The Power of God's Word

On Valentine's Day I decided to do one of the devotionals in Aria's Bible about love.  It was from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.  We had a good conversation about love, but the most powerful part came from the suggestion at the end of the devotion.  It said to have your mom read how God describes love in the rest of 1 Corinthians 13.  It suggested reading it through once and then on the second time putting in Aria's name where it says love.  This is the result...

Aria is patient and kind.  Aria is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  She does not demand her own way.  She is not irritable, and she keeps no record of being wronged.  Aria does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Aria never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

I had done this exercise before as a part of a middle school lesson, but I had not thought to do it with Aria.  It's impact was evident.  At first, during the positive attributes, Aria was a bit bashful to hear that she is patient and kind.  Then, during the negative attributes in which she is not, she got a real funny look on her face.  She commented that sometimes she does do those wrong things.  But we talked about her not doing them very often.  Then we discussed how these verses are a description of how God wants her to live and talked about examples of how we can exhibit those things.  It was incredibly powerful to make it so personal to her by using her name.

I find it incredibly powerful to use Scripture for prayer and to make it personal by inserting your own name.  I did this same exercise today with my Elemental Bible reading of Ephesians 2:4-10.  It went like this...

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved me so much, that even though I was dead because of my sins, he gave me life when he raised Christ from the dead.  (It is only by God's grace that I have been saved!)  For he raised me from the dead along with Christ and seated me with him in the heavenly realms because I am united with Christ Jesus.  So God can point to me in all future ages as an example of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward me, as shown in all he has done for me, who is united with Christ Jesus.
God saved me by his grace when I believed.  And I can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things I have done, so I cannot boast about it.  For I am God's masterpiece.  He has created me anew in Christ Jesus, so I can do the good things he planned for me long ago.

Let me say that again.

I am God's masterpiece.
He created me anew in Christ Jesus, so I can do the good things he planned for me long ago.

It gave me the chills.  How powerful is it to read what God has done for me!  Because even though Paul was writing to the Ephesians, all those things he said apply to me, too.  And when I read that I am God's masterpiece, it gives me a whole new self image.  I am not anything this world calls me.  I am God's masterpiece.  How incredible!!

I will definitely make personalizing Scripture something I do for myself and with Aria more often.  And, I will be using it to pray for many others, too.  Why try to come up with my own things when God has given me a whole book full of what to say?!?