Hold me up! Yes, please. I have hurt myself by trying to stand on my own. I can't do it and I need both a hiding place and a shield.

Psalm 119:113-117
I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.

You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
Depart from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.
Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
Hold me up, that I may be safe 
and have regard for your statutes continually!

Bible Gateway link

It is alive. It is speaking to me. I have permission right here to breathe in the God-breathed and use it. It equips me. Thank you God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for

teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Bible Gateway link

I hope I have come to my senses because Im really eager to escape from the snare. Freedom is all important. It allows one to "have nothing to do with foolish controversies" and to "not be quarelsome."

2 Timothy 2:22-26
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.
And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,
correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Bible Gateway link

I think the world could use some folks with self-control. Lucky Timothy, he's a legacy! Paul is 'sure' that faith dwells in Timothy and why? Because it dwelt first in his grandmother and mother.

2 Timothy 1:3-7
I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.
As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Bible Gateway link

It is not that money alone is evil, it is that it distracts us from the only thing that makes the fallen world tolerable. That is faith that eternal life exists. There is only one door to salvation, but thank God that door is open to us. Knock.

1 Timothy 6:6-9
But godliness with contentment is great gain,
for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

hBible Gateway link

It is a mystery, a total mystery. But once you let it wash over you as truth, there's no going back. It is the most significant thing that has ever happened.

1 Timothy 3:16
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

He was manifested in the flesh,vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among the nations,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.

Bible Gateway link

There are many people who don't want to hear the truth. So what? Keep at it. Jeremiah did and look, his scroll ended up in the best selling book of all time.

Jeremiah 36:27-28
Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:
“Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.

Bible Gateway link

This is a no-brainer, it is written on your heart, "...from the least of them to the greatest..." That includes you! (Check out Hebrew 8. The link is below the Jeremiah link.)

Jeremiah 31:31-34
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Bible Gateway link (Jeremiah)

Bible Gateway link (Hebrews)

Talk about non-instant gratification. The people God is speaking to here, are about to spend 70 years in captivity. Still I find it one of the most soothing passages in the Bible because it seems like something I could do. "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."

Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Bible Gateway link

I'm selfish and I have lots of worthless things. Of course, there's a prayer just for me in the Bible. It's there for anyone who needs it.

Psalm 119:36-37
Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

Bible Gateway link (NIV)

"...when you enlarge my heart!" This is why I read His word, for life and strength. If God has a job for me I'll need everything He can give me.

Psalm 119:25-32
My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word!
Put false ways far from me 
and graciously teach me your law!
I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.
I cling to your testimonies, O Lord;
let me not be put to shame!
I will run in the way of your commandments 
when you enlarge my heart!

Bible Gateway link

I just love how all this stuff holds together. In John Jesus says "I am the good shepherd, I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep" John 10:14-15

Jeremiah 23:1-5
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.
Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.
Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.

I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Bible Gateway link 

Will someone please explain to me why we insist on complicating everything. This seems pretty simple to me. I don't know much about theology but when I read the bible, the instructions are fairly straightforward. Am I wrong?

1 Thessalonians 5:14-22
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
Rejoice always, 

pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophecies,
but test everything; hold fast what is good.
Abstain from every form of evil.

Bible Gateway link

My husband says people who love each other are often in strife. It is nice to be reminded that the love part is taught by God. Strife is optional.

1 Thessalonians 4:9
Now concerning brotherly love

Matt Slocum/AP

you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,

Bible Gateway Link

Here are a couple of options. Which one describes you? In this world trusting in the Lord is not that easy, the alternative is easier but the results stink.

Jeremiah 17:5-8
Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man 
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.

He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.

He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Bible Gateway link

This is so true in my life. The bible is at work in me. It has gotten under my skin. That happened when I started seeing it as the word of God and not a bunch of myths and allegories.

1 Thessalonians 2:13
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Bible Gateway link

Full conviction! Has it been a while since you gave 100% to anything? This says he CHOSE you in word and in power and in spirit. Are we holding back our own full conviction just in case? Just in case of what?

1 Thessalonians 1:4-6
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not

only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

Bible Gateway link

Admit it, you've asked this question yourself haven't you? Me too. But plenty of people know God and thrive and prosper without being wicked or treacherous. The God part is the important part, not the stuff.

Jeremiah 12:1
Righteous are you, O Lord,
when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you.

Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why do all who are treacherous thrive?

Bible Gateway link

Look at the riches in one day's Bible reading. Steadfast love, a meaningful life and freedom, now seriously do you have any other questions? How about "What can man do to me.?"

Jeremiah 9:23-24
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
Bible Gateway link

Colossians 3:23-25
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
Bible Gateway lilnk

Psalm 118:5-9
Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
the Lord answered me and set me free.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The Lord is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord 
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord 
than to trust in princes.

Bible Gatway link

We see this so often in both the Old and New Testaments. It is not about religiosity it is about obedience. He says He will take care of us, yet in our lack of faith and trust we take the world upon ourselves; our will, our stiff necks.

Jeremiah 7:22-26
For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.
But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’
But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day.
Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

Bible Gateway link

Sometimes a little verse packs a big punch. Steadfast love, isn't that what we're all looking for?

Psalm 117:1-2

Praise the Lord, all nations!

Extol him, all peoples!

For great is his steadfast love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord!

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm117:1-2&version=ESV

Wanting what you have is a hard thing. When I have abundance I have plenty of options, when I have nothing I have only one place to go, and that is to God. I long for the spiritual maturity to learn this secret.

Philippians 4:11-13

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Bible Gateway link

This is an amazing concept. He knew us BEFORE the beginning. Thankfully we are not all prophets, but I think he is saying he needs us in the world. That is why we are born who we are. When we think ' but I don't know what I'm doing,' Remember this "I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord."

Jeremiah 1:4-8
Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.”
But the Lord said to me,“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord.”

Bible Gateway link

A crooked and twisted generation indeed. Look how we are behaving. I have a goal to shine as a light, God help me!

Philippians 2:14-15
Do all things without grumbling or disputing,
that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

Bible Gateway link

Live! Increase! Bless and praise the Lord! That's not asking much is it?

Psalm 115:14-18
May the Lord give you increase,
you and your children!

May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
The heavens are the Lord's heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.
The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any who go down into silence.
But we will bless the Lord 
from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!

Bible Gateway link

Praying for our fierce warrior Elizabeth Swanson who believes AND suffers greatly. May His face shine upon her.

Philippians 1:29

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=philippians1:29&version=ESV

One of my granddaughters has trouble with this. I remind her often. She takes it well.

Ephesians 6:1-4

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

“Honor your father and mother” this is the first commandment with a promise,

“that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians6:1-4&version=ESV

My husband loves me and shows it. I respect him and I show it. It's a start and it's been working for 20 years.

Ephesians 5:31-33

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ephesians5:31-33&version=ESV

Bitterness and forgiving are part of the same equation. If you are bitter and full of wrath, anger and clamor, chances are you either haven't forgiven yourself or someone else. As my sweet mother reminded me: God forgives everything.

Ephesians 4:31-32

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Bible Gateway link

So simple. This is another example of how much God loves us. This simple prayer is available to us, just by opening the bible.

Psalm 113:1-4
Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised!
The Lord is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!

Bible Gateway link