Author: Daily Audio Bible Transcripts

So, Paul says imitate God, as beloved children and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. So, the kind of love that is being described here is unconditional love. It’s just love. And what is the crucible in our lives that forces us to form in this way, marriage. And that’s where Paul takes the discussion. So, let’s read this little section one more time, “being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands as to the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself is Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. So as to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, so that she may be holy and without blemish.” For centuries, for decades, for many, many, many, many, many, many, many years, this portion of Ephesians has led into many misuses and unhealthy control. And it’s usually, it’s usually aimed at our beautiful women. And so, with that in mind, because that has happened, we need to understand this is, this only works if it’s mutual. Right, or as Paul said, being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. So, with that in mind, husbands, of which I am one, may we consider what we read in Isaiah today, that is what Jesus did for us. He desired and loved us enough to be compelled to become a sacrifice on our behalf. You are, I am to love my wife, you are to love your wife like that, as Christ loved the church. And there’s some magic in there, and I don’t mean like hocus-pocus, I mean, there’s some spirit, there’s a spiritual thing that happens here. You’re not the guy to just go out and kill the food and bring it back into the hearth, you are the guy chosen to bring Jesus to your wife. You are the hands and feet. You bring the tangible love of Jesus. This is such a big deal. It’s such a big job. It’s such a big responsibility, that we should be overwhelmed at our and need of God to help us navigate. And wives, same thing. Think about what we read in Isaiah today, that is what Jesus did for you. He loved you so much, so much that He was willing to become a sacrifice on your behalf, so that you could be free. So that you could flourish. So that you could be beautiful. You’re supposed to submit to your husband as to the Lord. That doesn’t mean you’re supposed to be abused. That’s not what Jesus did for you. We are reading of this sacrifice, and unconditional love of Jesus. That’s what He did for you. That’s the love you are supposed to be experiencing, and that is not hard to be submissive to. It’s not hard to be mutually submissive and accountable to one another when you are first and foremost accountable to Jesus, knowing that you have no hope of successfully navigating life together without Him. It’s not hard to submit to somebody who is willing to die for you. And there is no place for abuse and that we are supposed to submit to one another out of the reverence for Christ. And that means we’re to love each other with the love of Christ. And so, maybe some reevaluation, maybe some quiet moments today of just getting with the Holy Spirit and thinking of how it is that we are behaving and just divinely imagining what our lives would look like if this is how we lived. And maybe one parting shot from Paul, and I quote, “once you were in darkness and now in the Lord you are light, walk as children of light. For the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true.

Prayer:

And, Holy Spirit, come. There is no greater crucible than where we were led today. Two people trying to smash their stories together into one, with all of the brokenness and wounding. All of the victory and laughter, all of it, all of the issues of life that are found in a marriage and in a family, and the instruction is to surrender to each other, to love each other the way You have loved us. We perpetually fail but it’s not as if we don’t have a standard; it’s not as if we don’t know what it should look like this. Holy Spirit, come and lead us into all truth about ourselves. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hidy ho, siblings. It’s your little sis, His Little Sharie in Canada. And I wanted to call in and say a quick prayer for everyone who is looking for a place to live. I know a number of people, including my friend, Miracle Mirna, who’s applied to move to another building. She’s the one that’s dealing with the bed bug infestation, that will not go away. And then I have a friend, she’s actually my spiritual director, her name is Sherrie. And she has to move from her beautiful apartment that she’s been renting because the building is being sold. And then I know a lady named Sarah. She’s been in Canada for a few years. She came as a refugee from Egypt. She’s married now. She was able to get her hubby over to Canada and they have a baby. And now that they have a baby, they have to move because the building they’ve been in is an adult only building. So, my heart goes out to these people who need to find a place to live, and I think everywhere it’s crazy, hard to find something affordable. It’s certainly here in my city. So, Father, I just want to lift these people to You and ask that You would provide for them. And thank You that you always take care of us. And I thank You that You have a plan and that these people are in Your hands. And they can trust You. So, I pray that by Your spirit, You would empower them to trust You. Give them peace. Open up opportunities. Help them to meet the right people. Give them a place to live. Lord, You said that You make Your sheep lie down in green pastures, so please, provide those pastures, I pray. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hi, DAB family, this is Liza calling from the East Coast. I go by Philippians 4:6 on the prayer wall. As you can tell by my voice, I’m starting to feel just a little bit better. So, thank you for all your prayers about my cancer journey. I was hanging on by a prayer this week. I got so weak. I lost so much weight. I literally lost the ability to walk, so I was back in a wheelchair. And it was, I mean it was hard. I had no energy because my blood levels went down so much that I could, it was hard to just even sit up to eat. So, thank you for praying. It’s getting a little bit better every day. It’s, I feel like I’m fighting so hard just to keep going. I wanted to ask for your prayers for something a little new. I usually pray, and I usually feel like I have a lot of gratitude throughout my cancer journey. I usually skip from sadness to gratitude pretty quickly. But I kind of feel like God is really been calling me to transform and work on anger. I don’t usually feel anger but when my oncologist, a month ago decided to take me off a chemo that has been working for months and months, to one he knew wasn’t going to work, kind of as a last resort, without really asking me. My whole life changed. I stopped, I got really weak. I got more fluid, like 6 liters of fluid a week that I have to get drained instead of maybe one. And just intense pain that came back from my back, literally my whole body. And I’ve been feeling angry about it and not really processing it. And so, I would just love to pray for God to remove that anger and make sure that it’s no longer bitterness and instead transform it into something good. That I’m able to be present and accept where I’m at now and continue to be thankful. It’s been really hard and heartbreaking when someone you trust really …

Hello DAB family, this is Diana from Florida and I want to pray for Lauriann from South Carolina. We’ve prayed for you, and we will continue to pray for you after you lost your husband and the grief is just overwhelming. Dear Heavenly Father, I lift up Lauriann right now. Father God, and she, she feels this urgency, this need, this angst to love You, to know You, and to make You known, and to minister to others. Oh, Lord God. And Father, I pray that You would meet her right where she is. That it is okay that she’s still mourning the loss of her husband. And that You comfort her in the midst of her mourning. Your word says blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted, and we bring prayers to comfort Lauriann. And Lord God, I pray that as she is comforted Lord, as she is ministered to Lord, that You would strengthen her to fulfill that beautiful desire of her heart to minister unto others and to learn from You. To learn how to love. Oh Lord God, from You Jesus. I pray that Your love would be poured out all over her, like the balm of Gilead, all over her Jesus, that it would overflow, God. Overflow immensely, even in the midst of feeling these deep, intense emotions, Father God. Because of the love that she had for her husband and has for her husband still, dear God, I pray You meet her right there. In Jesus name. Amen.

Hello, this is Manita. Today is September 23rd. Thank you Brian for your words and they’re always so good to hear and very encouraging. I heard Beloved from Bakersfield asking for prayer regarding Corney. I pray that God will visit Corney. I thank God, with you, that he’s buried alive. I pray that God will visit her and may she have an experience with the Lord. So, I just wanted you to know that I’ll be praying for her, and that God will just help her get strong. God is good and He wants all of us, He wants everyone to be safe and have an experience with Him, a relationship with Him. So, I’ll be praying for Corney and your friend. You know and the family. I will also be praying for the students who lost their classmate, a 17-year-old who passed away. May God comfort their families and comfort them at this moment. I cover them in the name of Jesus. May God give them peace. So sad. Amanda, thank you for letting us know. We’ll be praying. Sandy, from Ontario, I will be praying along with you. I’m praying for Jennifer and her family and her daughter Hope, who got shot on the neck. I pray that God will revive her and show Himself strong in this family that don’t know the Lord. I pray that God will be gracious to this family, and they may find hope and salvation in Him. I love you and God bless you. Continue to pray.

Isaiah 51:1-53:12, Ephesians 5:1-33, Psalm 69:19-36, Proverbs 24:7

Today is the 27th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today, as we gather again and it’s so nice to gather again. It’s so nice to look forward to just being together every day in spirit, as we take this journey. So, it is wonderful, as it is every day to be here around the Global Campfire taking our next step forward, and the next step leads us back into the book of Isaiah. We are, we are in the back half of Isaiah moving towards its conclusion. Today, Isaiah chapter 51, 52 and 53.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the book of Isaiah today, we read a very, very famous passage. It is a passage of Scripture that is a foretelling of the coming Messiah, the Savior. And so, I quote from Isaiah, “but he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the punishment that made us whole and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have all turned our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” So that prophecy depicting Jesus lets us know that what Paul is telling us in Ephesians about the…the greatness, the overwhelming greatness of this faith, and this salvation, that this came at a very high price and that realization should humble us and pull us forward into Jesus. Paul says it like this in our reading from today, “therefore be imitators of God.” Like, we should just stop there for a second, we, we, we read verses and get their meanings. But if we slow down, what if be imitators of God, as beloved children, just that right there. That’s mind blowing. That’s mind-blowing stuff. Children of God, imitators of God. This is given to us as a gift that came at a great price and was given to us for free. And so often we live our lives just grabbing whatever we can get and whatever we need as entitled children of God, instead of humbled children of God who are so deeply grateful. So aware of how fortunate we actually are.

We’re talking about…we’re talking about being born again and starting over with a new nature set apart as holy to God, a fully restored human, a fully restored humanity created in the image of God. And we know pretty well we are who we are. We have what we have. We can’t give ourselves a new nature. But…but it’s available as a gift from God and all we have to do is believe it and collaborate in it. And that’s how we end our reading today, with Paul summing it up. And I quote. “So then, putting away falsehood let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not make room for the devil. Those who steal must give up stealing. Rather let them labor doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.” So, there are a lot of behavioral things and there are postures in there. But Paul says let the Spirit renew your thoughts. In other words, we can allow the Spirit of God to remind us of who we were created to be. And anger and bitterness and unforgiveness, those are not choosing the best version of ourselves. We have been given a new nature. We are growing in a new direction. We are growing up to look like Jesus. The alternative would be to sort of try to have lip service to Jesus trying to hold on to this old nature along with this new nature, so half dead, half alive. This is not righteous and holy. This is not set apart to God. So, it does kinda come down to a choice. All kinds of messaging are being sent at us every day. We’ll get the best version of ourselves if we will make the choice to buy the thing. What’s being offered to us here is free. The best version of ourselves is the one who is reborn, made new, set apart as holy and righteous before God as a member of God’s family. What we have to do is believe and obey. The best version of ourselves is found in surrendering to God and walking through life in the glorious dance that is the gift of life that He has given us. So, I guess it comes down to a choice. Which version…if we’re gonna continue to use the vernacular, which version do we want to be?

Prayer: Holy Spirit, we invite you into that. And we recognize the tension in it because immediately our hearts say, this is…we want to be reborn, we want to be set apart, we want to be remade, we want to be holy, we want to be good children, we want to be sons and daughters that make you proud. And we can say that from our heart and we can even intellectualize it from our head, but then we catch ourselves doing all kinds of things that do not bring glory to your name. And, so, we realize we’re pretty conflicted about it because our…our words and our deeds don’t always match. And, so, to live into this and become who you’ve created us to be, which would be the best version of…that we could ever be, we will have to surrender to you. We actually don’t know how to do this. We haven’t figured it out. But you have created life itself and you know how it works. And, so, we surrender to you, and we open our hands and let go of all the things that we are holding onto and we become aware of your presence all around us and within us, a still small voice leading us forward. Come Holy Spirit lead us into all truth we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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

Today is the 26th day of September welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is wonderful to be together with you today. Yeah, every day is a wonderful opportunity to come around the Global Campfire and find a place and take a step forward together. So, let’s put one foot in front of the other and take that next step forward, which leads us back into the book of Isaiah. And today we will read chapter 48 verse 12 through 50 verse 11.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the world today there is a premise and it’s a marketing tool and its used and slapped on all kinds of different goods and services with…with a promise. And the promise is, if you have this thing then you can experience like the best iteration of…of who you are, your…your best self. You’ll be your best self if you get this thing. And you begin to realize if you’re paying attention, wow, I need a lot of things to have my best self because everything that’s being marketed to me is promising me a better self, a better life, a better experience if I just have this thing. So, I guess I need everything. So, Paul’s kinda talking about this best version, like what we’re growing into, the best version of ourself in our reading from today. And he starts out by…by clarifying what it’s not. And Paul describes that as “walking in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They’ve lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ.” So, according to Paul, keeping our mind closed and our heart hardened is not the path forward. If we want to become the best version of ourselves Paul says there’s an ingredient that’s absolutely essential and irreplaceable and that is faith. Faith activates your renewal. Faith is the only path that leads us to God. And…and…and to actually live faith beyond just saying the right words, to actually live into your faith requires that we believe with our whole heart. And that can’t be done with a closed mind and a hardened heart. So, that path cannot get us there. It’s not who we…we were made to be. So, how do we move toward this best iteration, this best version. And I quote from Paul. “Put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and diluted by its lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness’s. So, if we’re breaking this down Paul’s saying there is a new nature and new self, created after the likeness of God, that becomes ours through faith. The best version of ourselves would be to become a new creation. And that this is even remotely a possibility should be overwhelming to us, that we could be made new again. But through faith Paul is saying that’s what happens. You put on a new nature and it’s not just a reset, a reset where you get to just start over and corrupt your new nature. It’s the nature of God. It’s truly righteous and holy. It makes us new creatures and sets us apart. I mean, I know we…it’s so easy if you’ve been in the faith a long time to get into a theological concept, our doctrine and just glaze over and go yeah, great, I believe it. Great. If we’d stop and understand the implications though.

Prayer:

Jesus, we cannot do this on our own. We don’t even know how to get through a day navigating correctly on our own, so it can be very frustrating. We can hear this as ways that we need to do better and we just need to be better, we just meet me be more disciplined, we just need to do better and that’s true. We just need to do better, but we can’t. Like we’re powerless, only You can transform us. But what Paul is telling us is that’s the goal, that’s what he’s trying to tell us, that You are trying to transform us and mature us into people who look like You. And so, Holy Spirit, come, may we surrender to it. Because we won’t be able to white knuckle it, we won’t be able to fight our way through, we have to surrender to You. Let go of things and people and allow You to guide us into maturity. So, Holy Spirit, come, help us grow. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi, Daily Audio Bible, this is Jessica in California. I’m calling on the September 1st podcast, a mother that’s praying in desperation for her daughter Rebecca who attempted to take her own life, who’s been abused and bullied and sexually abused and she’s only 14 years old. I pray Lord that You come beside this family. There’s nothing worse than to see your children suffering. I’ve been going through some, watching my children go through some things and it’s just heart wrenching and it consumes your whole life. You can’t live unless you know your children are gonna be okay. And Lord, we know You’re an awesome God, You’re all powerful, You’re in charge, You’ve promised to use all things for our good, Lord. So, we just ask You Lord, to put a hedge of protection around Rebecca. Help her to find forgiveness, help her to forgive herself. Lord, I just pray that You just make her feel Your love, where she’s at Lord. That she can know how much You love her. How worthy she is, how beautiful she is. And that, Lord, You can heal her from the wounds she’s experienced in her life. I just thank You Lord that You have promised to teach our children, You promised in the Bible that that our children will be taught of the Lord. So, I just ask You to teach her what is right, what is the right way to feel, what is the right way to think. What is the right way to be, Lord. I just pray that when she comes out of that hospital, that she has found You and she has peace and understanding. And that she lets this go, Lord, and she looks up to You everyday of her life. I thank You Lord, that You’re working on this, and I just pray Lord, for the family to trust You. In Jesus mighty name. Amen.

Hi, this is Lisa, Daughter of the One and Only King. I went on a trip to Israel back in 2017. It was then that my tour guide introduced me to DAB. Since then, I’ve been part of the community through the years. I’ve listened to the prayer requests and lifted people up in prayer, that are in this community, and I’ve loved praying for others whom I don’t even know. But we are connected as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the first time calling in for me. My prayer request is for the daughter of my Israel tour guide. She’s 14 weeks pregnant and is fighting for her life. During the entire pregnancy Britanny has been bleeding due to a torn uterus. Doctors have advised her to terminate the pregnancy but that is not an option for her. She believes that it is God’s choice, not hers. She has now had four blood transfusions. It appears that a miracle is all that will save Britanny and the baby’s life right now. I’m praying and asking each of you, to pray and have faith, like the woman that touched the hem of Jesus garment knowing, He would stop the bleeding. And He did, He healed her. The Lord is needed to intervene and stop the bleeding to save this wife and mother of their seven- and three-year-old and unborn child. Believing and trusting and grateful for all you prayer warriors who will pray.

This is for Lauriann from South Carolina who was rightfully grieving the loss of her precious, beloved husband Steven. Lauriann, you have a right to grieve and our God understands and knows your grief. Think about Jesus with Lazarus, he knew he was gonna raise him from the dead, but his heart still broke for his friends who grieved so much. Do not allow what’s called spiritual bypass to hit you as a result of being told that you shouldn’t be grieving, that you should be trusting more, that your faith isn’t enough. Our God gave us grief for a reason. Our God Himself grieves. It is right, it is human. We are body, mind and spirit. You’re caring for your mind and your body via your spirit. But what your body and your mind experience is very real. Trauma is real. I am so sorry for what you are going through. But Lauriann, don’t even let the enemy tell you that you are not allowed to grieve. You are and our Jesus is crying right alongside you. We go through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t stay in it, we go through it. And you will come out the other side. But that day is just not today. And it probably won’t be tomorrow or next week, or next month. But the day will come when you will get through it, Lauriann. God loves you, He hasn’t forgotten you. And you are allowed to grieve. We are lifting up your broken heart before our Lord.

I come to you DAB today and seeking prayer for people that are dealing with opioid addictions. I just found out that an old friend of mine from college roommate, just recently passed away from fentanyl poisoning. How fentanyl has devastated our country and how our inability to deal with pain management has devastated our country. And Lord God, and the world we live in. How are we to find ways of dealing with this pain. You know, he was recently in a horrible motorcycle accident. Actually, that happened several years ago and since then, he dealt with you know, the opioid addiction because he had to deal with the pain management situation. Which later escalated and you know, he’d been to rehabilitation, he was never really able to break through the addiction throughout the years in dealing with his pain. And so, God, I ask you God to deal, help us to deal with pain and suffering, God. Deliver us Lord God, from understanding how opioid addiction and now fentanyl, Lord God, has devastated families throughout this country dear God. Allow there to be healing Lord God, in each family. Allow there to be healing in the minds and the hearts of people that are dealing with this addiction, Lord God. Free them, Lord God, I pray. And finally, help them to find the help that they need, Lord God. Allow us to find ways of dealing with pain that we deal with both physical, mental and spiritual that lead us towards us this chemical imbalance that trap us towards these drugs, Lord God, the opioids, the fentanyl’s, the OxyContin’s, the drugs and addictions that trap us, Lord God, from being able to deal with the pain and numb that pain, instead of allowing us to deal with it, Lord God. May Your Holy Spirit bless these families across this country as they deal with this addiction, the problems, Lord God. Be with them and guide them I pray. In Jesus name.

And according to Paul, this is part of the process, and he says that this will go on until, and I quote, “until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God to maturity, to the measure of the full stature or standard of Christ.” So, on the one hand, the fact that this could happen, that we could mature and grow into the stature or standard of Christ, that that could even happen is amazing. But what does it even mean to grow into the stature of Christ or the standard of Christ. The concept in the Greek language which this is written in, is to be made complete, to become a standard. Like this is the, we use this word still today, like that’s the gold standard. Like that’s the benchmark, to be a fully mature and respected person who, who exhibits the love of Christ and who have been and are being completed in Christ. He is the standard. And so, now that we can kind of grasp this, it should be something that we’re thinking of because it’s an intentional thing, growing up happens in different stages on many levels and it’s happening whether we’re paying attention or not. But when we are considering where our lives are going, they’re going wherever we’re going, and if were intentional about it, we end up where we wanted to go. And if we’re not intentional about it, we end up where we are. And ultimately, if we’re thinking spiritually about growing spiritually than what we’re talking about is our union or relationship with God. We want to be more aware of His presence. We want to be available to Him. We want to have our eyes and ears open to see and hear what He is doing, and to have an interpretation for what’s really going on in this crazy, chaotic, beautiful, messy story called life. And as we continue to come to our brothers and sisters, and as we continue to be in relationship with one another, and as we continue to be in this relationship with the rhythm of the Scriptures, and as we continue to cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit and understand His comfort and guidance, then we are growing. And Paul gives a picture of this and I quote, “we must no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.” So, Paul is saying that this union that we want with God, the awareness of his presence, this is found in maturity and for the people of God who are, according to Paul, growing in every way more and more like Christ. So, people who are looking more and more like Jesus. So, on the one hand, we could say well I fall so far short of that I don’t even know where to start, or we could flip it over and go, wait a second, this is even possible. This is, like this is possible because that would be almost too good to be true, right. The whole trajectory of this thing is that we be, we end up looking like Jesus. Like when we grow up, we’re gonna be like Jesus. The answer according to Paul seems to be absolutely yes, that’s what’s going on here. So maybe, maybe it’s time to grow up. Maybe we take on the popular adage and embrace our destiny. This is what we were made for, to grow up and look like Jesus. Can you imagine just for, just a second, it’ll be hard to imagine but just imagine this, a world with two billion people who look like Jesus and act like Jesus and do what Jesus did, because there are 2 billion of us who claim this. Can you imagine? I mean we have the examples in the Gospels about what one Jesus did. If He is in us and among us and through us and in all of it, wow! He’s not the hold up, is He? We are, it’s time to grow up in Jesus.

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

Today is the 25th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it is fantastic to gather again around the Global Campfire and take the next step forward on our journey, and our particular leg of the journey right now has us moving through the book of Isaiah, which is one of the longer books of the Bible. In fact, short of Psalms, which has 150 chapters, Isaiah’s the longest book with 66 chapters. We are well underway. Today we will read chapters 45 verse 11, through 48 verse 11.

Commentary:

Okay, so, when you were a kid, did you ever, did you ever wonder what your life would become, what you would be? Did you ever daydream about it or pretend, or like say when I grow up, I’m going to be a doctor. Or when I grow up, I’m gonna be a pastor or whatever. When I grow up, I’m gonna be this thing. Paul’s talking about what we get to grow up and become in this faith, in our reading today. And it’s pretty compelling because if we remember Paul is imprisoned as he writes these things, he’s pouring his heart out and pleading, even though he’s in chains, pleading for maturity, for us to grow up. And he starts by saying, with all humility and gentleness, with patients bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So, if that’s what we’re aiming toward and we look around the body, we would probably have to at least admit there’s a level of maturity that Paul is talking about that we don’t normally exhibit toward each other, even though we’ve grown up into human adults. We have quite a bit of growing up to do. And for Paul this wasn’t just like a solo adventure trying to figure it out or that spiritual maturity would just happen by chance. You actually have to desire this, and God gave gifts for this, according to Paul, those are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers and their role was and still is, to equip and build up the body, God’s people.

Isaiah 41:17-43:13, Ephesians 2:1-22, Psalm 67:1-7, Proverbs 23:29-35

Today is the 23rd day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today as we, as we reached the conclusion of another one of our weeks together and continue our journey forward together. Our journey has been, has been leading us through the book of Isaiah and at this point we’re kind of about three quarters of the way through the book of Isaiah and so that’s where our next step will be coming from today. Isaiah chapter 41 verse 17 through 43 verse 13.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. Thank You for another week, we thank You that as these weeks go by and accumulate in the months and these months accumulate to seasons and years that You are faithful, You have been so patient and loyal to us, even in all of our shortcomings, our missteps our mistakes, the ways that we haven’t honored You, the ways that we haven’t brought honor to Your name through our lives. But rather heap garbage through the examples of some of our decisions. You have been patient. You’ve been kind, You’ve always hoped in what we could be in what You created us to be. And You’ve patiently walked with us. We are grateful and we express that. We are grateful to You, and we open our hearts to You and invite You to continue to transform us from within as we collaborate with You by surrender. We pray this in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello, this is Sandy from Ontario. I haven’t called in in a while. I’ve been listening for years. I’ve shared this with many of my friends up here. I would like you to pray for Jennifer and her family. Jennifer is my friend; her daughter is 21. Three weeks ago, her daughter was helping a friend who just got out of jail. And when my friend Jennifer and the whole family was in the car, this person pulled out a gun and shot my friend, Jennifer’s daughter, who is 21, in the neck, in front of them. Blood went everywhere. And they took her to the hospital, they airlifted her and she’s still in a coma. It’s been three weeks. She has slightly opened her eyes, but they say there is not much hope for her. Jennifer and her family are slightly catholic, but they are not believers. It’s very hard for me to know what to say to her except to pray. So, would you all please pray. The girl’s name is Hope, she’s 21 and she’s still in the hospital, like I said, and she’s still not moving at all. Thank you very much.

Hi everyone, it’s Kristy in Kentucky. Brian, thank you for your commentary on the September 18th, we walk by faith and not by sight. We cannot merely just read the word of God we have to have a personal relationship with Him and trust Him. Father, we love You and we praise You Jesus. And it is so hard sometimes to walk by faith and not by sight. Because if we walk by sight, Lord, we would all be falling, desperately and failing. But Father, in this tapestry of life that You’ve given to us, where there is grief and yet joy, all mixed together in life. Lord, let us know that You are our hope and that we can trust in You in all things. Father, we rejoice with those that are rejoicing, Father. And we grieve with those that are grieving. Father, we’re walking alongside our brothers and sisters who are fighting diseases, Lord Jesus. Father, we thank You that You are our healer and that You’re our provider. We love you Father God, and we trust You. Strengthen us Jesus, strengthen us as we pray. In Your precious name. Amen. I wanted to give a shout out to Angel in Training in Lexington, Kentucky and tell you sister, we need to connect somehow. I’m also in Lexington and I would love, love to meet you. Alright everyone, I pray each of you are having a most blessed and lovely day.

Hello Daily Audio Bible Family. My name is Amanda and I’m; this is the first time I’m calling on this line. I come to you today to ask for prayer for a family in my daughter’s school. Their 17-year-old son was in a car wreck and passed away this weekend. His sister is in my daughter’s grade. My daughters’ friends with this family, both of them, the sister and the boy who passed. She’s spent time, weekends away with them hanging out. I ask that you please cover this family in prayer. I cannot imagine the heartbreak, the sadness, the anger, the frustration that this family is going through right now. I ask this community that we cover them, we cover them in prayer, and we ask the Lord to be with them as they take these, these steps in the coming days, in dealing with their tragic loss. And also, all the students in the school as they work through the emotions of losing a classmate. Thank you, I love you all and have a blessed day.

Hi family, is Beloved in Bakersfield. I’m just calling for a prayer request for a dear friend of mine, her name is Katlynn. Her sister, Courtney, just overdosed last night. They found benzos and, it was a fentanyl overdose, but they found benzos and marijuana in her system too. So, would you just come alongside with me as we pray. Heavenly Father, we praise You for Courtney’s life. We thank You for sparing her and keeping her here a little while longer. Father, we just ask that You would be drawing her near to You as she is in the hospital, that she would encounter You. That she would submit her life to You, that she would release whatever guilt, shame, sin, it’s just keeping her apart from You, Lord. Would You just meet her, may she see Your face and just humbly submit her life before You. May she see what path she’s on, it’s just gonna lead to death. And may she just accept Your grace and mercy and Your death on the cross for her and know that she is loved and cared for deeply and that her sin is paid for. May she have no more shame. May she walk in Your peace and may You just comfort her family through this time. Lord, we praise You, we thank you for just pursuing each one of us. You’re a good God and we trust You Lord.

Isaiah 37:1-38:22, Galatians 6:1-18, Psalm 65:1-13, Proverbs 23:24

Today is the 21st day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today, wonderful to be here every day, wonderful that this place exists for us to be. So glad that we can be together as we take another step forward and our next step forward leads us to the book of Isaiah. And today we will read chapters 37 and 38.

Commentary:

Okay, so, we concluded the letter to the Galatians today and in Paul’s last chapter of this letter, his final exhortations he gives us a pretty straightforward look at the postures of life that we’re supposed to be cultivating. These aren’t really like Paul’s Christian life packs for the first century because the things that he suggests that we’re supposed to live into, the things that we’re supposed to be doing. And so, if we’re supposed to be doing them, we can outwardly just force ourselves to try to do these things. Or we can understand that the Gospel is from within, the transformation happens from within and the without, the exterior follows that and to cultivate these things are like shortcuts to an easier life. They’re the posture of life itself as a believer and follower of Jesus. So, let’s just consider the things that Paul is laying out. First, carry one another’s burdens, in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Okay so, like that’s something to consider, do we fulfill the law of Christ by carrying one another’s burdens? Do we have a desire for…for helping each other carry our loads so that we are not all being crushed, so that we all have this together? Or are we looking out for ourselves thinking that we’re something that we’re not, just deceiving ourselves. There’s a lot to be considered and that’s the first one. Next, let each person examine his own work and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load. Right, right, keep your eyes on your own life. Examine your own self first. Or how about this one, let the one who is taught the word share all his good things with the teacher. Don’t be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. Right, so take care of the ones who help you grow, who become your teachers. Don't…don’t withhold from them. Don’t be deceived. That they’re showing you the way and understand the way, because if you’re gonna sew from the exterior, from the flesh, if you’re gonna navigate yourself from that perspective, then you will reap what you sow, which will be that your flesh will ultimately destroy you. If you sew from within to the Spirit, eternal life is what wells up from within and overflows. Or this one, let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith. I guess on the one hand, we can imagine a world like that and that’s a different world than the world that we live in, and that is the invitation of the Gospel. There’s a better way. There’s a better way for people to be and that is to take care of each other, knowing that we’re in this together. So, this is great advice that has to be cultivated from within where the change actually happens, and the desires actually grow to take care of each other and then that overflows into our lives. It changes us dramatically. If we look at what Paul is describing, we would say that would be a different world. That’s the world we’re invited to build in collaboration with God. We are being transformed, according to the Scriptures, into new creations, and that’s gonna change the way we look at things altogether. And Paul’s giving us a glimpse of what that looks like, as we close the letter to the Galatians.

Prayer:

So, Holy Spirit, these glimpses, like they set something off in us. They ignite something in us like yeah, that…that’s where we’re going, that’s where this is supposed to be all headed. And sometimes we get lost in the fact that it won’t head in that direction, if we don’t go in that direction. And we all have to go in that direction for the world to find transformation, but it does kind of boil down to us. Are we gonna walk the path? Are we gonna live from the heart? Are we going to cultivate from within a relationship with You that spills out and affects those around us. Paul’s given us a glimpse of some of what that looks like, help us live into it from within. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi, this is Loriann from South Carolina. And I just wanna thank all of you, my family, my fellow DAB family and church for praying for me the way that you have since I’ve lost Steven. And there’s so many days that I do good. But then there are so many days that I just want my husband back. And right now, I feel like, and I don’t know if this is true, but I feel like God just wants me to belong to Him. And He be my husband. And He teach me His ways. And He teaches me how to love and how to live and to minister for Him. And all I wanna do is ask you guys to please pray for me because this grief is killing me. And I know that’s from Satan, but I loved my husband Steven, with all my heart. And I miss him so much. Please pray for me, my sisters and brothers and I know you will because you always do. And thank you Brian Hardin and family. I love you so much. You mean everything to me. I hope you guys have a good night and I love you.

You always keep your word, and your word is true. Thank you for all you have done for us in the past. We thank you for the things we’re, You are doing now for us and we thank You for all that You will do for us in the future. We want to please You with our faith. Give us the strength to have faith and pray, even when we don’t feel like we can believe. For we know that nothing is impossible with You. Help us to remember that our faith relies on believing in Your son, Jesus Christ and Your word. Not in what we see or feel. Help us to resist the devil through Your word. Help us to resist his lies of doubt, fear, negative thoughts and temptations. We want all things to be possible for us. We want blessings to be unlocked for us by faith. And we want to have testimonies in our lives to share with others to build their faith. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for praying along with me my brothers and sisters. I love each and every one of you. Have a good night.

Hi everyone, it’s Lisa the Encourager. I wanted to call, like many others, and just tell Liza I’m praying for you and how much I really admire your courage with everything that you’re going through. So, God laid on my heart the Bible verse James 4: 14 and it talks about what, how are lives are so short. And it is a good reminder that all of us have an opportunity to really look at what we’re gonna do with our time, no matter where we are in life. And the Bible verse says, you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life, it is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. And I just think that Liza has given us a beautiful picture of her walking through her vapor and doing it so beautifully, with so much courage and so much humbleness. And it helps us all see how life; we don’t know when our lives will end. So, this is the challenge to me. What am I going to do with my vapor? What am I gonna do with my time. And I just think, I just wanna thank you Liza for helping us all look at you and be so encouraged by your love and your grace and your humbleness and your courage. And we’re all so happy to pray for you as you’re going through your illness and we’re praying that you are healed. But it also challenges us to look at our own lives and see what we can do in this time that we are staring at and what we can do to please God.

Hi, my name’s Clint, calling for my son, Vincent Blankenship. He, he’s had a mental break and we need prayer. He’s in the clinic right now getting help. And I’m just so thankful people are praying with me here in my community and thankful for this Daily Audio Bible. Thanks to Brian for reading the Bible for all these years for us. My son’s doing better but we believe that God can heal and we’re asking for complete healing of his mind. Thanks so much for your prayers. I’m just so thankful to know the Lord and know His family. Thanks guys.

So, in other words, there is a path that we can choose that will waste our life, deplete our energy because what we will spend our lives doing is attempting to outrun whatever we believe is chasing us, because we are unstable and are relying on things that will never be stable. And we can have all of that, all of that can be ours if that’s what we want. God will wait on the other side of that for us to return to Him. But we are also given a path of making that choice now, returning to Him now. And so, instead of running away from what is chasing us, we stop and run to God and collapse there and find rest. And Isaiah gives us a picture of what that could look like. And I quote, “whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you. This is the way, walk in it, then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths and call them filth.” So, what is Isaiah telling us, direction is available. Clarity is here. It’s all right here, if we’ll calm down, return to God and rediscover where our source of strength comes from, and if we will live from that place under the shadow of His wings, as it were, we will see what is false and what we’ve been trusting in. We will see the imposters, we will see what we’ve been trying to outrun, we will look at these things and its delicate right because the Bible’s so graphic here and what it’s trying to tell us that we will look like, how our vision will change. It will change so much when we find this place of quiet confidence of rest, under the shadow of the Almighty. That we will look at the former ways that we were trying to navigate in our own strength and consider them to be used menstrual sanitary objects. Right, I mean, that’s graphic, that’s delicate and it's…it’s probably that way for a reason right, because nobody collects that kind of stuff and saves it. Right, that’s…that’s thrown away. That’s disposed of. And maybe that’s how we begin to look at how we have navigated our lives in an attempt to be our own master. We see this story repeated over and over in the lives of the children of Israel in ancient times, we see the back and forth over and over and over. And we can think they’re dumb. But we can look at our lives and go this is our story over and over and over, then maybe it’s not really going anywhere. Maybe God is God, maybe God is all-powerful, maybe He actually does know our name. Maybe He actually does know how many hairs are on our heads. And that’s an ever-changing thing for me and I’m sure He has to use subtraction on a daily basis for that. But maybe He really does know, maybe He cares enough to know that. Maybe He loves you enough to know how many hairs are on your head. Who else loves you like that? What are we doing here friends, let’s return to God and find rest for our souls and rediscover that we have a strength. It’s just not our own. It’s the strength of the Almighty, all things are possible.

Prayer:

And Father, we let go of all of it. This garbage that we are carrying around trying to sort out and process, like we can’t, You can. And so, we’re running to You, we’re running to You. And we are not running to You so You will pat us on the butt and tell us we will make it and it will be okay, so that we can go back and desert You again, back into our own strength. We are running to You saying enough is enough, I’m not living this way anymore. You are my God, I will serve You, lead me where I should go. I’m trusting in that, it’s the only safe thing to do in this world. You are the only truly trustworthy person being on this planet and I trust in You. Come, Holy Spirit, make this true in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hey fam, this is Nancy. I’m calling from Alberta and I’m asking for prayer from all you mighty prayer warriors for a good friend, Jason, who was in a motocross accident on Sunday evening. And his brain is swelling, incredibly bad. And they had to remove part of his skull to relieve some of that pressure and it’s just not going down. He has broken both legs and the main concern, the biggest concern right now, is this brain swelling. It’s just an 18-year-old kid, who goes to our church and been a friend of our families for a while now. Appreciate the prayers and please keep him and his family in your prayers. The sister was supposed to be getting married in two weeks and not sure what’s happening with that right now. Because they’re over in the hospital in Calgary, here in Alberta. So, keep Jason Slingerlynn in your prayers as well as his parents, Dave and Colinda and the whole family. Thank you so much. Love you guys.

Hey, Daily Audio Bible family. I have emergency request. My husband is a police officer here in Texas and we just found out one of our friend’s granddaughters or grandsons who is one years old, had an accident where he somehow got outside into the pool and they found him, essentially face down in the pool. He has been resuscitated, he has a heart rate, he’s breathing. But I don’t know how long he was down for, and we don’t know much else than that. So, can you guys please pray and just lift this little boy up and just ask the Lord to just heal him and give him life to the fullest, with no deficits, according to His mercy and His love. Thank you so much, family. It’s The Sun Is from Texas. Love you, bye.

Hey family, it’s Beloved in Bakersfield. I was just offering a prayer request for my friend Jacqueline, we’ve been friends since kindergarten, so I see her like a sister. Her father-in-law has had some complications with his heart surgery, and he had to get transferred to USC emergently because he had coded after a few days in the hospital, post the heart surgery. So, anyway, prayers for the family, for his healing. Prayers just financially for the, for his wife who’s needing to stay in Los Angelas. There’s also just for my friend Jacqueline, her husband is obviously wanting to stay and support his mom and dad. Which is requiring him to lose time from work. And it’s, she said it’s been putting a strain as far as like his job situation of possibly being let go. If he loses too much time from working. So, prayers just for, for God just to provide the financial means necessary, the healing necessary and just the peace in this whole situation. Their last name is Treheo, so if you could just remember the Treheo family and just be covering them in just God’s wisdom and peace during this time for them. I would appreciate it.

Hey DAB family, this is Anna in the Trenches. It’s been a long time, but I’ve been out here listening and praying for ya’ll. I’m calling because I’ve entered into a kind of stressful season. It’s exciting but it’s stressful. We are buying our own house. When we first bought a house 15 years ago, we bought a house with a group of people, and we were living in community. Over the years, our ministry has shifted from neighborhood and home and providing places for, you know, people in recovery to live and things. To more of the prison ministry of our church. So, I’m very excited about my family having a house that’s just my family in the house. And so, it’s a huge answer to prayer but I’m really stressed out about moving a family of five, including a disabled son and you know, packing and stuff. So, if you guys could just pray for my mental health during this time. And that I would trust God for all of the loans to come through and just for people to come help us move, for it to all go smoothly. That would be awesome. I’m also praying for my mom. She has Alzheimer’s and is deteriorating kind of horribly, it’s just hard to watch. So, love you all. Bye.