Open Blog Weekend -July 11-12

Can you believe that we have been reading God's Word everyday for seven months? We are half way to our goal. Congratulations everyone!!!!!

What an achievement!

This weekend is a "no big thang" weekend for the Pope family. We are going to hang at home. Tomorrow night we will participate in a family favorite: family movie night. We have not selected our feature film as of yet but you can know that tomorrow night around 8:00pm we will be piled on our bed with our popcorn and water enjoying some precious family time.

If you will, please pray for our Proverbs family. We are all getting ready for the conference, our staff is especially hard at work. This next week will be a tough one--lots and lots of work yet to be done. Many of our team members are facing personal struggles within their own families. And then of course we have our arch-enemy prowling around trying to stir up trouble. We would appreciate the extra prayers.

Thank you all for allowing me to lead you in this study. It is a blessing that I will never forget! I can't wait until we all one day meet in heaven and sit down for a long talk about our journey. I can't wait for that day--when we all see Jesus.

I Want To Be

"How joyful are those who fear the LORD and delight in obeying His commands."
Psalm 112:1b

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who fears (reveres and worships) the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. (AMP)

Did you read the text in parenthesis after the word blessed? Take it in again. The words happy and fortunate give me goosebumps. I want that! The part of being envied made me feel a little odd. I looked it up on Dictionary.com. I read the definition and still felt odd until I thought about the definition from the perspective of the person I want to be. Envy: a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another's advantages, success, possessions.

I long to live a life that is so transparent and reflective of Jesus Christ that individuals feel discontented with their own life and seek the Lord themselves. I would love for someone to see the advantages and successes that I have in Christ (from Christ not the world) and covet them, therefore leading them to an intimate relationship with the Lord. I want to be a person who has success as God defines and possessions that He designs. I want to be a person who fears the LORD and delights in obeying Him. If I were this type of person I would contagious in the name of Jesus. The envy would be a holy envy because my life would deflect any attention I would receive to my Savior who deserves it.

The benefits of this life: one who fears the Lord and delights in obeying His commands are clearly defined Psalm 112. I found one benefit to be missing. This is glorying the Lord, our main purpose while on this earth. Anyone who lives this life and receives these benefits can not help but bring glory to the Lord and like the Psalmist says, "Praise the Lord".

The Pursuit

"Search for the LORD and for His strength; continually seek Him."
Psalm 105:4

Ten children including my brother and I grew up on Elsinore Place. It was a wonderful private cul-de-sac in which to grow up. We played street ball, rode bikes down the big hill, and played hours of hide and go seek. I used to love that game!

I loved that game but what I love more is that God does not play it. When I read today's key verse I immediately thought of one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible, Jeremiah 29:13:

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

God is not hiding from us. Does this thrill anyone besides me? I can hardly stand it!!! The Creator of the Universe wants to have a relationship with me, with you. What I have learned in my more than ten year pursuit of the Lord is this: if I can't find Him, I am not looking hard enough. He is there. He ready to help me, bless me, and lead me.

Look at the meaning of the word seek: to go in search of, to try to find by searching and questioning. We are to do this continually which in the original Hebrew translates as evermore and means: continuity, perpetuity, to stretch continually. In other words we should never stop searching, questioning, stretching to know God and His plans.

The Message translates our key verse as:

Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence.

But my favorite is the Amplified. You might have to shout Amen while standing in your chair when you read this. (My friend Micca does this all time-or so I hear.)

Seek, inquire of and for the Lord, and crave Him and His strength (His might and inflexibility to temptation); seek and require His face and His presence [continually] evermore.

My favorite word is crave. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good---crave Him, He will satisfy you with the finest delicacies.

All that I Am

"Let all that I am praise the LORD." Psalm 104:1a and 35b

What is all that I am? The KJV translates this phrase as soul. The transliteration of the word soul is nephesh. I love its meaning: self, life, creature, person, appetite. mind, living being, desire. emotion and passion. This is how we should praise the Lord. We should offer our praise with passion, emotion, and desire. Our appetite, person, mind, and life should reflect praise. How does one praise the Lord in such a way? I think of a song from long ago. It was from the old Baptist hymnal we used in church. Its number was always shouted out on "favorite hymn night." You probably know it even if you did not use this hymnal: Count Your Many Blessings. (Name the one by one.)

This is what the psalmist did in Psalm 104. He counted his blessings, naming the one by one. He thanked God for His provision and praised Him for His creation. As you count the blessings the Lord has given you, the more you name, you can't help but ignite with passion and emotion. You can hear this emotion in the psalmist words. At the end of the psalm it was almost as if he could not think of any other way to say it but to break out in compulsary praise saying, "Let all that I am praise the LORD. Praise the Lord!" He ends the psalm the same way he begins it.

I echo his words words from verses 33-34:

I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.
I will praise my God to my last breath!
May all my thoughts be pleasing to Him,
for I rejoice in the LORD.

Amen