Isaiah 50:4-5 “The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to answer the weary a word that will waken them. Morning after morning, he wakens my ear to hear as disciples do; The Lord God opened my ear; I did not refuse, did not turn away.” Today's episode talks about how we can all find verses in the Bible that we can adopt as "life verses." These are verses that we can turn to and rely on no matter what we encounter throughout our lives. It also goes through the verse above and talks about the various declarations we could take from this verse to help us become better versions of ourselves. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
What Is A Life Verse?
Isaiah 50:4-5 “The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to answer the weary a word that will waken them. Morning after morning, he wakens my ear to hear as disciples do; The Lord God opened my ear; I did not refuse, did not turn away.”
While at Encounter Ministries class last night, I was talking with a fellow student. We were talking about how excited we get at the beginning of the year and how much we love a good planner. I don’t really know this classmate that well, as we only see each other for a few hours on Monday nights, and most of that time is spent listening to the teachers. I had no idea she loved planners and planning for the new year as much as I did. We were talking about our plans for the future a bit, and she asked if I had scriptures that spoke to the future I wanted. I told her I hadn’t looked up scriptures for the job I wanted, although I do have scriptures surrounding me that remind me to be bold and remind me that the Holy Spirit is living inside of us. They remind me that we can move mountains with mustard seed-sized faith, and whatever we ask in Jesus’ name will be given to us because Jesus went to be with His Dad.
My friend said she has a few life verses, and one of them is Isaiah 50:4-7. I really liked 4-5 because it talks about what I want to do when I grow it. It is a verse that speaks to the future that I want to have. I thought it would be great to share this with you for a couple of reasons. First, I thought if you could see how this verse relates to what I want to do, you could see how there are verses in the Bible that relate to what you want to do as well. Second, you might really like this verse and like what it says. Although I want to fulfill this verse on a bigger scale, I think we are all called to fulfill this verse in some way. Third, I am hoping this episode will get you excited about asking the Lord to give you a few “Life Verses.” To me “Life Verses” are those ones that we can turn to and rely on no matter what is going on in our lives. They remind us of things we need to remember in difficult times.
The first part of today’s verse says, “The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to answer the weary a word that will waken them.” This is something that might not necessarily be true at the moment, but something I can pray into. We have talked about declarations in the past. Declarations can be affirmation statements, they can be scripture verses, they can be anything that we want to declare over ourselves. The best way to phrase a declaration statement is as if it has already happened. You wouldn’t want to say, someday, I will be a writer. Your brain will hear that and say to itself, ok, we aren’t working on that yet. That is a future goal. However, if you say I am a writer, then your brain will hear that and get to work on figuring out how to make that happen.
The above verse is a well-phrased declaration I could begin to say daily. “The Lord has given me a well-trained tongue.” This is actually a good declaration for all of us to say. Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t say all the things you want to say? Wouldn’t it be great if those you are surrounded by didn’t say everything that came into their minds? How many times has someone said something to you, and you wondered what they were thinking when they decided to say that? It is crazy to me the things I hear come out of my own kids’ mouths at times. I mean, it seems like people are just getting more and more rude and they don’t seem to care. Imagine if we all had well-trained tongues. I bet our tongues get us in more trouble than we even know. Proverbs 18:21 says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. If our tongues are that powerful, it makes sense to pray earnestly for a well-trained tongue.
The verse goes on to say, “That I might know how to answer the weary a word that will waken them.” How great would it be to be able to do this? How great would it be to be able to know exactly what to say to your spouse, your child, your co-worker or your friend when they are weary? I know I have often prayed that I wish I knew what to say to cheer them up or to bring them out of their depression. I will say, if you don’t know how to pray for someone, ask the Lord to give you the words to say, pause, and then say whatever comes to your mind. You might not understand what the words you are saying mean, but the person you are praying over will.
I just got a message from a friend whom I pray over through text messages. Yesterday I didn’t really know what to pray for, so I told that to God. Yesterday part of my prayer was, “ We ask that you heal anything else that might be going on that we are unaware of. We know that you don’t need us to know, and you don’t need us to say all the right things. You just need us to come to you, and you will do the rest. This is us coming to you, Lord. This is us asking you to help us.” Today I got a reply back from my friend who said even though I sent this yesterday, she didn’t see it until today. Today she woke up with worry and anxiety, and this prayer gave her the peace that she really needed today. The peace that she knows can only come from God. God is so good! He will give you the words. All you have to do is ask.
The last part of this verse says, “Morning after morning, he wakens my ear to hear as disciples do; The Lord God opened my ear; I did not refuse, did not turn away.” This could be another declaration. Who wouldn’t want to wake up and hear like the disciples do? Yes, Lord, please open my ears. I want to hear like they heard. I want your voice to guide me every day in the right direction. Another declaration could be the ending part of this verse. I did not refuse, did not turn away. I wish I could say that I never refused the Lord. I wish I could say I never turned away. However, the truth is I do it all the time. Anytime I sin, I turn away from the Lord. Anytime I know the Holy Spirit is prompting me to do something and I don’t, I am refusing. My friend sure picked a great “Life Verse.” There are three declarations that have been found in these 2 different verses. That is pretty cool. I think I will write these verses down along with the declarations.
When you are reading the Bible, and you find that certain scriptures are jumping out at you, write them down and pay attention to them. The Lord might be trying to tell you something. Also, when you are reading scriptures, and you read some that describe a gift, quality, trait, virtue, or whatever it might be that you really want to have, then you can write down the scripture and make it into a declaration, which is just taking the verse and stating it in a way that says you already possess what was is stated in the verse. Sometimes you will come across a verse that just speaks directly to your soul. That might be a good life verse. Have you ever had a Bible verse that you heard and it just changed your whole life or your outlook on life? I remember the first Bible verse that really began to change my life was Romans 8:11 " If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Learning that we had the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead living inside of us was life-changing for me. I started living more into the power that we all have living inside of us. What is a verse that really means something to you?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, I ask you to give each person listening to this episode a verse that really speaks to their heart and soul. Lord, I ask you to help us come up with declarations about who we want to be, ones that will help us become the best version of ourselves. Help us pick a few life verses so that when we have decisions to make in our lives, we can refer to those verses, and they can keep us on the straight and narrow path toward you! We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus! Today I thought I would mention another benefit of joining my coaching program. This benefit is that we know we are not alone. It often feels like we are alone, especially in a world that is tolerant of everything except for Christianity. However, when you are in a group of other people who are also striving to grow closer to the Lord, then you know you are not alone, and you can be yourself more around them. For more information about my group coaching program that starts in January, check out my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, or CLICK HERE. I look forward to bringing you a wonderful witness tomorrow morning. You won’t want to miss it. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day.
The Word from God for today, “My beloved children, now, now is the time. Now is all you have. This is your time, this is your now. My spirit moving among you will help you to be my light to those who encounter you each and every day. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid, but believe. Believe in my love. Believe in my words to you that I am with you always. Now is the only time that I give you. Now is the time I ask you to be my other self to those you meet. Smile at them with my smile. Pray with them with my heart. Give them the hope that I give you. Do not wait, my children, do it now."