When someone asks what my favorite Bible verse is, I am at a loss. First of all, my memorization skills have diminished. But the real challenge is that wherever I am in my yearly read-through of the Bible, there are just too many verses to pick just one as THE FAVORITE.
It is rare that I fail to encounter verses that speak to me and fill me with awe, encouragement, peace or some new perception about God’s plan and continuing grace for me through the death and resurrection of Jesus my Savior.
This is what I wrote after reading Romans 5:1-5 on June 8, 2016, almost five years and two months post-stroke:
"Peace with God through faith. I have read through this chapter dozens of times. I cherished it in an abstract way. But today as I started reading, it is designed for me--immediate, overwhelming, personal, concrete. I stopped at verse 5 to write. Verse 1 reaffirmed my salvation. Verses 2-5 detailed what I have experienced following my hemorrhagic stroke on Good Friday, April 20, 2011.
"Take Romans 5:2 as an example: Through Him we have also obtained this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."
When I wrote that I was so thankful for being able to stand physically as well as spiritually through His grace. I’m still giving thanks for that every day.
ROMANS 5:1-5 ESV Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Yes!
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Oh Linda...YES...God's word is always fresh and new...I love going back and reading thoughts I wrote about a verse at a different time. I feel amazed (I know I shouldn't be surprised) at how the Words can be so in the moment for our situations, feelings, difficulties and wonderment. Thank you for sharing this wisdom today.
ReplyDeleteSue
Amen to this!
ReplyDeleteand the same verse read at a different time can and will mean something else also. i have memorized about 10 i think but the one that i have repeated the most is
ReplyDeleteFear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for i am your God, I will comfort you and i will heal you and lift you up by my righteous right arm. Isaiah is my most memorized
I think I have a favourite verse for special times. I also can't pick just one.
ReplyDeleteIsaiah is my go to in the Bible: 26:3 and 4 and so many more; I also keep Psalm 34:4 close by: I sought the Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. So many good verses, so much to follow in the Bible, one just can't have a favorite.
ReplyDeleteSo difficult to choose a favorite! Last week there was one day I was looking at the mountains in Colorado and not so surprisingly Psalm 121 popped up in my mind, "I lift up my eyes to the hills..."
ReplyDeletePsalm 18:33 is not my favorite verse, but back when my leg was broke and and I had that wound that would not heal, and I couldn't put any weight on my foot forever...I was wondering was I ever going to walk again....then I read Psal 18: 33 He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places....when I read that, I had faith that I would finally walk again.
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