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
Denise, Katy TX Jeremiah 29:11
Amy, Fairview, TN – “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7 (HCSB)
Amy, Seattle, “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.” Isaiah 54:13 ESV
Edwardsville, IL
Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished. NIV 1984
“Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”
Luke 1:45 NIV 1984
It is the blood, the life, that makes the atonement.
Leviticus 17:11 (MSG)
Kirsten H from Schaumburg, IL
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” NIV
Kirsten H in Schaumburg, IL
Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Amanda Taylor
Edmond, OK
“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” -Phil 2:3-5 NLT
Paula- Springdale, AR-
Psalm 28:7 NLT. The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in sings of thanksgiving.
Kristy, Sheridan, AR
In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice, my cry came before him, into his ears. Psalm 18:6 NIV
Ruth, Providence
Isaiah 30:26, RSV
Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun will be seven fold, as the light of seven days; in the day when the LORD binds up the hurt of His people and heals the wounds inflicted by His blow.
Laura from Lake City, Fl
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.
Matthew 5:9(NIV)
Martha, Brevard, NC “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” Col.2:6-7 nkjv
Tori, Dickinson, ND
Jude 1:3 ESV
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 given to the saints.
Suzi
Osprey Florida
“Rejoice evermore.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16
KJV
Stacy, Kentucky, “and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.” 1 Peter 1:4, NLT
Adrienne, Willow Grove, PA
James 1:19-20 (NIV)
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this :Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
For my Soul is full of troubles, and my life drawrth near unto death. KJV
Tisha in San Antonio
Ephesians 5:8-11 (NIV)
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
Christina, Hazelwood
Hebrews 4:11
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
Kimberly in Littleton. CO
Hebrew 12:1b NIV
Let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us.”
Not to us, oh LORD, not to us but to Your Name be all the glory for you unfailing love and faithfulness. Psalm 115:1
4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. James 5:4-6 NIV
Jessica, Lancaster,SC
“When I am afraid I will trust in you. ” Psalm 56:3 NIV
Anna – Conroe, TX
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6 NIV
Michelle. New Market Alabama
“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.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
Michelle, New Richmond: “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” Proverbs 19:20-21 ESV
Emily from Tigerville, SC
Colossians 3:2 KJV
“Set your affection on things above, not on things on earth.”
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humanity consider others better than ourselves.”
-Philippians 2:3 NIV
1kings 12:24 NIV
24 ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Go home, every one of you, for this is my doing.’” So they obeyed the word of the Lord and went home again, as the Lord had ordered.
Wendy Chinn, Blacksburg, VA
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” – 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NIV)
Kathryn in Auburn Hills, MI
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength. ~ Isaiah 40:28-29 ESV
Liz from Nashua, NH
Psalm 42:11, NIV “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”
Charlene – Houston; 2 Chronicles 20:17
You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you.
Tori
The Woodlands, TX
Philippians 4:6-7 NIV
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
NLT Matthew 8:13
As you have believed,so let it be done for you
Jennifer in Granby, CO
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.”
2 Cor 12:9
NIV
Beverly, Vicksburg, MS
Isaiah 54:10 NLT
“For the mountains may move and the hills disappear,but even then my faithful love for you will remain.
My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
Janet in Amarillo, TX
Psalm 19:14 NIV
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Courtney in Georgetown, Tx
Create a clean heart in me, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10 ASV
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:13 New King. James
Andrea, Ontario, Canada
” Prepare your shields, both large and small, and march out for battle! Harness the horses, mount the steeds! Take your positions with helmets on! Polish your spears, put on your armor! … (vs 14) Wake up! Be prepared war’s coming.
Jerimiah 46:3-4 NIV, Jerimiah 46:14b The Message
Tara in MO
Romans 12:12 ESV
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Kim in Deer Park, Texas
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil 4:13 NKJ
Martha White, Chesapeake VA
Proverbs 16:3 KJV
Commit thy ways unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Tracey Nave
Seminole, TX
Because thy loving kindness is better than life; my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
Psalm 63:3-4
KJV
Romans 12:12 (NET)
Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety. Psalm 18:2 NLT
-Tessa from Bryan, Tx
Becky Wang, Ohio
Deuteronomy 4:9 NKJV
Only take heed to yourself and diligently keep yourself lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.
And teach them to your children and grandchildren.
The LORD Is my strength and my shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.
Psalms 28:7