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
“So thank God for His marvelous love, for His miracle mercy to the children He loves.” Psalm 107:21 (MSG)
Ruth, Austin, Texas
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
1 John 3:12 NIV
Lynda, Monterey,CA
“Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.”
~ Psalm 143:8, NLT
Allison Crook
Albuquerque, NM
“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:24, 25 NASB)
Keri
Little Rock, AR
“For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.”
1Timothy 6:7 ESV
Kate DeWys, Zeeland, Michigan
“…and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
Hebrews 12 vs. 1-2 TNIV
Lisa – Arlington, Texas
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.” I Peter 5:6 NIV
Yvonne, Riverside, CA
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. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
~Philippians 4:8-9(NASB)~
Heather
McDonough GA
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” (James 4:7,8a ESV)
Sherie
The Woodlands, TX
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:16 NLT
Jones Creek, Texas
Love the Lord your God with all your soul,
with all your mind, and with all your
strength.
Mark 12:30 (NIV)
Amy – Hood River, OR
Indeed, the Lord who commands armies has a plan,
and who can possibly frustrate it?
His hand is ready to strike,
and who can possibly stop it?
Isaiah 14:27, The NET Bible
Megan Grants Pass, Oregon
Anxiety in the heart of a man weighs it down
Proverbs 12:25 (NASB)
Jane from Calgary Alberta
“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.” Ephesians 4:29 (NIV)
“The Sovereign Lord is my strength;he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,he enables me to tread on the heights.”
Habakkuk 3:19 | NIV
Tina
Waxahachie, Texas
1Timothy 6:6 (NIV)
“But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Clancie Speck, Elizabethtown, KY
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.”
1 John 3:1, NIV 1984
Psalm 119:38, “Establish Thy Word to Thy servant, as that which produces reverence for Thee.” Melanie, St. Augustine
Debbie Gardner, Georgetown, Tx
But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. (Psalms 3:3 KJV)
Mandeville
Honor your father and your mother, so you may live long in the land The Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12, NIV
Valerie M.
Evart, MI
I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on Him. I have put my hope in His word.
Psalm 130:5 NLT
Cindy, Biloxi,MS
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:24 NASB
Cheryl, Le Chesnay France
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
Karen, Dallas, TX:
Just as the living Father sent me
and I live
because of the Father,
so the one who feeds on me
will live
because of me.
John 6:57 NIV (part of the Bread of Life discourse)
Donna from Angleton, TX
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
Proverbs 10:12 ESV
Susan Dixson, Charlotte NC
(33) “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
-John 16:33 (NIV)
k.joy from Lancaster, PA
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust IS the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and DOES NOT FEAR when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and IS NOT ANXIOUS in the year of drought, for it DOES NOT CEASE TO BEAR FRUIT.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT (emphasis added and SO being claimed by me)
I mean ESV 🙂
Leigh, Woodway, Texas
As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord’s word is flawless;
 he shields all who take refuge in him.
Psalm 18:30 (NIV)
April Greensboro, NC “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things. Philippians 4:8 NIV
Patty B, Marysville, OH. Psalms 147:3 (NIV) He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
Jan, Athens, Ga: John 10:11, NIV
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
Olivia, West Sussex, UK “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
Jeannie, from Charlotte, NC
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21 (ESV)
Vickie Heerema Pella, Iowa
One his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Revelation:19:16
Missie, Marble Falls, TX
“One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.” Psalm 145:3 ESV
Jean, Palm Bay, Fl
The Lord is slow to get angry, but his power is great, and he never lets the guilty go unpunished. He displays his power in the whirlwind and the storm. The billowing clouds are the dust beneath his feet. (Nahum 1:3 NLT)
Karen C., Carmel, IN
In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty. But the wicked will perish; The Lord’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish, vanish like smoke. Psalm 37:19-20 NIV
Lauren, Charlotte, NC.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you. Psalm 32: 8-9 (ESV)
Fredericksburg, VA
“And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
Matthew 21:22 ESV
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8 NIV
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:32 (NIV)
Laurie, Oklahoma City, The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. (Psalms 34:7 ESV)
Megan – Goodlettsville, TN
“O Lord, You are great, mighty, majestic, magnificent, glorious, and sovereign over all the sky and earth! You have dominion and exalt Yourself as the ruler of all.”
1 Chronicles 29:11 (NET)
Paula, Brownwood, Tx
The one who gathers crops in the summer is a wise son,but the one who sleeps during the harvestis a son who brings shame to himself. Proverbs 10:5. NET
Gail
McDonough, Ga
I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ.
Philemon !:6 (NET)
Jeanni, Westland
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! [If] I should count them, they are more in number than the sand; when I awake I am still with thee. Psalm 139: 17-18 KJV
Debbie from Universal City, Texas.
“But God, being rich in mercies,because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace are you saved), and raised up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-6 NASB
Amber Moon, Lincolnton, NC
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 (NIV)
Lisa, Mauldin, SC
O Lord, You are great, mighty, majestic, magnificent, glorious and sovereign over all the sky and earth! You have dominion and exalt Yourself as the ruler of all.
I Chronicles 29:11 (NET)
Melissa, Columbus, OH
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Matt. 2:10 ESV