There are verses of scripture
Which, if we are honest, stand out
For all of us
Some are common to most of us
Others are special to just a few
And yet they all are God
Speaking to us
I want to share some of mine
As God started speaking
One of them to me this morning
Someone bought me a book, recently
Which has stirred my thinking
And brought this particular
Verse to my remembrance
But more on that later…
The verse that most of us
Start off with is:
John 3:16
For me it was because it
Was made personal
Almost adapted, in a sense
Instead of God loving the
Whole world
I heard that God loved ME
“For God so loved Alan
That He gave His only…
That if Alan would believe…”
(John 3:16 adapted)
At the time, this blew my mind
And in many ways
Still does today
To think that Almighty God
Loves me enough to send
His Son – His Only Son
Into the world to die for me…
Is humbling…
And this is the start of what God
Wants me to write about today
Because in a way
Many of us are guilty of
Having a memory
Of “visiting” verses like this
We remember “back” to “when”
That sort of thing happened to us
Our “problem” is that many of us
Do not “live” there
We just “visit”
Which is what my final verse
Is all about
But more about that later…
The next pivotal verse, in my life
Is Proverbs 3:5 – 8
As you can see
More than one verse
But from the same section
Of the Bible
This came alive in my life
Because God spoke to me
In what seemed like an audible voice
“Alan, this is hard for you”
WOW
And yet He was right
(Seems silly to write that)
Of course God was right
He is always right
And yet at times we forget that
Because we are so caught up
In ourselves and our pasts
With our hurts and memories
“Trust in the Lord with all
Your heart and lean not on
Your own understanding”
(Proverbs 3:5)
“Trust” was difficult for me
And it wasn’t sorted in a moment
Rather it took many years
And in particular I am talking
About trusting God
I could go on and on and on here
But I will not
Rather think about these things
For yourself
Be honest with yourself
And let God speak to and with you
So John 3:16 and Proverbs 3:5 – 8
The next pivotal verse
Before my last verse
Is Ephesians 2:6
We have been raised up
With Christ and seated
With Him in heavenly places
My identity is IN Christ
And Christ IN me
And in my spirit I am
Seated with Him
In Heaven
Right now
Which brought me back
To my final verse
Which for some
Can bring us back
Down to earth
With a bump
But shouldn’t if we will simply
Embrace what it says
Meditate on it
And own it for ourselves
“I have been crucified with Christ
and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body,
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.”
(Galatians 2:20 NIV)
When you read this verse
You should be able to see
The other three verses
I talked about
You see many of us want to have
The good life,
the quiet life
Free from pain and sorrow
But Jesus said that we were
To deny ourselves
Take up our cross
And follow Him
And this is the verse
That God brought to my
Remembrance
Today
Galatians 2:20
I am seated in heavenly places
In Christ Jesus
But in order to get there
I needed to be crucified with Him
FIRST
Thankfully Jesus was crucified for me
And I am very much alive
But spiritually speaking
I need to be mindful
Of that episode in my life
And Galatians 2:20
Does that very well
You see OUR lives are NOT our own
And we need to live them
The way it says in Galatians 2:20
And this takes TRUST
So there you have my pivotal verses
John 3:16
Proverbs 3:5 – 8
Ephesians 2:6
Galatians 2:20
What are yours?