Life-Changing Bible Verses - Part 1 - Molded by Grace

The Bible is the Word of God, and it is life to our soul and strength to our bones (Proverbs 17:22). The scriptures are given to us by God to encourage, strengthen and mature us in our relationship with Him.

Every word is given to us by the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16). God did not create us and abandon us on this earth. He gave us His Word and His Spirit as our comforter and guide (John 16:13).

He also provided us with His Word to help to direct us on His paths of righteousness - a place of safety and security to all who walk in them. We depend on His Word, ingesting it daily to nourish our body, soul and spirit.

Some verses actually take us by surprise when we read them. They are so profound, that they touch a place deep within us and mold us by their truth and wisdom.

For instance, God loved humanity so much that He gave us His only Son to die in our place, and to pay the debt that we owed due to our sins. If we choose to believe in Him, we will not perish in Hell, but enjoy everlasting life now and for eternity (John 3:16-17).

Yet, if we choose not to believe, we condemn our self to an eternity in the fires of Hell (John 3:18). God never condemns anyone to Hell, we do that to our self by our unbelief.

God intends that no one should perish, but that we should all enjoy the benefits of His Kingdom as co-heirs with Christ (2 Peter 3:9). It is simply a matter of humbling our self before the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:5-14), and accepting Christ's sacrifice on our behalf.

This fact leads to another life-altering verse: Christ is our life (Colossians 3:3). We are not placed on earth to build our own kingdom and to leave a financial legacy for our children; although if this fits into God's plan for us, it is a wholesome goal.

Instead, we allow Christ's life to consume us as we burn brightly for His Kingdom (Matthew 5:14-16). As we seek first His Kingdom and righteousness with our thoughts, words and deeds, He in turn supplies all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Matthew 6:33; Philippians 4:19).

Prayer:

Father God, this thought leads us to another amazing verse. It is often hard to trust You as we traverse the switchbacks of life. Yet, You had mercy on us and did not plan for us to perfect our self. You give us both the desire and the ability to walk in Your ways (Philippians 2:12-13).

You require that we walk in faith (Romans 14:22-23); yet, You are even willing to help us when we waver in faith and have a hard time keeping our faith focused on You (Mark 9:24). The road to hell is paved with Satan's lies, so help us to walk in Your everlasting Truth.

Thought for the Day:

As we seek the Lord with our whole heart, and stop depending on our human reasoning to make it through life, He will reveal His will to us and direct each step we traverse. - Proverbs 3:5-6

More Valuable than Fine Gold

God never changes, and His Word is consistent as well (1 Samuel 15:29; 1 John 2:7; Psalm 55:19; Malachi 3:6). Hiding God's Word in our mind and seeking Him with our whole heart prevents us from sinning against Him. His statutes are more valuable to us than fine gold. We delight in His ways and give testimony of His provision in our life (Psalm 119:9-116). His Word is eternal and gives us life (Psalm 119:160).

The Old and New Testament are equally important (2 Peter 3:15-16). The still, small voice of God directs our daily activity as we bathe in His Word and seek His face (Isaiah 30:21). If we are Born Again, we do not practice a lifestyle of sin (1 John 3:4-9; Proverbs 3:11-18). Yet, if we refuse to surrender our life to God, and we continue to practice sin, we condemn our self to eternal destruction (John 3:18; 1 Corinthians 11:27-32).

We can trust that God will give us relief in our days of trouble, until He raptures us, or we pass from this sin-cursed world (Psalm 94:10-13). When we live within God's precepts, we enjoy a good conscience and a peaceful life (Psalm 119:7). If we teach our children to live according to God's Word, they have a better chance of remaining on the path of purity and blessings.

God's Spirit helps us to recall the scriptures, which we hide in our heart, and He leads us into His holy truth (John 14:26, 16:13; Psalm 119:11). He enables us to act upon what we learn, rather than being perpetual students and never walking in His ways (James 1:22-25). The Spirit gives us wisdom from God's inspired Word, as we regard His instruction and walk in His ways (Proverbs 20:32-36, James 1:5-8).

Prayer:

Father God, You bless those who refrain from the worldly paths of life, which lead to unrighteousness. You consecrate those who do not join in with those who have a penchant for mocking You and Your children (Psalm 1:1-2). Thank You for drawing us by Your Spirit and never letting us walk away from Your eternal love. We treasure the fine gold of Your Word, we enjoy spending time listening to Your voice and we depend upon the leading of Your Spirit with each new day.

Thought for the Day:

When we sink our roots deeper in the water of God's Word, we will live blessed, fruitful and prosperous lives. - Psalm 1:3

Abiding Forever

Jesus actually stands at the door of our heart and asks to come in and live in us (Revelations 3:20). Those who live in Christ are the most blessed people in the world. We live and move and have our entire being in Him. If you want to join our ranks, you simply seek the Lord and cling to Him. You will find Him, because He is not very far from any one of us (Acts 17:24-28).

If we love Him and keep His Words, He will love us and come to dwell in us. He walks in us and claims us as His own (2 Corinthians 6:16; Leviticus 26:12). Our body is God’s temple and His Spirit dwells in our spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). He helps us to realize that we are children of God, and co-heirs with Christ (Colossians 1:27; Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:17). He fills us throughout our entire being with all of His fullness (Ephesians 3:16-19).

God is one God, and once we come to Him in full surrender, the entire Trinity dwells within us (John 14:16-17). The Trinity strengthens our Born Again spirit (Ephesians 3:14-19). God is our Father and He loves and cares for us. God even uses our suffering to reveal His glory in us (Romans 8:18). With Christ in us, we take on God’s divine nature (Romans 8:9-10; 1 Corinthians 6:17; Philippians 1:1; 3:9; 2 Peter 1:4).

God commanded the light to shine from the darkness; and His light shines in us to give us the knowledge of His glory, which shone from the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). If we immerse our self in the scriptures, the Word of Christ will richly dwells in us and give us wisdom to teach and admonish one another (Colossians 3:16). As we love Him, He loves us and brings us to abide in Him forever (John 14:23).

We become the gospel of Christ to the world around us (John 6:47-51). God gives us both the desire and the ability to abide as Christ in the place in which He calls us to live and obey Him (Philippians 2:12-13; Ephesians 2:10). We serve Jesus, our Lord, with every fiber of our being (1 Corinthians 12:3), because God fills us with His Holy Spirit to accomplish His works with our life (Ephesians 5:18-19).

Prayer:

Father God, we bow down and worship You as part of Your family. Strengthen our spirit and soul, according to Your glorious riches. As Christ dwells in our heart by faith, fill us through our entire being with all of Your fullness. Ground us in Your love, so that all of Your Saints will experience the width, length, depth and height of Your love through us, and to come to know the love of Christ by Your Spirit (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Thought for the Day:

God has plans for us, which will give us hope and a future and will see us through all harm. – Jeremiah 29:11

 

A Gift from God

The Bible is the perfect gift from God that gives us everything we need to live a fulfilled life in a godly manner, through our knowledge of Jesus Christ (2 Peter1:3). The Word of God is the sharp, two-edged sword of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13). The profound revelation of the nature and wisdom of God written within its pages builds our faith and guides us through life. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us His truth (2 Peter 1:20-21). We can feed our body with the grain of the earth, but our spirit needs the nourishment that is found only in the Word of God (Matthew 4:4). 

The Bible allows us to recognize what is wrong in our lives by correcting us and teaching us the right course of action to take. It equips us with everything we need for success (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Since the Bible endured through the centuries of time and because it is such an encouragement to us, it gives us hope (Romans 15:4). Believers do not draw our nourishment from secular advice, but from the Spirit and the Word, which give us true life (John 6:63). The Word of God is full of life-giving power. It acts as a surgeon’s knife and dissects our innermost beliefs and feelings and exposes our true motives and desires (Hebrews 4:12).

As Believers, we come to the Father and make Him our home. If we neglect the Word, it proves that we do not love the Lord (John 14:23-24). If we love the Lord, we will cherish His Word. If we continue in God’s Word, we prove that we are His disciples. We learn the Truth, and His Truth sets us free (John 8:31-32). We meditate on the Word night and day, so we can carefully live what it teaches. This discipline allows us to flourish and thrive in life (Joshua 1:8). The wonderful words of the scripture build our faith and teach us about our inheritance as the Bride of Christ (Acts 20:32; 2 Corinthians 11:2).

Even Jesus used the Old Testament verses. After His forty day fast in the wilderness, He defeated the devil by quoting scripture and standing upon God’s Word (Matthew 4:11). Our finite thoughts often confuse and throw a shadow on the wisdom of God’s truth. Even doubts, which Satan whispers to our mind, cause us to wonder at times. However, these are counteracted by the comfort, direction, rebuke, instruction and admonition, which we receive from the Bible. We can trust in the absolute truth of God’s Word. Even when we are not aware of it, God is working behind the scenes to prove to us the truth of His goodness and His faithfulness to His children.

The writers of the Bible refer to it by many different titles:

The Book of the Lord (Isaiah 34:16)
The Law of the Lord (Psalm 1:2)
The Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luke 24:25,44)
The Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17; 11:13; Acts 13:15)
The Scripture of Truth (Daniel10:21)
The Scripture (Mark 15:28; John 7:38; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
The Scriptures (Luke 24:27,32; John 5:39; Acts 17:11)
The Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:2; 2 Timothy 3:15)
The Lively (living) Oracles (Acts 7:38)
The Oracles of God (Romans 3:2; Hebrews 5:12; I Peter 4:11)
The Promises (Romans 9:4-5; 15:8)
The Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17)
The Old and New Testament (Luke 22:20; 2 Corinth 3:6-15; Hebrews 9:15)
The Word of God (Mark 7:13; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:12)
The Word of Christ (Colossians 3:16)
The Word of Life (Philippians 2:16)
The Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15; John 17:17)
The Gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16)
Gods Word and Statutes (Psalm 119:16)
A Lamp unto our feet, Light unto our path (Psalm 119:105)
(Partially taken from: The Dake Annotated Reference Bible)

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we stand upon Your Word. We use it as a lamp to light our way in this dark and dreary land in which we live. It gives us courage, peace and strength to do Your will with our life. We want to thank You for not leaving us alone on this earth, and for giving us Your Spirit and Your Word to encourage us and to give us hope.

Thought for the Day:

God's Word is alive; and the more you read it, the more it empowers your life.