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
Elizabeth, Pittsburgh, PA.
Colossians 3:15 a, NIV:
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts”
Monica, Blacklick, Ohio ” But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who created you O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you;I have called you by name, you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 ESV
Cara from Houston. Isaiah 44:3. NCV. I will pour out water for the thirsty land and make streams flow on dry land. I will pour out my Spirit into your children and my blessing on your descendants.
Sandi from Morristown, Tennessee
Colossians 3:1-2 (MSG)
So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.
Judy, Maple Valley WA.
Cast your cares on The Lord and he will sustain you – he will never let the righteous be shaken.
Ps. 55:22 NIV
Robbie
Michigan
Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.
1John 21:5 NLT
Cheryl in Fairhope, Al – “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.” Psalm 46:5 NIV
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits; and in His word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5 (NIV) Shantha, Lincoln, RI
Shiffra Vicksburg, MI “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
Kathy Bryson
Albuquerque, NM
Psalm 4:8 NIV 84
I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
DeAnne W., Bothell, WA
But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Isaiah 52:12 NIV
Holly, Clorado Springs, Co (formerly Charlotte NC)
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6
Jeanie Kelley
Psalm 147:3 He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.
Chyrll, Cordova TN: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. John 15:12 NASB
Darcy,Rosenberg. “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.” 1 Chronicles 16:8 NIV1984
Nicole from Newton, Iowa
For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 NASB)
Linda, Longview:
Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2 NLT
Val, Ann Arbor, MI
John 3:30 (NIV)
He must become greater; I must become less.
Sandra, Swainsboro,GA
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27 NIV
Jane from Geneseo, Illinois
2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us
in triumphal procession in Christ
and through us spreads everywhere
the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
(NIV)
Brenda from Santa Rosa Beach florida
My little children let us not love in word or in tongue
but in deed and in truth.
I John 3:18
“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” Isaiah 42:8 NIV
Kay Martin
Tupelo, MS
Colossians 1:10 NIV
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
Jeri, Creston, IA
The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?
Psalm 118:6. NIV
Pamela from Round Rock
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)
Susan, Murfreesboro, TN – I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. < Job 19:25 NIV
Caitlin, McKinney, TX
“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain…In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat- for he grants sleep to those he loves.”
Psalm 127:1-2, NIV
Cathy Morris Sedona, AZ Luke 22:31-32 NIV
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.
Shirleen, Greenville, SC
Hebrews 10:23 (NKJV) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.
Psalm 9:10 (NIV)
Cayce from Greenville, SC:
“But godliness with contentment is a great gain.”
1 Timothy 6:6 HCSB
LaDonna. Hammond, LA
I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death. Philippians 3:10 NLT
“So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead even though the going is rough for awhile down here.”
I Peter 1:6 TLB
“May God bless you richly and grant you increasing freedom from all anxiety and fear.”
I Peter 1:2c TLB
Michelle Baylerian, Waukesha, WI
“I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8 ESV
Phyllis Amarillo, TX
He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.
Philippians 1:6 AMP
WOO!
Tara G.
Sherwood, AR
And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:7-15 (ESV)
Jenny, Elida, OH “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone;” James 1:13 (NIV)
Rosie Tacoma, WA
Submit to God and be at peace with Him; in this
way prosperity will come to you.
Accept instruction from His mouth and lay up
His words in your heart.
Job22:21-22 NIV
Grace, Elida, OH “A perverse person entices their neighbor and a gossip separates close friends.” Proverbs 16:28 (NIV)
Ann Gainesville FL
James 3:17-18, NIV
But the wisdom that comes from Heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Karessa, Peoria, IL: Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:5-6 NIV
Denise from Lenexa, KS
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26 NIV
Susan, Greensburg, Indiana:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV
Ganise, Ottawa, CAN
‘You are good and do only good’ Psalm 119:68 (NLT 2007.)
His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
2 Peter 1:3 (HCSB)
Christine, St. Louis Park, MN Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Deuteronomy 11:18 NIV
Denise, South Carolina “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalms 51:10 ESV)
Kim, Colonial Heights, VA
“Seek your happiness in the LORD, and He will give you your heart’s desire.”
Psalm 37:4, GNT
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32 NKJV
Heather, Morristown,TN
Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James 1:16, 17 NASB)