Core Bible Verses

This website, and the Core Bible Verses book, are meant to encourage you to read the Bible, help you find important verses to memorize, strengthen your faith, and provide knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

If you are new to Christianity, or just here out of curiosity, I recommend reading the page, Is Jesus the Son of God? I believe this is the most important question we could answer, along with, Is God Real? If you read those and find yourself more interested, come back here and finish reading this home page. Many people are interested in what the Bible says but they feel like they don't have time to read it, or they are intimidated at the thought of reading through the entire Bible. The Core Bible Verses book and this website are meant to encourage you to read the Bible and memorize important verses. Maybe it would help to think of it like this, God is your heavenly father, and He wrote the Bible for you.

Just read four chapters each day and you will finish the Bible in one year. I’ve found two chapters a day works for me. I try to read them as part of my morning routine, but if that doesn’t work out, I try to read them before bed. I would recommend starting with the New Testament, then I would consider the book of Proverbs, as that has a lot of practical wisdom, then finish the rest of the Old Testament. 

I’ve read the Bible many times, and each time I learn new helpful lessons, because I’m going through a new chapter or season of my life. God’s word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12).

My favorite Bibles are the Life Applications Study Bible, the Apologetics Study Bible, and the English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible, because they provide helpful notes about important verses. There are even study Bibles with helpful notes just for men, women, teens, and some popular careers.  If you do commit to reading the whole Bible, I highly recommend taking notes, or maybe keep a Bible reading journal. That is how this whole website and my Core Bible Verses book got started. 

If you have not yet memorized Bible verses, or Scripture, I would recommend with the following great verses to help strengthen your faith. You can find more about these, including supporting verses and why I chose them, at the 12 Core Bible Verses page.  

Knowledge

1. The Bible is God’s word, and it is helpful (2 Tim 3:16)

2. God created the universe, with His words (Gen 1:1+)

3. God created humans, in His image (Gen 1:27)

Understanding

4. God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7)

5. Your words can harm or heal (Pro 12:18), choose them carefully

6. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, and whoever believes in Him will have eternal life (Jn 3:16)

7. We wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places, but we have God’s armor (Eph 6:12+)

Wisdom

     Daily Opportunities...

8. Have faith in God, faith can move mountains (Mk 11:22) (Jesus)

9. Love God and people, the law depends on it (Mt 22:37+) (Jesus)

     Challenge...

10. Resist the desires of the flesh, by walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16)

     Daily Choices...

11. People do not live on food alone, but on God’s word (Mt 4:4) (Jesus)

12. Let your light shine, so people see your works, and glorify God (Mt 5:16) (Jesus)

Out of these 12 Core Bible Verses come the 4 Core Christian Values -

Faith, Love, Wisdom, and Works. More about these on the 4 Core Christian Values page.

Why memorize Scripture? 

Faith comes by hearing the word of God (Ro 10:17).

God’s word is the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17), our weapon against spiritual adversaries (Mt 4:4-10).

The Bible tells us it is helpful (Ps 119:11, 2 Tim 3:16-17)

We are sanctified in truth, God’s word is truth (Jn 17:17) (Jesus)

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth (1 Cor 13:6). 

Psalm 119, the longest Psalm, is all about God’s word, referring to it as God’s word, law, precepts, statutes, rules, testimonies, and commandments. Psalm 119:4 says, “You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. 

I find it interesting the two previous Psalms are about God’s love, and Psalm 118 is a medium length Psalm, but Psalm 117 is the shortest Psalm. It’s like God is prepping the reader for the long Psalm of His word. If you are not yet interested or ready to read the entire Bible, the Core Bible Verses pdf is the next best thing. Or, if you want to read some great chapters in the Bible I would recommend these terrific twelve Bible chapters... 

1. John 1 - Origin of Jesus
2. Mark 2 - Acts of Jesus
3. Proverbs 3 - Trust God and get wisdom and understanding
4. Philippians 4 - Be reasonable and use your logic
5. Galatians 5 - Freedom in Christ and how the desires of the flesh oppose the Spirit
6. Ephesians 6 - Spiritual adversaries and your armor of God
7. Matthew 7 - Teaching of Jesus (including the Golden Rule, verse 12)
8. Romans 8 - Life in the Spirit and God’s everlasting love through Jesus
9. Acts 9 - Saul, a devoted Pharisee converts to Paul, a disciple of Jesus
10. Luke 10 - Service, Jesus sends out more disciples, and the Good Samaritan
11. Hebrews 11 - The VIPs of Faith in the Old Testament 
12. Romans 12 - Gifts of grace and marks of a true Christian

 The Bible can be considered a history book, from God. No respectable historian discounts the Bible as a credible historical document. The Old Testament was written by more than 40 people, on multiple continents, over the course of more than 1,000 years. But, all the books in the New Testament were written in less than 100 years. Many people also consider it our manual for life. 

Inside the Bible's pages are the answers to all the problems that mankind has ever known (Ronald Reagan).

 The books of the Bible include priceless and timeless truths, including the nature of God (Psalms 117 and Proverbs 6:16-19), how God created humans (Genesis 1:26, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, & 2 Timothy 1:7), human nature (Galatians 5:16-26), the natural laws God created on earth (Romans 1:18-20), and many helpful principles around these truths(2 Timothy 3:16-17). 

The Bible also says we all struggle with sin (Romans 3:23) that is rooted in our desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). That we have spiritual adversaries (Ephesians 6:12) who accuse and deceive (Revelations 12:9-10), steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). The Bible also gives us ways we can resist our desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:17 & 22-23) and ways to resist our spiritual adversaries (Ephesians 6:14-17, John 10:10, & 1 John 4:4). 

Best of all, the Bible tells us that God is not partial and does not favor one person over another (Romans 2:11), and nothing can separate us from God's love through Jesus Christ (Romans 8:38-39), who paid for our sins so we could have eternal life with God (John 3:16), and who calls us to a good life (Matthew 5, 6, & 7), to love God and other people (Matthew 22:37-40), and have faith in God (Mark 11:22 & Romans 10:17).

My concern is not whether God is on our side. My concern is to be on God's side, because God is always right (Abraham Lincoln).