Remember the Sword!

[Sakura15]

Anyone mind if I join you all in memorizing verses? I've really been bad lately about doing that, and I want to start again, I believe it's very helpful to my spiritual walk with God ^^

[Anna Mae]

We would love to have you. Welcome aboard.

[Sakura15]

Thanks! ^-^

[Syreth]

Hope you guys don't mind if I join in again. Good pick on the verse. Reminds me of this one:

"...If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body." - James 3:2b

[Sakura15]

Hope you guys don't mind if I join in again. Good pick on the verse. Reminds me of this one:

"...If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body." - James 3:2b

Thats also a good verse, I read that one the other day.

[Mave]

Hello, I'm back from the Christmas vacation. Welcome, welcome to all who have recently joined us. The more the merrier. I presume we all had ample time to memorize the last verse, yes? XD

Ok, I propose a new set of verses to coincide with the New Year. Since it's a long verse, let's start with a few lines and then pick up from there. There are eleven verses altogether. I chose it because it's a good reminder of what the Lord has always intended for us every single year.


Isaiah 61:1"The Year of the LORD's Favor"

The Spirit of the Sovereign 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,

[Sakura15]

Welcome back! ^-^


Awesome new verse ^_^

[Syreth]

This chapter is amazing! I like the end of it when it talks about righteousness growing like a garden sprouts what is sown. Good pick, I say.

[Anna Mae]

PSALM 119:11
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.

James 4:7-8
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

1 Peter 5:5-6
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

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.

Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Phillippians 1:9-10
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ

2 Timothy 2:20-21
In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

Psalms 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer.

Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Sovereign 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...


Yes! I'm finally caught up! Just in time to be without internet access for two weeks in Brazil, too.

[Spirit_Wolf8356]

Mind if I join in with all ya'll? This is a totally cool idea.

[Sakura15]

I don't mind ^-^ actually it's about time this thing was revived again.

[Syreth]

Yeah, it's high time I started reviving my motivation to memorize these verses again...

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon Me
To preach the good news to the captives
To heal the brokenhearted
And to unbind those who are in darkness

Isaiah 61:1

Oh dear... I kinda butchered it.

[Sakura15]

Cool!
Thanks for the new verse Sy-chan. I've been slacking off lately.

[Syreth]

Oh! That's not a new verse, I was just trying to recite the former one from memory. I didn't do a very good job though.

[Mave]

*deserves to be kicked* Welcome to the thread, Spiritwolf! Pls forgive my irregularities in updating the thread. Just for the record, I'm open to you all to post new verses when I take a little too long to do so. XD

Shall I assume that everyone's good to go with more?

Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sovereign 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,

Add:
" to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,"

Hey, this is one of the shorter verses. XD

[Syreth]

Sounds good to me. It's much more complete with that second part. Don't worry about it, Mave! Things get hectic sometimes.

[Ratrace]

Are you changing the day, or do we get less time on that one?

[Anna Mae]

Welcome, Spirit_Wolf!

I shall endevor to catch up from being in Brazil.

[Sakura15]

Okay! cool ^-^ and don't worry about it Mave!

[Syreth]

Could I propose something to everyone who participates in this? What would you guys think of memorizing John 1? It's so rich in both application and doctrine, I think it might be a good idea. Let me know if that's something you guys want to do. Of course, we will go by chunks and not try to do the whole thing all at once.

[Mave]

Fine by me, as long as no one minds memorizing more than one set of verses concurrently. ^^

EDIT: Or we could switch to John 1 instead. Either ways, I'm fine with it.

[Syreth]

I'm okay with doing more than one set of verses, although it might be a bit much. I didn't realize that we were in the process of memorizing a "set" of verses -- I thought we were just sort of going more or less randomly.

[Sakura15]

Well that's fine with me. But, are we gunna try and do both? or just finish the Isaiah chapter first? or skip to John 1?

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Can I ask what you guys get out of reading books like Leviticus? To me its a total bore and only for the Jews of that time. Are there any redeeming qualities? lol

[Sakura15]

Can I ask what you guys get out of reading books like Leviticus? To me its a total bore and only for the Jews of that time. Are there any redeeming qualities? lol

To be honest I havent read leviticus..but im trying to read through my whole bible.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Yeah, I read through my whole Bible back in year 6 (don't do it). Not the best way to read it. Took about 4 months.

[Syreth]

Leviticus can seem like a bore at first glance (I thought it was), but it is really full of Jesus. Maybe we could do a study thread on it on here and see what we can glean from it. My Numbers teacher (yes, Numbers is awesome too!) also taught Leviticus. He has a great insight into the microbiology side of it and also the Jewish historical side of it and points out all of the shadows that sort of prequil Christ to the Jewish people. So, what do you guys think?

Hmm... were we going to do Isaiah 61 all the way through? If so, we could just finish that out before we go into John 1. No sense in getting overwhelmed. It's good to be focused, yes?

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Sounds good Syreth! I'd be interested because I find Levitcus and like minded books (Numbers etc) to be really dry and confusing and fail to see anything of value at the moment in them.

[Syreth]

How about doing Numbers first? I'm more prepared for that one, since I actually took the class. Maybe later I can see if I can get my friend to email me his Leviticus notes.

[Mave]

Lemme post the whole of Isaiah 61 with some personal highlights (in red) of parts that carry heavy meaning to me.

Isaiah 61
The Year of the LORD's Favor [I would hope 2006 is such a year for all of us]

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor. [sometimes I take this for granted and neglect to 'preach']
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners, [I think of this when struggling with sin]

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations. [makes me think of the moral ruins of today's generations. It will be restored]

5 Aliens will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. [there is no more segregation/racism]

6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations, [I almost misintepreted this, it could sound like greed]
and in their riches you will boast.

7 Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace [Sounds like our Lord is very generous with His people]
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.

8 "For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity. [iniquity = gross injustice]
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.

9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed."

10 I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. [Technically, this is what we all already are......we just to remind ourselves after receiving His salvation and start living like it]

11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations.

I like this verse, long as it is as it brings much hope. Psalms also provide a good read as it shares a balance between failure/despair/misery vs victory/relief/joy.