My Dear Sisters, just as I was writing this post to you, a family urgency arose and I’m not going to be able to finish it. I’ve erased it and, in its place, put the segment of Scripture that I shared today in staff time before I got news of a serious family need. By faith, I choose to believe that this was what our gracious God wanted you to have today. It is a beautiful segment from Isaiah 41 that spoke very richly to us in staff and I pray will minister to you. (Vv.8-16) In it God is addressing Israel but, as you will see, many of the truths He speaks over them in this chapter concerning His heart toward them and His promise to help are echoed in the New Testament to believers under Christ’s new covenant.Ā If you have a more formal translation like the ESV, consider reading it first then below you’ll find the portion in Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message. Its vivid language jumped out at me and really tended to my soul. My staff and I printed it out and circled parts of it that the Holy Spirit brought to life in our own hearts and minds and amid our own circumstances. We also wrote notes in the margins and reminders of other coinciding verses and then, in our closing prayer, we let the passages guide our intercessions. You might consider doing the same thing. The two simple words “don’t panic” leapt off the page at me. So did this: “I, God, want to reassure you.” Thank You, thank You, Lord.
Here it is and you’ll find my SSMT entry at the end of the post.
Isaiah 41:8-16 The Message
8ā10Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā āBut you, Israel, are my servant.
Youāre Jacob, my first choice,
descendants of my good friend Abraham.
I pulled you in from all over the world,
called you in from every dark corner of the earth,
Telling you, āYouāre my servant, serving on my side.
Iāve picked you. I havenāt dropped you.ā
Donāt panic. Iām with you.
Thereās no need to fear for Iām your God.
Iāll give you strength. Iāll help you.
Iāll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you.
11ā13Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā āCount on it: Everyone who had it in for you
will end up out in the coldā
real losers.
Those who worked against you
will end up empty-handedā
nothing to show for their lives.
When you go out looking for your old adversaries
you wonāt find themā
Not a trace of your old enemies,
not even a memory.
Thatās right. Because I, your GOD,
have a firm grip on you and Iām not letting go.
Iām telling you, āDonāt panic.
Iām right here to help you.ā
14ā16Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā āDo you feel like a lowly worm, Jacob?
Donāt be afraid.
Feel like a fragile insect, Israel?
Iāll help you.
I, GOD, want to reassure you.
The God who buys you back, The Holy of Israel.
Iām transforming you from worm to harrow,
from insect to iron.
As a sharp-toothed harrow youāll smooth out the mountains,
turn those tough old hills into loamy soil.
Youāll open the rough ground to the weather,
to the blasts of sun and wind and rain.
But youāll be confident and exuberant,
expansive in The Holy of Israel!
Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: the Bible in contemporary language (Is 41:8ā16). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.
For my SSMT selection, this is the portion I have next in my memory work out of the Book of Colossians:
Beth, Houston. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their 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. Colossians 2:1-2
I love you guys so much. Let’s press on with eyes of faith, Sisters. He who calls us is faithful!
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
Sharron, Spring, TX
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,
live at peace with everyone.
Romans 12:18 NIV
Ronnie, Ostrander Ohio
Psalm 121:1-2
I raise my eyes toward the mountains. where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth. (HCSB)
Stacey, Omaha, NE
He has shown you, O mortal, 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 NIV
Emily (age 13)
The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them people judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7
Ally (age 11)
Honor the Lord our God. Worship at his feet. He is Holy. Psalm 99:5 NIrV
Diane Wadsworth, Pleasant Grove, Alabama
Romans 5:1, NLT
“Therefore, since we have been made right in Godās sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
Sandy, Rock Hill, SC
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Diety lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is head over every power and authority.”
Colossians 2:9-10 NIV
John 12:24 NKJV
“Most assuredly, I say to you,
“unless a grain of wheat
falls into the ground and dies,
it remains alone;
but if it dies,
it produces much grain”.
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” ā Proverbs 29:25, NIV
Maddie from Flagstaff, AZ
Carolyn
Indianapolis Indiana
Ecclesiastes 3:11 DARBY
He hath made everything beautiful in its time; also he hath set the world in their heart, so that man findeth not out from the beginning to the end the work that God doeth.
Kimberly from Carlsbad, CA
“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 37:4 NIV
Corley in Conway, AR:
“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him…” Psalm 37.23, NIV
For You, Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You. Psalm 86:5 ESV
Deborah , Nashville, TN
He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:24
Chester, VA: “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.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NIV
Nancy Rose Psalm 16:9 NLT
No wonder my heart is glad and I rejoice. my body rests in safety.
Leah, KCMO
I keep your word close, in my heart, so that I wonāt sin against you. Psalm 119:11 CEB
“Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.” Psalm 51:6 NASB
Encourage one another daily. Hebrews 3:13 NIV
Kristi, from Rowlett, TX
Hebrews 12:14 (NIV)
“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. Eze. 36:23b (NIV)
Melanie of Greenbrier, Tn
Psalm 16:8 (NET) I constantly trust in the LORD; because He is at my right hand, I will not be upended.
Brenda Greenville SC
NIV Ps. 139:13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Brenda, Greenville SC
Ps. 139:14 NIV
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful. I know that full well
Proverbs 29:25 NIV
Fear of man will prove to be a snare.
But whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
Christine, Atlanta, GA – You do not have because you do not ask God. James 4:2c NIV
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV)
Christie, Gray Court, SC
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. RM 6:14, NIV
Caitlin, Gray Court, SC
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. RM 6:14, NIV
Cayla, Gray Court, SC
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Rm 6:14, NIV
Donna, Odessa, FL
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,
live at peace with everyone.
Romans 12:18 NIV
Blair from Harrisburg, NC
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5 NKJV
Debbie Spartanburg SC
Psalm 93:1 NIV
The LORD reigns, He is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and armed with strength; Indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
Mary Jane
Wilmington, DE
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits– who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.
Psalm 103:2-4 (NIV)
Angie
Anniston, Alabama
“The righteous cry out and The Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles.”
Ps. 34:17, NIV
Victoria – Salt Lake City, UT – James 1:3-4 (ESV)
“For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Freeland, MI When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12 NIV
Nancy Coffey
Barboursville WV
With joy you shall drink deeply from the fountain of salvation. Isaiah 12:3
Stephanie Knight Waynesboro, MS
“We demolish arguments and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ” 2 cor. 10:5 HCSB
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2 NKJV
Andrea, from Spring Branch, Texas
1 John 4:16 ESV
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.” Psalm 62:5
Nancy D.
Round Rock, TX
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4 – NIV)
James 3:14 NIV
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
Toni, Argyle, TX
Just as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Ephesians 1:4, NASB
Sherri Moore, Pueblo West,CO
1 Timothy 6:9 NLT
But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
Clancie, Elizabethtown, KY
“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12, NIV(1984)
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:10 NIV
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. Proverbs 31:26 NIV
Caroline, Aiea
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 NIV
Heather, Louisville, KY
“And let endurance have it’s full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives generously an dun grudgingly, and it will be given you.”
James 1:4-6 ( NRSV)
Sara from Garden City, KS
May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. (Psalm 115:14 NIV)