John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Well it is Christmas.

Psalm 91

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, my God, in whom I trust." Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you make the Most High your dwelling -- even the LORD, who is my refuge-- then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

This Psalm gives my wife and I great comfort. We have had some fairly difficult neighbours and the worry that they might disturb our nights often keeps us awake. Things have got much better over the last few years but circumstances in their household have given us cause for concern again.

Psalm 144:2-4

He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.

It's amazing that God cares for us. We are so small and insignificant in the world and yet he does amazing things for us. From caring for us each day to letting himself be killed for us.

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Ok, I get it - I should read my Bible every day (and night).

Joshua 1:8

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Hmmm. Perhaps I should read my bible a bit more often...

James 5:16

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

We should pray for each other so that we might be healed. We should pray for lots of things. Something a friend said the other day about bad things happening by association with spiritual struggles reminded me of something Joyce Meyer said - that if a situation gets worse after you have started praying for it then that is an indication that the prayer is working.

Philippians 4:11

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Paul learned how to be content in all circumstances. And not because he had a cushy life. Quite the opposite really. In comparison the things that worry and concern me are but a drop in the ocean. I suppose I could put it down to things being simpler in the olden days, but I don't think that was true.

Song of Songs 2:11-12

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

For those who have been waiting for the rain to end this verse is for you. It reminds me of a young people's holiday club where I helped with the catering long ago. It was in the spring and one day it snowed and the next day it was so warm that you could wear t-shirts. This was the passage that was taught on. It again reminds me of God's blessing and that there are different seasons.

Deuteronomy 11:13-14

So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today--to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul-- then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil.

I like rain. It reminds me of God's blessings. I like the fact that rain is a blessing when it is in season. Rain is often seen as a bad thing and that gives me encouragement that if what we are going through seems bad, but we're still faithfully trying to obey God, that rain will be a blessing.

Luke 4:1-2

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

Again the bible talks of the Holy spirit being part of the time Jesus spent in the wilderness. A comforter and guide. I should remember to involve him more when I feel I am experiencing trials. I often ask God for help, but generally expect a tangible solution, but here we see Jesus getting his help merely from the Spirit's presence. And at the end of it he was, as you would expect, hungry. The consequences of the trial had not been negated. But he had been given the ability to bear it.

Matthew 4:1

I have had a bit of a break from this blog. I think the main reason is that I have found it hard to publish a verse when such tragic things have happened to friends of ours. Death is always a shock and when it is a child it is much worse - and although I could find comfort for myself in Bible passages I could not presume that they they would similarly comfort others.

I'm not sure why I feel that now is a good time to continue. Perhaps because it is the start of Lent and the celebration of Easter. Starting with Jesus' time in the wilderness.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit. But he was tempted by the devil. We know that Jesus overcame and did not give in to that temptation. But for forty days leading up to that test how did Jesus feel? The bible goes on to give some examples of how he was tempted. We are tempted in many ways - to doubt God, to not acknowledge his love, grace and mercy. Even when times are hard and we can't always see the way through it is good to remember that Jesus is with us and he has experienced the same sort of things.

Psalm 18:29

With your help I can advance against a troop ; with my God I can scale a wall.

Another encouraging passage - when I acknowledge God's help in my life I feel I could scale the walls of problems that come up. It's when I try and sort things out on my own that the walls seem insurmountable.

1 Timothy 5:18

Scripture tells us, "Don't muzzle a working ox," and, "A worker deserves his pay."

Workers deserve their pay. It makes me cross when people don't value the work people do (especially me - but thats another story). Some people have a really bad attitude when it comes to rewarding workers. But then I know just as many, if not more, workers who have a bad attitude to work.

I must try and not be one of them...

Song of Songs 2:2

Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens.

This verse is one of the ones that my wife and I used as the theme to our wedding. I am using it a day as a celebration of her birthday - she truly is a lily among thorns.

Proverbs 3v5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Daniel 4v34

At the end of the seven years, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked to heaven. I was given my mind back and I blessed the High God, thanking and glorifying God, who lives forever. "His sovereign rule lasts and lasts, his kingdom never declines and falls."

This verse is dedicated to our friend and her husband who has just tried to take his own life - may God give him his mind back, and soon.

Psalm 42:7

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

I'm not sure what this verse means but I like it. I wondered if it was that water is drawn to the sea. And we as all humans, like water, are drawn to God the sea. I looked it up in the message to see what Eugene Peterson thinks. He puts:

Chaos calls to chaos, to the tune of whitewater rapids. Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers crash and crush me.

Hmmm. not sure if I agree with chaos... what do you think?

Romans 4v17

As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

God calls things that are not as though they are. This is part of what faith is calling things as though they are. Abraham was not a father but God called him a "father of nations" and it became so. I think that part of us having faith in God is that we have to start by calling somethings as though they are - even though they don't seem possible at the moment.

Hebrews 11v1

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

A good reminder of what faith is. We hope and do not see. But we know that if we hope we will see - if we hope for in right thing. I hope my floor will be finished this weekend...

John 14v1-6

Jesus said to his disciples: 'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.' Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'

Some friends have been recently bereaved and so this verse is for them - Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Romans 8v28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

This verse was mentioned in my blog yesterday. It kind of sums up my philosophy of life. We just need to worry about ourselves and our relationship with God and he will worry about the rest.

Ephesians 3v20-21

Now to him who is able to to immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, accoding to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

I have always liked this verse - it's the end of Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. He has asked for them to be strengthened with power, that Christ would dwell in their hearts, that they would know fully the love of God and that they may be filled up with Him. And then he finishes with this wonderful affirmation of how fantastic God is - how he can fill needs we have that we can't articulate or don't even know about. And he can do this with the power that is already at work in us! It's a verse that encourages me to pray because God will answer in ways that are far better than we can ask or imagine.

Esther 7v10

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.

This verse has been prompted by my wife - many years ago she was praying for the situation in Iraq (around the time of the first gulf war). She got the answer that Saddam would be hanged on his own gallows. Over the years since then, this never looked likely. He stayed in power and continued in much the same way. (Perhaps God was giving him a chance to reform.) But then just recently he has been hanged - on his own gallows. It makes you think - sometimes prayers take a long time to answer and sometimes not in the way you'd expect but God is working in world situtions and I believe our individual prayers do make a difference.

Isaiah 41v15

"See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.

Being a threshing sledge always sounded good to me - especially after I had seen a picture of it. It's strange how being compared to a large bit of wood studded with flints can be encouraging.

Psalm 121

A song of ascents. 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 slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

This Psalm, although not my first memory verse, is the first one I remember remembering. It was at a holiday club fun in the church I went to. I was a young helper and not an attendee. I think it was called Rockhoppers and was run by a man at our church called Dave Edwins who was an SU evangelist at the time. It was a great week and probably my first experience of organised christian children's work. I am still amazed how people like Dave can run a holiday club from the stuff they can get in the boot of a car (plus lots of help from people in the church and good planning!).

Job 1v21

and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

This verse is one of my favourites. I think possibly because it is used in the song
Blessed be your Name by Matt and Beth Redman. It reminds me to praise God in all situations. Even though by any reasonable measure my life is very blessed there are still times when I am disapointed or fed up. This verse both reminds me that God is to be praised regardless of my situation but also that, in reality, things are actually pretty good.