Hey, Everybody! Welcome to Verse 3! One month down, only eleven more to go! I say that with a grin because I don’t want it to fly by. There are stressful aspects to what we’re doing here on our team because victory is labor intensive and demands focus and discipline. You can’t really cheat at your memory work. I mean, either we take the time for the constant repetition until it’s embedded underneath that skull of ours or we don’t. But, at the same time, it’s also rejuvenating, don’t you think? And fun? And, admit it, the team aspect of it is glorious.
In fact, I hope God is using this whole process to bring some of you back to life. I’m picturing all of us women like that valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37. Scattered in that broad dell of ours are skeletons of dead-tired, depleted girls from all over the United States and in at least a half dozen other countries. Thousands of us. The breath of God’s words falling on us, rattling our bones, wrapping us with new wine skins, filling our lungs, and beginning to raise us to our feet: a mighty army brandishing Swords. (Eph. 6:17) We use these swords to battle darkness and not one another. We are not Peter who, in an impulsive fury, left poor Malchus with one less ear in John 18:10. There they were, in the most critical moment in human history thus far and Jesus had to stop what He was doing and stick the man’s ear back on the side of his head. (Luke 22:51) Enough of this! Jesus commanded. The people around us who we are called to reach and serve in Christ’s name are not drawn to weapons and shredders but they are indeed drawn to courage and valiance and gracious strength. A well-trained soldier knows who his enemy is and who his enemy is not.
I’m looking forward to your verses! I am starting some memory work out of the one-chapter book of Jude today. I find this verse fascinating because the inspired penman really meant to write his audience about one thing when God sidetracked him to another. These dimensions of divine inspiration make my mind spin. I love thinking about it. Here goes mine:
Beth, Houston. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Jude 1:3 (ESV)
Contend for the faith. Lord, show us, teach us, equip us, fill us, and anoint us with holy affection, sound minds and doctrine to contend for the faith. Show us how to fight for our faith without wounding and scarring the people we were called to influence in the process. This can get tricky. Show us how it’s done.
I’m honored to serve you, Sisters, and to draw swords with you in this battle against the blackest darkness. Built up in Christ by the breath of the Spirit, focused and deliberate, we can be a mighty army.
OK, let’s have it. Your names, cities, verses, references, and translations.
Live and love well out there today, you hear?
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
NIV Psalm 43:3
Send forth your light and truth. let them guide me:
let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.
Sara – CA Isaiah 50:4(NIV) The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
Rena, Tulsa. “However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Romans 4:5 NIV (1984)
Laura in Gastonia, NC
“Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.” Ephesians 5:24, ESV
Erin, Evant Texas
Romans 12:10 The Message
Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Cry out for insight and understanding. Prov 2:3 NIV
Ainslie Columbia, SC
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” Psalm 37:7 NIV
Marti, Libertyville, IL
“(In love), he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…” Eph.1:5 (NIV)
Lissa from Granbury, TX
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
1 Timothy 1: 7 NLT
2 timothy! whoops!
Suzy – Grove City, Ohio
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24 NIV
Nancy, St. Petersburg,
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1 NIV
Torrie, Melissa TX
“Kind words are like honey- Sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” Proverbs 16:24 NLT
Michele, Vancouver, WA
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Eph 3:20-21 NIV84
Cindy (Puyallup, WA)
For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Proverbs 23:7 (New King James)
Jessica, Show Low, AZ
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)
Jennifer from El Dorado, Arkansas:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all wihtout finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:2-6 (NIV)
Liz Midland, MI
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
Isaiah 43:2 NIV
Karla – Cedarburg, WI
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24 NIV
Megan from St. Louis, MO
1 Corinthians 15:58, NIV
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Cindy
Bellingham, Wa
Isa. 60:1 NET
Arise, shine. For your light arrives.
The splendor of the Lord shines on you.
Andrea Miller, Massillon, Ohio
John 3:30 KJV
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Kim, Bloomington,IL
I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
Philippians 4:11 NASB
Liz in Costa Mesa, CA
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting;
Jude 20-22 (NASB)
Rachelle Wiggins; Hawley, MN
Galatians 6:14
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
“When I am afraid, I will trust You.” Psalm 56:3
Lindsay, West Point, NE
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. Isaiah 44:3 NIV
Becca-Dallas Texas
Therefore, I urge you, brothers in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship. -Romans 12:1 NIV
Darcy, Edwards Air Force Base, CA
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children; to such as keep His convenant and to those that remember His commandments to do them. Psalm 103:17-18 KJV
Christen, Denver
“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
mitzi from Brandon, Ms
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:4-5
Gay Beck, Plain City, OH
Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Deanna, Akron OH.
Psalm 5:3 NKJV
My voice You shall hear in the morning O LORD, in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.
Anna, Campbellsville, KY
Jude 1: 24-25, NET
Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.
Janice, Steinbach, MB Canada- “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me.” (Ps 13-:5-6 NIV)
Mei, Easley SC
Now to the one who works, wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
Romans 4:4 NIV
Amanda,Leawood,KS
“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”
James 1:12
NLT
Sheri
Milwaukee, WI
“What good it it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?”
James 2:14 NIV
Charlotte, Easley SC
2 Corinthians 4:7 “We have this treasure from God, but we are like clay jars that hold the treasure. This shows that the great power is from God, not from us.” (NCV)
Natalie Patton, Leawood, KS
John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you; abide in my love.” NKJV
Debbie, Cabot, AR
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” NIV84
April, Boerne TX
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of The Lord in the land of living. Wait on The Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on The Lord!
Psalm 27: 13-14
Judy
Kyle, TX
2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
16 …that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.
Deuteronomy 8:2, 16b (ESV)
Cathie – Jacksonville, Florida
Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
Psalm 105:4 KJV
Meagan, Houston:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19, NIV)
Stephanie Jo
Corvallis OR
Let the message about Christ in all its richness fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing pslams and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.
Colossians 3:16 NLT
Kristi: Inman, SC
“It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” Luke 4:8 NIV
Nicole Blake from Littleton, CO
Isaiah 26:3 (NLT) “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!:
Kristi Riverside,Ca
The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 NIV
Cathy, Gastonia
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways scknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
John 11:25-26 (NET)I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies,and the one who lives and believes in me will never die.