Isaiah 54:1-57:14, Ephesians 6:1-24, Psalm 70:1-5, Proverbs 24:8
Today is the 28th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is wonderful to be here with you today. It is a joy that we live in a time where we can gather the way that we are, no matter where we are in the world and move forward together. And so, as we dive in for the day, we will return to where we left off yesterday, and that is in the Book of Isaiah. Today, we will read chapter 54 verse 1 through 57 verse 14.
Commentary:
Okay so, with our reading today, we concluded the letter to the Ephesians. And as the letter comes to a close, we encounter some very famous, very quotable verses from the New Testament. And so, I quote from Ephesians, “finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of His mighty power. Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the devil’s evil tricks. For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.” So, again, as with many famous passages that we may have heard a thousand times, it can be easy to go, I’ve heard that and just kinda checked out and move on and…and just accept it. But the implications, that’s one of the things that we’ve been talking about as we move through Ephesians these…these viewpoints that Paul is laying out when you stop and consider like, pulling off to the side of the road and getting out of the car, on your way up the mountain, to look out at the vista that is materialized before you, is remarkable. So famous passage or not, if what Paul is saying is correct, then it really should explain a bunch of things. If it’s true that we aren’t fighting against flesh and blood, or as our translation this week would say, fighting against human beings but rather we are fighting against wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age, then why are most of our battles waged with flesh and blood, with other human beings? Even battles that we would consider spiritual battles. I mean, just take a gander on social media and the Christian world and you will find people at war with each other for different verses and different ways of looking at things, all of the time, with hopefully the intent of bringing out what we believe, but most of the time we think like God’s appointed us to correct everybody’s doctrine. And so, media is not the forum. And I just use that as an example of the ways we can kind of be pulled into a flesh and blood battle, when the battle is a spiritual battle. I mean just that alone. There was a lot in today’s reading, as we closed Ephesians but…but just that alone. If we could just take five minutes and think about how we live into our faith and how we face the obstacles that come toward us and how most of the time the battle is waged in the realm of flesh and blood. What Paul’s saying is basically, that’s not how it works. Our battle isn’t with other people, our spiritual battle is against wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age, cosmic powers affecting and influencing the world that we live in. We can go in all kinds of directions from here, but if we could simply understand, even though most of our back-and-forth is with other people, there is more going on than we are normally paying attention to, even that awareness alone is very helpful. Paul’s intention here seems to be making us aware that there is a lot more going on than we’re paying attention to and then to describe for us spiritual tools that we must understand and utilize, in order to actually fight the battle that we’re really fighting. If we’re in a contest that we intend on winning, now we’re going to have to understand what the resources are that are available to us in the contest in order that we might master and win. Right, like, you may run around your house naked, but you’re probably not going to work naked, you’re probably not going out your front door with only your car keys and your birthday suit. We seem to know how to get dressed, we seem to know how to deal with this from a flesh and blood perspective, but we also need to realize that often we’re going out the front door spiritually naked or half naked and unprepared. And so, Paul describes what is offered to us in this battle. He tells us there is a belt of truth, something that we have to put on. I’m wearing a belt right now on my pants, maybe you are too, maybe you don’t need one. Maybe you have a drawstring or something. Or who knows, who knows what you’re wearing today, I don’t know. I have a belt on, my belt holds my pants up. If I had a job that I needed to use tools for, I would clip those tools to my belt, it would hold it all together. And so, working through what Paul is saying, truth holds it all together. If we’re not going to walk in the truth and be truthful, truthful with ourselves, truthful before God, truthful before the world, then we’ve walked into our day missing the thing that holds it all together. That could explain a lot of things. Paul also describes a breastplate of righteousness. Right, so a breastplate covers the vital organs, especially the heart. And so, we are being told that there is essentially spiritual body armor to protect us, especially our heart and that breastplate is righteousness. And we know, full well, from what we’ve been reading in the New Testament thus far in the year, righteousness isn’t something we can achieve on our own. Righteousness is the state of our believing what God has said. Right, like, remember we’ve gone all the way back to Abraham several times. Abraham believed God, and God counted that belief toward Abraham as righteousness. This has been given to us to protect our hearts. The very place where God dwells, His righteousness protects us, and it is given to us. Paul also says we have essentially the footwear, the shoes, the sandals, however you want to imagine it in your mind, the shoes of peace, that comes from the gospel. This is our awareness of what God has done in our lives in rescuing us and our awareness that He will never leave, or forsake us, which then allows us to be confident in whatever we walk into. Wherever we go, God is there, He is within our hearts, protected by the breastplate of righteousness. Wherever we go, we carry the Gospel with us. Wherever we go, the presence of God is within us. We are also told that we’re given a shield, the shield of faith, to stop the fiery arrows of the evil one. And we’ve learned over and over in the Scriptures, that faith is what makes it all possible, our belief, our faith, is what allows us to receive salvation. And these gifts that we’re talking about right now, the shield of faith protects us, because it blocks the fiery darts or fiery arrows of the evil one. It can’t be penetrated. It blocks them, unless we drop our shield of faith and throw it on the ground to make ourselves vulnerable. We’re also told that we have a helmet to wear, and that helmet is salvation and if you have a helmet on, it is there to protect your head. Right, it’s there to protect your head, to protect your brain, it’s there to protect our mind because we have been made righteous before God, because of his loving gift to us, because we have received salvation and are in right standing with God, then intimacy, friendship, adventure, and collaboration are available to us. We are the children of God. This is our identity. This renews and protects our minds. That helmet of salvation. And all of these gifts are to defend us and to protect us. But we’re also given something to fight back with, a sword. The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. And finally, we are instructed to pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. This lets us know that an ongoing dialogue, an ongoing, always on, never off, relationship with God is not only possible but instructed. This can change the way we live by informing the choices, the thoughts, words and deeds of our lives. So, when we look at what Paul is telling us, we realize we’re equipped, this is the way Jesus lived, we are equipped. It’s just that, we often find ourselves running out the door half naked. And I suppose the most concise way, the way Paul would probably, well I don’t know, I don’t want to speak for Paul, I don’t know what he would say but he’s very direct and he would probably say, stop doing that. Like, stop going out half naked, suit up, put on the full armor of God. And then you will be equipped for what comes your way. So, that is worth some thought and contemplation today and that is worth some action, as well.
Prayer:
So, Father, we take what we’ve learned from the letter to the Ephesians, and we put it into practice. Help us, because truthfully, what we need most is to simply be aware, to be paying attention, to be intentional in this direction. And as with everything else, we’re not capable of this, I mean, we can try for a while, but ongoingly, to make this a habit of our lives, to make this our lifestyle, we need Your Holy Spirit. So, come, Holy Spirit, and lead us into all truth. Thank You for allowing us to know that this is an always on, and never off thing. That You are always with us and have richly given us what we need to navigate. May we pay attention to where we’re going. We pray this in the precious and mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
I want to pray for my sister Kelly, she has medicontrail disease. She doesn’t know that Lord that well. She knows what she’s caught on to from me. She’s, my buddy. I don’t want her to hurt anymore. She needs prayer. Thank you, thank you.
Good morning, good morning, good morning, DAB family. This is Jazz from the Bay. First time calling in, but I just wanted to give a praise report. I’m not too sure if many of you remember but several months ago, I posted, not several, but yeah, a couple months ago, I posted on the Wall stating how I was in a very hostile environment with the provider I was working for and how it just took a very bad toll on my mental health and etc. God did bless me to get out of that position and I moved into another position. And I just kept praying, I just kept praying cause I still wasn’t super happy, I just felt really restless. So, long story short, with you guy’s prayers and God’s work, I was hired with one of the leading health companies in the country, I think. But I finally did get in with them and it’s been ten years and I just want to say thank you to everybody because without you guy’s prayers it wouldn’t have worked. So, thank you. Also, I just wanted to tell you all how much I love you, how much I appreciate you guys. You guys get me through the day, every single day I listen, and it just gives me the motivation I need. Lastly, Val from Vegas, I just want to tell you I love you, I love you, I love you. And I’m decreeing that God is going to touch your shoulders and touch any other pain that you have and that you haven’t expressed to us. And He’s gonna heal you. If He doesn’t heal you immediately, He’s going to touch those doctors to heal you. Nonetheless, I love you all. This is Jazz from the Bay and I pray you all have a blessed …
Hey DAB family, this is Jonathan from Denver. I’m just calling in to say and to admit that I’m not doing to hot. I’ve been feeling very emotionally drained, very far away from God. Just like, I’m just like I’ve been in sort of a dark valley. I just, I’ve been behind in listening to DAB. Haven’t really been in the word. Haven’t really been praying. I’m just tired and I realize that I can’t do this on my own. I just need my people and come around and pray for me. Pray for restoration, hope and joy. Pray that I would draw near to God again, feel whole again, be able to make it through, you know, another day, another week. So, thank you, thank you for your prayers. I appreciate all of you. I hope you have a great day. Love you.
Hi, this is Brooke from Texas. I wanted to call in and pray for Zach from Phoenix. You called in and said that you and your brother were going to have to make some kind of life changing decisions regarding your mom because of her health. And I just wanted to call in and just pray for wisdom and discernment for you and your brother as ya’ll make those decisions and for peace for your mom, that she would be willing and understanding of the decisions that need to be made. I also, remember you said that you were just lonely and struggling with that, I just want to pray that you are able to just find fulfillment and peace in where you’re at in life and I don’t know if you’re lonely without friendships or without a relationship or whatever your circumstances are but I just pray that the Lord would meet you in your circumstances and would remind you that you are not alone and that He would provide the community around you that you need and that would just remind you of His goodness and His presence and His faithfulness. Yeah, I just wanted to call in and pray for you Zach. I just life you up in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you, guys.
Shalom DAB family. This is Leo from Kathleen, Pennsylvania, first time caller. Thank you to Dawn of a New Day for encouraging me to call in. I’ve been listening since we began the Book of Job on August 21st, and the date is September 23rd. Just about one month. Thank you so much everyone for your faithfulness in praying. I just want to ask for prayer for God’s will. I trust Him and I know His purposes will prevail but it’s so hard to see His will in my life right now. I’m not really sure where I’m going, I just know the one who is leading. I’m a nursing student in community college, I’m serving Christian leadership. I’m a part-time custodian. I’m 24-years-old and this is my first W2 job since May. And honestly, I don’t know, I feel like I want to quit. I want to work in a job that involves more human relationships. I want to spend more time learning my dad’s trade, who he works with __ clients in this area. I also interpret and do paperwork for them and taxes. And honestly, I know I can’t do everything, but I want to. It’s uncharacteristic for me to be over committed but I am lately and I’m starting to let people down. And I just want to ask for prayer to honor God in all that I do. And I just, yeah, I think I want to move out of my parent’s house because they have a lot of tendencies, they’re not willing to change, that kind of drive me up the wall. But I also know that living with them has, just as moving out, has its own pros and cons, just different ones. I just, you know, I trust God with everything. I thank you so much for the prayers but just calling to let you know who I am. Love you all. Shalom.
Good morning, DAB family. My name is Lizzy and I’m calling to ask for prayer for my daughter Raquel. She had to be hospitalized last night. She had a horrible, horrible, nervous breakdown. And it seemed like she was completely out of touch with reality. She’s a Christian, she knows the Lord wonderful, wonderful, sweet girl. Something is oppressing her. The enemy just wants to destroy her. She was talking about killing herself and saying horrible things. She, she’s otherwise a healthy, healthy young lady. This is definitely supernatural. And I believe in prayer, I believe in community prayer. So, her name is Raquel. Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you so much. God bless you all.