Wow, this question started my mind spinning. There are so many wonderful portions of the Bible, and I am so glad I’m able to read them all.
My first thought was Romans 8, I think it has the most encouraging promises in the whole Bible. It starts out with the promise of no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and finishes with nothing being able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus. The middle of the chapter teaches us how to walk in the new life that we have been born again into. through our relationship with the Holy Spirit who lives in us, God guides and directs us as we surrender to Him. Chapter 8 also comes after the chapter that everyone who has ever walked this earth can relate to, Romans 7.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ”
romans 7:15
How do we get out of living a Romans 7 life and start living a Romans 8 life? Furthermore when we fall back into seven how do we get back to eight?
After that so many other favorites started flooding my mind.
Phillipians 3:7-14 where Paul shares:
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 3:7-14
I then thought of Abraham in Genesis 12-25, and the story of how God invites him to follow Him. How their relationship grew into a deep friendship where God could ask Abraham to offer Isaac to Him, and Abraham trusted He would work it for good.
I love the story of Joseph and I wish we could have had some of the psalms that he wrote as God was shaping him into the man who would share the first version of Romans 8:28 in Genesis 45:5-7
“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”
Genesis 45:5-7
Then I thought of Deuteronomy 8 which has encouraged me so many times when I have felt like I was wandering in the wilderness. Through this chapter God reminded me that I was there with a purpose even though I couldn’t see it or feel it.
I was also reminded of Joshua, and how God allowed Him to wander for 40 years with the people who refused to listen to him. He encouraged them to trust God with all of their hearts and lean not on their own understanding. I can see him teaching the next generation to trust God and to be ready to take the land that God had prepared for them.
I love the story of Eli and Samuel in 1 Samuel 3, how even though Eli was struggling as an old man he was still able to help Samuel to recognize that God was speaking to him. Through Eli’s obedience Samuel’s life was changed forever.
Psalm 91 was a wedding gift that God gave me as I had to be separated from my wife for the first 6 months of our marriage. It has been a source of comfort, protection and encouragement ever since.
Matthew 6 was a chapter that God has used to teach and train me for years and years. God taught me to learn to serve only one master: the Lord Jesus Christ. He taught me what a kind and generous master He is and that I need only to focus on seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness, because He will take care of all the rest.
I love the invitation that Jesus gives us at the end of Matthew 11 to come to Him and He will give us rest. He invites us to learn from Him and how He is humble and gentle of heart. I don’t have to be perfect, I can make mistakes and keep learning because His mercy is new every morning.
I love so many Psalms like 32, 37, 139, and so many more that help me to relate to God in an honest way.
I love the story of Daniel especially, when, in Chapter nine God tells him how much he is loved.
I also have enjoyed different versions of the Bible for different reasons. Like how the Amplified always makes me think about the different meanings of words.
I have enjoyed the Living Bible paraphrase because I resonate with the language that Kenneth Taylor uses to describe how it feels to follow God, and how He describes God’s love for us.
I grew up reading NIV84 and so when I read it, I remember it developing my first love.
I have enjoyed the King James version because there are verses that speak so clearly and convict me so much. I usually tease, if you go King James on love, it takes patience to a whole new level. It tells us that Love suffers long and is kind, that is a different level than what we usually mean when we say love is patient.
Proverbs 9:10 states how we begin our relationship with Him. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
John 4:9-19 in the Living Bible is probably my favorite passage because I think it gives us the destination of our relationship with God.
“God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into this wicked world to bring to us eternal life through his death. In this act we see what real love is: it is not our love for God but his love for us when he sent his Son to satisfy God’s anger against our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us as much as that, we surely ought to love each other too. For though we have never yet seen God, when we love each other God lives in us, and his love within us grows ever stronger. And he has put his own Holy Spirit into our hearts as a proof to us that we are living with him and he with us. And furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now tell all the world that God sent his Son to be their Savior. Anyone who believes and says that Jesus is the Son of God has God living in him, and he is living with God. We know how much God loves us because we have felt his love and because we believe him when he tells us that he loves us dearly. God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him. And as we live with Christ, our love grows more perfect and complete; so we will not be ashamed and embarrassed at the day of judgment, but can face him with confidence and joy because he loves us and we love him too. We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly; his perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us. So you see, our love for him comes as a result of his loving us first.”
John 4:9-19
It is so wonderful when we know how perfectly God loves us.
There is so much more but this is enough for now.
-Bill
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