Favourite Scriptures

‎A continual blog..to be added to as I remember various scriptures that have helped, consoled, taught and inspired me over the years.


1 Chronicles 16:29

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Isaiah 35:8
And a highway will be there;it will be called the Way of Holiness;it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it;wicked fools will not go about on it.

Isaiah 40:31

'But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint'

Psalm 103:8

'The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and a
bounding in love'

Mathew 7: 7 & 8

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened"


Jeremiah 6:16

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.

Psalm 46:10

Be still and know that I am God

The Narrow and Wide Gates

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

True and False Prophets

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

True and False Disciples

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The Wise and Foolish Builders

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

The whole Book of Ecclesiastes (its all great)

Ecclesiastes 3:
A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him

Ecclesiastes 12

1 Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”—
2 before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
3 when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;
4 when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;
5 when people are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags itself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.
6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.[a]
“Everything is meaningless!”

The Conclusion of the Matter

9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd.[b] 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

Going Deep with God in Song

He Knows My Name


Hear O Israel

'The Power of the Mind'

I've read Genesis and the story of 'the fall' in the Garden of Eden, many times over the years, sometimes in a deep way (when I studied Genesis at Bible College) and at other times just briefly. This time I'm stripping it down to its bare bones.. Eve ate of the fruit and Why?
Eve succumbed to the temptation of the serpant and assumed that she might be missing out on something, or that God was witholding something that could be vaulable to her to know/or experience. So she took matters into her own hands, disobeying God's protective instructions, let her mind be swayed by the argument of another (the serpent) and went her own way.

So...where do assumptions begin and decisions get made?

1. They take root and form in the human mind and heart.
2. The human mind is our most powerful adversary in life. This is the place where we most often are led to dwell on a whole myriad of things which over time can take root in our life. eg. entertaining flattery, accepting and believing negetaive comments, allowing discouragement to destroy our joy, getting weighed down by dissapointment and grief etc etc

Take a look at:
Genesis Ch. 3 'The Fall'
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

Now putting Eve aside....here's a question?
Have you ever considered yourself 'spiritual'..or think that your immune to certain behaviours..like you've progressed a litle on am 'invisible' spiritual ladder?

In other religous belief systems, thats how it works, you make slow progress up a sort of spiritual ladder. You can advance but also retreat.

Within Christendom, there is no such ladder, if anything there is more a descent into a true realization of yourself in comparison to who God is..and a deep almost primal and heart sobbing awareness, that despite it all, he loves you and your still on the top rung! Hallelujah !!

God gives human beings 'free will' and a 'mind'. He doesn't want drones to obey because they have no other option. He desires relationship, and intamacy with all of us - who choose to be in fellowship with him.

The first lecturer I had at Bible College was one of the lovliest Christian men I have ever met..and why? beacuse he was humble...from the way he dressed, to the way he spoke. The only pride he possessed was in his greatfulness in what God had made of him over the years. He beleived if you saw anything good in him at all, it was the spirit of Christ who dwelt within him, that you were really seeing...and not him at all.....I loved that.
He had a big impact on me. He also kept reiterating to the class, that life was a spiritual battle ground, that the enemy stalked around seeking whom he may devour. He told our class. that there were things we needed to be on our guard against and that just as the Lord Jesus was tested, we would be too.

He told us to watch out for the 'pride of life', and to be on our guard against pride fullstop.

He warned us about the eyegate, the lust of the eyes & warned many will fall into this trap.

... and about how we need to be aware of our ego..because it likes to be stroked and complimented.

..that we need to be aware of our emotions and thoughts and not to be taken down by discouragment and criticism, which we will receive as Christans.

I remember thinking maybe he was dwelling too much on the pitfalls in life and not enough on the power of Jesus to overcome.
But almost 10 years on now, I am a bit older and a little wiser. Life 'is' not easy, life 'is' fraught with dangers and dissapointments..and while 'yes' Jesus's name is all powerful and we don't need to believe lies, we do have to live in our human-ness. We are not God, we are human beings, made in his likeness.
Some wise mind scritures:

Isaiah 5:21
'Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight'

2 Corinthians 10: 5
'...take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ'

and now some truth...

James 1:13-15

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

1 Corinthians 1:25
'For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength'.

The spirit equips us will all things needed for this life - a whole spiritual armour -

Ephesians 6:10 ff
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

So to finish off, just be alert each day, don't become complacent, be ever mindful of the spiritual forces all around us (good and evil) that prey on your mind and want to take it captive. Cleave to the heart of the risen Lord, fellowship regularly with believers, remain in God's word and stay ever fervent in prayer.

Psalm 19:7
'The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

This is the best defence against the snares of life..so walk in the authority you have in Jesus, recognise those thughts that arn't of the Lord, but rather lies from the enemy...because while we continue to walk this earthly plane, they will always diligently seek an opportunity for unwelcome entry into your life.

Blessings and Peace -Follower of the WAY
This is good too !!

'Normal Day'

‎

'Normal Day' - let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you & bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in a quest for some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I can, for it may not always be so. One day I might raise my hands to the sky & want, more than all the world, your peacefull return. ~Mary Jean Iron

This quote, speaks very deeply to my heart....and this is why -

A day can start out quite pleasant/uneventfull, and then we get a phonecall and the news it brings, may shatter our peace. But this doesn't need to be permanent.

As a mother/parent/friend..fellow life journier, I realise there isn't much in this life that I can control, except that which concerns myself.

When it concerns others, I can give advice when asked, I can listen, I can encourage, but I can't walk any one elses walk.

Its hard to see our children,family & friends going through struggles. But really struggles in life are our greatest learning opportunities. I know the little wisdom I have aquired so far, has primarily come about through the valleys times in my life.

A councellor/college lecturer once told a class I was attending, this saying - "If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got", and this is so true.

Sometimes we can see bumps in the road coming for others before they do, and often saying what we think they should do, won't change anything.

Personally I don't know how I would get through this life without my faith.

'Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see' (Hebrews 11:1)

Being able to hand things over to God, and know that he hears and cares is a great comfort. It doesn't necessarily mean the situation will change dramatically for the person or situation being prayed for, because I am not God, I can't see the 'big picture'. I don't know the lessons a person may need to learn, or the areas they might have to grow in and, I don't know what they might truly want. I also don't know exactly how God is working in the situation. All I do know, is that 'he is at work',and that's my assurance.
I know God cares and answers all prayers...in his way and in his timing.

Conclusion:

Own whats yours, fix what you can, and release what you can't.

As for others, help where you can, pray for their needs and then release it. Worry just elbows out faith/trust & peace.

When we clutch anothers burden to our breast, we not only weigh ourselves down, but I belive we also block God's light from being able to enter in,
and when we can let it go in faith and trust God, we unlock the gate for the serenity to once again return and we are free, to live in 'this day'.

So when I have a 'normal day', without any cares or concerns, I am very very thankful, because who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Peace - Follower of the WAY

Hunger

Have you ever felt dissatisfied?.. like something was missing?..although there was no real reason to feel this way. Your needs are provided for, you have a good life...but still something niggles away.

I've been feeling this way for several weeks. I thought maybe it was depression, and shared what I was thinking with a few friends.

Finally I have come to the conclusion...that what I belive it to really be, is a holy hunger. A desire for more of God, a deeper indwelling of his spirit, and just wanting to move into a more intimate place with him.

I have a little book I borrowed of a friend, to read about the 'annointing' of God. I plan to go through it meticulously and renounce anything in my life, my past, my thought patterns etc, that could possibly hinder my moving forward in GOD. Confessing fears, inadequacies, doubts and any unbelief in any area of my life. Maybe nothing will change? I suppose thats a possibility...but just maybe something will.


LUKE 11: 9-11
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”





'But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul'. Deuteronomy 4:29

'Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long'
(Psalm 25:5)

'My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, I will seek'
(Psalm 27:8)



If God has more to give me..then I want it !!!!

So Far....

What a title...but its just what came to mind. This morning I woke up and went out to my garden. I like to walk around it first thing and see whats happened over night. As I was weeding, some thoughts came to mind, not original, just quotes I've read over the years:

1."Life is a long walk in humility" a quote from James Matthew Barrie, the author of Peter Pan.

Many people have the wrong idea about humility, or being humble. They think it means groveling in front of others or thinking they're no good and others are better.

My thoughts:
Humility is not something we easily aquire, but rather a quality that gradually grows in a person with an honest estimation of him/herself. When an awareness of our own shortcomings surface, we're less inclined to judge, we see more clearly the plank in our own eyes, our own weaknesses. At this stage Sister Wisdom will also become a new and worthy friend along the way. A friend aquired thorugh learning some hard lessons. When I reflect back on my life, I see a pool..a pool formed from tears...from foolish choices, from letting emotions lead and not God. Christ teaches me to wait, to hesitate, to seek him, to not assume, to not jump to conclusions and to see also the part I may have played in a situation.

“What makes humility so desirable is the marvelous thing it does to us; it creates in us a capacity for the closest possible intimacy with God” (Monica Baldwin)

The way to true peace is the way of humility and love. Significant are the words of the shepherd boy singing in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress:

He that is down need fear no fall,
He that is low, no pride;
He that is humble ever shall
Have God to be his guide.
I am content with what I have,
Little be it, or much;
And Lord, contentment still I crave,
Because Thou sayest such.

The Humility of Jesus

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matt 11:29 KJV

Humility is seeing yourself as God sees you: dark yet lovely (Song of Songs 1:5), weak yet strong (2 Cor. 12:9), and poor yet spiritually rich (2 Cor. 5:21). Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking less about yourself. Humility is not denigrating yourself by making yourself out to be less than the total person that God has gifted and called you to be as his servant.

Be blessed and be a Blessings - thanks for reading,
Linda - Follower of the WAY

Poem by Mother Theresa

2. The Original Version:

The Paradoxical Commandments

by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
© 1968, 2001 Kent M. Keith

"The Paradoxical Commandments" were written by Kent M. Keith in 1968 as part of a booklet for student leaders. _________________________________________