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 –Â 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.)Â 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
Lexington Park, MD
If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet”,
have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
James 2:3-4 NIV
Tess
Cartersville, GA
Psalm 119:32 NIV84
“I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”
Jane, Kokomo, IN
“Blessed be the LORD, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation. God is to us a God of deliverances; and to God the LORD belong escapes from death.”
Psalm 68:19,20 (NAS)
Jennifer W
San Antonio, TX
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16 (NIV84)
Rebecca in Louisa, VA
From heaven the Lord looks down
and sees all mankind;
from His dwelling place He watches
all who live on earth —
He who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do. ~ Psalm 33:13-15, NIV
Kim; Poplar Bluff, MO. “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered my from all my fears.”
Psalm 34:4 (NIV)
Ellen White St. Augustine, FL
Be still, and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:10 NIV
Melissa from West Chester, OH:
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.
Hebrews 12:11, NIV
Sue from Kalamazoo. “The Spirit we received does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of God with that Spirit we cry out, ‘Father.'” Romans 8:15 New Century Version
Kaye Taft from Manassas. “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2, NIV
Lauren, from Demopolis, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” Psalm 56:3 NIV
Lydia Patterson, Andalusia, Alabama. “I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians: I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.”—Leviticus 26:11-13, NIV 1984
Joyce, Menifee Ca
In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (I John 4:9-11 NKJV)
Rachel Vineland
Do not conform any longer 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.
Romans 12:2
So let’s go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name.
Hebrews 13:13-15 (The Message)
Nadine,Morton, UK
Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour your hearts to him;
for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:8 NIV
Natasha
Kitchener, ON, Canada
Isaiah 61:3b
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
(NIV)
Sarah, Orlando, Florida
“May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalms 19:14, NLT
Tammy, White House TN
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
Sally, Columbus, OH
“Who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:17-19 NIV
Cathy, Mobile, Al. You crown the year with your bounty and your carts overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11
Gilmer, Tx
NIV Genesis 12:1
The Lord had said to Abraham, ” leave your country, your people, and your father’s household,and go to the land I will show you.”
Holly, Carrollton, GA, Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Erin from Murfreesboro, TN
Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.
Proverbs 25:25, NIV
Victoria Washington, Bryant, AR
“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
~ 1 Corinthians 10:13, NLT
Jan -Orlando
Proverbs 3:5-6
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.
Ashley, Cary, NC “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21, ESV
Hosea 6:3 NLT
Barb, Urbandale, IA
You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! James 5:8-9 NIV84
Bates City, MO
“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.” ~Galatians 5:1 NIV 1984
Kim Mitchell
Des Moines, IA
James 1:19-20 (NIV)
My dear brothers, take note of this: Eveyone 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.
Shirley Barry, Mooresville, NC
“What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied!
Luke 18:41 NIV
Sarah Batson, Wilmington, NC
You CROWN the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.
Psalm 65:11
Thank you Beth on the livestream last week. It has helped me through my hardship time these couple of weeks!!!
Hannah, Perry, MI
“Great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”
-Psalm 119:165, NIV
Psalm 63:3 NIV
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
Suzanne Bailey, Harrisville, RI
He who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness into morning, who also darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is His Name.
Amos 5:8 NASB
Helena, Highlands Ranch, CO
He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. (Isaiah 40:3, 11 NIV84)
Diane Hotchkiss, Cypress, TX
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
Psalm 100:1-2 ESV
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you. Isaiah 41:10 HCS Sherri – Haralson, GA
Leah Godley from Norman Park, GA
But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield. Psalm 5:11-12 (NIV84)
Amy, Edmond
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6 NIV
Melinda, San Antonio
“In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.” Exodus 15:13 NIV
Cindy, Lakeland. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. KJV
John 1:5
Nancy, Birmingham, AL
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love endures forever.
Psalm 107:1 (NIV)
Stephanie
Pawleys Island, SC
Emily, Loveland, CO – “Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable.” Psalm 145:2-3 (NKV)
Wendy from Owen Sound, ON: “Instead of shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs.” Isaiah 61:7 NIV
Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV
Trust in the lord with all thine heart; and lean not into thy own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path.
Melissa Emma, Scarborough, ME: “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with ALL the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Ephesians 3:19 NLT
Beth, check out Isaiah 54:13 in the Amplified Bible! Love the wording so much! 🙂
Leah from Russellville, AR
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)