30 DAY SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION CHALLENGE. Week 1 The Promises of God

Transcription

1 30 DAY SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION CHALLENGE Week 1 The Promises of God

2 DAY 1 "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent" Exodus 14:14 (ESV) Be silent. So often this is what we need to do when faced with trouble. To simply stand still, to stop what we are doing and be silent. In Exodus 14, the Israelite's were trapped between an approaching Egyptian army and the Red Sea. And God told them to be still. This is such an important verse to memorize for this new year, as it will be a constant reminder to us that when faced with any trials, we are to be still and trust in God. This year, fight against despair, fear, impatience or presumption. These will only make you give up hope, run away, fight in the wrong way or even throw you headlong into a worse situation. Let this verse be a beautiful and powerful reminder to us as we start this year which will surely have new trials, joys and sorrows. The Lord will fight for us.

3 DAY 2 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10 (ESV) Woohooo! Welcome to Day 2 of the challenge! If you are memorizing these verses with me I would recommend each day to go over the previous verse to keep each fresh in your memory. This verse is so beautiful. Sometimes from a human perspective we can doubt that the Lords love and kindness is truly never ending, as there is nothing on earth we can relate that to. Here in Isaiah the Lord promises that his love and covenant of peace is surer than the mountains and hills which are so permanent and stable in our minds. Even the mountains tremble before our God. You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Deuteronomy 11:18 God has never broken promises, and never will. If there is anything we can be sure of it is God's love. See ya next week!!

4 DAY 3 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (ESV) A verse of solid hope. The word confess here is present tense, meaning this is not referring to our initial salvation confession. We are to continue to confess to God our sin and mistakes with a broken and repentant heart. If we come before God truthfully and with a raw soul He promises to be faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us. DAY 7 Take this day to review all the verses and try to write them all from memory. Ask God to keep these verses in your mind, and settle them in your soul. A key point to remember when meditating on this verse: this does not mean we should have the mentality that we are free to do what we want as God will forgive us if we confess after. The God of the universe should never be taken this lightly, and if we find ourselves thinking this way it is a sure sign we need to do some serious soul searching before God. This verse instead should lead us out of sin because it is a reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus. Every sin ever committed and ever to be committed added to the agony on the cross. As we memorize this verse, let us be reminded to be ever repentant, ever submissive and ever thankful.

5 DAY 6 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3 (ESV) Perfect peace. What a thought! We can not only have perfect peace but be kept in that place! This is not an imitation of peace we see around us in the world and not a fleeting peace brought about by circumstances, but the real deal folks. Let s stop settling for counterfeits of God s gifts. Shalom shalom. Perfect peace. When we set our minds on Christ perfect peace is the result. So much is a product of our control of our minds: when we control our thoughts and have Christ as our constant not just a sporadic thought here and there, that is how we will be kept in perfect peace. By setting all these verses to memory we are taking a big step in fixing our mind on things above. DAY 4 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:3-4 (ESV) Verses 1 and 2 tell us to not get too worked up or envious about the success of the wicked. Instead we are to simply trust in the Lord and do good. Looking at the wealth of others is an all too easy way to get distracted and take our focus off of our all-powerful and trustworthy God. Even further, God wants us to fully enjoy his goodness: befriend it, or in some translations feed on it. He is sufficient for us. When we consciously choose to delight ourselves in Him we understand that all good things come from Him, and all happiness is from him and found in him. Delighting ourselves in the Lord takes effort, it takes deliberate and a daily choice between letting our emotions take control or taking control of our emotions. The most important way we can learn to really delight in God is by spending time with him. Find how you love to spend time with God and make that a priority.

6 Study Tip: Always try to read and study the entire chapter that any single verse you see comes from. It is such a good practice to study as a whole instead of trying to understand one verse at a time, and will save you from misunderstanding or making assumptions about the text! Psalm 37 is one that I strongly suggest you go over, as all of it is so beautiful and encouraging. DAY 5 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33 (ESV) To seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness is the choice we all have made when we convert, but every single day after this we are also making decisions towards or away from this. First, and in everything we do, seek the kingdom. It isn't the top of our list, it IS our list. When we recognize nothing else in the world is worth devoting our lives to, we see things in the right perspective and will be able to enjoy these things (food, drink, clothing, relationships) knowing that there are still greater things promised.