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
“My child, your sins are forgive.” Mark 2:5 NLT
Shelly, Rochester, MN
Shout for joy to the LORD all the earth.
Psalm 100:1 NIV
Debbie, Prattville, AL
I will sing to the Lord
because he is good to me
Psalm 13:6
NLT
Rhonda
Gilmer
whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. (Philemon 1:13 NKJV)
Laura, Dalton, GA
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22 ESV
Jean, Princeton Maine
Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
Hebrews 12:12 (NIV)
Proverbs 16:2
All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighted by the Lord.
Charlotte, Houston
“Keep every command I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to cross into and possess the land you are to inherit, and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
(Deuteronomy 11:8-9) HCSB
Cindy, Mt. Gilead, Ohio
“Don’t be afraid” the prophet (Elisha) answered, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
2 Kings 6:16 NIV
Meagan, Bedford Tx
One who is full loathes honey from the comb,but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet. Proverbs 27:7 NIV
Heather, Memphis, TN
“I pray that the sharing of your fatih may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.” Philemon 1:6 ESV
Kay, Deer Park
“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
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation-but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.
NIV Romans 8:12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation-but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.
And I keep praying that this faith we hold in common keeps showing up in the good things we do and that people recognize Christ in all of it. Philemon 1:6 MSG
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, will all malice. And be kind to one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Eph. 4:31-32(NKJV)
Linda, Olympia, WA Jer. 33:39 NKJV “Then I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and their children after them.”
Lori D., Georgetown, TX
Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. Ps. 100:4 (NIV)
Amy from fairport ny, I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
Philippians 4:12, NIV
Wendy, Plano TX
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.
1 Chron 29:11 NLT
Laura, League City, TX:
“Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.” Psalm 36:5
Esther, Jonesborough TN. “Return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and He relents over disaster.” Joel 2:13. ESV.
Dear Beth,
I’d like to know why I cannot buy an original Breaking Free manual any more. I did that course about 7 years ago and it was the best Bible Study / life-changing experience I’ve ever had.
I’ve bought the new manual and the new DVD set, as the previous set of DVD’s was left at our previous church where we ministered before. I find the new DVD’s quite different from the previous set, and somehow feel more confident to re-run a course I’ve done before with a new group of ladies at our new church where we are currently ministering.
We are currently running your Believing God course and I can see the ladies are really enjoying it. And I know without a doubt that this entire church will benefit through a course like Breaking Free (as the 1st publication) The new one is just so different and ‘advanced’ with the elaborate stage setup, that the folk here might not take to it as well as they would to the older version. So I thought of asking if there are by any chance a way of getting 10 or more copies of the old manuals, and a set of DVD’s of the 1st publication.
I really believe in my heart of hearts that this course is going to completely transform the face of our congregation, as there are many bondage issues we’ve discerned over the past 5 years of ministry here … It’s taken us this long to just introduce Believing God as an option for study! I’m praying that God will get more people to be willing to do Breaking Free by early next year (when I’m hoping to run this course, God-willing)
Thank you so much for your ministry over the years. May God continue to use you in mighty and powerful ways, to bring His awesome Word to the ears & hearts of many, in the practical way that you do.
Kind regards,
Marlene 🙂
____________________________________
Marlene Witter
Uitenhage, 6229
SOUTH AFRICA
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Ps.121:1-2 NASB
Karen from Indianapolis
2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The LORD GOD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2 (NLT)
Sherri, Albuquerque, “And because you belong to him , the power of the life giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.: Rom 8:2 NLT
Tori S.
Moore, OK. Psalms 121:2 (NIV)
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 130:7 NIV
Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption.
JoAnn, Columbus,
But He knows where I am going. And when He tests me, I will come out as pure as gold.” Job 23:10
Prov 16:24
24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
NIV
“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”
1 Chronicles 29:14 (NIV)
Oops! Jamie, Atlanta, GA
Kelley, La Verne. 1 Chronicles 29:11: 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. Net Bible.
Dora, Houston, Tx: “But the meek will inherit the land and endjoy peace and prosperity.”
–Psalm 37:11 (NIV)
Debbie — Keller, TX
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3 (HCSB)
Fran, Eden Prairie, MN
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.
Psalm 62:5 NIV
Angie
Anniston, Alabama
“I have the right to do anything, you say, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, but I will not be mastered by anything.”
1 Corinthians 6:12
NIV
Arlington TX
Isaiah 40:28-31
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, 31 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.
And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance. Romans 5:3 HCSB
Julia from Cincinnati, Ohio
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NLT
Morag, Bishop, CA
“From the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after another.” John 1:16 NIV
NKJV Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our Hope, without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Oh my goodness…..I am so sorry….I goofed up! I didn’t list my entire verse, which is why it is still awaiting moderation….duh! I did post it on June 15th at 10:52 pm. I hope it still counts, if not, I understand.
Vickie, Poplar Bluff. “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” Psalm 143:8
Again, I apologize.
Vickie in Louisville: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. Isaiah 30:15 NIV
Esther, Alburquerque, Spain
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalms 23:6 NLT)
Bethany, Chandler, TX
Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
Ephesians 4:2-3, NLT
Misti, from Kingwood, TX (finally!)
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Proverbs 16:9 NIV
Psalm 139:11 – 12 (two verses to get caught up)
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light becomes night around me”, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for the darkness is as light to you.
NIV
Leigh Ann in Augusta, GA
“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Your, O Lord is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.” (1 Chronicles 29:11 ~ NIV)
Kimberly, Fresno, CA
“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 139:16 (NIV)