I first read through the Bible cover-to-cover when I was nineteen years old. I’d been a Christian since I was four, baptized in water at twelve, but I’d never read the entire Bible before. My campus pastors encouraged me to carve out devotional time every day, and so at nineteen years old, I set out to do just that. I read four pages a day out of my thousand-page KJV Bible, so it took me two hundred fifty days (about nine months) to finish.
It was during this period that I experienced something that I never had encountered before. As I was reading, the Holy Spirit highlighted specific verses to me that impacted my heart–so much so that I had to write them down on index cards and keep them close. I didn’t really know what to call the phenomenon, so I labeled the first one “Prayer Card,” since the verse was about prayer. I knew that it would fuel my prayers as I reread the verse in the future. By the end of that first read through the Bible, I had three prayer cards. They are verses that continue to grip my soul, and I’ve read and reread them countless times. Here they are for you to read:
“The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.”–Matthew 9:37-38
“Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; because I Myself am with you, and no one will assail you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.”–Acts 18:9-10
“How then shall they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!'”–Romans 10:14-15
I encourage you in this: when you encounter the Holy Spirit impacting your heart through the Word, remember those times well. God may be laying out the foundation of your calling. These verses have stuck with me through trials and joys, both the mundane and the glorious times. The words still burn in my heart. Read, and let His Word burn in yours, too.
Redundancy 