Which biblical verses sing out to you? (1239 hits)
I am a very spiritual person who believes that my relationship with "God" is personal, although, as a Christian we are supposed to go out and spread the "Good News". I neither preach or teach, but use discretion. Sometimes an opportunity arises then out of the blue Words are pouring out of my mouth because it's the right time. But always on the side of the light, I hope I have never used God's words to condemn or chastise my fellow brothers and sisters but to enlighten. That said, certain phrases have always sung to me, particularly verses from the Gospels (my favorite is the book of Matthew, the sentimental writer). Feel free to share your favorite verses and why. Anyway, here are my favorite verses:
1 John 20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
Matthew 6:28-34 (New International Version)
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ------------
This web site has passages taken out of the bible on the treatment of the poor. Which are really good verses to read:
Speaking of lilies of the field, I so loved that verse that I was inspired to write a poem about it four or five years ago, which is in my book of poetry. I'll share it with you:
And Dress me As You Do... The Lilies In the Field
When the sun quietly rises, and night's chill splinters, and my soul is as warm, as earth's molten center... I lay still in my cocoon beholding its splendor.
But have you ever seen anything as beautiful as a lily in a field? or a willow tree blowing at the top of a hill?
Just waiting on my slice of that pie in the sky, and when I'm suffering, I ask Jesus why.
Lord dress me as you do, the lilies in the field, may my eyes sparkle like stars and blaze like a shield. Until...
I've seen anything as beautiful as a shimmering lake, as I lay still in my cocoon, fully awake. And when the Lord grants me a slice of His pie in the sky I'll make a pumpernickel road, and bake in some rye.
My soul is warm and energized with love, a bridge to my Lord and heaven thereof.
love John 14:1 " Do not let your hearts be troubled, Trust in God; trust also in me." Psalm 121:1-3 "I lift up my eyes to the hills--- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot to slip---he who watches over you will not slumber"... Psalm 91:1-2 "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress... Isaiah 61:1 "The Spirit of the Sovereighn Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners"...
These a few of many scripture verses that I love and that speak to my heart. I love the ones above because I am always mindful that when I get troubled or get into some trouble that God always has me covered when no one else does. I also like to be an encouragement to others and so I feel that I am here to lift someone elses spirit in times of their troubles. We all need somebody to lean on at times.
"Arise, come my darling; my beautiful one, come with me." My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountain side, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Catch for the foxes, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.
Song of Solomon: 2:16 My lover is mine and I am his; he browes among the lilies. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills. Song of Solomon: 4:3
Your lips are like scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely.
Song of Solomon : 4:12
You are a garden locked, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.
I love the Word. I love to read these when I feel intimacy with Jesus. There are many others, but when I make my love and meditation time I read these more often. I feel beautifully in love, which I really am in love, that I long to marry him in heaven.
Tuesday, February 10th 2009 at 9:23AM
MIISRAEL Bride
Oh yes E...I'd like to share a poem too. It's from my book It is you that I love 100 Love Poems from MIISRAEL
I STOOD ON A HILLSIDE... and observed you sitting in valleys and mountains of green, on beaches by oceans of white waters, and snow colored sands. I viewed your enlightenment and adored your alluring glow.
I admired you in distance places and wanted to reach out where you were. By my side was your Comforter. His presence cradled me and lulled me with peace.
While standing there, I spoke to you in a soft whisper, "It is you that I love." A shower of raindrops sprayed upon my face which were my tears... A faraway feeling surrounded me, although I knew you were present living inside me. copyrighted by Winnie Shields Winniespoetry 2003 All rights reserved. It is you that I love.
Tuesday, February 10th 2009 at 9:40AM
MIISRAEL Bride
It should be important that SlaveAmericans have understood God, as the God of the Kidnapper, Rapist, Murdering WhiteSupremist MasterAmerican that made the reading of Biblical passages by SlaveAmericans as punishable by death before 1865.
But if you are looking for the Truth, these passages are a good starter.
It's impossible to understand the present Middle East without a knowledge of the three great religions that emanate from the area—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These three faiths all trace their spiritual roots back to the same individual, Abraham. The towering historical figures behind these three religions—Moses, Jesus Christ and Muhammad—were all direct descendants of Abraham.
Abraham, born in the Mesopotamian city of Ur, was the son of Terah, a descendant of Shem, a son of Noah. Born almost 4,000 years ago, Abraham's impact on the Middle East is still with us to this day. As a descendant of Noah's son Shem, Abraham and his descendants were a Semitic people. In Genesis 11 we see that Shem's great-grandson Eber (verse 14-16) was a direct ancestor of Abraham, and it is from Eber that the term Hebrew comes.
Called "the father of the faithful" (compare Romans 4:11), Abraham obeyed God's instruction to leave his native Ur and move to Haran. As Stephen, the devout first martyr of the Christian era, put it: "The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, 'Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you'" (Acts 7:2-3).
Both Ur and Haran were cities in Mesopotamia, which refers to the area between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Haran was a natural stopping-off point for Abraham and Sarah, who were about to be sent by God to a new land, a significant turning point in the history of the region.
We read of this move in Genesis 12:1-4, following the death of Abraham's father, Terah. Again, notice his example of unquestioning obedience: "Now the LORD had said to Abram [this being his original name, which was later expanded to Abraham]: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing ...' So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him ..." Hebrews 11:8 adds: "And he went out, not knowing where he was going."
God was working with Abraham to establish him and his descendants in the land of Canaan (later called the Promised Land and often referred to as the Holy Land). At the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe, this area was ideal for God's chosen people, who were to be an example to the rest of the world (Deuteronomy 4:5-8).
On arriving in the new land, God promised Abraham that He would give the land to his descendants (Genesis 12:7). "And the LORD said to Abram,... 'Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever'" (Genesis 13:14-15).
God added: "And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered" (verse 16). Significantly, God later changed Abram's name to Abraham (Genesis 17:5). His earlier name meant "high (exalted) father." God renamed him "father of a multitude," saying, "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you" (verse 6).
At the time these prophecies must have seemed ironic to Abraham, for his wife Sarah was barren. Her infertility was to be very significant in the development of the modern Middle East.
God promised Abraham in Genesis 15:4 that he would have an heir: "one who will come from your own body." Impatient, Sarah told Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaid Hagar and to produce a child by her. This took place "after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan" (Genesis 16:1-3).
Abraham's first son is born "So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes" (Genesis 16:4). The relationship between Sarah and Hagar quickly deteriorated and Hagar fled.
But a divine message was given to Hagar, telling her to return. It also reassured her that her son would have many descendants—but descendants with traits that would be evident throughout their history: "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count ... You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael ['God hears'], for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers" (verses 10-12, New International Version).
This description of Hagar's descendants is significant because many of today's Arabs are Ishmaelites—descendants of this same Ishmael, whose father was Abraham. Muhammad, the founder and prophet of Islam, was descended from Kedar, one of the 12 sons of Ishmael (Ismail in Arabic). Today 22 nations in the Middle East and North Africa are Arabic nations, most of whose people are adherents of Islam. An additional 35 countries are members of the Islamic Conference, most of them with Islamic governments, but whose people are of different descent.
Even before Ishmael's descendants arrived in the area, the term arab was used to denote the peoples of the Arabian peninsula. With the spread of Islam, Arabs and the Arabic language today encompass a vast region.
The divinely prophetic words spoken to Hagar are still of great significance today. The prophecy that Ishmael "will be a wild donkey of a man" is not meant as an insult. The wild donkey was the aristocrat of the wild beasts of the desert, the preferred prey of hunters. The prophecy is a reference to how Ishmael's descendants would emulate the lifestyle of the wild donkey, leading a free and noble existence in the desert.
"His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him" similarly refers to this independent lifestyle. Ishmael's descendants have always resisted foreign domination. "He will live in hostility towards all his brothers" is a reference to the enmity that has historically existed among the Arabs and between the Arabs and the other sons of Abraham.
Abraham's second son Fourteen years after the birth of Ishmael, God blessed Abraham with another son, this time by his wife Sarah. He told them to name their son Isaac (meaning "laughter" for the incredulous reaction they had when told they would have a son at their advanced age as well as the joy that he would later bring to his parents, Genesis 17:17, 19; 18:10-15; 21:5-6). Isaac in turn fathered Jacob, also named Israel, the father of the Israelites. Ishmael's and Isaac's descendants are therefore cousins.
"So the child [Isaac] grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, 'Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac'" (Genesis 21:8-10).
This displeased Abraham, who had grown to love Ishmael. "But God said to Abraham, '... Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called" (verse 12). God further reassured Abraham: "Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman [Ishmael], because he is your seed" (verse 13). "So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness ..." (verse 20).
It cannot be said that Ishmael hated Isaac. But after 14 years as an only child, Isaac's arrival fundamentally changed Ishmael's relationship with his father, Abraham. Afterward, Ishmael felt envy and rivalry toward his half brother, feelings that tribally have survived down through the centuries and which affect the politics of the Middle East today.
Isaac's two sons Further family complications were ahead. Isaac, in turn, had two sons, Jacob and Esau, twins by his wife Rebekah. Even before they were born, "the children struggled together within her" (Genesis 25:22). God explained: "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger" (verse 23). Both brothers were to father great nations, a blessing from God to Abraham's grandsons.
Normally the firstborn would receive the birthright, but here it was to be different. The Bible records that Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew (verses 29-34), showing how little it meant to him. Sometime later, Jacob tricked his father into giving him the birthright blessing (chapter 27). For this, "Esau hated Jacob" (verse 41).
Again, the consequences of this are with us to this day.The descendants of Esau (also called Edom, Genesis 25:30) intermarried with Ishmael's descendants, their bitterness and resentment against Jacob's descendants intensifying through the centuries. Esau's grandson Amalek (Genesis 36:12) was the father of the Amalekites, who became bitter foes of the descendants of Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel. A prophecy about Amalek foretold endless war between them "from generation to generation" (Exodus 17:16). Some scholars believe that many of today's Palestinians are largely the descendants of the Amalekites.
For GOD so loved the world that HE sent HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believeth in HIM shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
I'm just glad that a GOD who sits high and looks low takes man into consideration and loved us enough to send the only ONE who could change our sins into hope. HE provides the only key we will ever need to meet HIS FATHER. Because of HIM, we are victors and not victims; the head and not the tail. There is no greater love.
Tuesday, February 10th 2009 at 6:15PM
Kenya Wilson
hello...i'm new as of today but this seems like a great network.
i am in a relationship as of 1-25-09, but think that a blog like yours should bless the masses. now re: your blog stated above.. I greet you in the mighty and matchless name of Jesus Christ. But was struck by some parts: pleasse read I am a very spiritual person who believes that my relationship with "God" is personal, although, as a Christian we are supposed to go out and spread the "Good News". I neither preach or teach, but use discretion. Sometimes an opportunity arises then out of the blue Words are pouring out of my mouth because it's the right time. But always on the side of the light, I hope I have never used God's words to condemn or chastise my fellow brothers and sisters but to enlighten. God is sooo. good that he sent his Son to die for us. But why? because of sin. sin is always sin. it is the complementary side of human(earthy/error prone); Jesus had no sin and that's why he spoke and walked as he did. Yet be mindful that we are not...will never be...Jesus. We are to be like him, to pray as he taught to the father through Him, but never duplicate Him....and i think that your heart is pure and sweet for not wanting to cause strife or discord btwn a fellow bro. or sis.. But Jesus God in flesh...perfect through the Spirit...was not weak but strong...so in your striving to be like him please preach the gospel full and free. it is important to know the history prior to the glory....aka Old Testament. We know that through the OT there is death, but the NT there is life everlating! That's how good God is. in essence...remember: you must be like little children in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, thus don't forget the condeming God allowed you to go through(correction from parents, teachers, and others in authority. Yet always teach those younger thanyourself in a similiar manner. One must be punished for sin once aware...one way or another. and I just want anyone you feel you speak those blue words to know they must choose ...now or later. these are the last days my friend, lets speak life into the negative situations with truth in full...so that we can grow in our personal realtionships with God. lastly wouldn't you wwant a friend to warn you boldly not tiptoeing around a possible sin or big mistake? the Lord works in mysterious ways...you never know when you are entertaining angels...speak boldy the gospel with regard to the law for you speak beyond the person in front of you but to spirits and principalities who war on and in this earth. Speak boldy at all times...yes the HOly SPirit will give you the words to say but be firm Jesus died so that we can do just that SPEAK WITH FAITH! Keep the Faith Heb. 11:1
Thursday, February 12th 2009 at 1:39PM
Faith Graham
