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
Test all things. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil. I Thes. 5:21-22 NASB
Valerie, Omaha. Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. Psalm 86:11
Cindy, Lakeland. “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?” Psalm 121:1 NIV
Lori, Concordia, KS
Isaiah 30:18 (NIV) Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, He will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!
Angie, Lees Summit,
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people. Ephesians 6:7 NIV
If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. John 15:6 (NET)
Ginger
Wetumpka, AL
Joni, Port Neches. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2Corin. 4:18, NIV
Brenda, Byhalia, MS
For I am the Lord your God
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you.
Isaiah 41:13 (NIV)
Gena Gilbert, Rowlett, Texas
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise – in God I trust and am not afraid.” Psalm 56: 3-4 NIV
Debbie, Calgary Alberta.
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
Christina, Lancaster, CA
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11 ESV
Midland, TX
Galatians 6:5 (HCSB)
For each person will have to carry his own load.
1 Chronicles 29:13 New English Translation (NET)
Now, our God, we give thanks to you and praise your majestic name!
Courtney, Chicora. “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
Stafford,TX
Psalm19:13 “Keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of a great transgression.” NKJV
Cindy, St. Louis, MO – Psalm 37:23-24: The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand. NLT
Patti McConville, Salem OR
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:17 NIV
karen, Cheney, Washington
“For I am convinced that
neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future,
nor any power,
neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
-Romans 8:28-29-
(NIV)
Julie. Hanford, ca.. A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. Proverbs 15:1 NLT
Carol, Cashion, OK “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8 NASB
Dawn, Pottsville. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 (NKJV)
Mary, from Columba, PA
Isaiah 41:10
New Living Translation (NLT)
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Geri, Deer Park, Tx
2 Cor. 4:11,12 ESV
For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12-So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Dawn
Silver Spring, MD
John 15:5 (NIV)
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Kathy Carenza
New Port RIchey, FL
Philippians 4:7 (ESV) And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
El Cerrito, CA
Acts 26:2 (KJV)
I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews.
Stacey Gaines
Corpus Christi, TX
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand.
(Joel 2:1, NIV)
Colette, Mesa, AZ.
“Streams of tears flow from my eyes,
for your law is not obeyed.”
Psalm 119:136 NIV
Sarah, Christina and Esther May: Wenatchee, WA
“My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”
James 3:12 NIV
My small group and I will be memorizing this verse…
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. Isaiah 43:2
PS Quick note – I put this challenge to my group and told them it was up to them, I wouldn’t be checking on them… this verse came to me from one of the women in the group – at least I know SOMEbody is on board with this!! LOL
Kelly, Enid OK
Turn to me and have mercy,
for I am alone and in deep distress.
Psalm 25:16 NLT
Isaiah 40:30-31 (NIV)
“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.”
Janet from St. Louis
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, (Phil. 2:12 NIV)
Sandy Bowers, Bryan, Ohio
Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)
Missy, Lake Placid, FL. 1 Timothy 1:13,14 (NLT)
13 even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. 14 Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus.
Beth from Niamey
Colossians 3:14
NIV
And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
“With all my heart, I am waiting, LORD, for You! I trust Your promises.” ~ Psalm 130:5 CEV
Lisa Braun, Warman, SK Canada
“What does the Lord your God require of you? He requires you to fear him, to live according to his will, to love and worship him with all your heart and soul, and to obey the Lord’s commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good.” Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NLT
#lessonsfromgideon 🙂
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers multitude of sins.
1peter 4:8 niv
Durant, OK
I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free. Psalm 119:32NIV
Bonnie Port Orchard, Washington
Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22 NIV
Judy, Beaumont, California
Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer nor His lovingkindness from me. Psalm 66:20 NAS
Sammie, Sedona: “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the power of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the word of Your hand.” Isaiah 64:6-8 NASB
Lisa from Seward, Alaska:: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Melanie – Decatur, AL
As we’ve been enjoying fresh strawberries lately,I’m drawn to this verse; praying that my thoughts & actions will be like sweet fruit to Him!
James 1:18 NIV
“He chose to give us birth through the Word of Truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all He created.”
Barbie
Powell, Ohio
“For it it written: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)
Tracey Knight ~ Arkadelphia AR
Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him…” 1 Kings 18:21a NIV
Cindy, Madrid, Spain
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Galaltians 5:22-23 NIV
Tonja, Roanoke. “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
Sara, Currently in Tanzania
Hebrews 4:16 [NIV] Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.