A Magnolia's Heart Beats

Thankful Thursday - Precious Words

What's your source of comfort? Some are comforted by food, some by a good cry, others by conversations with a close friend or family member. How thankful I am this Thursday for the gift of the Word of God! While I love a good hug from my earthly father when I'm feeling sick, My Heavenly Father, through His written Word, the Bible, has not only given me true comfort in affliction but also life through His precious promises.

The Hebrew word for life here is chayah. Below is the outline of biblical usage for this word.

1) to live, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, live for ever, be quickened, be alive, be restored to life or health
a) (Qal)
1) to live
a) to have life
b) to continue in life, remain alive
c) to sustain life, to live on or upon
d) to live (prosperously)
2) to revive, be quickened
a) from sickness
b) from discouragement
c) from faintness
d) from death
b) (Piel)
1) to preserve alive, let live
2) to give life
3) to quicken, revive, refresh
a) to restore to life
b) to cause to grow
c) to restore
d) to revive
c) (Hiphil)
1) to preserve alive, let live
2) to quicken, revive
a) to restore (to health)
b) to revive
c) to restore to life

Oh, the promises of life God's Word holds for us. They truly are a comfort to me, especially when I'm afflicted. Reading the Bible hasn't always been a source of comfort for me. I don't mind telling you that it used to seem like a chore. Once I prayed about it and asked God to really reveal His Word to me, what He wanted me to understand, to speak it into my heart through His Holy Spirit (reading it to me), I discovered that what I previously found boring was intriguing, what I thought redundant was of great importance, and what I thought were simply stories were timeless truths with lessons still to be learned. How I have come to know my Savior more intimately through His life-giving Word!

Here are a few of my favorite life-giving verses based on the definitions above. Again, I am so thankful for God's precious words. What a wonderful theme Iris chose for the week! These verses and more carried me through a flare-up and have sustained me during some troubling times with our daughter's health issues this week and last. May they encourage you and help you find the life-giving power I found in them.

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." ~ John 6:63 (NIV)

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life." ~ 1 John 1:1 (NIV)

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." ~ John 10:10 (NIV)

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." ~ John 15:7 (NIV)

"Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " ~ Matthew 4:4 (NIV)

"He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor." ~ Proverbs 21:21 (NIV)

"Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?" ~ Psalm 85:6 (NIV)

"Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." ~ Psalm 103:2-5 (NIV)

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." ~ Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." ~ Isaiah 40:31 (NIV)

""I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." ~ John 5:24 (NIV)

"I have suffered much; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your word." ~ Psalm 119:107 (NIV)

"but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." ~ John 4:14 (NIV)

"For this is what the high and lofty One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite." ~ Isaiah 57:15 (NIV)

"Lord, by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live." ~ Isaiah 38:16 (NIV)

"But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. " ~ Psalm 1:2-3 (NIV)

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever." ~ Isaiah 40:8 (NIV)

"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." ~ Psalm 20:7 (NIV)

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. " ~ John 1:1-4 (NIV)

I'm praying your source of comfort is the greatest Comforter of all, our Lord! He longs to enfold you in His arms and whisper the promises of life to your ear in good times and in bad. He loves you that much! He wants you to be secure in the comfort of His Word. How blessed are we, indeed!

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ," ~ Ephesians 1:7-9 (NIV)

What are you thankful for this week? Thankful Thursday is hosted by Iris at Grace Alone... Please be sure to visit her, link up and post your own thankful post.