Memorization of Scriptures

When I think of memorization, I think of all of the hours and time spent in the library studying for exams. Blah. This past weekend at New Attitude one of the topics spoken about was the memorization of Scripture and how important that was.

When Scripture is stored in the mind, it is available for the Holy Spirit to take and bring to your attention when you need it most. In Psalm 119 it says that, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you"

It is one thing when you are going through your daily life and a certain temptation pops in your head or you are watching or thinking about something you shouldn't and you realize you shouldn't so you stop. However it is even more 'powerful' against the temptation when a specific verse can be brought to your mind. In Colossians 3:2 it states to set your minds on the things above and not on earthly things.

I think a good illustration is the time Jesus had a confrontation with Satin. Every time the enemy through a temptation at Jesus, He parried it with 'the sword of the Spirit' as Piper would say. I think one way that we would be able to fight against temptations is to do like Jesus did, memorize Scripture so that it's available in our minds when we need it the most.

To me memorization also strengthens my faith because it repeatedly reinforces the truth. In Pipers message he said how every day he would write a Scripture on a note card and stick it in his pocket, and that throughout the day he would pull it out and read it which would help him memorize it.

One area I was convicted on this past week at New Attitude was not just the memorization of Scriptures, but the memorization of the songs we sing to praise him as well. Yes, some of the songs were new to me however, there are sometimes I don't know all the words to songs that I have been singing for years, but yet I know the words to the songs that are played daily on the radio.

Proverbs 22:17-19

Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips. That your trust may be in the Lord, I have made them known to you today, even to you.

Only One

Missing the Mark

Romans 3:23-24

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus

I guess a way you could look at it is, when a person competes in the pole vault, he is focused on doing one thing, jumping higher than the mark where the bar has been set. Once he/she has jumped, there can only be two outcomes. Either they cleared the mark or fell short.

If they failed in their attempt to clear the bar, whether he missed by an inch or a foot it doesn't matter. They still failed.

The same is true with sin. The Hebrew word for sin literally means "to miss the mark." Everyone sins by choosing to go their own way instead of God's way. Some people miss God's mark by an inch; others miss it by a mile. How close you come doesn't matter. Close isn't and never will be close enough.

The moral bar God has set for us to clear is a high one; it is so high that it's impossible to continually clear it on our own. A perfect, holy God can't embrace anything less than perfect. The good news is that this perfect and faultless God is also loving. That's why he provided a way for us to clear the bar more consistently, as well as a means for us to avoid penalty when we do miss the mark.

It is important for us to recognize that everyone sins. We should shift our focus to the future, not to the past. Because of Jesus, guilt and the fear of punishment no longer weigh us down. When we miss the mark, we should ask for God's forgiveness, learn from our mistake, and then keep moving forward.

The Lords Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13

Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Various Bible translations differ on a word here or there, but we must remember that the heart of the Lord's Prayer remains the same. When Jesus' followers asked how they should pray, Jesus provided this example.

"We should use the Lord's Prayer the way Jesus intended. Let it help us better understand, and put into practice, three things; praise, petition, and confession."

Jesus' prayer began with thanks for who God is, a Father deserving honor. Then Jesus requested help by sharing personal needs, both physical and spiritual. He asked for the basic provision of food, as well as for the protection and the strength necessary to do what God wanted. He also prayed for the needs of others, asking that their lives would align more with God's desires.

Although Jesus had nothing to confess, he knew those listening did, so he modeled how to ask for forgiveness. Confessing where we have failed keeps communication with God honest and open and helps us become more merciful to those who fail us. As Jesus demonstrated, prayer is simply inviting God to play an active role in our life, and we should follow his example every day.

Seeing the good

Romans 5:3-4

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produce hope"

In several versions of the Bible, the word for suffering is translated "tribulation." This comes from the Latin word tribulum, which was taken from the name of a piece of farm equipment used during New Testament times.

A tribulum was a heavy piece of timber with spikes in it that was drawn over newly picked grain. It separated the valuable grain from the worthless chaff. Tribulation, or suffering, does the same thing to our character. It sifts it, helping us sort out what's truly important in life from whats of little value.

As our character grows stronger, so does our hope. Experiencing firsthand how God can use difficult circumstances in a positive way solidifies our hope for the future as it strengthens our trust in him.

When dealing with tough times we must have faith.

Hebrews 11:1-2

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation."

Faith and belief are two different things. I think lots of people believe in God, but that belief makes no difference in their lives. Faith I feel acts on what it believes. Faith may look like a 'leap' to those who don't want to risk putting their trust in something unseen. But I feel through faith, what is unseen is far from unknown. As I respond to the Bible and God's Spirit, my faith continues to grow stronger. My personal experience confirms that God is everything he says he is.

Leaning on the Cross

Proverbs 3:5-6

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.

In this world if you are going to lean on something, the first thing you want to do is to make certain it can hold you up. The greater the risk the more certain you want to be.

As I look back at the poor decisions and choices I have made in my life, one thing they have all had in common was that I made those decisions based on my own understanding and wisdom... or wisdom I thought I had.

Believing in God is all about risk and trust. It tells you to turn away from what you're accustomed to relying on, your own strategies for making life work, and instead to trust God implicitly, even when what he's asking you to do may not make sense from a human perspective.

As I think about this, I am reminded what God asked of Moses at the Red Sea or of Daniel in the lions' den. Moses and Daniel were able to rely on God instead of on their own understanding because past experience had shown them he was wholly trustworthy. Every past experience was once a present choice. God challenges us to choose wisely today.

We can lean on our own limited understanding and abilities or on a God of unlimited power and love. Only one choice can take us where we really want to go.

Gods Timing

One thing we must always remind ourselves is that God's timing is always perfect. He parted the Red Sea when his people needed it most, when they were trapped between the rushing waters and an approaching army. God allowed the water to flow again, but only after Moses and the Israelites had made it safely across. God provided what the people needed at the precise moment that it would make the greatest difference.

It isn't always easy to recognize the opportune moment. Waiting for God's answer, when my own internal timer has already gone off can make me feel as if God sometimes isn't listening. This has been a challange for me in life but one thing that helps me is the passage from James that talks about the farmer.

James 5:7-8

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

You can't rush a perfect harvest or an answer to prayer. We must look at it like as a farmer who waits for the fruit of his labor, he doesn't just sit around complaining about how long the growing season is. He continues to work. He trusts God, and his patience grows right along with his fruit.

James advises us to establish our heart. There is a bountiful harvest as certain as the fulfillment of God's promises. The Lord will return, the hard times we face will end, and God will answer our prayers when the time is right.

We must remind ourselves daily that God is in control of all things... including the timing of things to come and the answer to our prayers.

Romans 8:35-39

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger,
or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed
all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life,
nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus is the ONLY way

Like our daily lives, our walk with the Lord has its ups and downs, but because we are human, a lot of things can drag our emotion down. The Bible says that everybody struggles and that God is gracious and he will give us the way out. God will not test us beyond what we can handle.

Growing up I have realized that most people believe in God or that "He does exist". But to receive salvation, we must turn to God, form a personal relationship, turn away from our sins, and follow Him. We must trust in Jesus with everything we have and everything we do. The Bible teaches that there is no other way to salvation than through Christ. Jesus says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

Jesus is the only way of salvation because He is the only One who can pay our sin penalty. No other religion teaches the depth or seriousness of sin and its consequences. No other religion offers the infinite payment of sin that only Jesus Christ could provide. No other “religious founder” was God become man. Jesus had to be God so that He could pay our debt. Jesus had to be man so He could die. Salvation is available only through faith in Jesus Christ. “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Every person is separated from God by their sin and in need of forgiveness. Because God is just as well as loving, we cannot cross this gulf and have a relationship with Him, unless the penalty for our sin is paid. If God did not judge our sin, He would no longer be just.

Living a good, moral life cannot save a person because good works do not pay the penalty for sin. Being religious cannot save a person either, because religion does not pay the death penalty.

Fortunately, because of His love for us, God sent Jesus to die in our place to pay the death penalty we deserve for our sin. Jesus chose to do this because He loves us, and was the only one able to do this because He is fully God and He is fully man (He had to be a sinless human to pay the penalty for a sinful human). Jesus is not only sinless, but He is 100% God and 100% man.

On the cross, God judged Jesus for our sin so that we wouldn't have to be. That's why He is the only way to God, and only Jesus was willing and able to die for us to pay our death penalty, thus providing forgiveness for our sins. No one other religious leader has done this, no one else could have done this.

We can receive forgiveness and eternal life only through Jesus because only He has taken away our sin and bridged the gulf between us and God. It took His death to pay the penalty for our sin. If there had been any other way, Jesus would not have died (Gal 2:21). Considering the sacrifice Jesus made, we should not think it is unfair that there is only one way, but we should be glad that there is any way at all.

One things I know I use to struggle with and I know others do is what about all of the other religions?

We can believe what Jesus said because He gave evidence that validates His claim. Jesus not only claimed to be the only way to God, but He also claimed to be God (John 5:18; 10:30-33). He then rose from the dead, proving that what He said was true. There is more evidence for Christ's resurrection than any event in ancient history. Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed and all of the other religious leaders of the past are still in their tombs. But not Jesus. For he has risen :)

How to pray for the Soul

1. The first thing my soul needs is an inclination to God and his Word. Without that, nothing else will happen of any value in my life. I must want to know God and read his Word and draw near to him. Where does that "want to" come from? It comes from God. So Psalm 119:36 teaches us to pray, "Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to gain"

2. Next I need to have the eyes of my heart opened so that when my inclination leads me to the Word I see what is really there and not just my own ideas. Who opens the eyes of the heart? God does. So Psalm 119:18 teachus us to pray, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your Law"

3. Then I need for my heart to be enlightened with these "wonders." I need to perceive glory in them and not just interesting facts. Who enlightens the heart? God does. So Ephesians 1:18 teaches us to pray "that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"

4. Then I am concerned that my heart is badly fragmented and that parts of it might remain in the dark while other parts are enlightened. So I long for my heart to be united for God. Where does that wholeness and unity come from? From God. Where does that wholeness and unity come from? From God. So Psalm 86:11 teaches us to pray, "O Lord, I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name"

5. What I really want from all this engagement with the Word of God and the work of his Spirit in answer to my prayers is that my heart will be satisfied with God and not with the world. Where does that satisfaction come from? It comes from God. So Psalm 90:14 teaches us to pray, "Satisfy us in the morning with Thy steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days"

6. But I don't want my happiness to be fragile or weak, but to be strong and durable in the face of the worst adversities. I want to be strong in joy, and in persevering during the dark seasons. Where does that strength and durability come from? It comes from God. So Ephesians 3:16 teaches us to pray, "That God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man"

7. I do not want my strength in Christ to simply be fruitful for me, but for others. Clearly "it is more blessed to give than to receive" So I want to produce good deeds and works of love for others, so that the glory of God will be seen in my life, and others will taste and see that the Lord is good. Who produces these good deeds of love? God does. So Colossians 1:10 teaches us to pray, "That we will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord... bearing fruit in every good work"

8. Finally, lest the ultimate aim of it all be missed, I pray day after day, as a kind of banner flying over all my prayers, "Hallowed be Thy name." Lord, cause your name to be known and feared and loved and cherished and admired and praised and trusted because of my life and ministry.

John Piper