Memory Monday on Wednesday?!  Been a rough couple of weeks with my back, and with a couple really busy weeks coming up time is tight.  But I am committed to keeping at these memory verses.

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus replied,: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it;: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Exodus 20:1-13

And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Remember the Sabbath and by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  For in six days, the Lord your God created made the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore he the Lord blessed the sSabbath day and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother, so you may live long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not commit murder.

Pretty good!  Time to move on to the next section:
Exodus 20:14-17

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Bonus memory verse - this has come up a few times in my mind and in things I have been watching so I thought I would add this back into the mix.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd,; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul.;
He leads me down in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;
For You are with me.;
Your rod and yYour staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Memory verses

 

Memory Monday on Tuesday?  Life happens!

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it;: 'Love your neighbor as yourself." All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Exodus 17:1-11

And spoke all these words, :“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself any image for yourself in the form of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing love to those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for he the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Remember the Sabbath day and by keeping it holy.  In sSix days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigners residing in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the seas, and all that lives is in them, but on the seventh day he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

On to the next section...

Exodus 20:12-13

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

Memory verses

 

Mid week check in on memory verses I am working on.  

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus replied, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is this like it; ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

 

Exodus 20:1-6

The Lord And God spoke all these words; “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself any image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations for of those who love me and keep my commandments.

 

Exodus 7-11

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord your God will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Remember the Sabbath day and by keeping it holy. For Six days you shall labor and do all your work, and but on the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God on it you shall not do no any work., Not neither you,  nor your sons or daughters, nor your male or female servants, nor your animals, nor any foreigner living residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord your God created made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore he the Lord blessed it the Sabbath Day and made it holy.

sheesh, still a lot of work to do.  Good news is that I have started on the next unit but it is set up as a review for the memory verses so I have time to keep at these as well as add the next portions - typing out now to continue getting them in my brain...

Exodus 20:12-13

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not commit murder.

Exodus 20:14-17

You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Memory Monday

 

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Exodus 20:1-6

And God spoke all these words: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of their parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations to of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Awesome!  Now that I have those memorized I can start working on the next section:  I haven't even looked at it yet so writing it out again.

Exodus 20:7-11

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

GROW Luke 2

Go to God in Prayer

Read Luke 2

Observations

The themes of this book are still rolling around in my brain so when I read this chapter I was watching out for activities of the Holy Spirit and prayers.

In verse 25 we are introduced to Simeon and told that "the Holy Spirit was on him"

Then verse 26 and 27 shows how the Holy Spirit is working in him, "revealed to him by the Holy Spirit" and "Guided by the Spirit, he entered the temple complex"

In order for Simeon to be able to see the Messiah, which was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit in v26, the Holy Spirit had to guide him to temple at just the right moment.  This was not a chance encounter, instead specifically guided by the Holy Spirit.

Then Simeon holds baby Jesus and praised God, including him being "a light for revelation to the Gentiles".  

Write the lesson

The Holy Spirit guides us, are we paying attention to that guidance?  Perhaps many of the 'chance encounters' we have every day are not by accident.  The Holy Spirit may be guiding us to be a light in this world so that Jesus can be revealed.  Pay attention to the Holy Spirit!  And if you are not feeling the Holy Spirit guiding you, then get closer, lean in and GROW

Luke 1:47-48 translation comparison

A bit of a departure from the GROW method, but there was a suggestion in the Luke study  I am working on to review Luke 1:47-48 in different translations and note the variances. Let's see if we can fit it into the GROW method anyway...

Go to God in Prayer

Read Luke 1:47-48

Observations

Many years ago I was studying a verse and the book I was working from kept talking about how powerful the verse was. If I remember correctly the specific word in the translation that I was reading from was "rock" and that just did not seem very powerful.  I pulled out another Bible translation and that word was now "fortress" and I could instantly visualize the power in that passage.  I think I ran out and bought a Parallel Bible that very day!

Ever since then I have been fascinated by comparing verses in different translations, so this activity instantly interested me.

And gotta love technology!  The Biblegateway.com actually has an option to view Parallel translations!

I took a screenshot and highlighted the similar words to compare:

All the versions are quite similar but have slight variations:

1. looked/mindful/regarded - I thought mindful and regarded added more context to God simply looking
2. Only the Holman version added that He looked with favor which I think is getting more to the same description as mindful or regarded
3. humble condition/humble state/lowly state/humble estate - the difference here could be in how you are interpreting or reading this: her state of mind or her physical condition.  The key here is to remember this is Mary speaking.  
4. slave/servant/maidservant
5. Surely/For behold

I was a bit stumped by the 3rd point here and went to the Blue Letter Bible for help.  In the KJV the phrase "low estate" only appears in two other places:

In Psalm 136:23 it is again God seeing us in this state.  And the repeating phrase in the Praise Psalm is "for his mercy endureth forever"

In Romans 12:16 it is a direction to not be proud but instead associate with the humble.  

Write the Lesson

So that was fun!  Nothing really jumped out at me to make one version stand out more than the others, instead it was a simple two word phrase that is so rarely used in the Bible that we can only come to the conclusion that we need God's mercy because of our lowly state and a reminder to remain focused on Him so that we don't become proud and venture out of being humble.  Stay humble and GROW.

GROW - Luke 1

In my effort to refocus on Bible Study, I find it fascinating that the creepy FB ads have started to pop up for all sorts of Bible Study sites even though I have not searched for Bible study materials.  Anyway, they are popping up frequently so I browsed through several and even put a few things in the cart.  Then I thought of all the Bible Study material I already have, including many books & workbooks only partially completed.  Rather than spending more money on new material I am instead going to revisit studies that I did not complete.  

After a very quick search, the first workbook I found that has been sitting around collecting dust is Luke - Gut-Level Compassion by Lisa Harper.    So rather than continuing to collect dust, it is time to GROW.  Note that as I work through the workbook I may also post some of the observations on this blog.  These observations are mine, although they may have been guided by the workbook and notes in my study bible and so I will attempt to make note of these as I go to give the credit where it is deserved.

I really like using the GROW method of Bible Study:

G - Go to God in Prayer 
R - Read Scripture
O - Observations
W - Write the Lesson

GROW - Luke 1

Go to God in Prayer

Read Luke 1

Observations

I am using a Study Bible that provides extra details at the beginning of every chapter. I enjoy reading through this to provide important context to the chapter. The details in this summary that stand out for me are the key themes of Luke: Salvation for all people, activity of the Holy Spirit, and Prayer.  

Keeping with the theme of the Holy Spirit - observing the Holy Spirit's activity:

John - v15 ...he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb

Mary - v36 ...The Holy Spirit will come upon you

Jesus - v35 ...Therefore, the holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.

Elizabeth - v 39 ...the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit

Zechariah - v67 ...was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied

Write the Lesson

In just this first chapter of Luke we can see two ways the power of the Holy Spirit was received - to be filled with the Holy Spirit and for the Holy Spirit to come upon you.  The lesson for me today is that the moment I decided to pick up this specific Bible study the Holy Spirit was all over it, guiding me and filling me with the power to get back into Bible study so that I can continue to grow in God's word.  Open yourself to the power of the Holy Spirit and GROW