He alone is worthy of praise

This song brings me into His presence in awe and wonder. I've chosen a video with words so you can sing along and worship He Who Is worthy! May you be blessed as you adore Him. HisFireFly

Weekly Memory Verse

It's time for our Weekly Memory Verse!!

Remember, last week's verse was an easy one to memorize:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy....Exodus 20:8 (NASB)

This is actually one of the Ten Commandments--right there with idolatry, murder, adultery, taking the Lord's name in vain.

And so, as I committed this verse to memory, I know that I do not keep the Sabbath day as God intends me to.

The Sabbath Day--God created the Sabbath Day when He created the universe:

By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done....Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV)

God rested on the seventh day. And why did God rest? Was He tired? That was a lot of work creating the entire universe. I certainly could understand if He were tired.

No, because God does not become weary.

God created the Sabbath day of rest for His creation--us. We are simple human beings, and yes, we do become tired and weary.

So, we are back to the original commandment: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Our Sabbath day of rest doesn't necessarily mean Sunday as the seventh day. Some of us have jobs that require us to work on Sunday. What God is saying here is that ONE day a week--ONE day out of the SEVEN that He created, we are to cease our labors, rest, keep this day holy in His Name.

I can honestly say that sometimes I use my Sabbath day of rest as a catch up day--trying to accomplish all the things that I haven't done through the other six. But, this is not the way God wants this. It is so important that He made a commandment regarding this.

How about you? Are you able to follow this commandment easily? Can you just rest on your Sabbath day, keep it holy and consecrated to the Lord?

Oh, I thought this was an easy verse to remember, and it is. But, this verse has also opened my eyes to yet another area where I am falling short. I realize that I need to work on resting!

We'll move on to the next week of the Embracing The Word cards--Week 16 which is the Jack of Diamonds:

And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.".....Matthew 22:37-39 (NASB)

Remember, you can memorize the verse in any version you are comfortable with--or look at several version to grasp the full meaning.

The important thing is to remember the verse, where it is located in the Bible and its meaning for easy recall--for yourself or others.

We're again using Mr. Linky--so if you are participating, please link up!!

Beth

Weekly Memory Verse

It's Monday again!! I don't know where the week and especially the weekends go, but they go by so quickly. When I was younger, I was always wishing for a "new age"....when I was 11, I wanted to be 13; when I was 13, I wanted to be 16; when I was 16, I wanted to be 21. My grandmother always told me, "Stop wishing your life away--it will go quickly enough." And how right she was!!

So, how did everyone do with last week's memory verse? I had a little bit of difficulty in the beginning of the verse--kept reversing words--but I have the majority of this memorized, and the important thing is what God spoke to me regarding this verse as well as the fact that I remember where it came from for future reference--either for myself or someone else.

If this is your first time visiting "The Weekly Memory Verse" please stop by here where the basic format for our memorization is detailed.

Here we go:

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world, he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.".....John 8:12 (NASB)

Yes!! I have it down!! YEAH!!!

My thoughts on this verse:

God is truly speaking to me through this verse. Jesus is in the temple court addressing the Pharisees in this passage. They are questioning Him--time and time again they question Him. If we read a little further beyond this single verse, this is what we find:

The Pharisees challenged Him, "Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid."

Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.

You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.

In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."

Then they asked him, "Where is your father?"

"You do not know me or my Father," Jesus replied.

"If you knew me, you would know my Father also."

He spoke these words while teaching in the temple area near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.

John 8:13-20 (NIV)

As I read further along in the Book of John, we come to Chapter 9, where Jesus heals the blind man--a man blinded from birth--a man walking in darkness.

As he (Jesus) went along, he saw a man blinded from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:1-5 (NIV)

If you know me personally, you more than likely know my testimony. If you haven't had the chance to read my testimony, I would encourage you to read it here.

While I knew of God, believed that--yes, there is a God--I did not have a relationship with Him. I was walking in spiritual darkness. I was not close to God, did not believe in the power of prayer. My life was so dark that I could not see the light. Others could see this in me while I could not. Many tried to lead me to the light, but I was resistant--resistant until the darkness became so dark that there was no where for me to turn, no one to turn to--only God could fill the emptiness inside me.

As Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, He was referring to the conditions of their hearts. They were concerned--concerned with the "keeping of the laws" of the day and loved to show everyone how important and pious they were in their "law-keeping". But, the condition of their hearts was far from the love of Jesus. Yes, they were also walking in spiritual darkness.

It is important for me to realize that I will continue to have "storms" in my life. Just because I have accepted Jesus as MY SAVIOR does not mean that my life will be easy and calm for the rest of my time here on earth. This is far from the truth.

But these times--these times of "storms"--need no longer be totally dark--me feeling my way in the darkness--because I have found my Light of Life--Jesus--and He will keep the darkness from being totally black. He will lead me on with His Light--the Light that only He can offer.

Instead of walking in the darkness, I will follow His Light, and He will lead me through the "storms", always following His Light, until I am with Him.

What are your thoughts on this verse? Did God speak to you through the week as you were memorizing this verse? What is the condition of your heart? Are you walking in the light?

I would love to read your comments and your own blog post. So, please link up and I'll stop by after work today (as long as my internet cooperates!).

Next week's verse from the "Embracing The Word" cards is the Jack of Hearts. Oh, it is an easy one to remember--easy to always follow?

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy....Exodus 20:8 (NASB)

Beth

Just an addition--after I posted this I received this quote from Heartlight in an e-mail, and I wanted to share it with you:

In darkness there is no choice. It is light that enables us to see the differences between things; and it is Christ who gives us light.

-- Mrs. C. T. Whitemell

Two Wolves

I received this in an email from a dear friend. The message is powerful and true. Be blessed and remember His Word -- "Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, rivalry, jealously, outbursts of anger, quarrels, conflicts, factions, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild partying, and things like that. I am telling you now, as I have told you in the past, that people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things." Galatians 5:19-23
HisFireFly

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, 'My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all.

One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.'

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: 'Which wolf wins?'

The old Cherokee simply replied, 'The one you feed.'

WEEKLY MEMORY VERSE

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16 (NASB)

Heartlight.org

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (B.I.B.L.E.) Weekly Memory Verse format:

We are to memorize this verse, then come back the following week with this:

1) Write our verse by memory, and remember to memorize the reference (where it's found)

2) Comment on how God spoke to you through this verse,

and then move on to a new verse.

Each week while you are memorizing, allow God to speak to you personally & share a little of what you learn or receive on each verse the following week, when you type it by memory. It's fine to just be accountable and share your progress but it becomes more meaningful when we share about the verse together or apply it to ourselves of what we think God meant.

My thoughts on this verse:

This is one of the most well-known verses in the Bible. Even those who don't know the Bible know this verse. It is seen at various sporting events.

But what does this mean to me?

To me, this verse means that God loves me (and you) so much that He was willing to send His only Son to earth to live and die for me. He did this so that we could become closer to God, bridging the gap that had been created between mankind and God.

He did this so that we could know wholeness --in our bodies, our souls, our spirits, our entire lives.

I don't know anyone on this earth who would actually die for me, but Jesus did. He took the weight of the guilt of the entire world upon Himself and suffered for me.

That's true love.

Jesus certainly didn't do this because we deserve or even earned this. We could never even come close. He did this because He loves us.

God loves the entire world, and this love requires a response from us. We either accept this love from God or reject it.

How do we accept God's love? There is only one way--believe in the fact that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, for our salvation, for forgiveness of our sins, our hope for eternal life spent with Him.

If you decide to accept Jesus' love for you--maybe today will be the first time that you pray this prayer of salvation--- just say:

God,

I thank You today for sending Your Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to live and die for me. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me so that I may have forgiveness of my sins and eternal life spent with You. I gratefully receive the gift of Your salvation and redemption today and every day of my life. I respond to Your great love for me by lifting You up with continual praise and loving You with all my heart forever.

Amen

We are moving into Week 14 with our memory work from "Embracing the Word". These are memory cards that are like a deck of playing cards but with memory verses written on them. There are 52 cards in a deck so that gives us one for each week.

Some people are making a deck of cards from their own deck of playing cards so that is the only reason that the suit (spade, club, heart, diamond) is mentioned so their cards will be like the original deck "Embracing the Word".

This week our card is the Jack of Clubs:

Jesus Is the Light of the World

"Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." John 8:12 (NASB)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. 


Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." 
John 8:12 (NIV)

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What are your thoughts on last week's verse? I really would like to read what you have thought about this week while memorizing this verse.

And If you prayed the prayer of salvation, please let me know so that we may continue to pray for you.

Beth