Walt and Barb’s Family Update — February 2025
February 1, 2025
February 2, 1944 — A bone-chilling, thick-as-soup fog and a passing Kraut Panther tank
February 2, 2025
What began as a quiet time exercise two decades ago became a brief, topical, daily, one-year Bible Reading Plan, that has literally spread around the world. Wowser! Color me humbled and grateful.
Over two decades ago, I began a daily quiet time discipline. I would take a word like faith, freedom, love, peace, etc., and search the Bible for every verse I could find about that topic. I saw each verse as a pearl of great wisdom.
I would then take 10-20 of those pearls, and shape them into a necklace of great worth that I believed represented God’s thoughts on those topics.
That became a twice-a-day Bible reading plan that I called “Morning Glory, Evening Grace.” I published it on DrWalt.com for over two years. It never really took off. A few people read it daily, and seemed to be edified by it, but subscriptions never really grew. So, after a few years, I quit taking the significant time it took to post it every day.
Then, a couple of years ago, my Web guru, Steve Raquel, an assistant professor of business education at the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois, and the founder of IOV Media, suggested that I allow him to pick 365 of the almost 800 twice-daily devotions, and post them on the You Version Bible app. He and my wonderful wife, Barb, came up with the title, “What the Bible Says About …”. For example, what the Bible says about “anger,” or “fear,” or “satisfaction,” etc.
The new Bible reading plan was posted in March of 2024 and, quite frankly, has far exceeded my wildest expectations. The You Version staff say that “What the Bible Says About …” has impacted over 6,000 people in 130 countries. It literally has spread around the world in less than a year.
I’m so grateful to the Lord for using technology to help me spread His word and His thoughts about topics that are important to Him and critical to our flourishing as His children.
Here’s an example of one of the devotions:
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
This is His command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us … This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us. … For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
And He has given us this command: Those who love God must also love one another. … No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
And He has given us this command: Those who love God must also love one another. … No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1Jo 3:23, 1Jo 3:16, 1Jo 4:7, 1Jo 3:23, 1Jo 3:11, 1Jo 4:11, 1Jo 4:21, 1Jo 4:12, 1Jo 4:7, 1Jo 4:21, 1Jo 4:12, 1Jo 4:11.
You can learn more about it or sign up with this QR code:
Here’s more detailed information about the plan:
You’ll find this devotional is unique in several ways.
First, it doesn’t contain one word or thought by a human, but onlyphrases or verses directly from the Bible. The reason is simple: “For the word of God is living and active” (He 4:12), “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2Ti 3:16-17), “These are the true words of God” (Re 19:9), and “If anyone adds anything to [these words of prophecy], God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll” (Re 22:18). You would be appropriately cautious of any author who picks and chooses verses out of context and re-packages them. But I hope you’ll find that this particular effort is righteous and will allow God to speak to you in a new way with His truths.
Second, there are no chapter and verse numbers. These were not original to Scripture and can sometimes get in the way of God’s Spirit speaking to and teaching us. Nevertheless, when people first come across the Bible without book, chapter, and verse, they rightfully wonder if the verses have been changed. Therefore, I’ve put the book, chapter, and verse references at the bottom of each devotion.
Third, often devotionals reflect this or that theological leaning. You won’t find that here either. What I’ve labored to do for you, over the last two decades, is gather significant verses to accurately reflect the whole counsel of God’s word. My guide was this: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15).
Last, but not least, let me encourage you to not just read or listen to these devotionals—rather, allow it to infuse your spirit, heart, and soul—to change you from the inside out. My prayer is that God will use His word to bear His fruit in and through you.
Walt Larimore, Colorado Springs, CO, January 2025
- The Bible chapters were developed early in the 13th century with verses being added in the 16th century. The first Bible in English to use both chapters and verses was the Geneva Bible published in 1560. These chapter and verse divisions have since been used in nearly all English Bibles.
© Copyright WLL, INC. 2025.
