**January 20-21, 2012**
Hear bells and whistles and lots of music, maybe even a few beginning bars of the Hallelujah chorus: YOU MADE IT EXACTLY HALFWAY!!!! You are officially over the hump after you get this entry behind you.
Way to go, Sisters. Way to go! It’s a pretty good feeling, isn’t it? Don’t think for a second that the enemy didn’t try to steal away your focus and commitment. If you made it this far, you fought with him and won. This is a big victory. Celebrate it with your very faithful God.
I want to brag on you for being so fastidious about limiting your comments to the memory verses. Even when I’ve taunted you with extra conversation, you’ve held steadfastly to the rule. You are the best group ever. To look down the comment stream and see nothing but verses is immensely powerful. My faith explodes in my chest every single time. The sight of it and the effect it was having on my own personal life led me to invite anybody on Twitter who could use a fresh brainwashing to come and peruse it. I pray that numbers were blessed and that some took the challenge and decided to start memorizing Scripture.
All that said, this time, since we’re at the halfway point, I’m going to open your comments up to one extra line for the sake of personal testimony. After you’ve documented all your usual information (First name, city, verse, and translation), finish this sentence: Memorizing God’s Word this year has…
Get as specific as you can!
So you’ll have an example to go by, here’s my entry this time around with the completion of the added sentence:
Beth, Houston. “Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately.” 2 Timothy 2:15 (The NET Bible) Memorizing God’s Word this year has caused me to have a redirected mind in a situation that could have bred fear and discontentment.
Get the idea? OK, now it’s your turn.
P.S. Here’s some really great news! Android and Blackberry SSMT apps are up, running and available. AND, plans toward our January celebration are already in full swing! We can hardly wait to host you here, Sisters.
I love you like crazy.
Beth
Sarah, St. Peters, MO
I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.
Psalm 9:1 (NIV)
Sarah, McKinney, TX
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14
Anita
Austin, TX
Prov 29:22 An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot temper one commits many sins. (NIV)
Proverbs 2:6 NIV
For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Elizabeth Jena La.
Sanctify them by Your truth.Your word is truth.
John17:17 NKJV
Suni – Roanoke, VA
I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. Psalm 121:1-2, NIV. Memorizing God’s Word this year has caused me to be encouraged during a very difficult year and to remember that He is my HELP and my COMFORT and my KING!
Holly from Alpharetta, GA
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe”
Prov. 29: 25
Brigette
Morehead, KY
My soul is weary with sorrow,
strengthen me according to Your word.
Keep me from deceitful ways;
be gracious to me through your law.
Psalm 119:28-29 NIV
And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever. 1Jn 2:17. NSRV
Mandy
China Spring, TX
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ear will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Isaiah 30:21 NIV
Lori
Bangor, Maine
But the Lord was with Joseph, and he (though a slave) was a successful and prosperous man.
I am saying it to myself as…
But the Lord is with Lori and she is a successful and prosperous woman.
Genesis 39:2a Amplified
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you & not to harm you, plans to give you hope & a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
No weapon forged against you will prevail.
Isaiah 54:17
I cant remember if I posted my #12 or not so just in case..”Daughter, your faith has healed you, Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” Mark 5:34, NIV
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” Psalm 105:4
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once more.
Psalm 71:20
NIV
Susan
OKC
“So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature…Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” Gal 5:16, 25 NIV
Lauren, New Braunfels, Tx
Kaiva, now in Glen Ellyn, Illinois
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 NLT
“May God give you the desires of your heart that are in HIS will, and fulfill your purpose.”
Psalm 20:4 NIV
Memorizing God’s Word this year has helped me to be able to react to “trying” situations with His Word as my guide.
Robin
Morehead, Ky
Linda from Lincoln NE; “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” Ezekial 36:26 NIV
Put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy.
Eph. 4:24 NLT
Psalm 1: 4 NIV not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Kim from Springfield, IL
1 Timothy 4:16
Watch your life and doctrine closely, Perservere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Jennifer Hecker, Powell, Oh…”My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” James 1:19-20
Pam, Greensboro, NC
“Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be self controlled; set your hope fully on the grace given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” I Peter 1:13
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:9-10 NIV
Regan, Conroe. “Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:3-4 ESV
Betty, Houston:
“Teach me your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear you name.”
Ps. 86:11 NIV
They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to a misfortune; for they will be people blessed by the LORD.
Isaiah 65:23 NIV
Courtney, LaPlata, MD
Colossians 2:16-23 (ESV)
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind,
19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—
21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”
22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?
23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Memorizing God’s Word has meant…seeing God’s sovereignty in huge and unmistakable ways. For instance, the exact verse that I “randomly” memorized THAT VERY DAY, being the focal verse of the sermon! God speaks–HE IS ALIVE!
Shawna – Boise, Idaho
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Psalm 143:18 NIV
Wylie, Texas
James 4:8 (NIV-copied Shawna from wk 10 comments)
Come near to God and He will come near to you.
Christine from Raleigh, NC
My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
~ Philippians 1:20-21 [HCSB]
Amanda, Nashville, TN
Psalm 139:1-3
O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thoughts afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down. And are acquainted with all my ways.
Stacey, Houston, TX: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is make perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
Kelly, The Hills, Texas
“Serve Christ with righteousness, peace and joy”
For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. Romans 14:17-18
Brook, Santa Monica
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
Ephesians 4.1-2
“Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all of 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
my verse is Psalm 1:5
Elizabeth Gainesville, GA
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things, God’s wrath comes to those who are disobedient.”
Ephesians 5:6 NIV
Caroline Auburn, AL
“And in my dismay I said, All men are liars. How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I wil lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” Psalm 116:11-13
I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
Psalm 18:3
Heather – Richland, WA
Deuteronomy 6:7-9
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (NIV)
Memorizing God’s Word this year has meant…that I want to have His words on my walls and my mind…foremost in my thinking.
Marissa, Oklahoma
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:31-32 NIV
Romans 8:6-For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. NAS
Memorizing God’s Word this last year has brought my mind, will and emotions stability and more healing and caused what normally may have been crises situations into difficult and uncomfortable, but get-thruable situations with HIS truth and realizing HE is my help.
Lisa, Ider, AL
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled nor let them be afraid.” John 14:27 ESV
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and we know He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.
1 John 5:14-15 NIV
Moyock, NC
I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You. Ps. 119:11 KJV
Pleasant words are a honeycomb sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Proverbs 16:24
Judy, Tyler. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.” Psalm 100:1