LIFE VERSES

The Lord is my light and my
salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my
life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Psalm 27:1,2

When a junior in high school, some relatives of my grandmother came to visit from the distant state of Minnesota. Among those relatives was a girl, Judy, who was at the time a senior in high school while I was a junior. She was absolutely gorgeous physically, but also had a radiance about her that I knew at that young age could only be of the Lord. We talked a lot in those few days. She shared the Scriptures with me like I had never experienced with someone more my age. She gave me her senior picture for my billfold. On the back she wrote a sweet note and then under her name wrote: Philippians 1:21. I asked her about that and she told me the verse was her life verse. I had never heard of a life verse...what it was or what it meant. Judy had signed her picture with that reference and told me she usually did that when she signed her name
.

For a time I adopted Philippians 1:21 as my life verse. It's a wonderful verse for anytime in one's life:

For me to live is Christ,
and to die is gain.

That is a great verse to cover just about every area and experience in one's life. I often think of it and quote it to myself when I have the need for it's encouragement. However, as life as progressed for me and I have lived through the various ups and downs life presents, I often come across verses that seem to really apply for present circumstances.

 For living a Christ-filled life daily is such a wonderful thing despite my shortcomings and failures. I know no matter how good life is right now, the best is yet to come. Many verses have come to be life verses for me at various times. It was a good day when it dawned on me that I can have several verses in the pocket of my heart to pull out and claim for any number of events in my life.

This morning as I awoke, Psalm 27:1,2 came to my mind like a flash. It was comforting. Lately I've been pretty tired, a little on the “fritz”. These verses have come to be such a blessing for this particular time. Sometimes we of the “more mature” generation can become a little fearful at times as our issues are different from the average thirty year old. These verses have come to be sources of encouragement and peace. I can't say I'm fearful at the moment, but my life concerns are different than they were 20 years ago.  Maybe you like me need to be assured that the Lord is our LIGHT, SALVATION and the STRENGTH of our lives. Because of that, we have to walk in fear. Those are verses for any time of life.

By the way, every verse in God's Word has purpose for our lives. All sorts of verses may come to have special meaning, but they in isolated form cannot take away from the entire counsel of God. We can “go hunting” for verses. The Holy Spirit knows our every need and will give us what we need from His Word if we ask Him to. We are very lax in memorizing Scripture verses and yet such verses become spiritual life preservers and thus, they all become LIFE VERSES.

Dear Father...I'm so grateful for Your Word inspired by Your Spirit. It means more to me than I can say. You have loved me through it. You've given me strength, encouragement and yes, correction I badly needed at times. When the day comes that dying is gain for me, then I'll see it all unfold in person. Through it, I came to know Jesus and am so grateful, so I pray these things in His name....Amen