*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!
Tonya Nelson – Apex, NC
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, Ephesians 3:18 (NASB)
Sara, Decatur, TX
Everything is permissible for me – but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible – but I will not be mastered by anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV
1 Timothy 6:18 “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” NIV
Hide not your face from me, Turn not your servant away in anger, Or you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, Or God of my salvation!
Psalm 27:9 NIV
Brenda Peters
Crosby, TX
“…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith And I pray that you, being rooted and established I love,…” Ephesians 3:17 NIV
Poorna Diaz, Reston, Virginia: “Friends, do you realize that you followed in the exact footsteps of the churches of God in Judea, those who were the first to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ? You got the same bad treatment from your countrymen as they did from theirs,” 1 Thessalonians 2.14, The Message
Becky Bell
Westerville, Ohio
“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.”
II Cor. 10:5 NIV
Cindi, Madison, MS
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness, “TheLord is my portion says my soul,” therefore I will hope in Him. Lamentations 3:22-24 (ESV)
Psalms 46:5 “God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. “
Cindy-Richmond,Tx.-Phillippians 4:9 ( NIV) Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
April, Seymour, TN
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (â€2 Timothy‬ â€1‬:â€7‬ NLT)
Liz from Hilliard:
“Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.”
Habakkuk 3:17-19 NIV
Miranda Strader • West Virginia • “Mean people spread gossip; their words smart and burn. Troublemakers start fights; gossips break up friendship.” Proverbs 16:27-28 MSG
Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
“Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart, and do not lean on your own understandings. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
NIV 2 Corinthians 4: 6: For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness”, made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Stacey, Omaha, NE
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 (NIV)
Emily (age 15)
This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
John 15:12 NLT
Ally (age 13)
Be patient, therefore, sisters. Until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until he receives the early and late rains. James 5:7 (ESV)
…and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 NIV
Amy McAteer-Jones, Weddington, NC
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:17-19
Melanie Farmington, MO
Search me, o God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. Psalms 23-24 NASB
Valerie ~ Shawnee, OK
#9 May, 1, 2015
“Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again: Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4 NIV
Rhonda, Harlan IA
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 ESV
Melanie Cape Girardeau, MO
Proverbs 15:1 (NIV) A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Vicki Bolton, Lubbock, TX
He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress,
and for his children it will be a refuge.
Proverbs 14:26 NIV
Tanya, Raleigh, NC
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” John 3:18 (NIV)
Jennifer Watson, Ruston, LA
Hebrews 4:16 (NASB)- Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace in time of need.
Julie Fitch
Ann Arbor, MI
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:31-32 (NASB)
Jamie, Coupeville, WA
Teach me good discernment and knowledge
For I believe in Your commandments.
Psalm 119:66, NASB
Diane Wadsworth, Pleasant Grove, AL
Titus 2:11-12, NIV “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldy passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”
“In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my request before you and wait in expectation.” Psalm 5:3
Diane, Mesa, Arizona
Let us not become weary in doping good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 NIV
Dawn, Pampa,TX
Great are the works of the Lord;
they are pondered by all who delight in them.
Psalm 111:2 NIV
having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. (â€Colossians‬ â€2‬:â€14‬ NIV)
Lindsey F, Myrtle Beach, SC
“That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” Ephesians 3:16 ESV
Ephesians 3:16-18, The VOICE
Father, out of Your honorable and glorious riches, strengthen Your people. Fill their souls with the power of Your Spirit so that through faith the Anointed One will reside in their hearts. May love be the rich soil where their lives take root. May it be the bedrock where their lives are founded so that together with all of Your people they will have the power to understand that the love of the Anointed is infinitely long, wide, high, and deep, surpassing everything anyone previously experienced. God, may Your fullness flood through their entire beings.
– Laura Stiehl in Bedford, TX
Plesant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. Proverbs 16:24 NIV
Darlene J.
New Carlisle, OH
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:27 ESV
Terri McKeever, Katy, Tx
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 (NIV)
Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
Psalm 29:2
NKJV
Connie, Dallas, TX
Ephesians 3:17, NLT
“Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
Andi Crumrine, Rockwall TX
For God did not give me a spirit of fear, but a spirit of POWER, of LOVE, and of SELF-DISCIPLINE. 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV (emphasis added and personalization is mine)
Kelly. Hayden,AL
Deuteronomy 11:18-20 NIV
Fix these words of mine in your heart and minds tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads teach them to your children talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates
Ana from Dayton, TX
II Peter 1:3 (ESV)
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him wo called us to his own glory and excellence.
Melissa H., London, ON, Canada
“may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth” (Eph 3:18, ESV).
Dianne Detrick – Magnolia,TX
Proverbs 4:20-22 (KJV)
My son,attend to my words; incline Thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from Thine eyes; keep them in the midst of Thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Krista Fehr, Chickamauga, GA
James 5:8 ESV
“You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
Shelley
Lebanon, TN
When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.
Proverbs 10:19 NIV
Punky Tolson, Dallas, TX “…may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,” Ephesians 3:1, ESV
Stephanie, Imperial Beach, CA
And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. ~Hosea 2:19-20 ESV
Vonnie Baker
Marble Hill MO
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 KJV
MaryK Humber, Omaha, NE “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (â€Romans‬ â€15‬:â€13‬ NIV)