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
Dawn, Clever, MO
Romans 8:2 “For the law of the Spirit of Life as set you free in Christ Jesus, from the law of sin and death.”
San Bernardino Ca.
vs 13 I waited patiently for the Lord he inclined to me
And heard my cry. Ps:40:1 Esv.
Karin from Clinton, NJ
Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.
1 John 3:18 NLT
Nancy Coffey
Barboursville WV
1 Corinthians 16:14
“Let all that you do be done in love.”
Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.
Psalm 4:1 NIV
Kym, Highlands Ranch, CO. “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were arrogant, over fed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” Ezekiel 16:49
Carol, Poplar Bluff, Missouri
Teach me knowledge and good judgment for I believe in your commands.
Psalm 119:66 NIV
Lisa, Alabama
“but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men.”
Philippians 2:7 NASB
Gabby, Lake View, New York
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18
” fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 NASV
Meredith, Trabuco Canyon, CA
“What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me–practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:9 ESV
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Romans 8:37
Carrie Jones
Ontario, Canada
Cindy in Raleigh NC
Psalm 94:4 NLT
You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done.
For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever. ~Philemon 1:15 (ESV)
June 15. Proverbs 6:17
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
Kim, Huffman, Texas: “I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing'” (Psalm 16:2, ESV).
Mound City, KS
…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…
Hebrews 12:1b-2a
April, Fort Worth, TX
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
Psalms 91:4, NIV
Kelly, Denton, TX
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Romans 8:18 (NIV)
For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Luke 6:45 (NIV)
Heather, Mt Pleasant.
The joy of the LORD is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10 NKJ
Terri, from Plano, TX
1 Thes 5:16-18 NIV
“Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”
Jamie In Mason, OH
…neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:39 NIV
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
Psalm 107:13 (NIV)
Stephanie
Pawleys Island, SC
Molly from Pierce, NE
“Consider it pur joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:2-4 NIV
“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. (Matthew 6:6 MSG)
Caroline
Waco, TX
“And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.” 1 Corinthians 10:10-11 (NLT)
Jenna
Waco, TX
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.
Colossians 2:20a (ESV)
Melissa
Waco, TX
Meredith from Blacksburg, VA
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
Romans 8:28-29 ESV
Elizabeth, Bolivar, MO
For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 NASB
“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:8 NIV) Brooke- Dallas
Proverbs 13:10
Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.
Traci
Knoxville, TN
Megan S.–Kansas City, KS
2 Cor 4:11 NIV
“For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.”
Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives. (Titus 3:14 NIV)
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34 NIV
They cried to The Lord in their trouble and He saved them from their distress.
Psalm 107:13
Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of Od in Christ Jesus.
I Thes. 5:16-18
Isaiah 43:18, NLT
“But forget all that – it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun!”
Lori LeBlanc Grundy,
Vivian, LA
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. (2 Corinthians 12:7 NIV)
Judy M, Lancaster, PA
For God has given us a spirit not of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. 2 Tim 1.7 esv
Dorian from Grimes, IA
“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 NIV
Natalie Patton, Leawood, KS
1 Timothy 2:11
Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. NKJV
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians3:20-21 NIV
Amber ~ Clarksville, TN
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Luke 11:9-10 NLT
Lauren, San Marcos, Tx. For The Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6 NIV
Crystal in Warren, PA
2 Timothy 3:12 (ESV)
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
Heather Smith
Visalia, CA
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you: He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV
Still fighting like a girl!!!
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14 NIV)
Rome, GA
Proverbs 17:22 (NASB)
A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Mildred from Montserrat.
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or witheld His love from me. Psalm 66: 20 (NIV)
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
Phillipians 4:6 NLT