Michelle continues her quest to discover keys to Revival in Psalm 119 reading verses 129-136 in the Passion Translation. Today, as we continue to discover how the keys of living from intimacy and following God in obedience as our passionate pursuit and souls longing leads us to crave His presence and grieve over sin. When we come into a right understanding of Who God is as we pursue Him through His Word – the keys of presence and obedience bring us into understanding the justice of His heart toward a lost and dying world.

Show Transcript:

Blooming Inspired Podcast equipping and empowering the voices of women who live their lives Blooming Alive.

Introduction

Good Morning! This is Michelle Bentham, host of Blooming Inspired Podcast. I’m always excited to jump on the podcast with you each week. I’ve been on a social media and podcast break for the last month while traveling and am ready to get back in touch and into Psalm 119.

Before I do, I wanted to share a little about the last few weeks of my life and a few changes that will be coming soon to Blooming Inspired Network.. First, I want to say as I’ve spent time away I’ve missed “seeing you” on Facebook and interacting with you there. Still, part of the reason I’m needing to make changes centers on the book God has been stirring in my heart for 14 years now.

In August I attended the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association Conference in Nashville, TN. This event inspired me to get serious about my book project and developed some definite goals for the next few months. I was able to spend time with my writing friends from North Texas while making new friends the few days we were there. It’s been an amazing time in my life and encourages me to take steps of faith like never before.

If you don’t know, writing a book is labor intensive and time consuming. So, I may not be able to interact with you as often on Facebook, but I’ll be bringing you content that will still encourage and inspire you to go deeper with God in your life.

After I returned home from the writer’s conference, I w laundry and headed out again. This time for a retreat for ministry leaders in Telluride, CO. The theme of the Retreat was rest and and… BOY, Did I Need It. The scenic beauty surrounded us on every side. I was incredibly blessed. I took my calendar and my laptop hoping to do some planning and writing while away. But, instead… I heard the Lord whisper, “Just enjoy my creation with me.”

I laid in bed late at night and looked up at the diamond-like stars glistening in a black sky just beyond the windows of my bedroom. I fell asleep to the peaceful sound of a creek running behind the house where we stayed. I woke up early and took in the first rays of light coming over the mountains to our east without ever leaving my bed. I marvelled at those mountainous landscapes that surrounded us. And, I enjoyed the 100s of birds, most of them Hummingbirds, that lived in the Douglas Fir Trees around the retreat house.

Until… The third day. The plumbing backed up in the electrical closet downstairs. We were moved up the mountain from Telluride to the Mountain Village Lodge where we spent our last two nights in an even more beautiful setting with less oxygen. I just have to say I’m grateful for the Gondolas and shuttles in that area that helped us get around.

Several other women journeyed with us on the retreat that week and we quickly became heart friends. I miss them already, but they reminded me why Blooming Inspired Network exists - we’re here for you!

Now… Here’s the fun part - we’re going to allow you to submit content for the page! Did you read a Scripture or quote that really moves you? Do you have a word from God that you want to share? GREAT! Simply DM the content to the Blooming Inspired Page, and we’ll look for an opportunity to get it posted. Here are a few guidelines:

Our content is by women for women, looking forward to empowering your voice and pen! Not that doesn’t mean we don’t value the voices and offerings of men - we do! But this is a place for wildflowers to bloom. So bring on the women who are wildflowers waiting to sing!

[Please note: Not every quote that gets submitted will fit our scope and needs at Blooming Inspired Network - but we’ll be sure to let you know if your content is selected and when it will post.]

Content for Quote or Scripture Graphics: Must include the original author or Scripture Reference AND Translation in the message. We’ll ask for it if it is not included. TIP: Ask yourself, “How will this equip and empower women to walk in their role and reign in God’s Kingdom?” Then send us your thoughts along with the quote. We’ll include your note and tag you in the post. :)

Other Content: 1) It must be encouraging. 2) It must inspire action. 3) It must be biblically sound. 4) Be sure to respond to the comments if your content is posted. We’ll tag you in the post… :)

Do you have a testimony or Podcast idea? Listen for an opportunity to join the fun at the end of today’s show!

If you want to go deeper with the Wildflowers at Blooming Inspired Network be sure to join our Wildflower Women Relaunch on Facebook! We’d love to connect and enjoy the encouragement of community with each of you.

Are you a writer? Be sure to DM or fill out the contact page at the website. We’d love to get a sample from you as we’re starting a blog soon! We need writers! :)

With that said, in addition to our weekly podcasts - Blooming Inspired Network will post on Facebook 2-3 times a week. Looking at a Monday, Wednesday & Friday. The more you engage with our content the more we’ll bring to you there.

We’ll also be posting to Instagram, Twitter and A NEW! Pinterest account we’ll be opening this week. We’d love to pin your work. Be sure to connect with us and let us know what you’re up to. But enough about this social stuff… Let’s get to our show.

Review

In our last episode of the Revival Series we read verses 121-127 and saw the way God’s tender love leads us into not only His righteousness but, when we choose to submit to God in obedience, it also leads us to beautiful intimacy with Him. Today we continue that theme as we look at what it means when our longings are to obey God.

This Week’s Reading

This week we’re returning to our reading in verses 128-136. We’re reading from the Passion Translation, but go ahead and grab your Bible and turn to the Psalm so you can follow along, I’ll pray to open our discussion today.

Father God, I ask that you would open our eyes to see your revelation, open our ears to hear your voice, and open our hearts to know you more. Protect us from the plans of your adversary and keep us from harm. I ask these things in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.

The heading for today’s reading is, “I Long to Obey You.” As we read today, I want you to consider this question: “Do I Long To OBEY God?” Let’s begin:

Verse 129: Your marvelous words are living miracles; no wonder I long to obey everything you say. Did you catch that? There is a link to seeing God’s living miracles and obedience. Not just obedience for the sake of obedience… But, there is a sense of an obedience that HANGS on every word God has spoken to us. How does God speak personally to us: Through His Word - Jesus, through the Scriptures, and through the revelation that the Holy Spirit brings to us when we walk closely with Him.

When you read the Scriptures or sense God speaking to you through the Holy Spirit, do you feel compelled to respond in some way? This is where I think obedience becomes a key. My friend, Tracy, says often - Obedience is the Love Language of the Holy Spirit. And, I agree. If we never do what we read about in Scripture how will we ever know the Greater Works that Jesus said we who come after would do? Obedience is more than doing the right thing because God said so, obedience is an expression of both faith and love toward God. An expectant faith, that knows God will respond - keeping the promises of His Word - when we obey Him.

Verse 130: Break open your word within me until revelation-light shines out! Those with open hearts are given insight into your plans. Before you ever experience a breakthrough in your circumstances, God’s word - the Scriptures must break open within you - flooding your being with the revelation light of Christ. Only then will we see and understand the plans God speaks of in Jeremiah 29:11, plans that the NKJV calls THOUGHTS. I recently heard Jesse Beebe speak at a conference and she said, “Did you know God has one destiny for your life, but many plans?”

That’s right. God doesn’t just have 1 PLAN for your life - He has many plans that all lead to the one destiny He created and designed you to fulfill in your lifetime. It is through His Scriptures that these plans first break open to us, and as we follow Him through each revelation in obedience to His call… We find our hearts open and we discover the insights and wisdom of His truth in every area of our lives.

Verse 131: I open my mouth and inhale the word of God because I crave the revelation of your commands. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 we read that the Scriptures are “God-Breathed.” Picture the words of God being inhaled into your body like life-giving oxygen, bringing both light and life to the thoughts and intentions of your heart, soul and body. What would our lives look like if we craved God’s Word like our bodies crave oxygen to breathe.

The other evening I was working with my husband cleaning out closets and rooms in our house. My allergies have been bothering me lately and I’ve had a little trouble breathing at times. As I bent over to pick something up I found myself unable to catch my breath. I tried to find my inhaler but couldn’t seem to get it.

Without oxygen, all I could do was sit on the side of my bed - feeling my lungs burn with their need for oxygen and pray that my husband would realize I needed his help. Eventually he came along and found my inhaler. I took a couple of puffs and began to feel my airway open and my lungs fill with the oxygen my body needs to live.

This is the picture this scripture paints - that our souls hunger for God’s word and crave the revelation of His truth. Our lives depend on it…

Verse 132: Turn your heart to me, Lord, and show me your grace like you do to every one of your godly lovers. Have you ever been reading scripture and your heart became convicted about something in your life that perhaps you’d never considered sin before that moment? In Isaiah 6, we see the prophet standing before God’s throne as God displayed His glory to Isaiah. The Lord was looking for a man to send as a prophet to Israel, and in the presence of God’s glory all Isaiah could say was “Woe to me, I am undone because I am a sinful man of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5 my paraprase)

This picture of our human hearts, and its inclination toward evil, being undone before a Holy God is what it means to truly FEAR the Lord. To revere Him, and His majesty. To humble and prostrate ourselves before Him as we behold the beauty of His splendor beyond our ability to conceive. A revelation of God’s glory creates a desire for His heart be turned to us as He extends His grace in our lives. As He does, as we behold His glory and His grace in our lives, our souls respond in obedience to Him because we love Him recognizing it was He Who first loved us. This is the relationship that God desires for us - that our obedience would lead us to the deeper revelations of intimacy with His heart.

Verse 133: Prepare before me a path filled with your promises, and don’t allow even one sin to have dominion over me. We see now how God’s Word, intimacy and obedience lead to purpose. If we are going to fulfill our God-given purpose in life we must know God intimately through His word and respond to it in obedience as the Holy Spirit prompts us to move. If Jesus is God’s Word, and all of God’s promises are Yes And Amen in Jesus - then knowing scripture- being deeply connected to Him through it will lead us down a path filled with His promises. And the more we focus on Him through the Scriptures the more we will realize that transformation that we are called to as we renew our minds in His Word.

Verse 134: Rescue me from the oppression of ungodly men so that I can keep all your precepts. As we behold God through His Word, and seek to obey Him - the natural inclination of our hearts will be to experience His protection as we seek to keep His word. God longs for us to ask for His protection - that we would not be oppressed by the ungodly or be distracted from His will in our lives by the ever-darkening world around us. The key is to cry out to Him both in repentance and seeking His refuge in our lives.

Verse135: Smile on me, your loving servant.[a] Instruct me on what is right in your eyes. (Footnotes form TPT: Psalm 119:135 [a] Or “Cause your face to shine on me.”) That phrase “Smile on me” here is more literally translated, “Cause Your Face To Shine On Me…” What does that mean… Cause Your face to shine on me? As I asked the Lord about that this morning I felt like He reminded me of Moses. When Moses went up on the mountain and encountered the Lord his face blazed with the Glory of God. So much so that the people of Israel covered his face with a veil because they could not bear to look upon it. I’m reminded that we become like what we behold - God told Moses He spoke to him as a friend. I believe when the Face of God shines on us - we are face to face with Him. Beholding Him and His glory gets on us. We are marked by His presence and people cannot help but see it on us. And because of this, our deep desire is to do what is right in His sight. Not only are we marked by Him when His face shines on us, but we begin to look and act like Him as a result.

Verse 136: When I witness the rebellious breaking your laws, it makes me weep uncontrollably!

A number of years ago I joined a governmental prayer group during election season. I found myself praying Joel 2 during that season. As I did I received a revelation about what it means to weep between the altar and the door. Before that time, I would glance past that moment to the part where the Lord restores what had been lost and stolen from us in a double portion way. But, as I prayed these scriptures over the election I found myself seeing a different picture. A picture of the priests of God (in Christ, we are believer-priests) walking to the door and seeing the plight of the world around them. The condition of their fellow man, and returning to the altar weeping in their prayers for His redemption. Those days of prayer and that election marked me in immeasurable ways.

I like to tell people I’m the grace girl. I sincerely do not believe there is any circumstance, any person, beyond the redemption of God. His arm is not too short… But, sometimes my faith to believe is woefully limited. Limited by what I can see, taste, touch, feel and smell. Seriously… Don’t tell me I’m the only one.

Recently I attended a large church who has security teams in place to help keep both the congregants and the staff at the church safe. In the world we live in, this is not an unreasonable position. During the service the leaders make time for the congregants to interact with and greet one another before the weekly message begins. A young man was going around and greeting people, speaking to them. He must have been loud or disturbing to some because a few minutes later the security team came in and took him out. He did not return to the service.

Now, I do not know the exact circumstances of what took place, but when the church is an unwelcoming place for people then it becomes a problem. Rather than shut people out - we should create places for them to connect that facilitate the safety of others but also take into consideration the needs of the individual who may be seen as “unacceptable.” The church cannot be a police state - if it becomes such we will look more like the pharisees than Jesus in every way.

I’ve worked on staff in churches, and written position papers on marriage as well as run background checks on folks who desired to serve in ministry. I’ve had to report sex offenders and watched pastors lovingly and discerningly develop ministry plans that allowed the offenders to attend church while caring for those around them and creating safe parameters to allow for interaction.

When I think of the way the rebellious around me make me grieve these days. It’s not the world - the ones outside God’s house and family - that bring me to tears but those who have seemingly forgotten who we are and Who we represent to the lost and dying world around us.

Father God, as I read today, my heart grieves at a church that protests sinners rather than loving them, that exiles the unlovely and the broken rather than embraces them and I grieve that after all these years of knowing you - at times - even my heart still does not look like yours. Change our hearts God, make us crave the breakthrough of your revelation and truth in our hearts and minds like air to breathe, give me more faith in your Spirit’s ability to transform sinners into saints, than in the human spirit’s ability to wreak havoc and devise evil. Make my heart like yours. I desire your words like the air I breathe and I desire to obey you more than anything else in my life. Bring me to your heart by your Word, O God. And bring the world to yourself as you do. IN Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Closing Remarks

That's all the time that I have for today! Thank you for tuning in with us. I want to ask you if this podcast has been a blessing to you: would you subscribe to it and share it with your friends and family? We’d love to partner with you in sharing messages that encourage and inspire.

As you may know, our Redeemed Rebel Podcast aired its last show for this season yesterday. While Michele will still be popping in from time to time as a guest host on this show or showing up as a guest on our other shows -- she will not be regularly featured through the Redeemed Rebel Podcast for the foreseeable future. Be sure to catch her last episode and connect with her this week at facebook.com/redeemedrebelunveiled.

If you’d like to be a guest on this show or get more information about hosting your own podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network - please reach out to [email protected]. I’d love the opportunity to connect with you and figure out how we can share your voice with the world around us.

BIBLE STUDY SEASON IS UPON US! Since I’ve been off social media the last few weeks I’ve failed to get the word out… BUT, events are going up this week and we’ll begin in person (Granbury, TX) and on Facebook Live THIS SATURDAY, September 21st at 10:00 am. That’s right - we’re going to be starting our show a little earlier in the morning, but we’ll be bringing you an hour of Bible study each week as we read through THE GOSPELS - Verse By Verse. This season our study will be the 24 chapters of the book of Luke. You can learn more by visiting facebook.com/bloominginspired and checking out the events or by visiting bloominginspirednetwork.com

If you’d like to get this podcast delivered to your smart device, we're available on Apple and on Google Podcasts. We are also available on the Podcoin App.

By The Way, Podcoin is a great app! They pay you “podcoins” for listening to any podcast that's listed on their app. All of the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network’s podcasts are listed there. We’re working on keeping our shows as “Bonus Shows” on the app. That means if you download the app and create your account with our referral code, “Blooming” you’ll get 300 “podcoins” just for signing up, AND when we’re a bonus app you get extra podcoins just for listening!! You can use your podcoins to buy gift cards or make donations to charitable organizations. That’s a WIN-WIN, don’t you think? So if you're interested in subscribing Podcoin is a great way to get our podcast and you get the extra benefit of earning gifts while you're listening.

Would you partner with us? We would love for you to share about our podcast on social media -- share it with your friends your family -- the people within your influence let them know what we're doing at Blooming Inspired Network!

Tune In Wednesdays! Accidental Hope Podcast airs on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. central time. Each week Jennifer Eikenhorst brings hope-filled messages and interviews related to overcoming accidents and traumas we face in life. You don’t want to miss her final of a three part interview series with Tina Boyd as they talk about how Faith Moves You Forward this week!

And now, I want to remind you as I always do: Blooming where you're planted is the first step to living your wildest dreams, so live your lives blooming alive!

Thank you for listening to the Blooming Inspired Podcast on the Blooming Inspired Podcast Network. This show airs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11 am central time. Please take a moment to like, share and subscribe to this podcast. To learn more about this podcast and it’s network, or the ministries of Blooming Inspired Network please visit BloomingInspiredNetwork.com and click the podcast link at the top of the page.