Lord, help my unbelief! --> as I struggled with my faith I repeated this to myself many times a day and found comfort in it. A man who had SEEN Jesus perform a miracle still could not believe. Ergo, my doubts were normal.

I don't "believe" any more but I still find much of the Bible inspiring. Psalm 103 says "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." I have the bolded part written on a card on my fridge and try to make it my parenting motto.

Anonymous wrote:7:18 again, another favorite of mine is John 11:1-46. The raising of Lazarus.

I just find this miracle to be so...I don't know...audacious or something. Jesus intentionally performs this miracle in front of a crowd of people so that they can witness the power of God over death. It is one of the few instances where Jesus sorta "flexes" his muscle.

I wonder what happened to Lazarus after that. Did he just die like everyone after that, or did he ascend into heaven like Jesus? Guess not, or we would have heard about it.

To me it seems like more of a parlor trick -- like all Jesus' miracles. Now if he had erased the earth of disease for all time, that would have been impressive and more along the lines of what you would expect from the son of the creator of the universe.

We will do and we will hear.

I like the one about how a man must avoid the chair a woman sat on when she had her period

Goofy in a way

Bump. More please!

Matthew 25:31-46

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Definitely Psalm 23. I love knowing the Lord is always at my side and that I am never alone.

Proverbs. Great, practical advice for every relationship -- business, spousal, parents, friends

I like the parable of the Good Samaritan. Here the Samaritan is part of a despised group. Yet he helps the sick man who is "one of us" even though our own people passed the sick man by. It reminds me that loving your own tribe/coreligionists is comparatively easy, but Jesus wants you to do the really hard thing and love your enemy.

1 Conrinthians 13:13

"And the greatest of these is love."

Galatians 5:6

"The only things that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

My favorite is john 3:19. It explains everything you see around you and it totally explains what you hear people say and what they do. It explains hatred of Christianity and acceptance / tolerance of all other faiths by the so called "educated" lol... People. Once you hear and believe this quote of Jesus you get it. It is the sin ... That if you hang on to it till death, you probably do not get forgiven .

"This is the condemnation. Light has come into the world but the people turn from the light and love the darkness because their deeds are evil"

"

7:18 again, another favorite of mine is John 11:1-46. The raising of Lazarus.

I just find this miracle to be so...I don't know...audacious or something. Jesus intentionally performs this miracle in front of a crowd of people so that they can witness the power of God over death. It is one of the few instances where Jesus sorta "flexes" his muscle.

Great thread topic!!

I can't say I have one "favorite" verse. Different things are more meaningful during different moments.

One of my faves though is an oldy but goody...Joshua 24:15

As Joshua is getting ready to lead the people of Israel into Canaan he tells them they have some serious thinking to do about the direction of their lives...

"As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord".

I haven't read through the whole book, but this one is by far my favorite-Matthew 18 1-5.

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them, and he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."

So beautiful.