A Walk Through The Word

Exodus 19:16-21:21, Matthew 23:13-39, Psalms 28:1-9, Proverbs 7:1-5

Today is the 4^th day of the month of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you today as we…as we take the next step forward and reach forward for what comes next. And we’ve been spending our time working through the book of Exodus in the Old Testament, which is what we’ll continue to do. We’re reading from the Voice Translation this week. Exodus chapter 19 verse 16 through 21 verse 21. And just by way of reminder the children of Israel have an appointment with the Almighty God who is coming to speak to them at the mountain of God. Exodus chapter 19.

Commentary:

Okay. So, God has come down upon Mount Sinai in the…in the desert in the wilderness. The people are all around the mountain. They’re not allowed to go upon it. And God has come to speak directly with the people. The people don’t want God to speak directly to them. They’re too afraid and so they’re essentially telling Moses. “you speak on behalf of God and we will listen to you and do whatever you say.” And, so, in so many ways the people are affirming Moses as a prophet. That is what a prophet does, speak on behalf of God to the people, which shows us the importance of the prophet being genuine. We will learn about false prophets in the Scriptures. We will also see that there are consequences in this new society that God is being built for people who claim to speak in the name of the Lord but aren’t at all. But let’s notice what’s beginning to happen here. People are gathered around the mountain of God. God begins to speak to them. He begins to tell them what they are going to look like as a people. And, so, we encounter famously the 10 Commandments as well as other instructions including like instructions about servants and slaves. And, so, we can scratch our head and read the 21^st-century into the ancient Scriptures and go, “well…what’s that doing in the Bible”, not understanding that we have to get ourselves the context of what’s happening here, what’s actually going on and why it matters. The children of Israel have only ever been slaves. So, 400 years have gone by and no one’s going to be 400 or more years old at this point, right? So, every single person that came out of Egypt was born a slave and left Egypt as a slave. All they ever knew was how to be a slave. All they ever knew of the culture was whatever had been inherited - part of Egyptian, part Hebrew, mostly all slave. They don't…they don’t know how to go into a promised land and establish it and set up the leadership and rule under God and be a nation of priests to the world. What they do know how to be is a slave. And, so, for God to give provisions about slaves and essentially say they are hired laborers for a period of time and this is how it works. This is a gigantic can take step forward in the world at this time. The idea that there are term limits, the idea that there are any rights whatsoever of the slave, even a free person who has been captured in battle and made a slave. So, we have made some pretty significant progress in the world over the last several thousand years. But we are also watching God establish revolutionary ideas and concepts about culture because that is fundamentally what we are in the wilderness for. That is fundamentally what’s happening here. The children of Israel know how to be slaves. They don’t know how to be anything else. They don’t know how to be the chosen people of God. They don’t know how to be a nation of priests. They don’t know anything but what they have always known. And, so, God has brought them into the wilderness where they have no way out. They have got to depend upon Him for their survival. And that is a fundamental principle that is a baseline truth for this new thing that God is doing among the Hebrew people. And, so, what we are beginning to experience is the giving of the law, the law of God, the law that would govern this people that would inform them into a cohesive people moving in a specific direction for specific purposes. They were the chosen people, and they were chosen to bless the world. So, we have in some ways begun to shift our narrative. Like this is a very dramatic story with the plagues and everything in the Exodus from Egypt and the Red Sea but we’ve begun to shift the narrative now to where the people are hearing what God wants to shape, like how He is going to knit these people together as the family of God and what He expects. And what we’re going to notice is that everything, everything about this law…and some of these things we’re gonna scratch our head and say go, “that is so antiquated I can’t even imagine doing that.” That was thousands of years ago but the essence of what God is knitting together is that everything that they do reminds them of who they are and who God is and where they’re going. It’s being baked into the new culture that is emerging. And, so, yeah, we’ll go into all kinds of stature…we’re going to read the book of the law and it will read like a law book. But before we even get there understanding this is where it’s going. What God is doing is bringing His people into the wilderness where they have to listen, and they have to learn to trust or they will not survive. And then God is beginning to instruct them. What’s happening is the world is moving forward. The way people deal with each other is being reimagined. Okay…so…so that’s that…

…and then we turn the page into Matthew, and we see Jesus is just very ticked off, “woe to you, You brood of vipers, you whitewashed tombs.” Like He’s just going off. And who is He going off on? The religious leaders who are responsible for stewarding the law. What had happened is they lost the plot along the way and the law was no longer like this way of living, this way of being, this is way of staying set apart and pure and so everything that you did reminded you you were in covenant with God. Instead, all that was lost in favor of ritual, in favor of following the letter of the law. And that became nothing more than controlling the people. And, so for Jesus to make commentary today like He did so directs, He’s basically saying, “Are you so stupid”, right? “Are you so blind? Are you so ignorant? Can’t you see you’ve lost the plot here?” Of course, power obscures all kinds of things that we know are right and all kinds of things that we know are wrong and they have power and it’s a very tenuous power because the Roman Empire is in charge, but they are allowing these Hebrew people to kind of maintain their own subculture, a separatist culture. And, so, these religious leaders are just trying to keep everything moving forward and stay in power and stay in control and Jesus sees right through it. Jesus sees right through everything. Jesus sees the truth in all things. That is having eyes to see and ears to hear. And, so, in some ways, in today’s reading, we get a glimpse of the time when the law when instructions are just being first given and then we get to zoom forward a couple of millennia into the first century in the time of Jesus and see what became of things and what God in the flesh, what Jesus has to say about what they’re doing and He doesn’t like it.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You. We thank You for Your word and we thank You for this…this kind of perspective where we can look sort of like before and after and we don’t have all of the story in between but that’s the story of the Bible, that’s what we’re doing every day step-by-step day by day and all of these things will be filled. But we get this glimpse that it’s not about what You look like, it’s not what You can present, it’s not in the way that You can perform in front of people, how pious and holy You are. It’s what’s inside of us that’s true. And we watch You Jesus looking at the truth in everything that You do. And, so, we believe that You are looking at us and You can see the truth. We can’t hide it from You. We can’t do a dance and fool You. We can’t change the tone of voice that we’re using or put-on makeup or wear a hat or hide in the other way. You see the truth about us. That can be unnerving, or it can be freeing. Finally, finally, in all of the earth there is one who would look upon us and see us as we truly are and still love us enough to die for us. We thank You for that. We want this to compel us and shift us that we might press in and move away from all that is false so that we can find freedom in the truths because the truth sets us free. Come Holy Spirit we pray. 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. So, stay tuned and stay connected in any way that you can.

Check out the Community section. The Community section’s where you can find links to the different social media channels that we are a part of places where communication is happening on social media. So, check that out. But there are also different links there, like links to the transcripts of each day’s reading and each day’s commentary. That’s there in the Community section as well. And the Prayer Wall lives there in the community section. So, check it out. Stay connected. Pray for each other. Turn…it…it’s just so important that we keep our hearts turned outward, that we remember that. It’s so easy, the culture is so prevalent that we be self-absorbed, and really thinking about what we need and what we want and what we desire. But so much of that is answered when we turn our hearts outward and that it’s not just about us, that we are praying for one another around the world. So, check out the Prayer Wall.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if…if the mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and given to anyone who will listen to it anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and to build community around that rhythm so that as we take this journey, we know we’re not alone. It’s not a solitary journey through the Scriptures any more than it’s a solitary journey through life. We’re in this together. If that is life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. 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 up at the top in the app and you can share from anywhere in the world, 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 afternoon Daily Audio Bible it’s January the 30^th and this is Chris Ann calling back in. And I’m just asking for some continued prayer for…for me for decisions that I need to make in my life. As you may have remembered several times that I’ve called in, I’m separated from my husband, separated for several years and it’s just been a very difficult journey. And while I feel like I’m supposed to keep praying through this it’s just getting harder and harder. It…I miss my family, I miss my husband, I miss…even though that the situation was that he did what he did and wasn’t faithful that I still miss him, and I still care for him very deeply. And I miss my son and just so much that’s been going on from last year even into this year that the stress on me has caused me not to feel well. And I have an older dog that I know that while he’s in pretty decent health I know that he's…he’s got a little heart murmur that’s going on and just ask for his body just to be healed and…because he is my comfort that I have right now at home and it’s just hard. It’s hard. I don’t even know how to explain it, but at times it’s very lonely and it’s hard and I just need some prayer just to get me through this. And thank you all so much. God bless.

Hi Daily Audio Bible this is Renzo from Maryland. I just want to say thank you guys for everything you’re doing. It’s a blessing. I just caught up. I was behind like 14 days. So, I just thank God that He’s just really been blessing me to just catch up and get closer and closer to Him. And I just want to pray for anybody that’s just going through anything hard times, going through anything like depression because I heard that only the line, depression and stuff like that. Just please…just Father God, I just thank You for everything that You do for us God and just please just help people who are struggling with depression God. Just please help them to get closer and closer to You God and the Holy Spirit to guide them and please help them just keep listening to the Bible because the Bible is so relational, and it just gives us a perfect guideline in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Praying for you guys God bless you.

This is Mike in Tampa I’ve been a long-time listener. I haven’t called in a very long time probably several…about four years now but I was especially moved to call in when Desiree got on here and was telling us about her finding out that her mother was a drug addict and how it just left her…left her with a lot of hurt. And Desiree I just want to pray for you sweet sister right now. And thank you for calling in. It was such a blessing to hear from you sweetie. Lord Jesus we…we come to you in prayer for our…or dear sister Desiree. And Lord I just ask You Lord to bring healing to her heart. Help her to know how much You love her oh Lord. Help her to…to experience or great love and healing and acceptance and…and…and how she’s very dear and precious to You a Lord. And thank You Lord that…that she called in so we could pray. And just please please please Lord bring healing to this family, bring healing to help her mom to find the healing that she needs as well and the help that she needs and help her to…to be reunited with her daughter and to not blame her in any way for what she’s done and…and thank You Lord in Jesus’ name. Amen. Desiree have a…have a good day sweetie and…and just know that a lot of…an awful lot of us are praying for you. Probably as many as thousands are praying for you right now. A lot of ‘em won’t call in but they’re praying for you sweetie. OK. Bye bye.

Hello DAB family this has been an amazing amazing journey these last couple months. My devotional life last year I…I decided to get more focused on…in the word and this last year has been even though with Covid and everything has been a struggle. I’ve grown a lot. And finding this app through a YouTuber I’ve been really excited to finally have a daily plan that I’ve been listening to. So, that has been awesome. The reason why I’m on here now is…and by the way…my name is Andrew. I am from Regina Saskatchewan Canada but the reason I’m phoning is because of this lady that…that sent a message about being hurt by the Christian community and…and her being engaged and her thinking that there’s gotta be something bad that’s gonna happen and she asked for prayer for peace. So, I just want to pray right now for her. Dear heavenly Father I just thank You so much for Your love and who You are and for the gifts that You give us. And God sometimes in our human nature we under…we don’t understand sometimes why You give us good gifts. God, I understand that it…it may not feel real. And I just pray that this lady who didn’t give her name but You know who she is God, that You would just give her that peace, give her that confidence that You are a Father who wants to give us good gifts. And I pray that for the continual healing in her heart for…for being in involved in the Christian community. And I pray that that that would just be a blessing to her and give her peace in those areas and healing and enjoy this engagement that she’s that she has. So, I pray You just bless her and give her strength. I pray all these things in Jesus’ name.

Hi good morning this is John Allen from Orlando FL. This is a first-time caller. I want to thank all of you Daily Bible Audio family for all your prayer requests that you have requested. I want to stand in the middle and say a prayer for all of you. Father God I thank You for all my brothers and sisters who have called in seeking You. Lord You’ve heard their petitions. We come before Your throne of grace Lord praising You, glorifying You. Glory be to Your name Lord. Glory be to You in the highest. Father You see everything, and You know everything. I come before You believing in faith that You will walk on water for everyone who called out to You requesting a prayer. I thank You Jesus for this platform that we can all reach out to one another encouraging one another. I thank You for Brian and his family for creating this this daily prayers and daily readings. Thank You, Jesus for Your grace that never ends. Father God cover every single brother and sister who has called in with Your blood protection Lord from this COVID-19. Father comfort the people that are not able to see that are going through all difficulties on their own Father God. Thank You, Jesus. Come through for us Father God. We seek You we look for You Lord. We put our eyes on You. Glory be to Your name Lord the name that is above all names. Father thank You for what You are doing in this group. Thank You for Your grace that never ends Lord. Thank You for the small victories that You’ve given us this month Father God. Thank You, Jesus for who You are Lord. Thank You, Lord my God. We honor You we glorify You we put our eyes on You. Thank You Lord. Thank You in Jesus mighty powerful name I pray the covering of Jesus blood over every single brother and sister who called in in Jesus’ name. Amen. Blessings.

Hello everybody this is God’s grace for Japan and I just heard…I’m a little behind…and I just heard the January 29^th broadcast with a new sister joining us at the end of the broadcast who just got engaged. And first of all, congratulations. I’ve been married since 2014 and the reason I’m bringing that up is because I wanted you to know that I too came into my engagement from a season of almost a decade of heartbreak and pain in which I…I…I think I just didn’t really believe that the good thing could happen. And, so, that plus I also related very much to what you’re talking about the inability to connect with a Christian community which I also had experienced some spiritual abuse within Christian communities, and I mean I think more than one of us can attest to that we…our other brothers and sisters do not always love us or care for us or behave towards us as I think that our Messiah would prefer but that aside I hope you find healing here. And also, I want to encourage you as you enter this journey…and yes…I know it’s terrifying, it’s terrifying to start something good or for something good to come into your life when everything around you is saying, “no but good things don’t happen to me.” And I…I had way too many days, years, months of…of wrestling with that almost and anxiety in the early days of my marriage. And I still have all sorts of anxiety about “when’s the other shoe gonna drop? When is the terrible thing gonna happen?” And I want to courage you, rest in the good thing that God gives you too. He gives us blessings. Yes, this life id full of trouble and I know nothing lasts forever on this side of heaven but enjoy the blessings He gives you. I will be praying for you sister. And if you have a need just call us up. Love you. Bye.

Exodus 17:8-19:15, Matthew 22:34-23:12, Psalms 27:7-14, Proverbs 6:27-35

Today is the 3^rd day of February welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is an honor and privilege and joy to be here with you today as we put one of our feet out in front of us and shift our balance and lean forward into it and take the next step forward, which is what we do every day. 365 step journey. Seems like a little one, but it takes us through the whole Bible, takes us through the whole year. And, yeah, like I was saying in the last couple of days, now that we’re moving into this second month of the year, we…we already can look back. It’s not like the Bible didn’t start speaking to us right out of the gates. It’s been speaking all along. And, so, let’s dive in and that take the next step. We’re reading from the Voice Translation this week. Exodus chapter 17 verse 8 through 19 verse 15.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s talk about chosen people for a second, right? Because probably…unless this is like…you’re just…very very new to anything about the Bible and just hearing these stories or some of this terminology for the first time…and I know there’s a ton of you…and…and no problem…it’s all gonna start clicking into place as we keep following the story. But those of us who have been around this faith for a while, like understanding that the Israelites are God’s chosen people. That’s just kind of part of the story. And we can think that He chose them because He wanted them more than anybody else and somehow, they are better or more exalted or are more favorable somehow than anybody else. And, so, they’re like almost a different level of human being and everybody else is below that. And that terminology, that kind of concept, it then bleeds over into the Christian faith. And those of us who have accepted Christ, then we know that we have been chosen and have been adopted in the family of God. And, so, we feel that same kind of “I’m special-ness.” And that’s fine, that’s good, but it’s not all there is to it. I mean, if the Scriptures tell us God is not a respecter of persons, if the Scriptures tell us like nobody’s better than anybody else, and that’s very explicit in the writings of the apostle Paul, then how do we get to this favored chosen people and what does this mean? God very clearly speaks to that today as the children of Israel are at the mountain of God. So, there out in the wilderness at what has traditionally been believed to be Mount Sinai. And God and Moses have been talking and God is…has instructed Moses to invite the people to purify themselves, because He's…God is going to meet with them directly, personally, like not through a prophet or anything. Like we’re seeing God’s intention was to communicate directly with His people. As the story unfolds, we’ll see that that’s not how things exactly work out for various reasons and we’ll discuss them as we go, but at this point that is the invitation, that the people purify themselves and not come upon…on the mountain, the mountain of God until they are given permission. And God speaks. And I read this out of the Scriptures, and this is the voice of God. “You are eyewitnesses of all that I did to the Egyptians. You saw how I snatched you from the bonds of slavery and carried you on Eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now, if you will hear my voice, obey what I say, and keep my covenant, then you out of all the nations of the world will be my treasured people. After all, the earth belongs to me. You will be my kingdom of priests, a nation holy and set apart.” There it is. There is a reason these people are being set apart. It is so that they can be His kingdom of priests to the world so that all nations can be blessed through them, which is what God told Abraham. They’re not being chosen because they are better. They are being chosen for a purpose, a purpose that affects the world until this day. So, my brothers and sisters as believers in Jesus Christ we share in that. We aren’t better. We are chosen for a purpose. We are set apart to be a kingdom of priests, to be a city on a hill, to be the light of the world.

So, if we zoom out of the wilderness and zoom forward in the story by millennia and come into the time of Jesus and just look at how things are than we hear God in flesh, Jesus speak of these priests and what He says…well…I’m gonna quote Him. “The Pharisees and the scribes occupy the seat of Moses. So, you should do the things they tell you to do but don’t do the things they do. They heap burdens upon their neighbors backs and they prove unwilling to do anything to help shoulder the load. They’re interested above all in presentation,” right? In how things look. “They wrap their heads and arms in the accoutrements of prayer, they cloak themselves with flowing tasseled prayer garments, they covet the seats of honor at fine banquets in the synagogue, and they love it when people recognize them in public and call them teacher and beam at them.” That is a very different thing than knowing that you have been set aside, set apart to God to be a kingdom of priests to the world. So, indeed we are chosen, indeed we are special. It has nothing to do with us. And when we start subtly thinking that it does, we have planted seeds that are going to grow up and they’re going to be called arrogance and pride. And that I guess…maybe the easiest most clear way to say it is, that won’t work. Look around you. Look at the stories in the Bible and see it doesn’t work and just look at the world we live in, it doesn’t work.

Prayer:

Father, indeed, we feel chosen. Indeed, we know Your love for us, but indeed we know that we didn’t do anything. There’s nothing we could do that would ever force Your hand. You would never…there’s nothing we can do that would make You go, “like, okay You have achieved righteousness on Your own. I have no choice but to see You that way.” We are what we are because of You. We are nothing without You. Our next breath is a gift. We are utterly dependent upon You even when we don’t acknowledge it, even when we’re not paying attention. So, we’re taking this moment to be grateful and to humble ourselves. That was Your words today Jesus, “for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” Come Holy Spirit and help this to be the way we live, the default, the normal, we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

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

It’s where the Prayer Wall is, where we pray for one another on a continual basis. It’s where different links to get connected on social media are, wherever we’re participating. You can find that all in the Community section.

You can also check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there that have been pulled together and crafted and created over…over the years to take this journey deeper. So, yeah, the Daily Audio Bible Journal is there. And we encourage journaling often because remembering is something that is…is an inherent narrative inside the Bible that…that we would remember what God has done, that we would tell future generations what God has done. And, you know, in the Old Testament or whatever they would build an altar, they would pile up rocks, they would make a memorial. Ad we think about around the world, like there’s memorials and statues and all kinds of stuff all over the world to say, “this is what happened here” or “this is the significance of this place or this person.” It’s important that we…that we remember…that we remember these things in our own lives and then we can look back at God’s faithfulness and that we can share with the future generations what God has done. And maybe a more modern representation of that over piling up a pile rocks would be to write it down, write it down in your own hand. Let it be a memorial in your own hand of God’s faithfulness in your life. And, so, there’s the Daily Audio Bible Journal but then there’s also the Black Wing pencils and all of the writing utensils that are there in the Shop. I discovered those…well…let’s see…it would’ve been several years ago. It was when my mom…it would’ve been 2016. She got real sick and she passed away in early 2017. And just…it was just constant care…constant care and kind of on a plane on the weekends and traveling and speaking and back, constant care. And it was just exhausting the level of just how quickly dementia was becoming a part of the story and just the confusion and the anxiety and on her side and my side…all of our sides that were involved. And, yeah, Jill and I were out in little community near us where there’s some art galleries and that’s where I found the Black Wing pencils. I was just out there bot too long ago remembering all of that. And I don’t know, there was something about. Why am l gonna spend so much money on pencils? Who writes with pencils anymore? But then just sharpening those pencils and knowing like, this is the best pencil you can get. Like this is actually a craft pencil and just I mean wit the Cedar wood and with the craftsmanship of the whole thing. And I just fell in love. I just…I was like I…it connected me back to other earlier points in my life. I hadn’t written with pencils in since…I don’t know maybe school, but there was something about it and that stuck. It stuck all these years. And I’m looking at a Black Wing…like I’m picking it up. I’m holding my Black Wing pencil that I write with every day right now. And, so, that’s little pieces of the story that get incorporated along the way that make up the story of this community and what we are aiming for, which is certainly to move through the Bible together in community, but that it’s not like this passive thing where we just go, “there. Check. I read the Bible.” We’re actually the Bible transformed us, where we really entered into the stories and allowed it to do what it does, which is become a mirror into our own hearts, and then really bring up the stuff that needs healing and really bring up the stuff and needs to not be thee in our lives anymore and then to be able to write these things down as they are happening and to refer back. “Oh, yes I remember walking through that season and now look at where I’m at.” So, we encourage all that stuff. And that’s why everything that’s in the Daily Audio Bible Shop is there intentionally. So, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com as well. And as I’ve said so many times the fact…the fact is we wouldn’t be here if we weren’t in this together. That’s just the fact. But…but we are here. And, so, we are in this together. And, so, if life is coming to you through the community here as we make this journey through the Bible than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. 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 up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

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

Exodus 15:19-17:7, Matthew 22:1-33, Psalms 27:1-6, Proverbs 6:20-26

Today is the 2^nd day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy and an honor to be here with you today as…well…we’re taking these steps forward into this new month, so we can move into it comfortably and sail through all the Scriptures have before us. So, it’s good to be here with you as we continue our journey through the month of February. We are reading from the Voice Translation this week, picking up with our story of the children of Israel in the wilderness from the book of Exodus. Just reminding you, yesterday there was a showdown. The enemy was coming against a population of former slaves known as the Hebrews. They were backed up to the Red Sea. There was nowhere to run, and God split the Red Sea and they crossed over. And the…the Army, the Egyptian army was just gonna go through as well, but they didn’t make it. The ocean collapsed over them and that was that. And that’s kind of where we find ourselves. They got to the other side of the Red Sea on dry ground and saw what happened to their enemy and then they burst out in song. And, so, we find ourselves on the other side of the Red Sea in a time of celebration and we will continue with that singing and dancing today. Exodus chapter 15 verse 19 through 17 verse 7.

Commentary:

Okay. Let’s talk about what we read in the book of Exodus today. So, we are with the children of Israel in the wilderness now and they are freed from slavery in Egypt. And I mean, man, God has invaded Egypt, right, dismantled Egypt and the Israelites essentially pillaged Egypt by requesting silver and gold on their way out. And, so, they pillaged Egypt without even drawing his sword. So, obviously God had been with them. And then He’s leading them cloud by day pillar of fire by night. They cross the Red Sea on dry ground and watch the armies of Pharaoh be drowned in that same Red Sea. And then they head out into the deep deep deep desert and they can’t find water. And sure, sure that’s a struggle. In fact, that’s a struggle for survival. That’s what God was up to. They are in the wilderness, and they are trying to do what they can do to survive in their own strength when God had invited them into a different story, one that was going to shift and change their identity altogether. The only identity and we will…we will touch on this many times because I’ve already mentioned, we’re in the wilderness part of our journey right now in the Old Testament and we’ll be in the wilderness. And we need to learn the message of the wilderness just like the children of Israel need to learn the lesson of the wilderness because you can’t get out of it until you learn. So, let’s learn it. So, here they are wandering around and their thirsty. They’ve seen God do all the things we just mentioned. So, they have plenty of proof that He is with them that He cares about them and that He is most powerful. And yet here they are, they can’t find water and what do they say, “why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness?” And then they start thinking about slave days, cucumbers, bread, meat in the pot. That’s what they had. And, so, they’re lamenting that they don’t have those things anymore even though they have their freedom. They would rather give up their freedom for an easier path. You see where this is going friends? Like all we gotta do is understand that the Bible so often is simply a mirror exposing us, like exposing all the things that we are naked and ashamed about, exposing the ways in which we are hiding and pretending.

So, we watch Jesus do this kind of stuff with His words in the New Testament. We’re watching this, these stories become the stories of our lives as well as we pay attention. How many times have we felt freedom, have we felt God rescuing us, that He did rescue us and then things got difficult again or they got even harder quickly? And we would trade freedom for slavery just to have it easy. There’s so many things to think about on so many levels in that that that is where the Bible has led us to today, to invite the Holy Spirit to reveal these ways that we choose slavery over freedom because slavery might be easier, bondage might be easier even though it’s going to kill us in the end. When God is saying fight for your freedom and then you will be free. Like, learn to trust me utterly and you will be free. Nothing can touch you after that because nothing can be taken from you. You know who you belong to and you know that He is the most-high God and that for eternity you will be His child, you will be in fellowship with Him. There’s nothing that can take that away from you. Until we learn that we just keep making circles in the sand and it’s going nowhere. And we’re watching this in the children of Israel’s lives but it doesn’t take too much effort to see it in our own.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit come. Yeah, it might be easier sometimes to just give up, just settle for whatever, just…just be in bondage because freedom that…that would be too painful, that would be too much of a risk, that would be…that would be too difficult. We’d give up, we’d walk back. We’ve done it so many times. But You are inviting us like, for real into freedom, that we can walk into freedom. Even though it will be supremely difficult we can become free if we will completely and utterly depend upon You. Come Holy Spirit and show us the ways that we’ve put the chains back on our ankles and wrists and that we just keep carrying around bondage for no reason. And the only reason being that we just think it will be too hard to be free. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s home of the Global Campfire, it’s where we congregate in a virtual world. So, be aware of that. Of course, the Daily Audio Bible app will get you there as well. So, if you don’t have the Daily Audio Bible app download that from your app store. It’s free. Just look for Daily Audio Bible and get connected.

Check out the resources that are available in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. For example, our Windfarm coffee and tea which is part of my life on a daily basis and has been for a decade now. We began roasting coffee and importing tea, yeah, like a decade ago just realizing that it pairs so well with the Scriptures to sit down have a cup coffee or to drink a mug of coffee on the way to work or tea or kind of wind down at the end of the day, however it is that you do. But it pairs well. It’s like a part of our lives here. And, so, we launched our own brand called Windfarm. And that just comes from Ezekiel 37 where…where the Lord invites the prophet to call the four winds from the four winds the breath of life and that just seemed like a spiritual windfarm. And, so, that’s how we named our coffee. And for that matter, that’s how we’ve felt about all the prayers that thousands, tens of thousands of prayers that we have prayed over each other over the course of these years that we’re calling life from the four winds. And, so, check that out. We have a number of varieties from around the world. In fact, you can even have coffee or tea sent to you each month so that it arrives freshly roasted and ready. So, you can check all that out in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. So, do that. Check it out.

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 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 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.

Exodus 13:17-15:18, Matt 21:23-46, Ps 26:1-12, Pr 6:16-19

Today is the 1^st day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today. Obviously it’s a special day because we’re transitioning into the second month of the year, but it’s a special day because we’ve completed a whole month together, which means we are settling into a rhythm and we are settling into community for the year. It's…it’s interesting. If we…we make it to Valentine’s Day, then the chances are really good that we are going to make it through the year together. And, so, well done for making it all the way here to the second month of the year. Let’s just take a second to think back. It’s only been a month, but look at all that has happened. We…we found our origin story. We discussed that. We found out in the third chapter of Genesis what happened to us. We know this is the fall of man. We…we saw the repercussions of that immediately, both in the world and in the human heart. Mankind was naked and unashamed. That was the natural state of things. That’s how it was supposed to be both inward and outward week. We weren’t supposed to have to hide. We weren’t supposed to have hide from each other or from God. But that’s what happened, naked and ashamed and hiding. And that’s what we see everywhere we look, including in the mirror. And, so, we got some context. And we went through famous stories that we’ve probably heard our whole lives, like Noah and the flood. And we then met this man Abram and God calling this man Abram to a land he didn’t know and giving a promise for this land and changing his name to Abraham and entering into a covenant with him. And then we watched the miraculous story begin to unfold as generations passed to new generations and more and more children were born. And, so, Abraham has Isaac. Isaac as Jacob. And we hear this often in the Bible, “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” And then Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. And all the sudden we have a context for what we hear about the children of Israel. The children of Jacob and his offspring, the children of Israel. And we watched the story of Joseph at length, one of the children of Israel, who was trafficked by his brothers into slavery in Egypt. We watched God save Egypt from plague, saving Joseph’s family in the process. And then we watched them prosper in…in Egypt, four centuries. Like, four centuries, but they were enslaved and then we met another powerful pivotal figure in the Scriptures named Moses, who was sent back to Egypt to be the…the prophet of God and to demand the freedom of God’s people. And that brought on all these plagues that we’ve been reading about the last few days. And that’s where we find ourselves. The final plague has descended upon Egypt. The…the children of Israel have been forcibly forced out of Egypt. And that’s where we pick up the story as we begin this second month of the year. And we’re reading from the Voice Translation this week. Exodus chapter 13 verse 17 through 15 verse 18.

Commentary:

Okay. A few things we should probably take note of from our reading today because they will help us with our day and our week and this brand-new shiny sparkly month that we find ourselves in. Let’s go to the book of Exodus first. The children of Israel have been set free from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. And we watched all of that unfold plague after plague after plague sort of systematically dismantling Egypt. And Pharaoh’s arrogance in believing that he is a deity, that he is divine, that he is a God himself, and who is this Hebrew God that would come. And you can kinda get in his head and understand why he would think this. If he has been raised to believe that he is a child, a son of God, that he is the Pharaoh, like a divine being upon the earth, the king of Egypt, and he has a population of people who are his slaves and this population of people who are his slaves come and say, “our God says that you should let us go.” I mean if you think you are divine yourself then you would be thinking, “well, at bare minimum you are my slaves. Whoever your God is is no way near as powerful as the gods of Egypt or me.” So, we can see him resisting and we can see God just demonstrating His power before them at first but then things definitely begin to take a more serious turn and things amp up all the way until Pharaoh and the Egyptians demand the children of Israel leave, which they did. And then we…we read something really interesting that could really help us in our lives. So, the children of Israel were freed from slavery. They entered the desert because that's…that’s the way to go to the promised land, across the Sinai Peninsula, but God did not lead them by the shortest, easiest coastal route. He led them deeper into the desert. So, in other words, He set them free and did not give them any easy path, did not give them the most straightforward path. There was work to be done in that desert. And we’re in that desert now, right? They’ve crossed the Red Sea and they are on the other side of the Red Sea, but they are in the desert and they are going to be there, and we are going to be there with them for what feels like an awful long time, 40 years to be specific. Actually, even more than that. And, so, we’ll be spending some time in the desert. And this is our desert portion of the year and we need to embrace it because there are so many lessons in the wilderness. And I mean that metaphorically in our lives, but I also mean that literally in the stories that we’ll find in the Bible that come from the wilderness. So, the children of Israel are in the wilderness backed up to the Red Sea when they notice that an army is coming against them. And the closer that tis army gets the more they realize these are the Egyptians. This is the Egyptian Army coming to destroy us and re-enslave. Of course, the Egyptians and Pharaoh after they…after they let the people go, they start imagining the repercussions. This is going to be devastating to their economy because now you have…you have about a million people that are your slaves that have been propping things up that you’ve set free. And, so, they’re reconsidering and hardening their hearts again. And they’re gonna go back and get going back and get the Hebrew people. Meanwhile the Hebrew people are kind of boxed in. It’s the wilderness in front of them, the Red Sea, the ocean behind them and the enemy army is bearing down upon them. We could pause here and just think about seasons in our lives where we have felt trapped and boxed in, like where there is literally no good way to go. The enemy is coming down against us. It’s the sea behind us and the mountains and the wilderness before us. There is no way to escape. And, so, the Hebrew people do basically what we would normally do. They start to complain and gripe about the predicament they’re in because now God has come to set them free and things have only gotten worse again. Do you see a theme emerging, though? Is this not the story of Joseph where when he did everything right things only got worse? So, they’re ready to abandon Moses, see if they can maybe go back to Egypt and become slaves again because that might be better. While here’s this army that’s gonna destroy them. They are trapped. And God speaks to Moses and Moses speaks to the people. The only thing you need to do is shut your mouth and watch this. This enemy that you see today you will never see them again. And that is indeed what happened. And that is indeed something that we should put in our pocket or purse and carry around with us for the next year.

Then we move into the book of Matthew. The religious leadership, we are talking about the clergy, right? We are talking about men of God who are leading the people are getting pretty fed up with Jesus. God in flesh. Like, they do not believe. And, so, they confront Jesus about how…who gave Him permission to do what He’s doing. And, of course, as we have come to notice in the first month of the year Jesus is always going to speak to the truth of the situation. He’s always good to talk to the plot behind the story. He knows that what’s being presented is a mask, that everyone is naked and ashamed and hiding. And, so, He’s like, “well, let me ask you a question.” And He talks about John because they didn’t believe in John either. And, so, Jesus ends up telling the story about a man who had a vineyard and he fixed it all up and got it ready for business, and then he leased it and went away and when a  harvest time came he wanted his share of the harvest, but the tenants refused became rebellious, beat up the people who came to collect the harvest on a number of occasions until the master sent is heir, his son to come and collect because he’s the heir, he that…he’s the owner. And, so, they should respect the owner of the vineyard but they don’t. They conspire to kill him, which is what they do. And then Jesus asks the religious leadership what the Masters gonna do. And they immediately answer, “the master is gonna destroy those people.” They were speaking out their own future essentially, because in the story the vineyard is the Kingdom, and the master is the Father, and the Son is Jesus. And this story is an interesting warning about religious dominance. When religion is used to ensnare or entrap or control people then there is no value in it. That might sound bigger than it should. But it’s simply the story that’s coming out of all of the Gospels. The people that were against Jesus were the people of God, God’s leaders who did not recognize that God was doing a new thing in the world and did everything to destroy that new thing including…including killing God, including killing Jesus. God made flesh. So, we should get some clues that this journey we are on as we walk alongside Jesus and listen to what He has to say and watch the away that He operates and observe His character that we may find a bunch of challenges, that we may need to listen to Jesus instead of what we’ve been told about Him, that we might need to press in closer and deeper as we watch the amazing and that’s an understatement…the amazing thing that God had chose to do when He chose to come and rescue people again from slavery. Slavery to the oppressiveness of what was going on around them in their culture and slavery to sin. And we also may need to understand that when we become free we may not be taking the easy road. We may need to go into the wilderness because there is work to do there.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that because it doesn’t sound like it would be fun. We don’t want to go wander in the wilderness. We felt like we did that all year last year. And yet the thing You are after is our freedom. And we confess that even as we see it in the Scriptures, we see it in our own lives. We fight You on that because it might be hard, it might be difficult. We might have to endure. It may get more difficult, before it gets easier and we don’t like that. We don’t like that. And yet You’ve been very clear all along that there is a narrow path that leads to life and that that is the path that leads to life and few ever find it, but wide is the road to destruction, the easy path. And, so, as we move into this second month, we are inviting Your Holy Spirit to begin to align us with where You’re going, to begin aiming us in the direction we need to head in no matter what it looks like because we as the children of Israel are going to have to learn that there is no other hope outside of You. You are the only hope there is and we must trust You utterly. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is…it’s the website, it’s where you find out what’s going on around here. And equal…equally effective way to find what’s going on around here would be the Daily Audio Bible app. So, check that out. It’s how to stay connected in a virtual community moving through the Bible in a year.

So, stay connected to the Prayer Wall. Stay connected through social media. There are number of channels that we’re involved in. You can find those in the Community section of the app or the website.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources, like I say, to go deeper, but also just to be involved. So, check out the different sections in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible in the mission to continue to bring God’s spoken word read fresh every day and…and given freely to anyone who will listen anywhere anytime and to keep building community around that rhythm, which is what we call the Global Campfire and what we enjoy every day. If that matters. If that is life-giving to you than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage of the website. If you’re using the 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’ve a prayer request or encouragement, you can 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:

Hi, my DAB family this is Truly Thankful Taylor just wanted to say hi tonight. I have three of my little ones with me…2 littles and one teenager. Girls do you wanna say hi? Hi. We’ve been talking about our reading for today in DAB Kids and Chronological and all the different stuff ‘cause all of our family are doing different ones. Some of us are doing all five in English. Some of us are just doing Chronological or kids and we’re just loving God’s word even more but we were talking about having faith as small as a mustard seed that it can move mountains. So, each…two of the girls wanted to pray tonight. So, sister do you want to start? What did you want to share? That people would have faith in God and that people would love God even more and let Him be in their heart. Jesus thank you for the day. Thank you for everything you have done. Thank you for being our God. And I want to…I want people to let you into their heart. In Jesus’ name. Amen. OK sister. Jesus thank you for the day that we have faith in us and faith in Jesus and that everyone starts praying and those who don’t pray now pray. And have Jesus where? In our faith, in their heart. That’s right. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. Love and blessings everybody. Bye. Bye. Bye.  

Hi, my name is Luanne from Texas. I just want to say thanks. This journey so far has been so good and so revealing. It’s been so wonderful to watch the creation and then the de-creation and with the New Testament seeing what the recreation could be. I’m just so grateful. I’m grateful for Brian for this. I’m grateful to the community who’s reading it along with me and it’s just been so healing after 2020. I’m just so grateful. So, Lord I just ask that for those who are weary, come. Come to the Bible. Sit with us and learn and you will find much joy. I ask this in our most holy savior’s name, Jesus. Amen.

Good morning fellow DABbers this is Sally in Massachusetts Amazed by Grace it’s January 27^th and I am so thankful this morning that I listened as I do most every day to the DAB and so blessed by the word of God and so encouraged today as we read of Moses and Aaron and pharaoh and the people, how God works through everyone to carry out His plans and purposes. He worked through pharaoh. He worked through Moses. He worked through Moses mother and father. He accomplishes purposes through people and He’s accomplishing His purposes in and through each of us day by day as we yield to Him. And I’m just so thankful that we worship a God of power, a God of a plan, a God with purposes. And I am so thankful that we have this family to worship God together, to encourage and strengthen each other. Thank you, Daughter of the King from Tennessee. I so appreciated your prayers and your thoughts today. And Pamela from Pennsylvania how easy it is. I have also often been guided by fear instead of faith in making decisions. And dear brother McQueen from Utah. Lord we pray Your comfort to this family. Thank You for Betsy Lopez and the wonderful grandma she was to him. We pray Your comfort to this family at this time. And Lord we thank You that although world at times feels like it’s out of control You are God alone from before time began and You are on Your throne because You are God alone. Increase our faith in You Lord we pray and thank You in Jesus’ powerful name.

Hello Daily Audio Bible my name is Gail and I’m calling from Las Vegas. I’m calling in response to a boy that just called in about his grandma, Grandma Lopez who was in a car accident and he wanted to get the word out to us about his grandma. I am so proud of you for the courage that you showed to call in and let us know what happened to your grandma. I felt that you two had an amazing relationship and you were so close. And I bet you miss her. I really know that you miss her because you wanted to make a lasting memory and let us know that she died, and it was important to you to get the word out. So, I applaud your courage sweet boy and I just wanted to say that we hear you and we are praying for you. Keep calling in. Keep calling in. We love to hear from you. Bye for now.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible I’m calling in to speak to Golda McQueen. Young man your courage to send in the message to speak to the people about your grandmother and her legacy of love in your life touched my heart in so many ways to remember my own grandmother. I want to know not only Betsy Lopez will be remembered today for her own life but for the life that she poured into you. And I just want to encourage you with two verses that I thought of when I heard you speaking. Exodus 4:12. So, go Golda. I will be with you. When you speak and I will give you the words to say. And in Acts Jesus himself came to Paul and encouraged him to keep speaking. He said in acts 18 9 and 10 during the night Paul had a vision and the Lord said to him don’t be afraid and don’t stop talking to people I am with you and no one will be able to hurt you. Many of my people are in the city. Heavenly Father I pray You pour out a triple blessing upon Golda McQueen as he goes to the funeral of his grandmother whom he loved so much and wants her to be remembered and it made such an impact to remember my own grandmother I know prayed for me, but I never got to grow up with her. So, I…I thank you Golda. You have touched my heart in ways you’ll never know until we see each other in heaven. God bless you son.

Hello, my name is Richard today is my first day listening in several years. I just listened to February 27^th recording that I was blessed by. Some of you may remember I was Richard from Mississippi back in 2018 I went through a divorce. I moved back home to Arkansas. That’s where I stay at now. I work for my dad part time. I just wanted to introduce myself. I’m trying to get back into reading the word and listening to DAB every morning. So, I covet your prayers that you would pray for me as I establish a new habit and to know the Lord. Bless each and every one of you in Jesus’ name.

Good morning this is Radiant Faith in Georgia. I’m listening on January the 27^th and I just heard a young man from Nevada I believe his name was Golda McQueen. He’s nine years old and he was on his way…I hope I can get this out. He was on his way to his grandma’s funeral. I’m a grandma and this just really touched my heart, the love that he had for her. He said that it’s hard to get messages out from where he lives and he’s only nine years old but let me tell you something, we heard you loud and clear. We heard the love that you had for your grandma and I just pray, and I believe that Jesus let her hear you. Oh, Lord I know she was proud of you.

Exodus 12:14-13:16, Matthew 20:29-21:22, Psalms 25:16-22, Proverbs 6:12-15

Today is the 31^st day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is great to be here with you as we end and begin, right? So, we’re ending the first month of the year. Can you believe that exactly one month ago was December 31^st and we were at the end of the year and just getting ready to launch on to this journey? Now we are a month in. It’s gone quick, and there’s a lot…a lot that we have learned and I just…I mean the new year…I need…I needed the new year to come. And I think a lot of people did too, and I’m just really encouraged by what the Scriptures are speaking into our lives as we continue. So, we’re just marking this moment where we reached the end of our first month. Today’s reading will end that first month and tomorrow we’ll be in the second month of the year. And it just goes and goes quickly, but it also goes at the pace that it needs to go out. So, I just want to tell you, well done. I mean we’ve been at…this is 31 days we can do this. If we’ve made it this far, we can…we can make this journey work. And, so, let’s dive in. This is a brand-new shiny sparkly week that we are walking into and we will read from the Voice Translation this week, picking up the story of…well…Moses and Pharaoh and the enslaved Hebrew people. And God’s full intention that is people are not going to be slaves anymore. And, so, we begin. Exodus chapter 12 verse 14 through 13 verse 16.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us through this first full month in Your word for this voyage, the voyage of 2021. And we are…we have set sail and we are well on our way and we are grateful for the shifting that is beginning to take place. Like it's…it’s starting to become a rhythm and we’re starting to feel like we can do this and we’re a part of something. We are grateful for that. We invite Your Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. This is one of the promises of the Scriptures, that You would lead us into all truth. That is what we are asking for, that is what we seek, that You would lead us on the pathways of truth, that You would lead us on what Jesus called the narrow path that leads to life, that we would embrace wisdom as…as a best friend and that we would walk the pathways of wisdom. Come Holy Spirit we pray. 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. So, check out what’s going on around here and stay connected.

Check out the Community section. This is where the Prayer Wall is.

Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are a whole plethora of resources that are available there, some things that are just…just pure fun but some things that are pure fun but also productive and things to take this journey deeper, things to listen to, things to read. So, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if…if the mission that we hold in common to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who will listen to it anywhere on this planet any time of day or night, and to build community around that rhythm, because it is a rhythm and it’s not a solitary one, it's…it’s a communal one, if that has made a difference to you than thank you for your partnership. There is a link that lives 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 dial 877-942-4253 or you can just simply hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button up at the top and share from there no matter where you are in the world.

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, my name is Desiree I’m a 13-year-old girl. I’ve been studying and recently found out my mom was a drug addict and now that I’ve seen so many things pass during my life when I was taken away from her at the age of 6 years old and went to my aunt and uncle’s house which are now my new parents because I got adopted from them and I’ve been going through some rough times because of all the things that my mother has done like when I recently found out that she was a drug addict I just broke down and started crying and I…I couldn’t believe what she did an…and the fact is that she wants to bring me or some other people and that…that’s not really our fault and the fact is that she doesn’t care. And I just wish that everything was the same, but I just asked for prayer that she just helps us. I mean God help us and please pray help and thank you.

Hey guys it’s your brother from Indiana I’m just calling to just…just out of greatness just out of all the awesome __ right now. I just heard that Sean has recently came to Christ, you know, just this past year. He said he got baptized last Sunday. He’s been reading the Bible. I just pray encouraging… just that…that…that the Holy Spirit would encourage you. Man that…that’s amazing. I’m so glad and I’m so glad you’re, you know, I’m just really glad and I pray a special blessings upon you and your future. You say you may want to go on mission trips. God’s will be done. May you have eyes and ears to hear that. Also, By God’s Grace I didn’t hear the last part of that but Covid and breast cancer. That is a really traumatic experience, but you have the faith to know that God is our great physician. I pray that your family have increased faith, you would recognize the blessings around you being your family three beautiful daughters and I pray __ for your whole family, your husband, and man or girl, I…I’m sorry. Just blessings and for anyone that has depression especially teenagers, I’m just praying for you today that your eyes be lifted to God the maker of the heavens and the earth in Jesus’ name I’m praying. Thank you, guys. And girls. I love you.

Hi DAB family I have never actually called before but I did hear a prayer from By Your Grace Sherry and I just wanted to let you know that sometimes when we pray for God to increase our faith, He puts us in situations that essentially force us to have faith in Him that He will put us through. There is so much power in faith that we…that God wants us to be able to tap into. There is so much love and passion and Satan definitely wants to keep us from all of that. So, I just wanted to say keep on going. Sometimes what we ask for is certainty in faith rather than actual faith, but I will pray for you and I do hope that God will God will show you some amazing things during this time that you are, that you have to lean on him in order to get through this. So, I’ll be praying for you.

Hello everybody my name is Josh and I’ve been listening for several years. I’ve never called because honestly, I rarely listen to the prayer request and the only reason I was listening today was because it was one of those rare occasions where I was actually running and I just couldn’t reach my phone but as I was listening I heard Zealand Isabel from Georgia and they were so moved by her story I literally stopped in my tracks. She was explaining that she has a brain problem and that it has affected her right side and she has trouble with seizures and that she is looking for prayer from the Daily Audio Bible community. Zealand Isabel if you’re listening, I want to tell you something about my family. I have two daughters on this earth. The oldest is 4 years old and was a twin. She and her sister were born really early, so early that one didn’t make it out of the hospital, and she is with Jesus. Now the other one or the one who’s for now, had a brain bleed that, like you, affected her right side. Today she would tell you that her right side just moves a little different, but I see how hard she works every day on things that I would otherwise take for granted. And I am sure that you work hard every day as well. I pray for my daughter each morning, that she would be healed but also that she would be strong and would know Jesus more she grows up. I pray for her to be like you. I want you to know for sure that you are strong, and I will be praying for you along with my daughter every day. I speak healing over you from the one who made you and pray blessings on you.

Hi, Macy here from Texas and…and I’m a new listener. I just turned 6 and I wanted to say I listen to you… to your bibles… to your Bible…to the Bible stories that you read to us so I…so I would…so I would like…so today I’m also listening to one too. So, and I love them too and I just wanted to say that. So, bye.

Hello this is Donna from California and recently a couple of people have called in that I just really, really some calls really touch you very deeply, they all do but these in particular did for me. There was a lady who called, and she has since had a lot of response. A lady who called in and said she had Covid and her husband had left her after 47 years of marriage. This broke my heart. And then another lady, Amy, from Canada called recently just expressing the loneliness and the…I too, didn’t sign up to be single. I…I actually had been married. My marriage fell apart about 10 years ago. And I…I didn’t sign up to be single. It’s very difficult and then I understand people who are well meaning will quote things like “my grace is sufficient for you” and “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart”, which are very well meaning and very true, but often it just rings hollow because sometimes that comes from people who are blessed with a good marriage. Not to sound bitter. But I just want to offer a quick prayer because I only have like less than 30 seconds. Dear Lord help…help those of us in this situation to believe you. Help us to really search deeply. What are the desires of my heart? My…my desires are for you. And why would I place them anywhere else? I don’t know if that helps but I pray for you and I love you. Thank you for calling.