*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!
Jackye Bowen, Pendergrass, GA :”I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.” Psalm 5:3 NIV
Teri Deuteronomy 31:8New International Version (NIV)
8 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.
Rosalye
Vicksburg, MS
Suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.
Acts 2:2
NLT
Denisha Bonds, Boynton Beach, FL:
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV
Sharon Stridde
Corpus Christi, TX
Psalms 37:8
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil. (NIV)
Mande Brightwell. Longview, Tx
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (â€Ephesians‬ â€2‬:â€10‬ NIV)
Britt Felix, Tucson, AZ
Psalm 103:12-13 NASB
As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
Lori Leija – Austin, tx
pray continually, â€1 Thessalonians‬ â€5‬:â€17‬ NIV
Revelation 13:10 NIV If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed witg the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
Maggie, Blantyre, Malawi
Luke 6:35-36 (GNB)
Love your enemies and do good to them;
lend and expect nothing back.
You will then have a great reward,
and you will be children of the Most High God.
For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.
Tatiana, Houston, TX. “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.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
Glenda Self
Nederland, Tx
“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.”
â€â€Psalms‬ â€143:10‬ â€NLT‬‬
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length, and height and depth and to know the love of Christ Eph. 3:17,18 NASB
Carol, Keller, TX
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
Psalm 19:v. 14 (NIV)
May these words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Julie Bock, Columbia City, IN
Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today.
1Kings 8:28 (NLT)
Heather, Louisville, KY
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 (NIV84)
Harmony Moncton NB. Ps 143:10. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.
Kim Haines from Ashland, ME
Isaiah 65:1
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.
Tirsa Pittaway, Bloemfontein, South Africa,
Ephesians 3:18 ESV
“may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth”
Beth – Concord, NC
…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love… Ephesians 3:17 NIV
Gwyn of Haslet, Tx
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23 (NIV84)
Christina
Louisville, KY
…may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth…
Ephesians 3:18 ESV
Kathy, Bolivar, MO
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. Rom. 8:5 ESV
Elizabeth Pannell Buford, GA
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2 NKJV
Angela – Jackson Mo He saved us not because of the good things we did that because of his mercy he washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5
Fredericksburg, VA
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
1 John 5:14
Ephesians 3:14
For this reason I now my knees. Before the Father,
Ephesians 6.13 NIV
Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Kelli Holland
Debbie B., Marietta GA
…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:10-11
Jacquie Engbrecht, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (â€Hebrews‬ â€4‬:â€16‬ ESV)
Kay in Muscle Shoals,
“…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,…” (â€Ephesians‬ â€3‬:â€17b-18‬ ESV)
Kristi, Pensacola, FL
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God, rather than burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6, NIV
Kristi Bracelin, West Des Moines, IA
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Isaiah‬ â€61‬:â€1‬ NIV
Lexington, Ky
Psalm 86:11 NIV
Teach me your way Lord
And I will walk in your truth
Give me an undivided heart
That I may fear your name.
Valerie F, Warrensburg, MO
“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.”
Philippians 3:8, NLT
Cherie Sheldon, Lakeland, FL
“Jesus wept.”
John 11:35 (NIV)
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13 NIV
Therefore,there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free. Romans 8:1 NIV
Joan, New Windsor, MD.
Tiffany Hunsberger
Osceola, IN
He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, & set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. | Psalm 40:2 ESV
This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24 ESV
leah whitley
Fort Worth, tx
Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. (â€1 Corinthians‬ â€4‬:â€16‬ KJV)
Missie Ables, Marble Falls, TX
“Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thess. 5″16-18
Tracey Knight ~ Arkadelphia AR
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. ~Romans 8:26-27 NIV
Kymberleigh, Southaven,MS : from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, (â€Psalm‬ â€61‬:â€2‬ ESV)
The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in GOD protects you from that. (â€Proverbs‬ â€29‬:â€25‬ MSG)
Christi Hudson, Newnan, GA
May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. 2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NIV)
LeAnn Nichols, Spring, TX
“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. ”
Isaiah 55:12 (NIV)
Rowlett, Tx So teach us to number our days. That we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
LeAnn Nichols, Spring, TX
OOPS!…. That should be ‘myrtle’, not ‘maple’ in my verse!
“Whatever work you do, do it with all your heart. Do it for the Lord and not for men.”
Colossians 3:23 NLV