Asher (Why I love his name more and more)

I can't tell you how ready I am to put a precious face with his name!  Not much longer!

I came across a Beth Moore weekend event that she did years and years ago.  It was called "The Blessing of Asher!"  Now, that makes my heart happy because most people have never even heard of Asher in the Bible.  And here she devoted a whole weekend to him!  (Knew I loved her!)

There is some amazing info that I found via people's blogs who were able to attend and take notes. (Wish I could find Beth actually speaking about it via You Tube or something!)  According to people's notes, this is what she said in the beginning of the weekend.

Asher means blessed in the Old Testament.  But, actually, there are two words that can mean blessed.  The first is "barak" and is the STATE of being blessed.  In other words, it is positional.  For New Testament believers, we are "barak" because of the blood of Christ that covers us...we have a new identity.

The second word for blessed is "asher."  It means to be straight, level, happy, to go forward, to be honest, to prosper, to go, to guide, to lead, to receive, to be blessed or happy.

Here is the difference between the two:

Barak:  I am blessed     Asher:  I feel blessed
Barak:  position            Asher:  emotion/feeling


Here are the notes from "reallifeblog.wordpress.com"

"She (Beth) defined happiness (asher) as “the psychological (soul) awakening to a work of God.” A specific work of God that your soul realizes, and emotionally reacts to. While Biblical happiness is circumstantial, she said, it is not bound by any circumstance. Confused? Simply put, there is no circumstance in which God cannot work! It is not dependent upon how we feel, but how we feel is affected by what God does!"

Here is the kicker:  God wants us to feel happy!!!!  I don't know what that stirs up in you, but in me, I have to question it.  After all, we are to have the joy of the Lord despite circumstances, but pure happiness?  God says yes!  When we delight in Him, we are the most happy!  And through the witness of that pure satisfaction, God will draw others to Himself as well.

I don't believe that we are to pursue happiness, but to pursue God.  Happiness is just the result of that relationship.  If we lived our lives in the pursuit of happiness, it would become an idol for us.  In the Old Testament, the Israelites started worshipping Asherah (a Canaanite goddess) via the Asherah poles because they were desperate for happiness but were not willing to pursue God in order to achieve it.

The whole point is that we can have "asher" moments of blessing and happiness despite the circumstances around us. The Christian life is often one of suffering, but that doesn't mean we aren't blessed or can't be happy.  We can ask God to open our eyes in order to have an awakening to the work He is doing.  We can be assured that it is a work that is bringing Him glory.

I found a few verses that use the word "happy"...you might be surprised as to how we get it!

Proverbs 14:21 We are happy if we have mercy on the poor
Proverbs 16:20  We are happy when we trust God
Proverbs 28:14  We are happy when we fear God
Psalm 146:5  We are happy when we have God for our help and our hope is in Him
James 5:11  We are happy when we endure
1 Peter 3:14 We are happy in suffering when it is for the sake of righteousness

If our happiness is truly dependent on God and His goodness, then we can truly feel happy no matter what our circumstances may say.