Wonderful Words of Life

About a month ago, I was challenged in my Believing God Bible study to start actively seeking to believe God more, pursuing the next level of relationship I desire to have with Him by seeking Him first every day.  In our study, Beth Moore shared about a friend of hers who gets up every morning and begins her study of the Bible by asking God to give her a specific verse to meditate on over the course of the day, clearly showing her what He has for her to learn and focus on that day.

I can't believe that I had never thought about asking God to give me a takeaway from our time together.  I was reminded, though, by a verse Nancy Leigh DeMoss shared a while back: "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law" (Ps. 119:18).  I have begun waking up early to read the Bible and start my time with God by asking Him to open my eyes to the wonders contained in His Word. 

I had already been waking up early in order to get to work in time to meet some new, early deadlines, but instead of sleeping in on the days I didn't have deadlines, I began getting up at the same early time in order to have time to read and study before work.  I get up, get ready for work, and then spend the remaining half hour or so reading the Bible.  I begin by praying Ps. 119:18 and asking God to give me a specific verse or concept from His Word to meditate on as I have free time during the day.  I write down this verse and carry it around with me for the day.  Over the weeks, the verses have accumulated and I now have a nice stack to flip through when I'm waiting or have other free time. 

I thought I'd like to start sharing my verses here.  It will keep me accountable to study every day and it is my hope that these verses might be encouraging or challenging to you, too.  I have not felt like God has given me a specific verse every single day, but sometimes He gives more than one verse in a day.  Whatever I get, I'll share it here.  I've been collecting verses for a few weeks, so this first post will have a lot of verses, but going forward there will just be a verse or two for each day or every couple of days.  Feel free to post any thoughts you have on the verses.  It will only deepen our understanding of it and, I hope, draw us closer to God.

Dec. 7
Is. 53:4: "Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted" (emphasis mine).
John 1:11: "He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him."

Dec. 8
Prov. 30:8-9: "Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.  Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?'  Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God."

Dec. 9
John 5:14: "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

Dec. 12
John 5:44: "How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?"
John 6:70: "Then Jesus replied, 'Have I not chosen you, the Twelve?  Yet one of you is a devil!'"

Dec. 14
John 8:50, 54: "I am not seeking glory for myself...If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.  My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me."

Dec. 15
Ecc. 10:1: "Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor; so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor."

Dec. 16
Rom. 4:18, 19, 20-21: "Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed...His body was as good as dead...Sarah's womb was also dead...Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised."

Dec. 23
I Tim. 4:7: "Train yourself to be godly."
I Tim. 6:11-12: "Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called" (emphasis mine).

Jan. 4
Acts 13:38-39, 43: "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins in proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses...Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe even if someone told you."
Ex. 6:6-7: "Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.  I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.  I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.  Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians."