We’re off and running, Sweet Things! And 11,000 strong!!! Oh, how I pray that God will grant us the divine favor and indwelling power to keep it up month after month and finish 2013 in the multiple thousands. What joy He and we would have! For now, we take it step by step, one verse at a time. Don’t get caught up wondering how in the world you’re going to memorize 24 verses when you’re having a hard time memorizing the first one. That will sink your Scripture memory boat for sure.
I make you this promise based on my experience and the experience of many others: the more you memorize, the more you’ll get the hang of it. I was going to say that the more you memorize, the easier it gets but it’s not easy and that’s part of what makes it such a victory to celebrate with Jesus. I do believe I can tell you with confidence, however, that your tenth verse will very likely be easier to memorize than your first one. By that time, you’ve quit letting your nay-whining old nature tell you that you can’t do it and you shouldn’t have even tried. A big part of the battle in the first month is simply telling that self-destructive echo in our heads to shut its mouth. It’s replacing “I knew I couldn’t do it” with “Oh, yes I can. I can do all things through Christ.”
Persevere! Let’s not be quitters! God would rather us make it to the end of the year still stumbling over some words than throwing our hands up and quitting at the first imperfect recitation. Even if we don’t get our verses down perfectly, the pursuit itself is the very art of meditation. Nothing about it is a waste of time. Just think of how it helps to break the mental loop of rehearsed offenses. We’re going to be fixated on something. That’s how our minds often work. But we get to choose what.
So, right now say verse 1 out loud the very best you can.
Tremendous job. Now, let’s add our second one to it.
I totally love my verse this time around! It came up in my Scripture reading during my quiet time early Sunday morning. Here it goes:
Beth, Houston. All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.” Isaiah 54:13 ESV
Isn’t that fabulous? I’m choosing this verse specifically so that I can turn it into intercessory prayer. Mind you, I’m not “claiming” it like I’d be apt to do with a promise more clearly obvious under the New Covenant. I’m reluctant to claim the fulfillment of a promise made straight to Israel for myself or people in my world unless I know that we have a coinciding New Covenant promise.Ā I’d have to see consistency to pray it as one fervently counting on it. Isaiah 54:13 carries obvious elements that are very consistent with the promises of Christ to us. He promised that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and He blatantly gave us His peace but where I’m asking God to do an Isaiah 54:13 work in my family is the emphasis on ALL my children. I want every single one of them to be students of Christ Jesus, to love His Word and His ways with a passion beyond the natural realm, and for His peace to be great upon them and contagious. If you’ll look in the Scripture’s context in Isaiah 54, especially in verses 11-17, you’ll see that V.13 is within the promises God made specifically to Israel and scheduled for fulfillment in a time yet to come. So, no, I’m not claiming it, so to speak, BUT, I am indeed asking for it. That’s fair game.
God is not obligated to say yes to promises like those in Isaiah 54 this side of His Kingdom’s full revelation but, as I persevere in prayer and faith, He will indeed hear me and I believe be pleased that I had the boldness to pray it. He is not blessed by our small, vision-bare petitions anyway. I’ve thought for a long time that God would rather hear His children voice outrageously large prayers of faith even if He has to say no on occasion than hear our pale, timid, tepid requests for things He’s already given us anyway. For instance, if we belong to Him in Christ, He is indeed going to “bless us” and “keep us.” So, I’m adding Isaiah 54:13 to my spiral and planning to reword it often into a request. I’m going to take the risk that He may indeed perform generational miracles with a family tree sprouted from the soil of disease and brokenness. Make us oaks of righteousness, Lord,Ā for the display of Your splendor. (Isaiah 61:3)
This I know for sure: we often have not because we ask not. (James 4:2)
I love something else about Isaiah 54:13. I love that the word translated peace in English is the word “shalom” in Hebrew. The Hebrew word blows the doors off of our usual concept of peace. When I ask God for great peace to be upon my children, I have no interest in a trance-like state of passionless nirvana. I want God’s brand of peace: lively, vivacious. Here’s what the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament has to say about it:
“The general meaning behind the root Å”-l-m is of completion and fulfillmentāof entering into a state of wholeness and unity, a restored relationship.”
It means to be intact, healthy, sound. It means wellness of soul. It conveys the idea of God prospering His child. He describes His peace like a river: moving and running. His peace is no pond. I read the verse first out of The NET Bible that sits open on my desk at home. Isaiah 54:13 is worded this way on its pages: “All your children will be followers of the LORD, and your children will enjoy great prosperity.” Right that moment I jotted the verse down in my journal and, under it, asked the Lord (with enough zeal to imprint it on the next page) to prosper my children and their children and their children and their children in the way that really matters: grant them lives that bear much fruit – I said MUCH FRUIT –Ā for THIS is to our Father’s great glory. May they blatantly show themselves to be Christ’s disciples. (That’s John 15:8 and, if you haven’t memorized it yet, it is a must! Prioritize it early on in your year if God causes it to leap off the page with you.)Ā With all my heart, I want God to use this lineage He is redeeming to prosper His Kingdom.
So I am really fired up about my verse for our next two weeks and hope to still be saying it and praying it for the next generations of this family line when I’m about to see Jesus. If you don’t already have a verse selected, you are welcome to share it and make it your own with Jesus. Choose any verse that He’s using to speak to you right now. Remember, that’s what will make it stick to your ribs. It needs to mean something to you!
Hit it, Girls! Remember! Only your names, cities, verses, references, and translations! You are stellar, Sisters. I love you so much.
Edited to add: Information on how to download your Android or iPhone application!
I know many of you have been asking if we are going to have an app this year for your smart phones, and we have both good news and bad news. The good news is YES, we ARE! We have created an app for both Android and iPhones. The bad news is, the Android app is ready for you, but if you would be so patient with us, we’ll have the iPhone app ready for you in about five or six days. Does that sound good?
So, excuse me while I get technical for just a minute!
For those of you that still have the old application on your phone (and this goes for both Android and iPhone users), you would most likely have received a notification about the availability of this new one, but if not, and you are currently using an android, simply click here to download the app. (This link is for Android users only.) Android users, if you’re having issues with this link (and it’s currently working fine on this end), you can search “Living Proof Ministries ā Scripture Memory Team ā 2013” in your phone under applications. (I have very little knowledge about Android phones, so forgive me if my wording is wrong.)
When the iPhone app is ready, I’ll update this post for those of you who would like to download it with all the instructions you’ll need. However, I do know upfront you’ll be able to find the app in the iTunes store via your phone or computer.
Once you have the application, it is very user friendly. You’ll be notified the 1st and 15th of every month with the new blog post that will land in your application (you will only be notified if you have turned on notifications for this specific app), you can share the post, and then you can also store your memory work in there. It will also act like your spiral. You may want to use both your spiral and the app to have on hand in case you lose one or the other!
I hope that helps! Doesn’t this make it so much more fun?
Tags: Scripture Memory 2013
Randi, Knoxville Tn, Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)
Shannon, Tampa:
I have good advice and sound wisdom; I have insight, I have strength.
Proverbs 8:14
New Revised Standard
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain.”
Hebrews 6:19 NIV84
Michelle, Bothell, WA: John 6:35 (HCSB) “I AM the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.”
Gina from Gadsden, AL
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
KJV Psalm 51:10
Victoria, BC
Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses. Neh. 4:14b NAS
Nancy, Junction City, Ar.
“Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.” NKJ
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Ephesians 1:7,8. NIV
Jeremiah 29:11, NKJV “For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope”.
Kaycee Thornton, Arlington, TX
“For we are Godās workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Eph. 2:10 NIV
Megan, Edina, MN
Galatians 5:1 NIV
it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Nicole from Littleton, CO
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. āAs the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'”
Ann, Lantana TX
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 ESV
Erica Barron from Birmingham, AL.
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe”.
Philippians 2:14-15, NIV
Laura from Mount Dora…
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galations 6:10. NIV
Jessica, Fort Worth
“All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.ā Isaiah 54:13 ESV
Andrea, Greeley, CO
And let us run with perseverance, the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him He endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1b-2 NIV
Allison Dalke: Edmond, Oklahoma
Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NIV
Deborah, Dublin, GA
“Adonai is my strength and shield;
in him my heart trusted, and I have been helped.
Therefore my heart is filled with joy,
and I will sing praises to him.”
Psalm 28:7 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
El Cerrito, CA
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Genesis 1:26 (NIV)
Hockley, TX
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17 ESV)
Gayla from Lee’s Summit, MO
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devilās schemes.Ā
Ā For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.Ā
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:10-13 NIV)
Rachel, Baltimore, MD You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your carts overflow with abundance.? Psalm 65:11 NIV
Joanne, Tomball, TX
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (1 Peter 5:7 NLT)
Jaclyn, from Naperville, IL “…and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” Revelation 4:8 NIV
Elissa Goodwin in Anaheim, CA
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Fro consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”
Hebrews 12:1-3
Julie
Prescott, AZ
1 Peter 1:3-5 New International Version
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by Godās power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
Kaitlyn from Fort Walton Beach, FL.
For the moment all discipline seems painful and unpleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Hebrews 12:11, ESV
Dwana from jackson,tn
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 10:39&11:1 ESV
Brooke : SLC Utah
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” Isaiah 43:18 NIV
Kristen – Kansas City, KS
But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NRSV
Mary D in Phoenix, AZ
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
Matt 4:4 NKJV
Shellie in Arlington, TX
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ”Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Galatians 3:13-14 NIV
Suzy Myers
Bay Springs, MS
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV)
Janice Pitchford
Abbeville,mAl
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:6 NKJV
Cam, Albuquerque
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer & petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6. (NIV)
Rachel, Baltimore, MD You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your carts overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11 NIV
Rebecca Alburn
Salem, Oregon
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1 NIV 84
Jeannette Z. from Mission, Tx
Proverbs 3:5-6(NASB)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Kalee, Fort Worth.
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:8. ESV
Alisha, Wva. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Psalms 56:3 KJV
Taylor Martin from springfield, IL.
Commit to The Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. The Lord works out everything for His own ends-even the wicked for a day of disaster.
Proverbs 16:3-4 NIV
Isaiah 40:28
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
Linda F: The Woodlands, TX
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 (HCSB)
Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Lily
Auburn, Al
I want their hearts to be encouraged and joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God’s mystery- Christ.
Colossians 2:2 (HCSB)
Anna from Seattle,
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,”
Colossians 2:9 NIV
Kim, Champaign IL
regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David,4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 1:3-4 NIV
āGod opposes the proud
but favors the humble.ā So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. (1 Peter 5:5, 6 NLT)
Katie, Pittsburgh
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 NIV