I could no more choose a favorite Bible verse than I could choose a favorite child. God’s entire Word is precious to me because it is His presence with me animated by His Spirit in me. One verse or passage may have special meaning during a particular season, come in answer to prayer, or just be generally meaningful. Another may show up again and again, encouraging or bringing conviction. Still others appear unexpectedly. Having read through the entire Bible many times, I am confounded, wondering how I could be seeing this passage as if for the first time. God speaks through His Word and He has been holding up His end of the conversation for thousands of years with countless millions of followers. He’s never once been rendered speechless.
“The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard.
Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.”
Psalms 19:1-4 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.19.1-4.NLT
I was excited when our pastor challenged our congregation at the beginning of the new year to commit to memorizing scripture along with him. Not just any scripture. Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount found in the New Testament book of Matthew. Flipping through a red letter edition, you’ll quickly notice that this sermon is a lengthy one, beginning in chapter five and continuing through all of chapter six and most of seven. Twenty-four is the largest number of consecutive verses I’ve attempted to date but I am accepting the challenge. At two verses per week, it will take the entire year to memorize, but an entire year meditating on the words of Christ, repeating them again and again, absorbing them, and allowing them to change me from the inside out is exactly what Jesus intended for His disciples when He prayed,
““Your Word is truth! So make them holy by the truth.”
John 17:17 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/jhn.17.17.TPT
“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Psalms 119:11 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.119.11.NLT
Throughout the Old Testament we read of the word of the Lord coming to someone at a specific time for a particular purpose. God’s message came to prophets, priests, and kings to warn or equip His people. The Spirit came on a person but it also departed. In his book, Jesus Continued, J.D. Greear asserts that we are the lucky ones on whom the Spirit comes to dwell eternally. When Jesus said, “But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come.
If I do go away, then I will send him to you.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard.
He will tell you about the future.
He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.
All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’”
John 16:7, 13-15 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.16.7-15.NLT
Does God seem distant when you feel pressed on every side? When darkness seems to linger even while you pray for the light of day, there is a well of living water overflowing to eternal life. Jesus told a Samaritan woman that her thirst would never be quenched by water from Jacob’s well, but that in Him, the Living Water, she would find eternal satisfaction.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Matthew 5:6 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mat.5.6.NIV
“While everyone was marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, “Listen to me and remember what I say.
The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies.”
But they didn’t know what he meant.
Its significance was hidden from them, so they couldn’t understand it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.”
Luke 9:43-45 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.9.43-45.NLT
Not every truth is needful today. God gives generously according to our need but we must come often to the table. We need spiritual nourishment more than we need physical food.
“Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.
But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’?
I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!
They are ripe for harvest.
Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for.
Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.
And because of his words many more became believers.
They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.””
John 4:27-42 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.4.27-40.NIV
“And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he will give it!
He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace.
Just make sure you ask empowered by confident faith without doubting that you will receive.
For the ambivalent person believes one minute and doubts the next.
Being undecided makes you become like the rough seas driven and tossed by the wind.
You’re up one minute and tossed down the next.
When you are half-hearted and wavering it leaves you unstable.
Can you really expect to receive anything from the Lord when you’re in that condition (restless or disengaged)?”
James 1:5-8 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/jas.1.5-6.TPT
God’s Word is your lifeline, a ready and inexhaustible resource ever at your disposal. A lifeline has a nautical connotation.
Jesus referenced Jonah when challenged by the religious leaders to produce a sign of His divinity.
“As the crowds continued to swell, Jesus went on to say, “How evil is this generation! When you demand a mighty display of power simply to prove who I am, you demonstrate your unbelief.
The only sign you will see will be a repeat of the miracle of Jonah.
In the same way Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation.”
Luke 11:29-30 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/luk.11.29-30.TPT
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.15.3-4.NIV
“From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said:
“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God, brought my life up from the pit.
When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ”
And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
Jonah 2:1-10 NIV
https://www.bible.com/111/jon.2.1-10.niv
“the waters closed over my head, and I thought I was about to perish.
I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit.
You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears to my cry for relief.”
You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”
You, Lord, took up my case; you redeemed my life.”
Lamentations 3:54-58 NIV
https://www.bible.com/111/lam.3.54-58.niv
“For what has been stored up in your hearts will be heard in the overflow of your words!”
Matthew 12:34 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/mat.12.34.TPT
“Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven.
Your faithfulness extends to every generation, as enduring as the earth you created.”
Psalms 119:89-90 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.119.89-90.NLT
“Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies.
I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word.
I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.”
Psalms 119:97-104 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.119.97-104.NIV
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”
Psalms 119:105 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.119.105.NIV
“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Psalms 19:14 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/psa.19.14.NIV
Speak Life|TOBYMAC
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