Hey, you Scripture memory fiends! I am so proud of you guys for keeping your numbers up with your second verses! There can be a really big drop out between the hype surrounding the first verse and the discipline that starts kicking in with the second verse. Stay at it, you guys. Not one of you will be sorry you did. No one is going to get to the finish line next December 15th and say it wasn’t worth the work. God is far more faithful than that. He rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6) and diligently uses His Word to equip us in our callings (2 Timothy 3:16-17). He uses His Word to make us wiser, more aware of His will, more fortified against temptation, and more alive in His Spirit. He uses His Word to make us less gullible when our hearts are trying to deceive us, when someone we love is trying to mislead us or when Satan himself is trying to seduce us. Be encouraged. Not one ounce of your effort is wasted.
Here is the biggest key to accomplishing this task: throughout the entire process, continually ask God to enable you to memorize. In John 14:26, Christ tells His followers that the Holy Spirit is the one who will “bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Proactively taking Him up on this assurance has been strategic through the years I’ve memorized Scripture. Over and over I convey to God that I know only He can empower those inspired words on the page to find a permanent place in my memory and a home in the marrow of my bones. I call upon His Spirit in Jesus’ Name to stir up those verses in me and remind me of every word and phrase.
When you’re able to say your verse with any accuracy at all, start thanking Him. Do it right then. Completely engage in the relational side of your memory work. That will be by far the biggest success in this endeavor. God is after your heart, not just your mind. He’s not just looking for your discipline. He wants to be your desire. His aim is relationship. Ask Him to help you then thank Him when He does it. When you’re working on a beautiful verse, tell Him you think it’s beautiful. When you keep stumbling over one particular word, ask Him right then to help you get that phrase straight. His Word is God speaking to you so speak back. Use it as an invitation to dialogue. Is the verse really hard? Say to Him, “This verse is killing me here, Lord. I can’t seem to get it. Grant it to me. Help me with it.” Get what I’m saying? This way He gets all the glory in every success and we get immeasurable gain.
This I promise you: God’s objective for you and me in 2015 is not for us to memorize 24 verses. It’s for us to draw nearer and nearer to Him, love Him more, know Him more, trust Him more, and believe Him more. To let His Word go down deep where He wants it. To invite it fervently and proactively to abide in us and bring vivacious life to us. To meditate on His words and to prize them more than our daily bread. Job said it this way: “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion of food.” (Job 23:12b) That’s what these 24 verses are about. So, let’s engage with Jesus throughout the entire process. THAT, at the end of our journey, is what will determine our success.
I think I just changed my mind on what I want to present you for my 3rd verse. I am doing memory work out of the Book of Ephesians right now but I don’t happen to be on a verse that stands alone in a comprehensive enough way to offer it to someone to share. Mentioning Job in the previous paragraph stirred up in my memory how much I love that 23rd chapter. Savor the gorgeousness of verses 8-12. (ESV)
8 “Behold, I go forward, but He is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive Him;
9 on the left hand when He is working, I do not behold Him;
He turns to the right hand, but I do not see Him.
10 But He knows the way that I take;
when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
Translation of verses 8-10??? I may not know where God is right now in my situation but of this I’m sure: He knows where I am. Isn’t that powerful? Then, behold the faith and steadfastness of Job in that 10th verse: because God is at work and is at the helm, “I will come forth as gold” (NIV). (If you get a chance, glance at how perfectly that concept corresponds with 1 Peter 1:7.) I believe Job 23:10 is the exact verse I want to choose this time around and I think I’ll use the NIV. So here goes:
Beth Moore, Houston, Texas. But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. Job 23:10 NIV
Hit it, Girls.
So honored to study and memorize Scripture with you. Much, much love to you.
Susan Tucson,Az
I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul.
Psalm 31:7 NLT
martha, houston tx
“All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV
Lacey D, Oakwood, OH
2 Cor 12:9 NIV
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Tim. l:7 (NKJV)
Ella, St. Augustine, FL
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust God, and trust also in Me.”
John 14:1 NLT
Deanne Johnson, Laguna Hills, CA
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to tread on the heights.
For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.
Habakkuk 3:19 NIV
Kelly Duncan, Hayden Alabama
Exodus 14:14 NIV
The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still
Linda: Reno, NV
Psalm 18:30 ESV
This God – his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
Tess Womack
Cartersville, GA
John 6:27 ESV
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.
Dottie Morrow, Mansfield, TX “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 NKJV
Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. Daniel 2:20 NASB
Denise from Reliance Va.
PSALM 55:22 NKJV
“Cast your burden on the Lord,
And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
Meg, Alexandria, VA
“Keep and live out the entire commandment that I’m commanding you today so that you’ll live and prosper and enter and own the land that GOD promised to your ancestors. Remember every road that GOD led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don’t live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God’s mouth.” Deuteronomy 8:1-4 Message
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3:5-6New Living Translation (NLT)
Katie Brown
Greenfield, IN
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
Exodus 20:7 NIV
Again – Ephesians 1:18 ” By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),
“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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13. NIV
Laura Norris- Ashville, AL
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
Ganise, Ottawa, Canada
Ephesians 1:18 (NIV) :
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people”
Judy Woodward, Lake Charles, LA
“Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be
quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,” (James 1:19 ESV)
Donna Banks from Franklin, TN
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
1 John 3:1 ESV
Sherrie Lynn, Collierville, TN. “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45 NIV)
Carol King Ft.Worth, TX- Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8 NIV
Vicki, Merriam, KS
Psalm 46:2-3
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
Carolyn, Maryville, TN, Psalm 32:1 KJV
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
James 3:3-6 ESV
Look at the ships also; though they are so large & are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs them. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablazy by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire.
Sally, Gahanna, OH
“They will speak of the glorious splendor of Your Majesty
And I will meditate on your wonderful works.
They will tell of the power of your awesome works,
And I will proclaim your great deeds.”
Psalm 145:5-6 NIV
Harmony, East Helena, Mt.
Psalm 25:14
Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence Him. With them alone He shares the secrets of His promises.
Julia Petrie, Independence Ky
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29 NIV
Kelly, Columbus Oh.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 NIV)
Linda, The Woodlands, TX
Deut. 31:8 (NIV)
The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Sarah, Springfield MO
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”
Psalm 19:14 KJV
Leanna Reynolds- Southlake, TX
If any of you lacks wisdom let him ask of God. James 1:5 NKJV
Barbara Rockport TX
Psalms 57: 7-8 KJV
V7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.
V8 Awake up, my glory; awake psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
Joan,Cannon Falls,Minnesota
In the same way,let your light shine before others,that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 NIV
Amanda Aikin, Pittsburg, KS
A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered.
Proverbs 17:27 NIV
Romans 12:2 NKJV
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Milan, MI
Jen Kuypers, London, Ontario
“And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the fields, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Matthew 6:28-30 (ESV)
Rhonda Nelson from Grapevine, TX
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons; neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8: 38-39 NIV
Sharon Floyd, Spokane, WA
“But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” James 1:25 KJV
Robin, Columbia,SC
“By Day the Lord directs His Love,
At Night His song is with me..
A Prayer to the God of my Life”
Psalm 42:8. NIV
Kellye, Oklahoma City
Psalm 31:19 NLT
How great is the goodness
you have stored up for those
who fear you.
You lavish it on those who
come to you for protection,
Blessing them before the watching world.
Cassie P, Idaho Falls, ID
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 (ESV)
Farmington MO
Philippians 4:6 NLT Don’t worry about anything instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for everything.
Julianne August, Orangeville, Ontario. “Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame,for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me,because my hope, Lord, is in you.” Psalm 25:20-21 NIV
Sheryl, Jacksonville, FL
Psalm 88:12 ESV
Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? (So tempted to testify here)
Patrice McMurtrey, Louisville,KY
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
Jill, Dunedin FL
In the same way, faith by itself , if it is not accompanied by action , is dead.
James 2:17 NIV
Jennifer Evans, Christiana, PA….In PEACE I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8 (NIV)
Edgar Springs, MO
Psalm 90:15 (NLT)
Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good.