tell you, “you know what? A new season is upon you. Whether you like it or not it’s time to grow up.” And we have in so many ways. So, just to kind of remember that, that is important because…so that we don’t have to do these lessons again, not that pandemics are going to be sent upon the earth every year, but so that those pathways that lead us to transformation and growth and growing up so that we can have learned the lesson no matter what the catalyst was, so that we could’ve learned what we needed to learn and pick up what we need to pick up and lay down what we needed to lay down and move forward stronger. So, there’s the case for remembering. But there are number of resources in the Daily Audio Bible Shop that just…there just that kind of a thing, they’re commemorative things each year as we go through the Scriptures. So, check that out. There are number of unique gifts there for…yeah…for anyone in your life. So, check that out. We have basically the weekend and then that’ll be sort of the end of it because we’ve reached our threshold for shipping inside the United States and etc. etc. So, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop and maybe that hard-to-find gift will be there.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. I thank you with all of my heart, with all of my heart, with all of my gratitude for your partnership. Especially here as we’re ending the year. Thank you. Thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that’s your preference, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

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

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

Community Prayer and Praise:

This is Quiet Confidence from Virginia and ever since I got out of the mental hospital, I feel so lost. I’ve just been begging God to just please take me home because life seems so unbearable. It seems very unbearable. Every day is a struggle and I just need God to have mercy on my soul. I used to be so close to Him and I don’t know how I got to this place. But I need God to help me. The enemy keeps telling me I’m not a Christian, I’m not going to make it to heaven, but I ask God for forgiveness of my sins and that He would just please allow me to go home. My husband of 24 years has been trying to help me and I’ve been taking my medication, but I still struggle, and I really need God to deliver me. I don’t want to self-harm anymore, but I really need God to please just…just take me home. I just want it to be over because it’s a terrible feeling to feel lost every day. Lord Jesus please have mercy on my soul.

Hey this is holiday greeting from Justin in Colorado. I’ve walked with the Lord for several decades. I’ve been in the mission field. I’ve been on church staff. You know, all the things. But this year I purposed to work through the Bible in a…in a single year and I’ve just gotta say the Daily Audio Bible was such a huge gift. And consuming large volumes of Scripture every day has been transformational for me in the sense that I’ve got…I feel like I’ve gotten to know the Lord, His personality, just…just to know who He is, what He does, what He likes, what He doesn’t like. I…I feel a greater level of intimacy than I’ve ever felt even having quiet times and going a verse at a time every morning like I’ve done for years. So, this is been just a huge blessing to me. Thank you so much.

Hi yes this is Living by Grace. I don’t know if you can hear me clearly, but I just want to give a praise report. This is long overdue. Back about two years ago I called about my wife having some anxiety problems and since I called in maybe about a week and half afterwards really started see a marked change. And she was struggling even going to work and was really in a rough place. And I believe that God saw her through and helped use that situation to grow her closer to Him. And I just want to encourage anybody who is going through those things that I know is very real and I know that God has a plan for it and that He’s able to overcome whatever difficulty you’re going through. I’m a personal witness to it and I…I know that He has to continue to sustain her, sustain us in all that we do. But I just want to say thank you and thank the whole family, the Daily Audio Bible family for praying for us and just have a blessed day.

Hey, DABbers this is Katie in Kentucky. I just want to call and pray for all of you parents who are exhausted, whether you have a newborn who is not quite sleeping through the night like those two hour stretches that leave you just so tired or a parent of a four-year-old who wakes up in the middle of the night and won’t go back to sleep, those parents of teenagers who are out and trying to wait up for them or any of those parents who are just dealing with your children’s big feelings overall the Covid restrictions. I just want to pray for all of you. God lift up the parents, give them strength, give them energy that is just beyond anything that they can have on their own. Give them wisdom and the words to say to their kids as the kids are struggling. Give them peace. And God as much as possible, just give parents a good night’s sleep. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Love you DABbers. Bye.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible friends and family this is Granny Mary from Missouri. My best friend Vera has Covid and she’s in a coma on the ventilator in the hospital. She’s been in a coma for two weeks. They’re going to give her another week and try to decide. She’s got grandkids and a daughter. And would you please pray for her because, you know, it’s not easy for families who lose loved ones. She’s a wonderful Christian lady so, I know if God does take her home where she’s going, but the kids all need prayer, her grandkids and her daughter. So, thank you very much. God bless you all. Have a good day. Bye-bye.