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
Libby
Dallas, TX
So chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline.
Whatever else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment.
Col 3:12 & 14
MSG
Diane E. from Charleston, IL
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:14 NIV
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
Psalm 62:2
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV
Julie S. from Menomonee Falls, WI
He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Psalms 23:3 NASB
“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
2 Peter 1:20-21 (NIV)
Ephesians 1:14 NIV
…The Holy Spirit,who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Laura T from Hudson, IL
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Psalm 19:1 NIV
You are great and powerful, glorious, splendid and majestic. Everything in heaven and earth is yours, and you are king supreme ruler over all.
1Chronicles 29:11 Message
Barb, Medina
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth,
Phil 2:10 ESV
Ohio
Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.
Deut. 4:40 NIV
Pamela New Bern NC
Oh God, you are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for you, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Ps. 63:1 NASB
Tara, Loganville, GA
Psalms 55:22 NET
Throw your burden upon the Lord , and he will sustain you. He will never allow the godly to be upended.
Katelyn, Fort Worth, TX
“Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them white as wool.” Isaiah 1:18 NLT
Robin, Phoenix
Don’t eat with people who are stingy; don’t desire their delicacies. They are always thinking about how much it costs. “Eat and drink,” they say, but they don’t mean it. (Proverbs 23:6, 7 NLT)
Tammy, (Maryville) now Platte City
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 NKJV)
Teresa, Walla Walla “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me.” John 15:4 NLT
Connie, Chariton, NKJV James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love you neighbor as yourself.” you do well; James 2:8. memorizing my last verse James 2:7 the last part thinking about being called by that noble name what an awesome thought.
Lori, Friendswood, TX
“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7 (NIV)
Amy; Milton, WA
“Do all things with out grumbling or disbuting, that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world.”
Phil. 2:14-15, ESV
Elisabeth
Modesto,CA
“Because of God’s tender mercy, the Morning light from Heaven is about to break upon us.”
Luke 1:78 NLT
Carmen, Fergus Falls, 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 NET
Rosalye
Vicksburg, MS
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.
1 Chron. 29:11 NET
Kelly Gorbold, Longmont Co. O’Lord you are great, mighty, majestic, glorious and sovereign over all the sky and earth. You have dominion and exalt yourself as the ruler of all. 1Chronicles 29:11 NET
Sue Big Rapids, MI
Ps. 91:3 NASB For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper, and from the deadly pestilence.
Ali C., Pleasanton, CA-Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 1Peter 5:9 (ESV)
Elizabeth Meagher Mechanicsville, VA
“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked for us fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
Hebrews 12:1-2a NIV
“Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
Ephesians 4:32 NLT
Patti San Rafael, Ca.
” Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who has promised is faithful.”
Heb. 10:23 NRSV
Shelly Elston, Portland, Oregon
“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)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV
Barb of Crown Point, IN
“But godliness with contentment is a great gain.”
1 Timothy 6:6 HCSB
Diane – Roswell, GA
“Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies;make your way straight before me.” Psalm 5:8 ESV
Heather, from Frisco, TX
Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. Psalm 2:8 NIV
Peggy, Queen Creek, “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.” Ps. 121: 5&6 NASB
Anne from Hot Springs, AR:
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” – Psalm 127:3
Feeling the fullness of this verse. He is so good. Praise him!
Rebecca, Las Vegas. “…to proclaim the year of the Lords favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn…” Isaiah 61:2 (NIV)
Sarah, Montrose, CO:
If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
Daniel 3:17-18 (ESV)
Lila, Salem, OR
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love.
Psalm 33:17-18 NIV
Stephanie, Canton, NY
Philippians 3:8aNLT
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
dixie, santa monica,
Continuing Psalm 130 NET
3-If you, O LORD, were to keep track of sins, O Lord, who could stand before you?
4- But you are willing to forgive, so that you might be honored.
Vicki Lake Jackson, TX
May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
2 Thessalonians 3:5
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Romans 12:10 NIV
Mansfield, Tx
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
Terri Frasure from South Lebanon, Ohio
“We wait for the LORD; He is our help and shield. For our hearts rejoice in Him, because we trust in His holy name. May Your faithful love rest on us, LORD, for we put our hope in You.” Psalm 33:20-23 (HCSB)
Dawn, Colleyville, TX
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
Frances, Orange,TX,
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8. NIV
Rebecca, Wiggins, MS
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
Yvonne
Fresno, CA
Psalm 18:33-34 NIV He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
Delores O.
Lake Stevens, WA
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT