Paul Baloche
Desperation Band
Brian Doerksen
Don Moen
Desiring God
The Practice of the Presence of God 
I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads free Christian resources, and to wish you a happy Christmas.
My Christmas message is Isaiah 9:6-7, which I have put below in both the NIV and message translations. For me this sums up Christmas. “The gift of a son—for us!”.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV)
For a child has been born—for us! The gift of a son—for us!
He’ll take over the running of the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness.
Isaiah 9:6 (The Message)
If you would like to read more bible verses about Christmas then take a look at this article by Tony Kummer.
Tags: christian, Christmas, free, general, resources, verse
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For anyone who hosts a blog on WordPress, Butler Blog have updated their useful bible verse plugin called Verse-O-Matic.
The basic premise of Verse-O-Matic is that it allows you to display a random verse in your blog or website. You have to add the verses you want rather than them being provided already, with just four examples included in the download.
Ease of use
Verse-O-Matic is very easy to install by simply uploading the relevant folder into your plugin folder and activating it. You can then put the code on your blog to display the code. There are good instructions on the Verse-O-Matic page as well to help should you need it. There is a also a sidebar widget included if you mange your sidebars with this method.
The set-up page within your WordPress is well laid out and intuitive to use.
What does it look like?
It is a very simple design and just displays the text. You can have a look at it on Butler Blog. Of course, you can easily use CSS to change the way the verse is displayed. You can decide to just have the verse, or to link to various other translations via Bible Gateway.
Other features and usage
Verse-O-Matic displays a single random scripture verse from the list that you manage on the WordPress ‘manage’ page. You can choose from showing a random verse each time a page is loaded, a randomly selected verse-of-the-day, a specifically chosen verse each day, or a single static verse that won’t change until you change it.
Each verse can also be linked to anything you want. You could choose a specific verse in a specific translation, a set of verses, or even an online tract or blog post.
Summary
This is a fantastic WordPress plugin if you want to show random verse on your blog.
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Strengths
- Flexible
- Easy to use
Weaknesses
- You have to add in all th verses you want to show, it would be great if there was a version available with lots of verses already included, or way to import them from somewhere.
Links
Website:
http://butlerblog.com/verse-o-matic/
Tags: blogs, plugin, resources, verse, verse-o-matic, website, wordpress Related posts on this site:Chris Roberts has come up with a great way to add ESV bible verses onto your Wordpress powered website. It is very flexible and gives you several ways of displaying verses. The key benefit is that you do not need to write out the bible verse, just the reference, so it should save you time. Here are the different ways you can use the plug-in to display verses:
- Tooltip
This is a useful option, as it shows just the bible reference but if you click on it it brings up a pop-up box with the verse. - Inline
This adds the bible reference with the verse and displays it inline in your post. - Blockquote
This adds the bible reference with the verse and displays it as a blockquote for added emphasis. - Link
This is a useful one as it displays the bible reference as it is, but makes it into a link to the ESV website. - Ignore!
This will simply ignore your default setting and leave any bible references as text.
You can set one of these as a default way to display all verses, and this can be overridden on a case by case basis by following the instructions on the plug-in page.
Tags: bible, blog, blogs, christian, ESV, free, resources, verse, website, wordpress Related posts on this site:
Many may argue that facebook is a waste of your precious time, so why not add a bit of biblical truth to your page?
The ESV blog has recently promoted a facebook application that will do just that. The ‘Holy Bible’ application simply puts a random daily verse onto your facebook page for you or your visitors to view. Alternatively you can select it to display a specific verse.
It is simple to add, and has an unfussy design that will sit well in any facebook page.
Further changes are likely as the author Zachary Howe has asked for suggestions. One that he is working on is to allow personal comments to be added.
Website: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2365032839&b&ref=pd
Tags: bible, christian, ESV, facebook, free, fun, resources, verse Related posts on this site:
All in all, it is a delicious little add-on!
You can use alternative ways of showing the text, such as the snippet mode (shows an inline link), the link mode (shows a link to the actual ebible website) or the study mode (same as the link mode, but with a more comprehensive result provided by ebible).
Also, when the window is open, it gives a link for a study on that passage, and studies on the key topics of any passage.
You can currently choose from a few translations to show including NIV, ESV, NASB and MSG.
I installed this by using the Wordpress plug-in, but you can utilise this on any site by putting the JavaScript code they provide in the header section.
Ease of use etc.
It can be slightly confusing finalising the set up and finding the API key that you need. Once you have signed into the account just go to this link to find your API key: http://ebible.com/api/signup
Once it is installed, it is dream to use as it does all the work for you! There is no need to trawl through your website adding lots of links as ebiblecious does all that for you. You just have to be careful the verses are in an allowable format. For instance a few of mine had full stops after the verse - which stops it working. As you can see the following verse won’t work as it is in the wrong format- Gal.1:1.
From the point of view of the end user, it is also very easy to use, just hover the mouse over the verse and it will bring up the passage. They do not need to install anything at all - it will automatically work when you have built in in to your website.
Presentation
You can see what it looks like be resting your mouse on these examples (Romans 1:1-3, Gen 3:1-5).
The default view is a good and clean look. You can change the CSS of the file to make it blend in with your website as well, although I’ve not yet had time to test this yet.
Summary
This is a fantastic plug in and it really adds value to your website. Once installed it is no hassle at all to use. I honestly can’t think of reason why you would not want to use this if your run a website! All in all, it is a delicious little add-on!
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Strengths
- Once installed, it does all the work for you
- Very useful and easy to use for the viewers of your website
Weaknesses
- None found yet!
Links
Website link Wordpress: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ebibleicious/
Website link for non-Wordpress site: http://ebible.com/toolkit/developers
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Tags: bible, blog, christian, ebibleicious, free, resources, review, verse, website, wordpress Related posts on this site:Why not check out the popular Definitive guide to Christian clip art by clicking here…
Christ Art is a great place to find images to add to your websites. The focus is more on the youth end of the market, but there is other stuff there too.
Main content
- Clip art
- Favicons
- Wallpaper
- Verse art
- Kids books
Clip Art
The clip art is particularly good as a lot of them have a contemporary feel to them - which can be tricky to find in much of the free stuff on the net. Below are a few of them…
I would say the images are particularly suitable if you are aiming for a younger audience (teenagers and younger) but there could still be something there for you even if you are aiming for a more mature group. Another good thing is that the all of clipart is available with 15 different colour backgrounds, so it should be easy to blend into your website
Favicons
Favicons are the little pictures that appear by the web address on the browser window, or on the tabs of the pages that you are browsing. There is not that many, but then there is not many available on the net and this is as good a collection as I have found.
Wall paper and verse art
I am not really a huge fan of wallpaper and verse art, but if that kind of thing floats your boat then there are some good options here.
Kids books
There is also loads of books for kids with a Christian slant. I admit I’ve not read many of them but them do seem pretty good, with high quality pictures and good storylines! You can read them online or print them out. They would be great for your own children, or if you need some new stuff for a Sunday school.
Other content
There is also poetry and web cards. For a fee you can also have t-shirts printed or get some custom art made.
Ease of use etc.
On the whole it is easy to get around the site, and search for what you are after.
Presentation
The presentation is clear.
Summary
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Strengths
- Good quality images
- Large collection of books for children
Weaknesses
- The best clip art seemed to be aimed at the younger audience
Links
Website: http://www.christart.com/
images by ChristArt.com
Tags: art, books, Christ, christ-art, christian, clip art, clip-art, favicon, free, resources, verse, wallpaper, website Related posts on this site:
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