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
Muriel in Ontario
Psalm 139:16 (NLT)
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
Sherri Moore, Pueblo West, CO
Psalm 63:3-4 KJV
Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
Isaiah 30:18 NIV
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
Angie M.
Purcellville, VA
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV 1984)
Kaitlyn from Tampa
“If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
Luke 9: 23, NET
Sandy – Dodge City, KS
He has shown all you people what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8 TNIV
Debra
Dallas, GA
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2 (NIV)
Elizabeth – Moore, OK
2 Timothy 1:7 (NET) “For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
Nancy D.
Round Rock, TX
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
(2 Corinthians 1:3, 4 NASB)
Sandy, Ft. Gibson, OK
The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of your hands. Psalms 138:8 NKJV
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
Julie Payne, Muskogee, OK. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Revelation 22:21 NKJV)
I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no other savior. (Isaiah 43:11) ESV.
Proverbs 17:9
9 Love prospers when a fault is forgiven,

but dwelling on it separates close friends.
NIV
Wynell
Athens, GA
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8(NKJV)
Cathi from Jay, Ok
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord gives grace and glory; He does not withhold the good from those who live with integrity.” Psalm 84:11 (HCSB)
cathy day Princeton tx
Hosea 6:3 NIV
Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises he will appear. He will come to us like winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.
Edna, O’Fallon, MO:
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
Psalm 146:5, ESV
Esther Joy from Arkansas “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, His power and the wonders He has done… So the next generation would know them, Even the children yet to be born, And they in turn would tell their children, Then they would put their trust in God…” Psalm 78:4,6-7
(Forget which version I got this from and can’t find it!)
Alexis, Anderson, SC….
When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. (Psalm 94:19 NIV)
Teresa, Redmond OR 97756
“I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ.” Phileman 1:6 NET
Elaine
McVeytown, PA
Colossians 3:12 NLT
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
Maureen, St. Clair Shores, “Be strong, take courage, don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; He won’t leave you!” (Deuteronomy 31:6 MSG)
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring,
and My blessing on your descendants.
Isaiah 44:3 NIV
Rita Brown
Midland, TX
Sally, St. Paul, MN “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
Amy, Chattanooga, TN. Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name.
I Chronicles 29:13, NKJV.
Donna
Franklin, TN
I was on vacation so I’m posting my #11 & #12 here!
Verse #11
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8 (ESV)
Verse #12
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2 (NIV)
Erin in Euless, TX
Ephesians 1:6 (NLT)
“So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.”
Becca, Camp Pendleton, CA.
“For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.”
Matthew 18:20 NIV
Cami, Nashville,TN
Look to The Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
1 Chronicles 16:11 NIV
Heather, from Mckinney, TX “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3 (NLT)
Cindy, Longmont, CO
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
Matt. 6:22, NIV
Jovin, Houston TX
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds;”
Deuteronomy 11:18A NIV
Dori, Meridian ID
When doubts filled my mind,
Your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
Psalm 94:19 (NLT)
I Chronicles 29:11 NIV
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power, and the glory,
and the majesty, and the splendor!!!
For everything in heaven and on earth is Yours!!!
Yours, O Lord, is the Kingdom!!!
You are exalted as head over all!!
Carolyn St. Peters,MO
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.
Psalm 91:16 NIV84
Ann, Cataula, GA
When darkness overtakes the godly, light will come bursting in. They are generous, compassionate, and righteous.
Psalm 112:4, NLT
Allie, south Pasadena ca
10Â In his hand is the life of every creature
    and the breath of all mankind.
Job 12:10
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Laura Jackson, Humble, TX
“Sing, O’ ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O Forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.” Isaiah 44:23 KJV
#12- Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.
Zechariah 4:6b (NIV)
Laura in Carlsbad, CA
“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world the shame the strong.”
1 Corinthians 1:26-27
Dina Garcia, Garden Grove, CA
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Sarah, Lincoln, NE, “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:15 (NIV)
Karen, Redmond.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2 NIV
Acts 4:12 (NIV):
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
The Eungard family
Brad, Gwen, Adam, Eleanor, Amelia, and Owen
Schweinfurt, Germany
SSMT #12: but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you. Psalm 139:12 of 24
Stacy – Hinckley, England
The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocracy.
James 3:17 NKJV
Beckie Florence, SC
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8 NES
Jennifer from Leesburg, GA:
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
2 Corinthians 3:17 NASB