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Daily Transcripts
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12/18/2015
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Habakkuk 1:1-3:19 ~ Revelation 9:1-21 ~ Psalm 137:1-9 ~ Proverbs 30:10
Today is the 18th of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a pleasure and an honor to be with you here today again for another step forward and (believe it or not) another book. We’re moving through these minor prophets in the Old Testament rapidly and today we’ll venture into the book of Habakkuk. And I like this. I like when we arrive at this place. It’s got a raw honesty to it.
Introduction to a New Book
So, the book of Habakkuk is the eighth of these minor prophets we were just talking about – these books at the end of the Old Testament. We don’t know a whole lot about who he was, who Habakkuk was; but there is a Jewish rabbinical tradition that tells us Habakkuk was the son of the Shunammite woman Elisha raised from the dead in the book of 2 Kings. Because of the way this narrative is written, many scholars believe that he had to be a worker in the temple. He had to have some skill. He was probably a temple prophet. In most cases, this would mean that he was like a prophetic musician. He was a gifted musician. Some scholars believe that Habakkuk’s lyrical and poetic nature indicates that he’s probably a Levite working in the temple as a temple prophet.
So, Habakkuk wonders aloud what God is doing, what he’s up to in his time. He sees injustice. He sees misfortune around him. He has what seems to be doubt. He dares question and God dares answer. And once again we’re shown in scripture that we don’t know what we think we know. In fact, we know very little of what we think we know and what’s really going on. And Habakkuk presses into that and we see in this book one of the most beautiful pictures of the story of our lives; a story of doubt and questioning being transformed into absolute trust in our sovereign Father, in the Lord of angels’ armies, in God.
So, from The Message, Habakkuk.
Prayer
Father, again we thank you for your Word. We thank you for your Word every day. Every day you speak to us through it. Every day you nourish us through it. We thank you, God, that it’s a relationship that we have with your Word that leads us and guides us to your heart so that we can walk with you. We thank you because we are in relationship with you like Habakkuk. We can ask the questions. We can wrestle with things. We can sort out what we think we know and then we can be silenced in your presence because we don’t know all we think we know. Help us, Holy Spirit, to stay in that place. Not that we throw up our hands and just don’t want to know anything, just don’t care; but that we want to know you because you know all things and you are beyond us, but you have come for us and offered us intimacy and conversation and friendship and relationship, one that’s big and expansive and allows us to just squirm and ask and work through as you teach and guide us. Where we go sideways is where we doubt your goodness and then we begin to assume we’re on our own and we got to figure it out and we’re not able. We haven’t got the capacity. You are infinite. You are all powerful. You are all-knowing. And you are Father.
So, forgive us for the times that we’ve looked at something that we didn’t understand, came to you with accusations and questions and wrestling and then left it there, not being silenced in awe of your majesty, but rather throwing a fist into the air and doubting your goodness. We ask that your Holy Spirit come, constantly reminding us because we’re very forgetful and we move into old routes very, very quickly, even when we’re trying to stay out of them. They pull us and suck us in like magnets. We ask your Holy Spirit to come, constantly leading us deeper, constantly pulling us forward, constantly keeping us from the old routes that have led to nowhere, and we know it, and inviting you fully into every part of our lives – reforming us, changing us, reframing us as we move forward in intimacy with you. Come Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
Announcements
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hi Daily Audio Bible family. Today is December 12th. This is the first time I’m calling into the prayer line. My name’s Sue and I’m from Pennsylvania. I’ve been listening and praying to the Daily Audio Bible for about five years and I’ve been praying with you and for you all. Will you please join me today in the power of prayer for complete healing of my husband’s Bell’s palsy? He was stricken with Bell’s palsy about nine years ago. Please Lord, you are our Almighty Physician. We pray together that you would restore the health to the muscles and the nerves in my husband’s face and neck as only you can do, dear Lord. Please bless him with the miracle of your healing touch, Lord. And I just ask you all to keep him in your prayers. His name is Daryl and Bell’s palsy just continues to worsen on the left side of his face. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and thank you Brian and Jill for this wonderful community of believers that we can go to for prayer. Have a good day everybody.
Hi guys! This is Carol from Canada and I’m just calling in to for a prayer request for my dad. My dad believes in God. He always has. And the past couple of years we realize that his stress has been getting to him and he’s been taking things really hard and there hasn’t been much peace. And so, I pray, Lord, that you come back to him and that you reveal yourself to him. And family, I pray that you would pray for him too. My dad tends to over think a lot and he gets stuck on Bible verses, controversial Bible verses and he gets stuck on those and he over thinks it and let’s his mind wander. And I pray that he gets a child-like faith and that he believes in God without ceasing and that he accepts him and that he loves him and that he accepts him and that he tries to learn the Word for what it is. Just thanks Daily Audio Bible. Thanks guys.
Hi Daily Audio Bible. This is Michael calling from St. Paul, MN. This is the first time I’ve called this year. First time was when my brother-in-law came down with stomach cancer. The second time is when he passed. Third time, when I was unemployed and this is the fourth time. And I made a promise to the Lord that I would love to be in a position to just be able to pray for people and not have to request prayer. And it’s been an incredible journey this year. I’ve been blessed in so many ways and it’s been a struggle with my brother-in-law’s passing, unemployment and all that stuff. So, the reason for my call today, for Robin in Victor, NY, I was running the day that she shared the fact that her grandson Jude was developing in her daughter-in-law’s womb and without a skull. And I was running at the time and it absolutely broke my heart and I thought about my granddaughter and I just want to call and say that I’m praying for you and for your family and that the Lord’s will would be done. And I know it’s the Lord’s will to bless you and your family and it’s not his will to have Jude be born without a skull. So, blessings to you and your family. Thank you.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family. This is Alphaio calling from Delaware. Here’s a prayer for encouragement, for peace. Peace, that lasting contentment that is unbreakable no matter what may be said toward us. We all crave it. We all need it in our lives. Many of us have sought to find peace in worldly things, depended on the bright side of our circumstances. We have sought it in our jobs, in our spouses, good health and in many other places. And we’ve been disappointed from time to time because these circumstances change. We fight with our spouses, a company lays off its employees, sickness strikes, then our peace goes away. Jesus Christ is the only one who can grant us true peace. Submission to the Lord allows his peace to permeate our lives. We need to crave a day-by-day, a moment-by-moment relationship with God. It is only in the assurance of his great love for us that we can rest under his caring wings that that peace comes. God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. May we fix our eyes upon Christ on the cross, they love he has shown us and still shows us each day, that even when our circumstances change, we will not be shaken because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope. And this hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us. May we rejoice in our suffering and embrace true peace in our hearts and our lives daily. God bless you Daily Audio Bible family. May you have blessed and great day. Bye.
Hi, it’s Bonnie from Saskatchewan. Friends, can you keep me in your prayers? It has been a real roller coaster ride emotionally. I’m just praying for a breakthrough soon. And I’m trying to stay positive and being grateful for every breath I take. I’m fighting a lot of exhaustion mentally, fatigue. I go to work and work has been good. I mean physically, it’s been physically demanding but it’s been good and it keeps my mind off things for the time. But when I get home, I go lay down and I sleep for a couple of hours and carry on and do my housework then go right back to bed. And it’s just…anyway, please pray for me. Thanks. God bless you all. Bye-bye.
Good day Dabbers, Richard C. from Albury-Wodonga here with you. I hope you’ve been encouraged by some of the scriptures that I’ve been reading out. So I need your encouragement, well not encouragement, what I need is your prayers. A few months ago I rang in and let you know that our children that have been with us through the foster caring system here in Victoria and New South Wales have been taken from us. It’s not going well. I don’t like our chances. If I look at it from my natural eyes, I can see what the authorities are doing and already the authorities have come back to us and said we’re no longer carers in Victoria and so that meant the youngest may not be able to come back to our care. And we think that the New South Wales side will do the same thing. There is still hope on the New South Wales side and there’s still a chance on the Victorian side that we might be able to get it turned around. And that’s what I’m asking for the people making these decisions just to stop protecting themselves, stop protecting and following the way that they’ve been trained with a little bit of a lie wrapped in a thin veneer of truth and that they would see the truth of my relationship with the boys, that this was a big mistake that I have made; but that it is not my normal way with dealing with these boys; and that Nicole, my wife and I have nothing but the utmost care for these boys. We’ve tried to keep five brothers together for eight years. We’re hoping to be able to do it for their whole lives.
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Tamarie 12/19/2015 09:12 |
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