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
Brenda, Greenville SC
Ps. 139:4, NIV
Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord.
Karen from Norfolk, VA: “…even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139:12 (NIV)
Brenda, Greenville SC
Ps. 139:5 NIV
You hem me in- behind and before: you have laid your hand upon me.
Brenda, Greenville SC
Ps. 139:6 NIV
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Lori, Syracuse
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I have put my hope in your word.
Psalm 119:147 NIV
Carrie Guion, Wentzville, Mo.
And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever. Isaiah 32:17 NLT
Kathy, Lake Jackson, Texas
Instruction from Your lips is better for me
Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Psalm 119:72. HCSB
Jennifer, Chattanooga. But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.
2 Chronicles 15:7 NIV
Stacey from Boulder, Colorado
But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.
Philippians 3:13 NIV
Roxanne Hummelstown, Pa
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
ESV Acts 7: 55-56
Nancy, North Little Rock, AR
“…to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning,and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”
Isaiah 61:3 NIV
Deb, Becker, MN
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Cor 3:16-18 ESV
Ruth, Westerville Ohio
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
Aubree, San Antonio, TX.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV
Faye, Ocala. “Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone”. Col 4:6 NLT
Barb – Wetumpka, AL
So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives.
1Peter 1:13
The Message
Ruth Cherry, Royse City, Texas
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgives you.”
Ephesians 4:32
NIV
Olda, Huntsville
“So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer. Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins.”. 1 Peter 7a-8 The NET Bible
Sherry
Indianapolis, IN
I Peter 1:23 (NIV)
“For you have been born again, not of imperishable seed, but imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”
Alicia, Orlando, FL – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” – 1 John 4:7 (ESV)
Denise, Hernando Beach, FL
The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11 NIV
And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. (Deuteronomy 6:23 ESV)
Colleen Duebber. Cincinnati, Ohio.
Test me, LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind; for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.
Psalm 26:2-3 NIV
Sarah, OKC, OK, As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart. (Proverbs 27:19 NIV)
La Chiel from Portland, TN
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
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:11-12 NAS
Sheryl, Niles, MI- “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
II Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18 (KJV)
Judy
Panama City, Fl
Psalm 92:4 (NLT)
You thrill me, LORD, with all You have done for me! I sing for joy because of what You have done.
Deb in Windsor, CT:
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Peter 1:3-4, NIV
Fran, Stedman, NC
“My god shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 NKJV
Suey, springbranchHouston,Eph 5:25-27 NIV
Husbands LOVE your wife, just as CHRIST, loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to HIMSELF as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless
31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cling to his wife.
thx Beth, have a sweeeet birthday..so glad you were born
Suzanne Bailey, Harrisville, RI
If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Galatians 6:3 NIV
Ann. Centerville. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. 2 Peter 1:4. NLT
Angela, Warsaw
For although they knew God they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile. Romans 1:21 (NIV)
Candy from St Louis
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? (Psalms 56:3, 4 ESV)
Barb, Urbandale, Iowa
…so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:4(NASB)
Ashley Sullens
Kings Mountain, NC
Psalm 27:9 (NASB)
Do not turn Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger. You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation!
Jeanine, Toronto, Canada “The fear of man brings a snare. But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.” Proverbs 29:25 NASV
“Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. Ps. 27:14 NASB
Carol from Kansas City
Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help. (Hebrews 4:16 NET)
Deanna, Frisco
Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
James 1:16-17 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
Sue ~ Hartland, MI
He has told you, O man, what is good: And what does the Lord require
of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And walk humbly with your
God?
Micah 6:8 NASB
Elvira. Grande Prairie, Alberta
Exodus 23:26 NIV
” I will take sickness from amoung you
and none will miscarry or be barren in your land.
I will give you a full life span.”
Cheri Savage MN, One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. (Psalms 145:4 NASB)
Melissa, St. Mary’s County, MD “That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Philemon 6 KJV
Alice, Dallas, TX: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV
Lori, Flower Mound, TX
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Woodstock, Ga.
He changes times and seasons; he disposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness and light dwells with him.
Daniel 2:21-22