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
Amber Overstreet, Vancleave, MS
For my eyes are toward You, O God the Lord;
In You, I take refuge. Do not leave me defenseless.
Psalms 141:8 NASB
Twila – Fayetteville Game
1st Thessalonians 5:18
Net
In EVERYTHING give thanks; for this is God’s will
for you in Christ Jesus.
Debbie Puckett, San Antonio, TX
“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure–pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:38, NASB
Philippians 4:6 ( NIV )
Do not be anxious in anything, but in everything with prayer, petition and thanksgiving present your request to God.
Ashley from Knoxville, TN
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,
For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
Psalm 9:10 NASB
Ashland: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
Teri~Washington DC
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12&13 (NIV)
Linda in Lincoln NE; “Preserve me. O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” Psalm 16:1-2 ESV
Kim, Lakeland, FL – “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)
Susan, Fort Worth, TX
Proverbs 31:17 & 27 NIV
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
Her arms are strong for her task.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Ashleigh from Mobile, Alabama
“…fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)
Hear Oh Israel.
The Lord is our God.
The Lord alone.
Love the Lord your God
with all your heart
with all your soul
with all your strength.
Deuterononmy 6:4,5
Lindi Bridges in Odessa, TX
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10 NIV)
Anna Beth Barnes, Hamburg, AR
Pslam 105:4 (NLT)
Search for the LORD and for his strength; continually seek him.
Stephanie, Morgantown, WV
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 ESV
Lisa Cartersville, GA
Psalm 121:3-6 HCSB
3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. 4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep. 5 The LORD protects you; the LORD is a shelter right by your side. 6 The sun will not strike you by day, or the moon by night.
Mandi, Oklahoma City
“I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.”
Psalm 27:13 TNIV
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7 NIV
Meegan, Kansas City, MO
Deuteronomy 30:6, NLT – The Lord your God will cleanse your heart and the hearts of all your descendants so that you will love him with all your heart and soul, and so you may live!
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. Job 5:9, NIV
Shantha, Lincoln, RI
Granger, IN Proverbs 17:27-28 “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.” ESV
Jenea, Houston, TX
Acts 1:8 HCSB
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Tina, Waxahachie, Texas
James 4:8 (NIV)
“Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Janie – Warner Robins, GA
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
PS: 139:1-2 NIV
Charlene Norcross,GA
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: ( For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds) Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ..
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 KJV
Jenny Smith Adairsville, GA
1 Peter 1:3 ESV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 KJV. Dawn from NJ
Rhonda
Westport, KY
Romans 15:13 NIV
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah 32:27 (NASV)
” Behold, I am The Lord, the God of all flesh; Is anything too hard for me?”
Aurora, IN
Karlie, Raleigh, NC
“In this freedom Christ has made us free and completely liberated us; stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held and ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery which you have once put off.” AMP
Psalm 119:33 !!!
Pam, Finksburg, MD “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.” Isaiah 43:10 NIV1984
Sandy – Waupun, WI
Psalm 139:2 (NIV)
You know when I sit and when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
Terri
Senoia, GA
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, thay you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Colossians 4:6
NKJV
Linda, Spring, TX – Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” Genesis 28:16 ESV
I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. You make known to me the path of life, in our presence there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16, 8 and 11, ESV
Paula from Indiana
Heather, Atlanta: Romans 6:13-14 (TNIV)
Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Krista – Chicago, IL
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:2-5 (TNIV)
Jessa from Grantville, PA:
Isaiah 54:10 (NKJV)
For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
Sarah, Elkhart,IN- Philippians 1:23-24. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
Psalm 40:16 – NCV
But let those who follow you be happy and glad. They love you for saving them. May they always say “Praise the LORD”.
Larci, Urbandale, IA: Romans 8:4 (?) “Instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.” (The Message)
Tina from Chesapeake, VA: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18(NIV84)
For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
Debbie
Olathe, Kansas
Psalm 139:3 (NIV 84)-“You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.”
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” —Romans 12:2
Trina, Summerton, SC: “By this my Father is glorified, That you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:8. ESV
amy in Indiana
“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this; Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” James 1:19 NIV
Alice H, Dallas, TX. “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” I John 3:18 NKJV
From Mooresville, NC
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.
James 1:19-20, NIV
lisa danville pa John 12:46 niv I Have come into the world as a light so that no one who believes in me should stay in the darkness