Verse for week four

For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven
And do not return there but water the earth
And make it bring forth and bud
That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to me void
But it shall accomplish what I please
And prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11 NKJV

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Love this verse! It's the reason I have the nerve to put up something so audacious as a blog that looks at the Bible with kids. Who would think that such an old book would have something to say to kids in the 21st century.

But it does. It speaks today like it has for thousands of years because it is a supernatural book with the wind of the Spirit in it. Through it we find living water, the bread of life, the way the truth and the life, the door, the resurrection and life and so much more. It speaks of our Creator God, our Savior, Redeemer and Rescuer Jesus and our counselor the Holy Spirit. I love the Bible and I'm so happy that I have the opportunity through technology to spread its good news on the internet.

Thank you Lord!

Verse for week 3

Enlarge the place of your tent
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords
And strengthen your stakes.
For you shall expand to the right and to the left
And your descendants will inherit the nations,
and make the desolate cities inhabited.

- Isaiah 54:2,3

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Thoughts and questions:
Line 1 - "Enlarge the place of your tent"
This is what I do. Act in obedience to what I know and feel to be God's directions to me.

Line 2 - "And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;"
Who is "them"? Who will be a partner in this enlargement of ministry and sphere of influence?

Line 3 - "Do not spare"
Love this! It speaks to me of living life large, with abandon, nothing kept in reserve. It reminds me of this bit from Annie Dillard: "One of the few things I know about writing is this: Spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book, give it, give it all, give it now...Some more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, frm beneath like well water.

"Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes."

Lines 4 & 5 - "Lengthen your cords
And strengthen your stakes."
Speaks to me of making sure that the supports (the cords) and foundation (stakes) are in place and secure. I take this personally as a reminder to stay close to God - in both attitude and action. Let Him lengthen those cords and strengthen those stakes with the input of His word through the Holy Spirit.

Line 6 - "For you shall expand to the right and to the left."
Opportunity? From every direction?

Lines 7 & 8 "And your descendants will inherit the nations,
and make the desolate cities inhabited."
I claim this as a specific promise for my Bible Drive-Thru devotional. My descendants will be those who are introduced through God and Jesus through the blog and the Bible passages they read on thee. They will inherit nations - in other words, they will come from all over the world; possible because it's on the internet. They will make desolate cities inhabited in that their knowledge of God will bless cities of the world with little knowledge of Him and make those cities His dwelling too.

What great verses! Praise the Lord!!

Verse for week 2

The verse I'm memorizing this week is the verse I've chosen as my life verse for the year. I've been working on it all week, so let's see if I can type it from memory:

Let Your work (the signs of Your power) be revealed to Your servants and Your glorious majesty to their children.

And let the beauty and delightfulness and favor of the Lord our God be upon us: confirm and establish the work of our hands, yes the work of our hands confirm and establish it.

Psalm 90:16,17 (Amplified)

Yes, I quoted it perfectly!

One day this week I looked up some parallel passages.

Psalm 44:1 "We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days long ago."

- One of the ways God's deeds are revealed to us and our children is by having them passed on. We do that ourselves when we tell these stories - from the Bible and personal experience - to our children.

Psalm 77:12 "I will meditate on all Your works and consider all Your mighty deeds."

- Meditating on the stories we've heard helps us make application to our own lives.

Psalm 90:4,5 "For you make me glad by Your deeds, O Lord: I sing for joy at the works of Your hands. How great are Your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts."

Verse of the week - 1

I have made a resolution this year to memorize one verse a week. I have also resolved to work on this verse as part of my quiet time every morning.

Here is the verse I chose for this first week of January:

Proverbs 16:3

Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established. (NIV)

Commit your works to the Lord and your thoughts will be established. (NKJV)

And here it is in the translation in which I'm memorizing it:

Roll your works on the Lord -- commit and trust them wholly to Him; [He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will and] so shall your plans be established and succeed. (AMP)

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Here are some word study notes that enhance its meaning and make it even more powerful:

commit - galal, Strong's #1556: to roll, to roll down, roll away, remove. In this text the reader is encouraged to roll his works into God's care. The picture is of a camel, burdened with a heavy load; when the load is to be removed, the camel kneels down, tilts far to one side and the load rolls off. (From "Word Wealth" - New Spirit Life Bible)

establish (established):
1] To make secure, stable or permanent; fix firmly in a particular place or condition.
2] To set up, found or institute on a firm or lasting basis: to establish a government, colony or business.
3] To cause to be securely or permanently settled in a particular place, position, occupation, etc. : to establish oneself in a new home.
4] To introduce (a law, custom, practice, etc.)and gain lasting acceptance for; initiate and cause to last: to establish a precedent.
5] To cause to be widely or unquestioningly recognized and accepted: to establish oneself as a writer.
6] To clear from doubt; demonstrate convincingly, prove: to establish one's innocence.
7] To find out, figure out or make clear from available evidence. They were unable to establish where she had been.
8] To cause to be the official church or religion of a state or nation.
9] In card games to get control of (a particular suit) so that all subsequent tricks can be won.


Thus on the basis of our complete and utter entrusting of our 'works' - what we plan and carry out - to God, giving Him full responsibility for them, He works in us, in our minds, to give us the thoughts that will lead to our eventual success. Our work and reputation will be fixed, secure, recognized, permanent, stable. What a way to face a new year - with a promise like that in my pocket, head and heart!