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
Martha
Dickinson. ND
when I consider your heavens,the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings, that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
Psalm 8:3-5 NIV
June 1 Memory (missed)
“For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
Phil. 2:13 NKJV
June 15 Memory
“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.”
Psalm 141:3 NKJV
Debbie–Amarillo, Texas
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
Hebrews 6:19-20
Andrea M, Okotoks, AB
Psalm 139:12 – …even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (NIV)
Midland, TX
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. James 1:12 (NIV)
Diera -Austin, TX
“Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.” 1 Chronicles 29:11 NIV
Mitzi from Midland, texas
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2 (NIV)
Sherry – Deer Park,Tx
2 Corinthians: “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim ANYTHING for ourselves, but our competence comes from GOD!” NIV
Whitney Caves
Clinton, MS
I will remember the deeds of The Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old
Psalm 77:11
oops…2 Corinthians 3:5
Kelly Wiggins, Fowler, CA
O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name,
for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things,
things planned long ago.
Isaiah 25:1 (NIV)
Haley
Conway, AR
James 5:16 NIV
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
Claire, Houston, Psalm 106:12-13 NIV, Then they believed his promises and sang his praise. But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold.
Jordan, Columbia, MO. “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14 NIV
Olivia, Madison, MS
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 ESV
I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ROMANS 7:22-23 NLt
Michaela from Overland Park, KS
“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” Jeremiah 31:3 (NLT)
Pushkala, Louisville, KY: But You, Lord are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. Psalm 3:3 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. -Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)
Poorna Diaz
Arlington, VA
Carol, Belleville, On
“Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt 11:28 NKJV
Mary Jane, Wilmington, DE
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” NIV
Mary Jane, Wilmington, DE
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”
Isaiah 26:3. NIV
Ryan Sussex WI
2 Chronicles 15:7 NIV
But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”
Zephaniah 3:17-18 NIV
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls.
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Jamye L., Greenbrier, AR
My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word.
My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, “When will You comfort me?”
Psalm 119:81-82 NASB
Susan, Knoxville
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1 NIV
Tisha
Pilot Mtn, NC
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Psalm 34:8 KJV
Andrea, Pottstown
Blessed, is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.
Luke 1:45 NIV
Cherry B., Conway, AR
You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed.
Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!
Psalm 119:4-5, NIV
In the morning O Lord you hear my voice. In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. Psalm 5:3. NIV
Arizona
Both riches and honor come from You, and you reign over all. In your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and t give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank you and praise Your glorious name.
1 Chronicles 29:12, 13 NKJV
Do your best to present yourselves as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2Timothy 2:15 NIV
Caryn from Grand Prairie,
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentlenes, and patience. ” Colossians 3:12
Tammy
Siloam, NC
Do everything in love.
1 Corinthians 16:14 NIV
Kimberly in Madison, Maine “The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.” Nahum 1:7, NKJV
Joan, Dousman, WI
He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me,
And he prepares the way
So that I may show him the
Salvation of God.
Psalm. 50:23 NIV
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16 ESV
Judy-Taylors, SC
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. (Psalm 139:5 NIV)
Nancy, Lee’s Summit, MO
“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.”
I Corinthians 16:13 NKJV
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.”
Isaiah 26:3
(NIV)
Reanna, Cypress, CA
John 20:29 NIV
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Donna, Glendale, Az
” For each one should carry their own load”
Galatians 6:5 NIV
Leslie Crawley, Flagstaff, AZ. “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
Angela, Shelbyville
Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the LORD rescue you today. The Egyptians* you see today will never be seen again. The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. (Exodus 14:13-14, NLT)
*Angela’s commentary: your enemy, your obstacle, fill in the blank…
Brenda Hayden, Auburn, Washington
2 Corinthians 2:20 ESV
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. that is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
MariOct
Oxford, MS
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
Jody from Traverse City, MI
Psalm 91:7 NIV
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
Darcy, Pittsburgh
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” (Colossians 3:15a NIV)
Judy from Gladwin, MI
Psalm 91:7 NIV
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.