Life Changing Verses: Volume 1

By Carlton Lee Arnold

Life-Changing Verses is not your typical devotional book. Its objective is to enable Christians to personally apply specific Bible verses to their personal lives. At the same time, you will learn more about your Bible as well as receive an in-depth discussion of the verses selected.

The objective is to encourage you to become more Christlike in your living. Through reading Life-Changing Verses, you will become very familiar with Gods story in the Bible. Life-Changing Verses has been used in Bible study groups to generate discussion over specific topics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449779214

Carlton Lee Arnold

I have experienced worship in many churches throughout the Southeast and Northeast, having lived in six states. I served in the USAF for 7 years. After retiring from Verizon in 2003, I served on a church staff for five years as director of adult discipleship. I have been involved with mentoring men for over thirty years. All of the above has allowed me to get to know people and their problems. God has made so many changes in my life that have allowed me to identify personally with others. I currently live in Cumming, Georgia, with my wife of forty-four years.

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Copyright © 2012 Carlton Lee Arnold. [e-mail]

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

NIV – New International Version

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7922-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7923-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7921-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012923751

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/21/2012

CONTENTS

Other Works by the Author

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

1 God Who Is God?

—Isaiah 46: 9–10

2 Your Life God Is Always at Work!

—Philippians 1:6

3 Your Life Being a Disciple and Being Free

—John 8:31

4 Your Life Living It to Its Fullest

—John 10:10–11

5 Your Life What God Would Like to See

—2 Timothy 2:15

6 Your Life Freedom in Christ

—1 Corinthians 6:12

7 Eternity Focus on the Eternal

—Psalm 46:1–2

8 Thoughts Are You Living in the Wrong Country?

—Philippians 3:20–4:1

9 Christ Knowing What He Did for You

—1 Peter 1:18–19

10 Your Life The Proper Attitude toward Anxiety in Your Life

—Philippians 4:6–7

11 God Respond to God, as He Is God

—Acts 2:37

12 God’s Will God’s Will in Your Life

—John 6:28–29

13 You Who Are You Really?

—Isaiah 32:17

14 Salvation Are You Really Saved?

—John 10:28–29

15 Your Life When You Experience Fear

—Mark 4:38

16 Your Life Are You a Burning Bush?

—Exodus 3:4

17 Christ Darkness versus Light

—Matthew 5:14–16

18 God What God Has Given You

—Isaiah 49:13

19 God The Glory of God

—Exodus 40:34

20 Grace Selfish Grace

—Hebrews 12:14–15

21 God God’s Will

—Psalm 46:10

22 Purpose Why Do You Do What You Do?

—Colossians 3:17

23 Peace Was It, Is It, Will It Ever Be Peaceful?

—Colossians 3:15

24 Love Faith, Hope, Love

—1 Corinthians 13:13

25 Thoughts Rational Thinking Is Man’s Sixth Sense

—Jeremiah 33:2–3

26 Your life Strength to Get Through Another Day

—Isaiah 30:15

27 Your Life Worldly Stuff versus God Stuff

—Hebrews 11:24–28

28 Encouragement How to Judge Others

—Colossians 1:28

29 Grace Spoils All of the Me Inside Me

—2 Corinthians 9:8

30 Encouragement Living Life with God Before You

—Psalm 16:8

31 Thoughts God’s Work in Your Life

—Deuteronomy 4:9

32 Your Life The Universal Law about Your Life

—Galatians 6:7–8

33 Grace Give the Gift that Keeps On Giving

—Ephesians 4:7

34 Grace Are You Wasting God’s Grace?

—2 Corinthians 6:1–2

35 Thoughts Why We Think the Way We Do

—Romans 12:2

36 Faith Stand Firm in Faith

—Isaiah 7:9b

37 Your Life Bragfurall

—Jeremiah 9:23–24

38 Sin Purifying the Heart of a Believer

—2 Corinthians 7:1

39 Your Life A Whiny Child or a Maturing Believer?

—Proverbs 25:28

40 God Trust in Man or God?

—1 Chronicles 21:13

41 God His Power Is Awesome!

—Joshua 2:24

42 Your Life God Wants a Relationship with You!

—Joel 2:12

43 Your Life Real and Contented?

—Proverbs 30:7–9

44 Knowledge True or False?

—1 Timothy 6:20

45 God He Will Raise You Up!

—Psalm 71:20–21

46 Encouragement Encouraging Others

—Hebrews 10:24–25

47 God Gives Life Where There Is No Life

—Ezekiel 37:1–6

48 Hope Putting Things in Perspective

—Romans 5:5

49 Your Life Growing Spiritually is Hard Work!

—1 Timothy 6:6

50 God How to Understand Him

—1 Corinthians 2:12

51 Your Life When You Live It for God

—Luke 6:22–23

52 Faith and Love Grow More and More

—2 Thessalonians 1:3

Conclusion

List of Bible Verses Used

Index of Major Topics

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

Glory to God

the Father,

the Son,

and the power of the Holy Spirit given by God

OTHER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR

While teaching the two-year Through the Bible class, my son took it upon himself to digitally record each class. He transcribed these notes verbatim. They are available at www.allarnold.com . You are encouraged to visit the site to read about the Old Testament and the New Testament, especially about God’s story in both testaments. If you have any questions or comments about this two-year study, please let me know at [e-mail] .

In the same class at a later date, a class member took it upon himself to videotape each lesson and transfer all of them to DVD. Each lesson is available for a nominal fee. Note: there is a special seven-week study of the book of Revelation that has been taught in several Bible study classes. For more information, access my e-mail: [e-mail].

There are numerous other classes originated by the author to help Christians understand their life in Christ. These classes include Holy Spirit, Prayer, and What is Discipleship?

Life-Changing Verses

Volume 1

Encouragement for the Believer

to apply God’s Word with Conviction

To my wife

Now all has been heard;

here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,

including every hidden thing,

whether it is good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14

FOREWORD

It has been my honor to know Carlton Arnold as a volunteer church member and as a staff person. In both situations, Carlton was and is a man who loves the Word of God and is passionate about teaching the Word of God.

With experience and compassion, he is a faithful mentor to men, young and old, who want to know more of God’s Word and apply biblical principles to their life.

In Psalm 89:1 David wrote, I will sing about the Lord’s faithful love forever; I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations with my mouth. Carlton sings through his teaching about God’s love to young and old.

We need more faithful men to mentor the next generation.

Dr. Bob Jolly, pastor

First Baptist Church of Cumming, GA

www.firstbaptistcumming.org

The Church that Gives Itself Away

770.887.2428

PREFACE

Life-Changing Verses is a compilation of my personal write-ups about selected verses from the Bible. Most write-ups are only one verse, and some are well recognized while others are more obscure.

These write-ups were published on a weekly basis, and the audience has experienced continued growth over the years. I have been encouraged by many to format the Life-Changing Verses into book form so that others might find them helpful. If this volume is successful, I will continue to add other volumes.

These are not soft devotionals that allow you to say that you spent time with God. I am frank and candid about the current situation of the average believer. This is based on over thirty-five years of Bible teaching with the last fourteen years spent in teaching the Bible in its entirety seven times to classes that averaged over seventy-five people each Sunday.

My guiding principle was to encourage Christians to understand what the Bible says about being a believer. My main objective for each Bible verse selected was to make a real and practical application to a believer’s life. I experienced changes in my life while writing many of the life-changing verses. I have a strong opinion that conviction will occur with every believer. To God be the glory.

You will also find each life-changing verse helpful to get to know your Bible. I intentionally included the story surrounding each verse. Also, the way you think of your Christian life will be challenged.

Finally, a surprise to me was the use of these life-changing verses in Bible study classes. They are used to generate discussions about various topics. To help with the use of Life-Changing Verses for Bible study, I have included two indexes in the back of the book to make it easy for readers to find topics to discuss. The first is a list of the Bible verses used, and the second is a list of major topics. An index of key words is also available to help search for certain words.

Each life-changing verse was written by the leading of the Holy Spirit for individual use. I pray that you will be challenged, convicted, and encouraged by each one. And from your reading these, I pray that there will be changes in your life that can be attributed to the power of God as administered by the Holy Spirit.

All writings are the thoughts of the author as prompted by the Holy Spirit. The writer’s sole purpose was to see the hearts and minds of believers directed toward God after reading Life-Changing Verses. May God and His Son, Jesus Christ, be honored through these writings.

All of the verses are quoted from the New International Version.

INTRODUCTION

Changing our lives may not be a subject that we want to think about or deem necessary, since the world tells us that we alone have the power to control our destinies. However, when desperate situations eventually confront us, we realize that we are no longer the captain, but the slave. It is during this time of humility and hopelessness that God can change our lives.

God uses these downers so that we may develop a closer relationship with Him. God knows we need encouragement and hope. He gives them to us through His Word—the Bible, His love letters to us.

For meaningful life-changing experiences to occur, we must first accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior and open our hearts to Him. We are now prepared for God to start working on us. He does this many times by placing certain individuals in our lives whom He has equipped through the Holy Spirit to teach us the Bible. Great things now start to happen as