The Path of Shalom
•
Nov. 18, 2005
-
Favorite Book of the Scriptures
How do you pick a favorite book of the Scriptures? And then what about
favorite passages? There are so many of those, too! Then there are
favorite verses. How do you decide which is your favorite?
I was
talking with a friend the other night and she quoted some from 2
Corinthians 4 and how it is being personal to her life right now and it
reminded me again of that favorite of mine. But then when I was reading
through all the comments on this subject on a friend's blogsite,
someone mentioned about reading Isaiah when going through an unwanted
divorce. My Father spoke so clearly to me through Isaiah 54 and gave me
healing and promises for my children and my life to keep me going on
when life was so difficult. I was going through a similar situation.
Isaiah is such a rich book! Then there is the book of Psalms. I have
spent the most time in that book. You can get through it every month if
you read 5 a day. You can either read 5 in a row or you can read 1, 31,
61, 91, 121 and on like that starting with the number for the day. You
save Psalm 119 for the 31st day in months that have 31 days. I usually
follow that format and have gone through cycles of reading Psalms that
way. I love Psalm 91 and think it is the Psalm for our day and how
crazy the world is getting. My Father also made a promise to me out of
it just before my life fell totally apart when my husband of over 19
years and father to our 5 children decided to live the "gay" life. He
told me the plague would not come near my tent and I saw the word
"AIDS." I had no idea what was coming when He told me that. I also love
Proverbs and have done them cycling every month, too, a chapter a day
for months at a time. Those 2 books have profoundly affected my life.
Proverbs gives us wisdom, which is "seeing life from G-d's point of
view and acting in harmony with Him." Psalms helps you to learn to be
real before G-d and men and to know how to pray and worship.
I
also love Genesis. The first five books of the scriptures, or the
Torah, are the foundation of the rest of the scripture and I would have
to say that Genesis is the footer for the foundation. Without an
understanding of Genesis and the rest of the Torah, we will not really
have an understanding of G-d or of ourselves in relation to Him. We
will not have a correct understanding of the rest of the scripture,
either. We will tend to syncretize our own beliefs into the things that
we learn in the later scriptures without understanding the foundation.
That is a major reason for what we see going on in the churches in our
culture. If we throw out the foundation, we will be shaken in the
storms of life. We also will think more highly of ourselves than we
ought to think. I love seeing my Messiah and the scarlet thread of His
blood all through the foundational books and on to the very end of the
whole of scripture. He is there throughout it all and the whole book is
about Him. We tend to forget that and think it is about us and how to
live this life, etc. It is about Him. It is His story.
Then we
get down to favorite verses. I love "You will keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on You."(Is 26:3) I love "That I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His
sufferings, and being made conformable to His death."(Phil 3:10). I
asked Yeshua one day to know Him and the power of His resurrection. He
said to me "the fellowship of my sufferings and being made conformable
to my death go with that. Do you still want that?" I said "yes" and my
whole life fell apart. But now I know Him in a way I never would have
if I hadn't asked and He hadn't asked and I hadn't said "yes." I would
not change my answer or those circumstances.
I have so many
other verses, passages, chapters, and books. It would take way too long
to say more. It is the most wonderful of books, but the One who is the
Living Torah, the Living Word is even more wonderful than His words. I
was recently thinking about if I did not have the scriptures available
to me, and even though I've memorized some scripture, what would I do?
I was reminded that since He has written His word on the tablet of my
heart, He is perfectly capable of giving me His words even if I don't
have the print ones to read. Since there are so many in this world that
aren't priveleged to have umpteen different translations in their
language and sometimes have not even one, it explains how they grow in
Him. They know the one who is the embodiment of all He has written. He
can still do His work in them and give them His words when they need
them.
Now, what is your favorite book, passage or verse of scripture and why?
Love and shalom,
Serena
|
Post A Comment! :: Send to a Friend!
|
|
• Dec. 3, 2005 - My favorite book of Scripture is.....