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. 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, 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 š-l-m is of completion and fulfillment—of 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 – 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.) 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 – Scripture Memory Team – 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
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
He tends his flocks like a shepherd:He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to his heart;He gently leads those who have young.Isaiah 40:11-NIV
Jenny, Tulsa, OK
Isaiah 41:10 (NASB)
Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
“He will shelter you under His wings; you will find safety under His wings. His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall.” Psalms 91:4 NET Bible
Bridget
Thousand Oaks, CA
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
Annalee in Houston:
Let the message of Christ
dwell among you richly
as you teach and admonish one another
with all wisdom through
psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit,
singing to God with gratitude
in your hearts.
Colossians 3:17 NIV
Suzy – Atlanta
For God has done what the law, weakened by sin, could not do. By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
Romans 8:3-4 ESV
(THANK YOU LORD!)
Gwen, Greystones, Ireland
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. now I know in part; then I shall know fully even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12 TNIV
Gina from Hendersonville, TN
“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it?” Isaiah 43:18-19
Alison, Norman, OK
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
there is no God but Me.
I will strengthen you,
though you do not know Me,
so that all may know from the rising of the sun
to its setting
that there is no one but Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:5-6 HCSB
Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you. Deuteronomy 31:8 NLT
Rebecca Anderson, Phoenix
Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. – Ephesians 5:33 NKJV
Ann H.
Carrollton Texas
The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.
(Nahum 1:7
Melandie, Raleigh, NC
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Psalm 30:5
NIV
Diana Macedo, Seekonk, MA
Nehemiah said “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. THis day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Neh. 8:10 NIV
JOY is my word for the year!!
Kate from Los Angeles, CA
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6
Kate from Los Angeles,CA ESV
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV
Lori DePriest
Katy, Texas
Isaiah 54:13
NIV
“All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace.”
Linda, Beechmont
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Phil 4:6 NIV
Nikki, Lima, OH For the Word of God is living and active.. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 NIV
Jo Ann, Nashoba, OK
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace in a time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 KJV
“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”
Heb 12:1b-2a
Alicia, Chicago IL
June, Coarsegold, CA
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Kem, Memphis
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9 NIV
Amy, Chattanooga, TN.
James 3:17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. NKJV
Laura. LA
Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because He trusteth in Thee Is 26.3 KJV
Karla, Waco, TX
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
Anna from Dayton,OH. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NKJV)
Amy from San Antonio, TX – Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” John 21:22 NASB
Scripture No. 2
Romans 12:2, NKJV
Julie from Pace, FL
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:6 NIV
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18 ESV
All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13 NKJV
Kim from Bloomington, IL
I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Pslam 119:11 NIV
Jessica, Conifer CO. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5 NIV
Tammy, Caddo Mills, TX
My Brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. James 1:2-3 NKJV
LeeAnn from Canton, KS
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1: 2-4 NIV
Rochester Hills MI
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world, but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus; after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
KJV 1 Peter 5:8-10
Rebecca, Vancleave: All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13 (NKJV)
Millicent – Willis, TX
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. Proverbs 3:5-7 ESV
Romans 12:1 (ESV)
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Angeline, Steinbach,MB Canada
Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 NIV
Sarah from Jay, Oklahoma
“All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace.”
Isaiah 54:13 (NIV)
Chelsey from Murfreesboro, TN
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” -Hebrews 11:6 ESV
Kelly in Katy, TX
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1 (ESV)
Lisa from New York
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, [she] is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
Marie, White Pine
My dear brothers, take note of this; Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19-20 NIV
Misti from Nemo
A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. Prov. 29:11 ESV
Dana Janssen – Platte City Mo
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.
Isaiah 43:19 (Message)
Amy Jones, Fayetteville, GA “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9 HCSB