I’m probably the last person EVER to have heard of this, but I recently saw a post of a beautiful Bible verse meme on social media, and someone had commented underneath, “That’s my birthday verse!”.
“Birthday verse?” I thought, “What’s that?”. Well, it didn’t take too long to figure out that the numbers in the reference of the Bible verse corresponded to the numbers in the date of the commenter’s birthday.
Now if you’re a long timer around here, you know that I’m not too keen on “life verses” and having a “word for the year” because people tend to go too far with them. They build doctrine and theology around those concepts (which are found nowhere in Scripture), and things can go wonky fast.
And if you take this “birthday verse” thing seriously, the same thing can happen. It doesn’t define you. It doesn’t have any significance in your life or identity. It doesn’t mean anything.
But it’s kinda fun just to see what pops up, and if that’s all you’re in it for, it’s no more a harmful diversion than watching a funny YouTube video or playing some Wordle.
You can go old school and flip through your Bible, but I found it easier to go to Bible Gateway and click on the “Bible Book List” drop down. That way it’s easy to see – if, say, your birthday is in December – whether or not the book you’re looking at actually has twelve chapters. If it does, you can just click on chapter 12, and it’ll take you right to that chapter of the book you’re looking at:
My husband and I gave it a try with both of our birthdays. His birthdate yielded some pretty impactful verses. Mine, some pretty random verses. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable (Any March 16 babies out there?)… but some of them need a lot more context than others!😀
My birthday is April 27 (4/27). Some books don’t have four chapters, and of those that do, not all of those fourth chapters have 27 verses. But here are my “birthday verses” for the ones that do. Why not give it a try with your birthday!
4:27
Exodus: Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and encountered him at the mountain of God and kissed him.
I have a son whose middle name is Aaron, and a son-in-law whose first name is Aaron. Neither of them were born on April 27, and I’m pretty sure neither of them know anybody named Moses. I guess this one’s a bust.
Leviticus: ‘Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty,
…Eeek! A cliffhanger!
Numbers: All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their service, shall be performed at the command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a responsibility all their loads.
There’s ol’ Aaron again. These Gershonites sound like pretty responsible, hard working dudes.
Deuteronomy: And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will remain few in number among the nations where Yahweh drives you.
See, this is where “These verses don’t have any significance in your life,” is a GOOD thing.
1 Kings: And these deputies sustained King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his month; they left nothing lacking.
More responsible, hard working dudes.
2 Kings: Then she came to the man of God to the hill and took hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is bitter within her; and Yahweh has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
This is from the story of the Shunamite woman. If you’ve never read it, you should! It is an amazing story that points us ahead to Christ.
1 Chronicles: Now Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many sons, nor did all their family multiply like the sons of Judah.
Good to know… I guess?
Proverbs: Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.
Aha! Meaningfulness! What a great admonition to remember!
Jeremiah: For thus says Yahweh, “The whole land shall be a desolation, Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.
Again, thank you, Lord, for good hermeneutics that tells me this judgment has no application to my immediate life circumstances.
Daniel: Therefore, O king, may my advice seem good to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.’
I wouldn’t mind saying this to a “king” or two…
Mark: and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.
God has a sense of humor. He knows I have a black thumb.
Luke: And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
The story of Naaman is another fantastic Old Testament story you should read. You can find it in 2 Kings 5.
John: And at this point His disciples came, and they were marveling that He was speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You speaking with her?”
OK, this one touched my heart. Who am I that my Lord should come to me, make sure I heard the gospel, and, in His love and mercy, save me? Why would you speak with me, Lord? I am just a sinful woman. But even sinful women are precious to Jesus.
Acts: For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
Galatians: For it is written, “Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth; Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; For more numerous are the children of the desolate one Than of the one who has a husband.”
This is actually a quote of Isaiah 54:1. It is an allegory of the old and new covenants.
Ephesians: and do not give the devil an opportunity.
OK, maybe this IS my life verse! Or at least my ministry verse.😀
What about YOUR birthday verses? Anything interesting, meaningful, or funny? Share in the comments!
The Lord’s richest blessings to you, readers. It is an honor and a joy to serve you in Christ. Welcome to all the newbies and to you seasoned veterans of the blog.
Because some of y’all are new, you aren’t yet aware of all of the resources here to help you. Or maybe you’ve been around a while and haven’t noticed something that might be helpful. Let’s remedy that!
Second, be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the tabs in the blue menu bar at the top of the page. That’s where I keep the info I’m most frequently asked about.
Third, there’s a search bar at the bottom of every page (and one in the blue menu bar at the top of every page) which might help you find what you need.
And finally, let me get you new readers some answers to the questions several of you have asked. Some of you long time friends may have missed these along the way, so I hope they’ll be helpful to you, too!
What is your take on having a “life verse” or favorite verse? People ask this frequently and I can never tell them one specific verse as there have been many verses through many situations that have been special to me.
I think you’ve hit on an important part of the answer. Life is constantly changing, and the Word addresses all of those various needs and situations. Who could banner or cling to only one verse in the midst of all of that, and why would anyone want to? I’ve answered this a bit further -with Scripture- in my article…
Hi! I’m looking for sound doctrine Spanish women teachers.
It’s always encouraging to hear from women who want to make sure they’re consuming sound doctrine! Don’t limit yourself to women teachers, though, especially when the language barrier is probably already severely limiting your choices. There are far more doctrinally sound male pastors and teachers out there than female, with far more resources.
I would check Grace to You, Ligonier, and HeartCry Missionary Society (Paul Washer). I know they all have books and resources (sermons, articles, etc.) in Spanish, and if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for on the site, you can contact them directly, and they can point you in the right direction.
My husband and I have gone to a “contemporary” Christian church for 12 years. The music isn’t our preference but we’ve overlooked it because the teaching was solid; however, after recently learning the truth about Bethel, Hillsong and Elevation, we’ve discovered other false teaching with the use of IF: Gathering for women and Orange curriculum for children/youth. We plan to talk with the lead and administrative pastors who are also elders very soon. Should we stay to see what happens or do we have the freedom to leave now? Thank you.
I’m so sorry the leadership of your church is doing this.
You should stay until you’ve talked with the pastors and elders. If they clutch their pearls, gasping, “Oh dear, we had no idea these were false teachers! Please give us more information so we can eradicate false doctrine from our church!” well, praise God, stay, and help them.
But in my experience, when false doctrine and false teachers have infiltrated a church to this extent, the leadership of the church are either so biblically ignorant and lazy that they don’t know what constitutes false doctrine, or they simply don’t care that they’re feeding poison to their congregation, and they will dig in their heels and try to make you the bad guy for confronting them. They care more about scratching the itching ears of the people who fill the pews with what’s easy and popular than they do about pleasing God. They’re committing pastoral malpractice by shirking their Titus 1:9 mandate. And all of this disqualifies them from the office of pastor / elder, no matter how solid the teaching seems (don’t think that their theology and teaching isn’t affected by this). I do not envy them the day that they will stand before God and answer to Him for their shoddy shepherding.
If you find this to be the case when you talk to your pastors and elders, feel free to leave and find a doctrinally sound church. You’ve done all you can and all God requires of you.
Here are a few resources that may help you and others in similar situations:
My husband is Catholic and comes from a deeply Catholic family tradition. I have recently started attending a Bible-teaching church on my own. Outwardly, he approves. I prayed over this subject yet still wrestle with it and wonder if I am being disobedient. I would appreciate wisdom on this.
I know this is a really difficult situation. May the Lord comfort you and give you wisdom. Sadly, situations like this – in which the husband is either unsaved and / or wants to go to a heretical or unbiblical “church” and the wife craves a doctrinally sound church – are not uncommon. Here are a couple of cases I’ve addressed in the past:
No, you are not being disobedient, either to your husband (especially since he says he approves) or to God.
What are your other options? The only two I can think of in your situation would be going to Catholic services with your husband or not going to church at all. Both of those would be wrong.
God is quite clear all over Scripture that He doesn’t want His people anywhere near false doctrine or false teachers, and that’s what Catholicism is. It’s an anti-biblical, non-Christian religion. It is one of the accursed “another gospels” of Galatians 1:6-9. You no more belong at a Catholic service than at an altar of Baal or in the temple of Artemis.
So you can’t go to services with your husband. You can’t not go to church at all. Your only other option is to do what you’re doing – find a doctrinally sound church and go without him. What other choice do you have?
I do appreciate your post. One question – in hearing God speak. I have heard God speak to me. I have felt prompted and convicted. From what I am seeing on your website, it seems as if you are saying that is unbiblical. Can you please clarify and provide scripture for that? Also, just recently when reading the Christmas story, I noted that Joseph was warned in a dream. Trying to reconcile with what you are saying.
That’s a great question, and it sounds like God is growing you in discernment and the knowledge of His written Word. That’s wonderful!
First, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about “hearing God speak”. When I use that terminology, I’m talking about things like, “I audibly heard God speak to me and tell me to buy the red car instead of the blue one,” or “God spoke to me in a dream and told me I’m going to marry a guy named Todd.”. Direct, specific, extra-biblical revelation. God doesn’t do that today.
I’m not talking about things like, “I was praying and suddenly felt convicted over the lie I told yesterday, so I repented,” or “I keep seeing or hearing, in various places, this particular Bible verse about trusting God, and it has really made me think about my lack of trust in God. So now I’m praying and studying Bible passages about trusting God more.”. God does do that today. Those are just a couple of ways the Holy Spirit guides us. That type of thing is not what I mean when I say that “hearing God speak” is unbiblical. We need to be careful that we’re not conflating the biblical with the unbiblical.
You say you’ve heard God speak to you. Was it the first way I mentioned, direct, specific, even audible extra-biblical revelation? If so, how do you know – as a matter of objective fact – that it was God? Think of it this way – if you had to prove in a court of law that it actually was God speaking to you, what evidence would you offer?
Because I’ve never encountered someone who said God spoke to her in that way who had anything to offer up as “proof” that it was God other than her subjective feelings or opinion, or the purported intensity of the experience. In other words, just because you believe something to be true doesn’t mean it is, and just because you had a really intense experience doesn’t mean your interpretation of said experience is correct, especially when those things contradict Scripture, which extra-biblical revelation does.
God Himself tells us that His written Word is sufficient for everything we need. Extra-biblical revelation undermines the biblical doctrine of Scripture’s sufficiency. Here are some resources that help explain:
Do you have a list of the biblically solid women writers you would recommend? I’m compiling a list of resources for our women’s event table. I have some…but I thought you might have some I hadn’t thought about.
Yep! See that blue menu bar at the top of this page? Click on “Recommended Bible Teachers“.
I’m so glad you want to provide doctrinally sound resources for your ladies! (As I mentioned above, I strongly recommend that women not limit themselves to women authors and teachers. There are far more doctrinally sound male authors and teachers out there with far more resources available. Your event table might be a great place to introduce your ladies to some of them!)
I thought this might be a common question, so maybe you can point me to something you have already written on this topic…
You came to the right Mailbag. :0)
I was given [a heretical] book from a well meaning, but undiscerning family member. Do you recommend throwing it directly into the trash…
That is definitely one option (especially since you mentioned you’ve discussed these problematic doctrinal issues with her before). I’ve discussed several methods of disposing of heretical books in this article:
(I know the book you were given wasn’t a false teacher’s study Bible, but I’m going to throw in an article that deals with disposing of those, too, for other readers: The Mailbag: Asked and Answered (July 5, 2021).)
[Or do you recommend] offering to read through it together with the family member so we can discuss the problems in it, maybe reading through it on my own and then discussing the key problems? My husband and I have addressed this topic with the family member before, but I guess it didn’t stick. They attend a church that loves Bethel music and they have shared sermons with us that are borderline Word of Faith stuff, which is when we have addressed the issue with them before.
If she is willing to sit down with you and discuss it – calmly, rationally, Bibles on the table – then please do take the time to do that. (Wouldn’t it be amazing if God used you as He brings her out of darkness and into His marvelous light!) If things start out well but then seem to be getting a little heated, you can always say, something like, “Why don’t we take a break from this for now and pick it up another time? How about some ice cream?”. Or, if she shuts down the conversation: “We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to, but if you ever have any questions or decide you’d like to talk about it, my door is always open.”.
If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.
Have you ever heard someone say, “Such and such a verse is my ‘life verse'”? It’s a trend that has become popular over the last several years.
I think people’s hearts are usually in the right place when they embrace the idea of a life verse. They want to cling to God’s word and have it govern their lives, and that desire is good, godly, and biblical.
The concept of a life verse isn’t biblical, though. The Bible doesn’t say anywhere that we’re to choose a particular verse as our life’s slogan or mantra. There might be times in our lives when a particular verse is especially meaningful, but Christians are people of the Book, not people of the verse. Paul speaks about proclaiming “the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27) Psalm 119:160 says, “the sum of Your word is truth.” Psalm 139:17 declares: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”
The Bible can’t be boiled down to one verse. We need all of the Bible for all of life, not one life verse. So let’s make sure we’re doing the hard work of studying the entire Bible and applying it correctly to the various situations that arise in our lives.
