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
Â
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
Ephesians 3:16-18 NIV
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being , so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints , to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ!
Sharron in Hartselle, Al.
Caty from Stockbridge, GA – [And I pray] that the participation in and sharing of your faith may produce and promote full recognition and appreciation and understanding and precise knowledge of every good [thing] that is ours in [our identification with] Christ Jesus [and unto His glory]. ~ Philemon 1:6 AMP
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Romans 3:23 NIV
Rachel Sweatt
Canyon, TX
Plans are established by seeking advice; so if you wage war, obtain guidance. (Proverbs 20:18 NIV)
Kimberly, Amarillo TX
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. ” Psalm 89:14 ESV
Beth-Mansfield, TX
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Romans 8:37 NKJV
Kathi Jacksonville, fl “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
Donna D, Sarnia, Ontario
“I love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18: 1-2 NIV
Pam D., Hendersonville, TN Colossians 2:6-7 NCV “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to live in Him. Keep your roots deep in Him and have your lives built on Him. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always be thankful.”
Very busy with a conference at work in July – need the reminder to be rooted and thankful. 🙂
Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. NIV
Kandi from Tallahassee, Florida
Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 NASB
Elisa, New York
Philippians 1:6 ESV
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Vicki, Indianapolis, IN
Ephesians 5:1-2, NIV
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Sallie Belle Howell, Tupelo, MS 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort 2 Corinthians 1:7 NIV
“Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” ~ Psalm 34:14
Megan, Houston
“When I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise,
In God I put my trust,
I shall not be afraid.
What can mere man do to me?” – Psalm 56:3-4 (Verse three is one already under my belt from years past, but God impressed I should tag verse 4 to the end of it. Fear has no need to reign in my life!! He is trustworthy!)
Lisa
York, PA
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)
Jennifer, Tomball, TX “…who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion . . . ” Psalm 103:3-4 NIV
Natalie from Perry, Ga. “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.” James 5:14-15, NIV
Joni Clarinda, IA
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Phil. 3:8-11 NASB
…Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. James 1:19
Joyce, Wahpeton ND
Romans 8:38 ESV
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
“Then he said to me, ‘This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.” Zech. 4:6 NASB
Crystal, Carthage NC, Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 16:10. NIV
Betsy Roberts – Antwerp, OH
“Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”
3 John 2 (NIV)
Vickie Henderson
Russellville Ar
HCSB
Philippians 2:13
For it is God who works in you (enabling you)both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
Kay S
Lake Lure, NC
No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you. Joshua 1:5 (NKJV)
Sue, Texarkana, TX “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV
Dana — Ashland, KY David said to the Philistine, ” You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” 1 Samuel 17:45 NIV
A recent attack of bitterness and jealousy in my blended family was a type of “Goliath” and the LORD led me to fight with the weapons of His strength and pray using this verse and others from
1 Sam. 17. For the battle IS the LORD’S!!! #supernaturalvictory
JoLee – Arlington, Tx. ” …Throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” NIV. (Gideon study)
Cynthia
Brentwood, TN
“His eyes are like a flame of fire,and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself ”
Revelation 19:12
NASB
Donna from Bartlett, TN
Micah 6:8 NLT
No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
Patty from Northern Virginia: Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:15-17
Kosciusko MS
“Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”
Psalm 31:24 NIV
April Jones, Springfield, IL
Romans 8:18 NIV
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” -Psalm 27:14 (NIV)
Christene from London, Canada
Many are the plans in a man’s heart
But is is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 19:21 NIV
Wait for the LORD, Be strong and let your heart take courage; yes wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:14
Pam
Kountze
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him(us)out of them ALL. Psalm 34:17 NKJV
Andrea, Burleson, TX
“I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
Job 42:2 (NIV)
Melanie Miller, Nampa, Idaho
Psalm 25:11 NLT
For the honor of your name, O Lord, forgive my many, many sins.
Romans 14:23 ESV
“…For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”
Becky, Mansfield, Ohio
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
Tara, Eustis
Psalm 118:24
This is the day the Lord has made, Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6 ESV
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-3 NIV84
Rachel, Fort Smith, AR
“Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”(Psalm 115:1 NIV)
Lisa, Houston, TX
Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.
(Proverbs 25:28) NIV
Jacie from Amarillo, Texas
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Cor 2:9 NIV
Bobbie
College Station
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.