R.D. was still, so very still. Jerry gave him his usual morning stroke against the side of the vase. R.D. did not move. Jerry stroked the glass again. Still R.D. did not move. Fear gripped my stomach and I could see the alarm on Jerry’s face. Once more Jerry stroked the side of the glass, stronger this time and R.D. swam to attention and we both let out a sigh of relief. All these intense emotions for a Beta fish named R.D.
What does that tell you about us? We get attached, don’t we? Bring something into our home and it is ours. We care for it and it’s ours.
Jerry and I are leading a Biblical Financial Study with our Young Folks at Myers and one of the first things we have learned is EVERYTHING we call ours belongs to God. We OWN nothing. He owns it ALL. If we do not embrace this truth then those things we think we have, we don’t; they have us. But when we believe and abide in this truth that ALL is His, we spiritually thrive and physically enjoy His boundless gifts to us — even R.D.
R.D.’s sleeping in this morning was a good reminder that for our peace of mind, for our well being we must hold EVERYTHING entrusted to our care with an open palm. It is HIS to give, it is ours to enjoy, nurture, invest and sometimes multiply until He returns for an accounting.
1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
Matthew 25: 14 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.
16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.
17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.
18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen. Revelation 1: 7
And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. I John 2:25

Psalm 42: 1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,

7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them.
I worked on that word encamps a little bit with my on line Hebrew Lexicon.
Certainly we know by now that proper ‘fear’ of God is not trembling, afraid to approach Him, running away from Him, dreading Him or any of those descriptions that we generally associate with FEAR. But rather we understand it to mean when we ‘fear’ Him we are devoted to Him, we reverence Him, we are in awe of him. And this passage of Scripture tells us that those who are devoted to Him, who are in awe of Him should expect Him to deliver them; should expect to have the angel of the LORD encamped around them.
So what about this word ‘encamps’? Some of the Hebrew meanings I found are to bend down, to lay siege or to secure and enclose, to be gracious, to show favor. Can you see this? Our God has bent down; He has secured, enclosed all around us for the purpose of showing us His Grace and Favor.
Imagine this – a little one, two years of age or so, becomes frightened by something he or she sees or hears and lets out a blood curdling scream; the daddy is right there; he drops to his knees scoops up his little one in his arms, completely encloses the child and pulls him/her close to his chest and then stands up with his child securely in his arms. No varmint can touch that child now!
Can you see the look on that baby’s face securely in Daddy’s arms, looking down at that varmint? I love it! Can you picture you as that little girl or little boy and the Daddy as Father God? Carry that mental picture with you today. I think it gives us a pretty good idea of what Father is telling us in verse 7.

Prayer Request: A lady at work has been in the hospital almost three weeks and tomorrow they plan to do major surgery on her lung, if the scrapping does not work to remove the bacteria then lung removal is next, please put krystee on our list. Roye

Father, You are delighting me. I look over this list of names and I see faces, faces of young ones that are improving. Thank You. Thank You that prayer makes a difference in the lives of people. And so we pray for Krystee; Lord, this sounds really serious but we know it is not too difficult for You. We know that with one Word, You can restore her lungs to full capacity, making them free of disease and bacteria and allow her to breathe normally and we would like to see You do that, unless You have a better plan for her; above all we pray that Your Perfect Will be done for Krystee. And Brenda comes to mind again. Thank You for the skill of the doctors and now as Brenda and the family wait for lab results, I am asking You now for no cancer in the lymph nodes please Lord. And for Sybal and her husband we pray You will rid their bodies of the staph infection and restore them to health. Continue to comfort Kevin, the children, family and friends. And Bay, Lord, give that family some relief Lord – there is so much there; hurtful, private things – please give them relief. And Jacob, we are still thinking about him and Rachel and the rest of the family – this is tough on them; only You can be as close as they need and we pray for them to know You are close – that You are there and they can safely depend on You. Father, thank You for IDOK; for the ministry, for each and every one of them. I don’t know what each of them individually need right at this moment as I pray but I want them to know that You love them and I want them to just be totally head over heels in love with You. I want to be totally head over heels in love with You. I want to embrace and accomplish the dreams and goals and desires You have for me and I want that for them too. We need Your help and we know it. Don’t let us be so foolish to think we can accomplish any good thing without You. And as I think about the verse in Psalm 34, help us carry that with us; help us to receive strength from it and grow more love in us for You and others. Lord, there’s a lot of stuff going on in this world, stuff we don’t understand and certainly stuff we don’t even begin to know how to make better and hearts of men in power that are evil – we don’t like that – You don’t like that – we can’t change them but You can and we pray Holy Spirit that You would get their attention and show them they must change or die. We see good things going on in America but we see much evil too and sometimes Lord we feel defeated, help us not do that. Give us faith and vision to do what You want each of us to do for America, for the World, for our individual congregations, pastors, neighborhoods. Lord, move us. And take care of our IDOK Troops today. Keep them safe from all the evil that is poised against them- supernaturally keep them safe in mind and body and spirit. And Holy Spirit You know the hearts of everyone of our Troops and we especially as if any one of them has not exchanged their sin for Your Righteousness Lord Jesus, please keep wooing them until they say Yes. And we ask You again to bring each and every one of them home safe and sound at the appointed time. Thank You for hearing us; thank You for saving us; thank You for loving us and thank You for answering our prayers.
The Peace of Israel Krystee. Sybal W. Brenda D. Rachel B. Kevin and the children. Lisa’ s Mother. Janie B. W.C. The Ellis Family. Ed Litton and family. Vickie. Lisa W. John Thomas. Cole. Taylor & family. Anita. Kathy. J Lloyd and family. Janet and Steve. Cathy. Toy and family. Katelyn. Caleb and family. Bay and family. Jennifer B. John and Carolyn. Larry and Claudia and family. Jeanette and Earl and family. Libby and family. Callie. Madie. Ruth. Martha F and Bob. Rev and Mrs. Carpenter. Allyson and Glen and family and Kaitlyn. Brittney and Kersten and family. Sharron and girls. Frankie and girls. Sheila and Andy. Carrie and Rachel and Jacob and family. Billy and Gina and boys. Lance and family. Grace and family. Tressa and Brad and family. Cindy K and family. Chuck. Windy and Jared and families. Helen and Dan and family. Jen and Larry and family. Chad and Brittany and family. Mollie and family. Jenny. Julia. Bobbie. Tj. Zack. Phillip. Jessica. Larry. Kayla. Trey. Jacob. Ashely. Lance. Candance. Laura and family. John and Sandy. Bill and Judy. Adam.

I would like to remind you again of the Eastern Shore Women’s Ministry Conference – our 4th Annual – to be held on November 3, 2007. Please pray, ask Father God if He has a message for you at this conference. I would like to see you there. This link will give you all the information: http://www.easternshorewomensministry.com/news.html