Hey, you mighty warriors!
By the time you get this SSMT post, I will be on my way to Nashville for the videotaping of James: Mercy Triumphs. It almost makes me cry to see the actual (recently settled-upon) title in print. So much time and focus and prayer and frustration and second-guessing and bewilderment and wonderment – and learning and thrilling and growing and wallowing – go into the whole process of a Bible study journey. Many tears. Healthy laughs. Big eye-openers. Rich conversations. Moments of, “What on earth was I thinking??” Above all, so much desperation for Jesus. If God doesn’t pour His Spirit into it, it will fall flat like a collapsed pup-tent. That’s the God’s-honest truth. After 14 journeys similar to this one, I know just enough in advance to be dangerous. Enough to start shaking (not with anointing but mostly with anxiety) when the outline first goes on paper. I know now how life’s going to go on in the middle of it and how all sorts of unplanned ups and downs, woes and joys will mark its pages. I know now how I’m going to end up writing about things in my life and family that haven’t even happened yet. Some of them will be wonderful. Others will be painful. It’s kind of like starting a new journal. There is a certain amount of trepidation because you simply can’t guess what will fill those pages. It’s a stomach-knotting blend of anticipation and raw fear. But what I forget sometimes in that anxious moment when I know there’s no turning back is the grace. The goodness of God. The fact that I’m invited to believe He was the initiator of it, as He is in all things faith (Hebrews 12:1-3) and that I don’t have to assume complete control over it. I’m invited to remember what life the Scripture has and how much this woman has to learn.
Good grief. I’m sitting in a salon chair about to bawl my head off. (Writing this to you on Friday.) I’ll try to rein this one in and quit being so dramatic. This is no time to wear you guys out about the James Bible study because Melissa and I still need you to pray us through until the complete manuscript is turned in at the end of summer. The beauty of all the studies prior to Esther is that they were pre-blog and I didn’t gnaw you like a bone throughout the whole ordeal. It’s too late now.
Make no mistake. The studio audience, the LifeWay video crew, and I need your prayers like crazy this week. Yes, pray for us during the day when preparation is taking place but especially pray for us in the evenings on Monday (tomorrow) through Thursday. That’s when the actual sessions will be taped, two per night, back-to-back. And pray big things for the participants, too! They are so incredibly important in the process. Pray for them to get totally caught up in the Scriptures and in what God is speaking into their lives and be oblivious to the cameras. Pray for them to experience a powerful encounter with Christ through His Word and for Him to do something utterly remarkable in each life. THEN, pray for that anointing to also transfer just that heavily to the women who will one day watch the series on the other side of the screen. I requested a smaller group of participants this time (like I have at Life Today – the perfect size!) but that means the cameras will be much more obvious to all the ladies in the audience. Pray also for us to bond in the Spirit right from the beginning.
Thank you so, so much.
I won’t get a chance to blog much (if at all) while I’m in Nashville but Amanda and Melissa will chime in. I will try to get on Twitter a time or two a day perhaps so, for those of you who like that, we’ll stay in touch that way. (@BethMooreLPM – writing that kind of thing always makes me want to throw up in my mouth.)
After the sessions are complete, the video team and I will spend all day Friday doing some additional taping that won’t require an audience. Later in May they will come to Houston and we will do yet more taping. At that time (later in May), I’ll do the intros to the session and also an on-camera dialogue with Melissa over the project. She has been a huge part of this journey. In fact, she was the first of the two of us who felt drawn to this book of the Bible. She is not a camera hog and won’t let me add her name on the cover but it would be a crying shame for the women not to get a chance to connect with her on screen. She has zero interest in entertaining but she has a huge interest in studying. That’s enough to make her push past her discomfort and get on the screen. In case you’re not up to date on her part of the project, she is writing extra study portions 2-3 times per week of Bible study for the student that wants to go deeper.
I am always reluctant (as both my daughters are) to mention two of us instead of three. Amanda, Melissa and I are, as my people would say, thick as mud and we don’t like to pair off. As I mention Melissa often in this process, rest assured Amanda is cheering us on and praying for us every step of our way. She is not actively participating this time in the editorial process (I miss her so much) because her focus and energies need to be on her family but we three women are together continually.
SO, did you think I’d forgotten what we’re doing on here today???? No ma’am. I most certainly did not. All I’ve just told you led to the Scripture I’ve chosen as my ninth verse.
Beth, Houston. “Rely on the Lord! Be strong and confident! Rely on the Lord!” Psalm 27:14 The NET Bible
Yes, Sir! If this selection resonates with you, join me with it! I’d be honored to memorize with you. I will say it over and over this week. Maybe you will, too, and He will hear us each time and find joy in it. I pray with all my sappy heart that the Spirit of God loves to hover over this community.
OK, so what are your verses, Sisters??? DON’T YOU DARE QUIT!!!!!
I love you to pieces.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)
Fullerton, CA
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
-Ephesians 5:1-2 (NIV)
Cindy – Fort Worth, TX
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 NIV
Brianna, San Antonio:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1 NIV
Diane from MN says
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3
Holman Christian Bible
Delores, Columbia, TN, 1 PETER 1:5 (NKJV)
Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Lyndsay, New Castle, IN. “Victory comes from You, O Lord. May your blessings rest on your people.” –Psalm 3:8
Stephanie, Hampton, VA: “But now, this is what the Lord says- he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1 NIV
Joy – Asheboro, NC
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:18, NIV
Sarah Birmingham, Lambertville , MI
Luke 21:34 , Holman CSB
Be on your guard, so that your minds not be dulled from carousing, drunkenness, and worries of life, or that day will come on your unexpectedly
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5 NIV
Theresa, Columbia,SC
” For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)
Ginger, Georgia–Psalm 119:71-72 (New International Version)
71 It was good for me to be afflicted
so that I might learn your decrees.
72 The law from your mouth is more precious to me
than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.
Mandy from Rockwall
“Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.” Isaiah 60:1 (NIV)
Toni, Sugar Hill, GA
“Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.” Psalm 27:14, Amplified Bible
Julie Tuttle, Chico, CA: “Post this at all the intersections, dear friends; Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear.” James 1:19 (MSG)
Proverbs 11:16 KJV
A gracious woman retaineth honour.
Edna
O’Fallon, MO
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
Exodus 14:30, ESV
James 1:26-27 NKJV
“If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion [is] useless.
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
Meagan, Austell, GA
In honor of my son who turned 1 yesterday 🙂 What a blessing!
“Sons are a heritage from the Lord,
children a reward from him.”
Psalm127:3 NIV
Jane, Gulfport. “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5 (NASB)
Penney
Caribou, Maine
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
loving the LORD your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 ESV
Lindsay, Central, SC:
18 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.
20 We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,
even as we put our hope in you.
~ Psalm 33:18-22, New International Version, 1984 Edition.
Jenni Young, Spartanburg, SC “Rely on the Lord! Be strong and confident! Rely on the Lord! Psalm 27:14 The NET Bible
Suzanne, Charlotte NC Proverbs 22:6 ESV
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Peg, Hillsboro, KS
“Stay with God! Take heart. Don’t quit. I’ll say it again;
stay with God.” Psalms 27:14 Message
Carol, San Antonio: “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.” Colossians 1:9 NIV
veronica-Atlanta Georgia Jeremiah 29:11 for I know the plans I have for you, declares the lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. NIV
Pat @ Woodstock, AL NIV Jeremiah 2:27
I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Sarah, Leverett, MA, “It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age,” Titus 2:12 NIV
Kathryn from Louisville, KY
“Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness.”
– Hebrews 12:10 (NIV)
Samantha, Newnan, GA.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8 NIV
Song of Solomon 7:10, NIV, “I am my Beloved’s, and His desire is for me.”
Macon, GA
Ephesians 1:1 NRSV
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God…”
Marilyn from Taylor Mill, KY
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12 TNIV
Mar Jo, The Woodlands, TX Rely on the Lord! Be strong and confident! Rely on the Lord! Psalm 27:14 The NET Bible
L Diane, Indianapolis
But in you hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15 NIV
Emily Jordan
Virginia Beach, VA
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5 NIV
Rosalye
Vicksburg, MS
Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent.
John 17:3
NIV
Sheron- Rockwall, TX
“Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth;
meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful
to do everything written in it. Then you will be
prosperous and successful.” Joshua 1:8 (NIV)
Christina, Longmont, CO
Rely on the Lord! Be strong and confident! Rely on the Lord! Psalm 27:14 NET
Phyllis, Charlotte – “Rely on the Lord! Be strong and confident! Rely on the Lord!” Psalm 27:14 (The NET Bible)
Nicole, Portland OR: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14 NIV
Debbie Fuqua, Clarksville, TN
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Jeremiah 32:17
NIV
Lahna, Burkburnett, TX: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path. Psalm 119: 105 NKJV
Lori, Mapleville, RI
But thou O Lord, art a sheild for me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. Psalm 3:3 KJV
Bobbie, Ft. Walton Beach:
But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.
James 1:10 (NIV)
Rachel, Flagstaff, AZ:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” ~John 15:5 (NIV)
Loretta of Bloomfield, NJ
I Peter 4 (7 – 11) NIV
The end of all things is near.
Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.
If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.
To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever.
Amen.
Jeanie
Sparta, TN
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom.” Luke 12:32 NIV