Some Stuff from my Favorite Book

1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness

Ezra 9:6 - O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the Heavens.

Nehemiah 1:5-7 - O Lord, God of Heavens, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night ...I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself, have committed against you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

Matthew 19:26 - Jesus looked at them and said 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible'.

Mark 11:22-24 - Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, "Go throw yourself into the sea", and has no doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done or him. Therefore i tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Well, i have been living in my Bible. Almost every time i open it now, i tell myself I'm only going to read a verse or two but that turns into an hour.

That 1John verse comes with a really cool story:
Wednesday night I was at my friends' house for youth group. Certain verses were being asked to be found and they would be read out loud in a few minutes. Mark Something or Other was asked to be found, but before i could yell, "I got it", the guy sitting next to me found it first. Then another verse was asked to be found, evidently the guy sitting behind me found it first. Then 1John was asked to be found, and before i even tried to look for it i yelled, "Called it!". But then when I began to look for it, I realized that I was so excited that I didn't even listen to what verse it was. So i asked what it was. 1John -somethin' or other- , okay cool. So I look for it again. But my excitement was so loud that i couldn't hear what chapter or verse, i ask again. I got an answer of Chapter 1, verse 9, and my quest began again. I found it, bookmarked it, highlighted it, all without reading it. My friend Matt sitting across the room asked, "Still got it?". "Yeah, thanks, still got it", I reply going along with our usual sarcastic bit. But then the doorbell rings and in comes my mother. Dad was out of town and she needed to get the kids in bed. So, reluctantly, i gave hugs and left. After youth group I always feel refreshed and purified by hanging out with some of my favorite and most amazing people and by praising God together, so on the ride home I belted out songs along with the worship CD that was playing. When I got home I went to my room and, out of pure curiosity, read the verse that I tried so hard to get and never got to read. And WHOA! - these were the words I so desperately needed to see. I felt like someone smaked me across the face, for this verse, out of all the others, was the one I got assigned. This was the reason why I missed the first two verses that were called. I read the verse over and over again, each time the voice of God becoming more clear in my ears.