Hey Sweet Things! I’m putting this post up an evening early so I don’t have to be up and working at 7:00 AM on a Saturday morning off. Smiling. Thank you for understanding! Don’t stress if the comments aren’t moderated right away. We take it a little slower on weekends so nobody’s working nonstop.
I wish I had a way to add some great celebratory music to this post. You are officially halfway! Doesn’t that feel fabulous? Oh, come on, now. Let yourself feel it. Great job, Sisters! It’s not easy. We know we can do the second half because we have already done the first.  And we’ll do this next half exactly the same way: through the unction of the Holy Spirit. Just keep choosing Scriptures that are speaking to you in your exact season and need and they’ll come alive in the marrow of your bones.
I feel like I’ve been talking to you all day because I think of you while writing the lessons for the Bible study underway. We have hashed some things out in the Scriptures today, Sister. You just couldn’t hear them. I’ll just be glad when some of you are sitting on the other side of that page talking back. When I was at the taping for Children of the Day in May, we explained to the group that it would be a whole calendar year before the study comes out. The process takes a long time, especially because it involves both written work and video. We also have to dodge around a travel schedule that is set in calendar-stone a good bit in advance. But, in the twinkling of an eye, another month has already passed. The very last of the manuscript is due in December so you’ll not waste a prayer on me between now and then. I don’t get to write every week because I am on the road more often this time of year so each day I get to sit with my Bible open to 1st and 2nd Thessalonians is a gift. And a brain cracker at times.
You and I have plenty to do before next May, however! I so hope many of you are doing the Gideon Bible study this summer with us that our gifted sister, Priscilla Shirer wrote. It’s tremendously powerful. I saw one of you give her a shout-out today on Twitter with the hashtag #Siestaville at the end of it. It made me so happy. God has graced us with such anointed messengers at this hour in the Body of Christ, men and women alike. Hasn’t He? It has been my privilege to study under a number of them with you and to hear about many others from you. Our discipleship worlds are so much bigger when we’re willing to come together. Otherwise, we sit tight in all our own little corners and have no idea how many people God has gifted to serve the Body. We cheat ourselves when we separate ourselves.
OK, Sisters, are you ready to log in your 12th verses? I’m choosing mine from a sermon Curtis’s good friend, Jerrell Altic, brought in Curtis’s absence last Sunday at our church. His primary text was Mark 1 but he tied in a verse that really jumped out at me. I love the Book of Philemon and have taught out of it several times in the last two years but that’s the beauty of living words. A Scripture will suddenly pop off the page that had somehow been veiled from our recognition before. I’d been so taken with phrases like “yet for love’s sake” in verse 9 that I’d missed the treasure of V.6, and who couldn’t get distracted by a verse like the 15th? “For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever.” I bet some of you have a pretty slack-jawing testimony of that very concept under your own roof.
But when Jerrell referenced this verse, I knew it was my choice for our 12th round of SSMT. In fact, don’t tell but I jotted it immediately on the yellow notes app of my iPhone, took a screen shot and made it my screen saver right then. Sometimes a “now” word is like RIGHT NOW. Here it goes:
Beth, Houston. “I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ.” Philemon 1:6 The NET Bible
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I want God to deepen my understanding of every blessing that belongs to me in Christ while I’m here plowing into some stubborn earthly soil with sweat sopping my forehead. Don’t you? I’m so thankful to be blessed but wouldn’t fleshing it out be a whole different prospect if we came to understand the depth and breadth of many of those blessings? To stand on them, act on them, pray from them, teach from them, love from them, and serve through them? Now we’re talking.
Colossians 2:2-3 gives a glimpse into the grandeur involved as the Apostle Paul prays “that their (and our) hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Look at that again: “the riches of full assurance of understanding.” We can’t soon wrap our minds around all that encompasses but we can instantly and actively start praying for God to deepen our understanding of the blessings that belongs to us in the One who embodies every divine and hidden treasure.
I’m making these prayers mine and I am looking for God to answer them. He wouldn’t dictate a prayer right there on the pages of the New Testament that He had no intention of responding to.
I love working through some verses and concepts with you, Sisters. You are so dear to me. Thank you for spending a little time around here and committing to something challenging in the midst of many priorities. I pray that every part of your life is invaded by the Word of God coursing through your brain. May God bring your harvest forth 100-fold.
It’s your turn, Sisters! Give me a hint about what Christ is doing in you right now through the selections of your verses. You are so loved.
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
Stephanie
Abilene, TX
The Lord appeared to us in the past saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”
Jeremiah 31:3, NIV
Tanis, Terrace.
Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God. John 3:18 HCSB
Megan, Stow, But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. Matthew 15:18, NIV
Pat, Littlefield, Tx.
“Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
John 11:40 ESV
Katie S from Mount Dora, FL
Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land
Proverbs 31:23 (NIV)
Fareen Doss
Las Vegas, NV
“So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, they very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our life and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and birds, of reptiles and creatures or the sea, is tamed and has been tamed but the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.”
James 3:5-9 NASB
Jeannie from Atlanta, IN –
Matthew 6:1-2, ESV –
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”
Brenda C Lee’s Summit, MO “If you have any encouragement with being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and in purpose”. Phil 2:1-2 NIV84
Denise Katy, Tx
2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Tanya, Charleston, SC
Psalm 130:5, ESV
“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His Word I put my hope.”
Rene, Overland Park, KS “who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me.” Psalm 18:48 NIV (3rd in a series 46-49)
Xan ; Cullman, AL
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
Ephesians 6: 18
NLT
Kim; Poplar Bluff, MO. “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)
Paulette
Nogalus Prairie, TX
“He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do.” Rom. 4:21
NET Bible
“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1Corinthians 15:57 (NIV)
Melissa, Boston “I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ.” Philemon 1:6 The NET Bible
Micah 3:8
But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord….(NIV)
Patti – Colorado
“Now to Him who is able to do immearsurably more than all we ask for or imagine, according to the power that is at work in us.” Ephesians 3:20
Billie, Greenville, KY “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.” Proverbs 15:4
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12 NIV
Hebrew 10:23 NKJV
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Gail, Phoenix
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Philippians 3:12 NIV
ALta, Sharpsville, In
“I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ.” Philemon 1:6 The NET Bible
Amanda Durham, NC
Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:1-4
“Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:7 (NIV84)
Joan (Coppell, TX): Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. James 2:21-26 NIV 84
Cyndi from Centreville, VA
I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ. Philemon 1:6 (NET)
Sarah, Elkhart, IN. John 14:18. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Julie, Madison, GA
I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ. Philemon 1:6 NET
Joy, Altadena, CA
For He satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul He fills with good things.
Psalm 107:9 ESV
Neeley from Auburn, AL
James 3:12- NIV
“My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”
Anna Kristina from Wilmore
1 Samuel 16:7 NASB
But the LORD said to Samuel,
“Do not look at his appearance
or the height of his stature,
because I have rejected him;
for God sees not as man sees,
for man looks at the outward appearance,
but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Alice Chesapeake,Va.
Psalm 118:24 NLT
This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Linda W. from Tomball,TX
“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 NIV
Lacey Katy, Tx
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Hebrews 12:15 NIV
Alison from Southport, NC. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.” Psalm 23:6. NKJV.
Psalm 37:4 NIV
Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Joy, Clyde, OH
Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14 NASB
Amanda
DERBY, Ks
Proverbs 19:21. NIV
Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
But it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Sarah, Colorado Springs, CO
Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait for the Lord (who expect, look for & hope in Him) shall change & renew their strength and power. They shall lift their wings & mount up (close to God) as eagles (mount up to the sun), they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
Isaiah 40:31 (AMP)
AmandaJo, Trinidad CO
2 Corinthians 4:18
Because we are not looking at what can be seen, but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen in temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal
2 Corinthians 4:18
Thailand to America, Chandel. Psalm 62:11-12a
One thing God has spoken. 2 things I have heard that you O God are strong and that you O LORD are loving.
This verse just touches the deeps part of my soul. So good to be “home”, and have this time. Thank you JESUS.
Lea Ann McFarland from McKinney TX
“Trust in The Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.”
Proverbs 3:5,6
Brandy A, Cross Anchor SC
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)
Janae-Riverside,PA Psalm 43:4 (ESV) “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.”
Vickie of Spokane, Wa.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall:
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV
Terri in Mechanicsville, VA
‘Accept one another then just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God.’
Romans 15:7 (NIV)
Stacey, from Houston, TX
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God. Psalm 84:2 (ESV)
Betty, Wendell, NC
Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
W.Richland
To set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:6b NRSV