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
Cher – Toledo, OH
I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.Philemon 6 NIV
Meggie, Winnipeg, Canada
“They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the LORD to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly.” Psalm 112:7-8 NLT
Ruth, Providence
Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
Isaiah 30:27,28, RSV
Rhonda – Houston
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, people in exchange for your life. Isaiah 43:3-4 ESV
Jan Horne
Bossier City, LA
1 John 1:9 (NIV)
If we confess our sines, HE is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Jan, Rockwall, TX
I PRAY THAT FAITH YOU SHAREWITH US MAY DEEPENYOUR UNDERSTANDING OF EVERY BLESSING THAT BELONGS TO YOU IN CHRIST.
Philemon1:6 NET
Victoria Milam
Greenbrier AR
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV
pamela t., Fairmont, NC
2 Timothy 1:7 (AMP)
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
Belinda from Blacklick, OH
Proverbs 25:28
“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls” ESV
Jana, San Angelo, TX
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil;cling to what is good. Romans 12:9 NIV
Jill E., Export PA.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
Lori, Oil City, PA
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Colossians 3:23 (NIV)
Amanda Benson, Eagle Butte, SD
Titus 2:11-12, NIV
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
Annette, Lee’s Summit, MO ~~ NIV Colossians 1:19: For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him
Sharon, Barrington
“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
Tane McGehee Uvalde, Texas June 17, 2013 1:49 p.m.
Psalm 55:17 NKJV
Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.
Maria – Macomb,MI
Exodus 15:2-3 NIV 1984
The Lord is my strength and my song;he has become my salvation.He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (3) The Lord is a warrior;the Lord is his name.
Megan from Salisbury, MD
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 1 John 2:15 NLT
Traci ~ Vadnais Heights, MN
Hebrews 10:35 (NIV)
“Do not throw away your confidence,
It will be richly rewarded.
You need to perservere!
So that, when you have, done the will of God,
You will receive what He has promised.”
Jessica from Rockvale, TN
Psalm 89:1 “LORD, I will sing about your great love forever. For all time to come, I will tell about how faithful you are.”
1 Cor. 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” ESV
Sandy Tate, Denver, CO
Emily from Birmingham, AL … (Sorry I’m late!)
“So let’s do it — full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps His word.”
Hebrews 10:23 (The Message)
Donalda Reimer, Osler, SK
“My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”
Psalms 73:26 (NLT)
Lisa – Sioux Falls, SD
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. ~ I Chron 29:11 (NIV)
Cyndy
Columbia, SD
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
Psalm 121:8. ESV
Sharon Meekins
Charlotte, NC
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. ~ Psalm 62:5(NIV)
Jennifer, Houston, TX: Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you-guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 2 Timothy 1:14
Kim, Yorktown, VA
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.
Exodus 14:14 NIV
Yet preaching the Good news is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the good news…. 1 Corn. 9:16 NLT
Sara Middleburg, Fl.
Deuteronomy 6:23 KJV
And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our Fathers.
Susan from Clinton, MS
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 The NET Bible
Staci, Holland, MI
Psalm 91:4, NIV
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart
Allison, Edmond, Oklahoma
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.
Hebrews 10:24 (NLT)
Sandra, Rock Hill, SC
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
(Thanks Beth!)
He reminds me daily to Be Still. I had scoliosis back surgery two and half years ago. God blessed me with a verse through a friends for the surgery and recovery. Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God. I am reminded daily to be still so I don’t miss those blessings. Thanks for the new verse.
Megan
Richmond, Va
“Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”
Psalm 16:5 (NIV)
Mary Concord, NC
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?” Heb 13:6 NIV
Annette,Richmond, VA
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:9 NIV
Starr, Panama City, FL
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23 ESV)
Lisa, Cary, NC
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow.” Rom 15:13 NIV
Natalie, Nesbit. “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
Bobbie from Ft. Worth, Texas
What a man desires is unfailing love; better to be poor than a liar.
Provers 19:22.
The word “desires” in Proverbs 19:22 implies a deep craving for God’s unfailing love.
Patrice in Albuquerque
“And with that He breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’. ”
John 20:22 NIV
Eugene, OR
“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.”
Proverbs 31:25 (NIV)
Lisa, Hillsboro Or
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it
John 1:5 NLT
Susan Marie from Houston, TX
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
2 Peter 3:18 NIV
Lorri, Ft. Worth, TX
NIV: Philippians 3:8-9a
I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…
Jennifer M, Moore, OK ~~”Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who makes the storm clouds. he gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone.” Zechariah 10:1 (NIV)
Also, I think I forgot to post last month’s is it too late? If not here it is.
“Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him (Peter)’You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31(NIV)
Allison from Cincinnati, Ohio
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 staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 NIV