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those verses


Those verses.  You know them.  They are the verses that stick out and mean something.  Might be that another person wouldn’t have a clue about or mean something totally different.  

Talk another look at some of these verses.  They seem simple, but several of them have deep, deep meaning for me.  I have shared most of them many times in what I write, and certainly they have found themselves in to the sermons that I preach.

So, take some time to read them.  I will share a memory and a little insight as to why they mean a lot to me.  These are, those verses.

James 1:2-4  NASB
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

These verses first crossed my path through a cassette tape given to me by my aunt of her pastor’s sermon.  I listened to that sermon what seemed like hundreds of times.  Joy has been a chose for me for a long time.
  
Colossians 3:2  NASB
Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

I remember sitting in a room as a teenager learning about life and the trials that often come our way.  I learned that day to look up more than I look down.  Keeping my eyes toward God will keep me out of places I shouldn’t be.

Philippians 4:6-7  NASB
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This is one of the Bible promises that I have claimed time and time again through the years.  I quote it often and believe it totally.  I need that peace and claim it.  That’s why I choose to worry less.

Colossians 3:15-16  NASB
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.  Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 

These are the newest verses in the toolbox.  If it is a toolbox, it is one that I will hang on to for eternity.  Run back to peace.  Choose the word of God.  Both of those are attached to God.  Notice that these verses and the ones before have the truth within about being thankful.  Powerful truth.  I need Christ.  First.  Above all.  Then His peace.

James 1:5  NASB
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

That is the last verse because it is my life verse.  Wisdom is a commodity that we all we need.  It is more valuable than money, even gold bars.  Wisdom comes from God.  Not books.  Not brilliant people.  Wisdom is the gift of God.

There you have it.  Those verses. 

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