1. The Gospel
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures." 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 Nothing else could be more powerful. This remains my very favorite event in the Bible, and history for that matter :)
2. The Birth of Isaac and events leading up to, is a beloved passage of mine. Why? Well when the Lord visited them (Abraham and Sarah) and made His promise that they would have a son-Sarah laughed. She was far past the age of conceiving children, and not only that but she was barren in the first place. God had closed her womb, but now promised to open it. And she laughed in disbelief. He responds with "The Lord said to Abraham, 'Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?', Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year and Sarah shall have a son." Genesis 18:14 Aaaaand, that son that she had-Isaac-his name means "laughter". :)
3.I am the Good Shepherd
Out of all of the "I Am"s of Jesus, this is my favorite. Found in John 10:1-30, Jesus describes amazing attributes of His such as; sacrificing love, salvation, election, and sovereignty. To name a few. And another cool little tid-bit...Psalm 23:1-4 "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me." This is a commonly used passage, but what I recently learned is about the end-that is usually left out. "Your rod and your staff they comfort me"..the staff was used as a means for bringing the sheep back (a.k.a. the elect) and the rod was used as a means of protecting and disciplining the sheep. How cool!! Jesus further verifies the fact that He is indeed God, and reminds us of his amazing sovereignty!
4.Solomon Asks for Wisdom
In 2 Chronicles 1:1-13 God appears to Solomon, newly made king, and says "Ask what I shall give you." Out of all he could have requested, such as riches or wives or anything..Solomon says this 2 Chronicles 1:9-10 "O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?" And God basically responds with something like this "since you asked for wisdom instead of money or honor, I will give you both!" (very rough paraphrase :) )
5. Daniel's Prayer
Context is, basically King Nebuchadnezzar says "I'm not going to tell you what my dream was, I need you to read my mind, discover the dream, and tell me what it means...or you will all die." Daniel 2:1-13. The king had inquired of all the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and the Chaldeans. Daniel however had been given understanding in all visions and dreams from God. He went and made an appointment with the king, and then went home and met with his friends (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah...commonly known as Shadrach Mescach and Abednego) and prayed that God would reveal it to him before he met with the king the next day. Sure enough, God did, and the part that is my favorite is his thankful prayer of exaltation afterwards. Daniel 2:20-23 "Daniel answered and said: Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him. To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter."
6. Saul's Conversion into Paul
Long story short, found in Acts 9 a Christian killer had the eyes of his heart opened, and got a talk from God. His life was completely turned around, and his name was even changed to Paul. That guy wrote a large portion of the new testament. How. cool. When I think about the fact that God turned his life around, even though he was, well who he was...it just forces me to consider how much He forgave me of as well! How gracious.
7. Job
An easy way to sum up the book of Job in one sentence would be..Job 37:14b "stop and consider the wondrous works of God". And it forces you to do just that. Basically, Job was in deep deep mourning. He had lost almost everything, and had three friends who were trying, and miserably failing to comfort him. They wanted to blame what had happened on some sort of fault of Job's, believing that there must be something he had done to deserve this. Then along comes Elihu who shows them reason and truth. He spoke the above quote. And at the end, God answers Job out of a whirlwind (how stinking cool) and asserts authority and justice. It's pretty cool, but above that, humbling. The book just screams, "Praise God!".
8. Joseph
Story found in Genesis 37-50, this guy went through a lot. From being sold into slavery by his brothers, to becoming governor over all the land. Of course he was not perfect, but I admire some qualities of his, like his; patience, humility, self control, and forgiveness.
9.Hannah's Prayer
Hannah, also known as Samuel's Momma, was another woman who was barren. She asked the Lord for a son, and promised that if she was given one, she would devote his life back to the Lord. He grants it to her and she exults God for it in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Her prayer is full of attributes and actions of God, and is definitely one to meditate on.
10. Christ's birth
I will never get sick of the story of how the Word of God came down to a sinful world, in such a lowly and humble way, to die on a cross for sin that he never committed. His birth is definitely not the start of it all- that work started before the foundation of the world, but it is significant and beautiful. You can find that in many places, such as; Matthew 1, Luke 2, and John 1.
Thanks for reading! Hop on over to BecKyle's list now to see what hers are! :)
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