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
Debra from Calgary, Alberta
I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.
Phil 1:9-10 NLT
Heather, Colorado Springs, CO But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. James 3:8 NIV
On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2b NIV)
Deb Las Cruces, N.M.
Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins. I Peter 4:8 NIV
Terri, Papua New Guinea. “‘My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.'” John 15:12, NIV.
in Boston, MA
In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.
Proverbs 16.9 NIV
Sarah, Chocowinity, NC
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. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Ephesians 4:29-30
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. Psalm 62:5 ESV
Carolyn, Springfield Missouri
Isaiah 54:10 NIV
Though the mountains be Shaken
and the hills be Removed
YET MY UNFAILING LOVE FOR YOU
Will NOT be Shaken
Nor my Covenant of PEACE be Removed
-Says the Lord, who has Compassion on you!!
Alyson; Longmont, CO
Kind words are like honey— sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. (Proverbs 16:24 NLT)
Jan in Marion, IA
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
Diana, North Attleboro, MA
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens. Psalm 68:19 NIV
Lynda from Ocala, FL: Psalm 103:16 “the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” (NIV)
A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones. (Proverbs 12:2 NIV)
2 Timothy 2:24-26
New King James Version (NKJV)
24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, 25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, 26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
James 1:5 (NIV)
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Darla, Pittsburgh
Philippians 1:20 NIV
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
(Why? I have a lump in my breast)
Angela, McKinney, TX
Psalm 34:4 KJV
I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
James 1:19-20 (NIV’84)
“My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for a man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”
Kari
Charlottesville, VA
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, (Colossians 1:9, 10 NIV)
But godliness with contentment is great gain. I Timothy 6:6 NIV
Debbie, GA.- “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)
Cory Anna, Atlanta
“Maybe it’s all for the best that you lost him for a while. You’re getting him back now for good—and no mere slave this time, but a true Christian brother! That’s what he was to me—he’ll be even more than that to you.”
-Philemon 1:15-16 (MSG)
Kathryn: Sarasota, FL
Psalm 44:26 “Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love. ” NIV
Jeri, Draper UT
12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NIV
Found this one through the Gideon study.
Lisa, Kathleen, GA
“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” James 1:19 NLT
Melisse, Slippery Rock PA
When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. (Isaiah 43:2 NLT)
Kari, Frisco, TX
“Let us love one another for love comes from God.”
1 John 4:7
Erin, Detroit
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:12 ESV)
Britt, Burlington, NC. It does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right. 1 Corinthians 13:6 Unknown.
Kasey from Newnan, GA “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.” Proverbs 24:26 NIV
Cindy K, Rock Hill, SC
You gave abundant showers, O God; You refreshed your weary inheritance.
Your people settled in it, and from your bounty, God, you provided for the poor.
Psalm 68:9-10 (NIV)
Troy, OH
Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
Psalm 46:10 NIV
Imogene Austin, TX I John 5:13 NIV
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Brenda, Hendersonville TN
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands. Psa 90:17 NASB
Angie, Markham .
Where do the conflicts and where do the quarrels
among you come from? Is it not from this, from
your passions that battle inside you?
James 4:1 NET
Kate, Millville, Canada
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 Bible
Jennifer, from West Palm Beach, FL, “O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.” Isaiah 25:1 ESV
(Two side notes, my email is changing! can I use a new email from now on? Or will it mess with the system? My new email is [email protected]. Thank you!! Second, I am going overseas on mission for 2 months! I will do my best to log in on the 1st and 15th!! Or have my mom do so from home. Please know that I’m not bailing on the challenge!! I’m very much still in it :). Thank you!)
Canyon in Virginia
He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. Psalm 103:9 & 10
Ruth, Atlanta
What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
Psalm 34:12 ESV
Terry
East Peoria, Illinois
Luke 11:28 (NLT)
Jesus Replied “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice.”
Carol in The Woodlands, TX
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
James 1:15 NIV
“The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10 NIV
Melissa from Goshen, KY…
“No one will be justified in His sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.”
Romans 3:20 (HCSB)
Deanna – Mansfield, Tx
The Lord God is my strength, my personal bravery,and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk (not to stand in terror, but to walk) and make (spiritual) progress upon my high places (of trouble, suffering, or responsibility)! Hab 3:10a (Amp)
Katie Euken
Muscatine, IA
She opens her mouth with wisdom
and loving instruction is on her tongue. Pr 31:26 HCSB
Marcia – Portland, OR Job 42:2 NIV
I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Vicksburg, Ms
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
NIV
Sarah Fort Worth, TX
“The Lord is the One who will go before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.”
Deuteronomy 31:8 HCSB
Liz, Ruston, Louisiana
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
Philippians 1:9 NIV