*This post is coming to you a few days early as our staff travels with Beth, which you will read more about below.
Hey, Everybody! It’s May! We are making progress, Girls! By now you are getting some verses down in your bones. I was thrilled two weekends ago when we had our clandestine Siesta picture after the end of our Albuquerque Living Proof Live and a bunch of them brought their spirals. Talk about teacher’s pets! Here they are:
OK! I’ve done a little video – a really, really short one this time – where I say my verses to you while I’m on a walk in our woods so this stands as my official entry for Verse 9! I’m doing memory work right now out of Ephesians Chapter Four and it is so powerful. As you’ll hear in this segment, God seems to have a tremendous partiality to the number ONE.
Y’all, I love doing this with you. I love an SSMT year. You are so dear to us. By the time you’re submitting your verses, I’ll be speaking in London at Hillsong Colour Conference. Our whole LPM staff is coming and many of our volunteers. Melissa is with me and will be heading up a short tour with our volunteers after the Hillsong conference ends, giving emphasis to several figures in Christianity who had tremendous influence on Spiritual formation. We are looking extremely forward to it. Her suitcase weighed 10 whole pounds more than mine strictly from books. Made me grin. The girl is a book nerd if you’ll ever meet one. We were so sad Amanda couldn’t come on this trip but she needed to be home with her very busy family this round. We miss her like nobody’s business. Would all of you please pray for us as we labor in this gorgeous field of harvest? Please ask Jesus to pour out His Holy Spirit lavishly upon us and to give us such hearts of love for every person we serve.  When I say, ask Jesus to pour out His Spirit, I mean like GUSHES. FLOODS, TIDAL WAVES of Living Water. Understand what I’m saying? PRAY BIG. Get in there with your faith if you’d be willing and ask God to be enormously present among us here. Ask for many to be saved, many to be delivered from strongholds, healed, and made whole in Jesus. Ask for multitudes to awaken to the breadth and length and height and depth of the borderless love of Jesus. Thank you! I owe you a debt of love which I gladly, joyfully pay.
Ok, Girls! Hit it with those verses!
Cindee Schnekloth, Eldridge, IA
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
I Peter 1:13 NKJV
Stevie, Fort Worth, TX
The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him. Psalm 37:23
Linda Patterson
Wolcottville IN
Be self controlled and alert your enemy the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1 Peter, 5:8. NIV
Janelle MacKay, Malta, NY “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians‬ â€4‬:â€29‬ NIV
Deana Gordy
Cartersville, GA
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:2
NRSV
Brandy Trahan
Port Neches, Tx
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (â€Ephesians‬ â€4‬:â€30‬ NIV)
Michelle Johnson, Hart, MI
Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him.
Psalm 45:11 NASB
Lynne Priestley, Belfast, Northern Ireland
We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.
Proverbs 16:9 NLT
Madelin , Thousand Oaks, CA
Habakkuk 3:19 (AMP)
19 The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!
Lindsey Buchanan St. Augustine, FL
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”
Robin Grega, Elizabethtown, KY
Romans 15:5-6 NIV
May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sarah Whitt, Fort Worth, TX
“I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.”
Psalms‬ â€57‬:â€2‬ NLT
Katie, Karuizawa Japan
Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord. Psalm 31:24
Natalie, Houston TX
The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18 NIV
Christy Chattom; Jasper, AL Zeph 3:17 NLT For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, he will calm all of your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful song.
Brittany Watson Marietta, GA
And if not, He is still good.
Daniel 3:17 ESV
Rebecca Enriquez, Orlando, FL
“I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” Job‬ â€42‬:â€2‬, NIV
Tracey Boynton, Kingsburg, CA
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Colossians 2:6-7
Gwyn Cummings, Rowlett, TX
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God . . . Romans 4:20 NIV
Camille Benson, Knoxville, TN
may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, (â€Ephesians‬ â€3‬:â€18‬ NIV)
Diane E, Charleston, IL
Ephesians 3:16 NIV
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”
Charmaine, Miami, FL — “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 1 Peter 5:10 NIV
Jessie Y. Jackson, MO. NIV Zephaniah 3:17 ” The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Deb from Aledo, IL
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. Jeremiah 17:7 KJV
Janet P, Paola, KS
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13 NIV
Cynthia Simmons, Mount Vernon, NY, “Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident” Psalm 27:3 (NKJV)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works so that no one can boast.
Eph. 2:8-9 NIV
Stephanie Siegel, WM, NJ
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians‬ â€2‬:â€13‬ NLT
Kelly, Spanish Fort, AL, ” Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” 1 Peter 3:9, NIV
Teri Wymore in Millington, TN
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 5:10 (NIV)
Marianna Behrends, San Angelo, TX
Luke 21:15 for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you! NLT
Janet Anderson
Edmond, OK
Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call. This I know: God is for me.
Psalm 56:9 (HCSB)
Michelle Rademacher – Aurora, IL
“A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” Proverbs‬ â€29‬:â€11‬ (ESV)
Debbie Fitzpatrick, Bossier City, LA
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (â€2 Corinthians‬ â€12‬:â€9‬ NIV)
Habakkuk 2.2 (ESV)
And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.”
Jenny O, Tucson,AZ
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidly, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self discipline. ” NIV
Sharon Floyd, Spokane, WA
“Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.” James 3:11-12 KJV
Lauren Matson; Prattville, AL
“Glory in His name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually.” 1 Chronicles 16:11-12. NASB
Margie, Beaverton, Oregon. Ephesians 3:20 NIV
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,
Christy, Holland, MI
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24, ESV
Dee C Lively West Tawakoni, TX Ephesians 6:18 ” Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all christians everywhere.” NLT
Tessa Pierce Nacogdoches TX
Psalm 1:3 NKJV
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
Hannah, Niantic: For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (â€Galatians‬ â€5‬:â€14‬ ESV)
Fran Scott, Stafford TX Jeremiah 29:11 KJV
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Kelly Westlund, Richland, WA
Proverbs 3:13 (NLT)
Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding.
Pat Jones, Springfield, MO
“may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,”
Ephesians 3:18, ESV
Jen from Wyoming
May have strength with all the saints to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth.
Ephesians 3:18 ESV
Bonnie Mink Hendersonville, TN. Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should. Psalm 90:12 TLB
Gretchen, Gahanna, Ohio (Part of a larger text)
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy place, Ephesians 1:18 NIV