Tuesday, February 03, 2015

I dont want my memory to fail me....

I used to laugh at my grandmother because she would always get our names messed up.  She'd call me every name of every other relative that lived until she finally got to mine....

I don't find it so funny anymore.  I find myself going to yell at Harvey for the latest trouble he's gotten himself into & I call him Bruno, Sydney, Buffy, Zoe... HARVEY!!!! ...


It seems like memory is a precious thing, isn't it? I realize the older I get, the more I value it....

We just finished up a series on The Bible with the youth kiddos.  I have so loved this series & love when I get so much out of the lessons & have a conviction come to me.  This series did just that to me.

I started the series talking about how we recommend books to each other every day ... hello Winter Reading Challenge... but how often do we recommend the greatest selling book of all time?

Our Youth Pastor taught the next lesson talking about how we have to be able to feed ourselves - we're not babies anymore.  We have to dig in the Bible ourselves to hear God.  We can't rely on our others to give us what we need from God's words - we have to be able to read it ourselves, search in it for what God has to tell us.

& then this past Sunday, my buddy Ryan closed us up with the best message.  He talked about memorizing scripture.

I have always been amazed when people can rattle off scripture from the top of their head...

If you can pull out scripture... then EXCELLENT!
(like what I did there?... if you don't get it, you are not a teen of the 80's)

I always loved being a part of Beth Moore's Scripture Sisters that had you memorizing 2 new scriptures every month.  I did pretty good for a few years... & I do actually remember most of the verses I committed to memory...

I'm good at remembering the words... I'm bad at remembering the chapter/verse thing... I need to work on that...

But Ryan had the best example of why its so important to memorize scripture. 

This sweet young man has lost both of his parents -  he's lost his sister .... he talks about how much he misses them..

Don't you know those people in your life that you  miss so much.  You wish you could hear their voice again.  You could talk to them & hear their advice & hear their words of wisdom that only parents & family can give you?


Ryan said he has letters & cards though that his parents would send him.  Especially his mother who would send him encouraging thoughts & prayers... he kept them... & he said when he thinks of her & feels like he needs to hear from her, he will open up some of these precious mementos & its like he can remember her voice in these words...

.... how true this is with the Bible...

God speaking to us...


His words of wisdom - His voice -  His encouragement - His advice .... all right there for us...

How amazing is that...

We challenged the kids this week to try & start memorizing scripture.  Get those words of God tucked into them as much as possible.  Start to get it embedded in those brains, those hearts...

Let them see that God's word is alive & active.. even in their lives today... God's words still apply from 100 years ago to today in 2015.

So I am taking this to heart myself... going to get back into memorizing scripture. 
I want to jump back into the Siesta Scripture Sister thing...

& it worked out perfectly when the scripture for the day in our church message was in Hebrews & I see my word of the year, right there in my face... Confidence!!! 

Tell me the Bible isn't alive & active... my word right there in my face.  I love when God does that...

here's my verse for February....

memory verse


How about you?

Are you good at remembering scripture?  Do you have favorite verses that stick with you?

I loved how our Youth Pastor said, when you're in a fight, you can't tell the enemy to hold on while you go get your weapon.  You have to have it right there ready to pull out & fight...  same with Scripture.  When Satan comes at you, you need to be prepared.  Ready.  Have God's word tucked in tight.  You can't go take the time to grab a phone & Google it, look through the Bible.  You need it NOW....


So I'll pass the challenge on to all of you... get those brains going... get those hearts ready... be prepared... hear God's words protect, guard, advise, encourage you every day....
 
Are you good at memorizing Scripture?
 
What are some tricks to you use to memorize things?
 
Am I the only one that gets names mixed up now?


8 comments:

  1. No, you are not the only one who gets names mixed up. I've started calling people sweetie or something like that because I can't remember names. lol

    I'm not good at memorizing scripture, but I am trying. I have my first 2 and almost #3 pretty well memorized with the SSMT. I at least have the gist, sometimes not the exact wording though. I have noticed in the past few years, that while I do not always have scripture completely memorized, if someone starts a verse, lots of times I can complete it. But like you, I have no idea where it's located. That's part of the reason with SSMT this year, I am memorizing a chapter so all are located in the same place.

    I just hope I stick it out for all 24 verses. The first 3 aren't bad.

    Psalm 139:1-3 "O Lord you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know when I travel or am resting at home. You know everything I do."

    Nope, I guess I don't have it as well as I thought. This is what is correct.

    "O lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do."

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  2. I've always found it funny that I can memorize a song in no time but not anything else. I have a few verses memorized, my favorites, but I'd love to be able to remember more of the bible.

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  3. You are so not alone in this! Between my grandfather, father and Cory sometimes I feel incompetent when they start talking about Bible verses. Especially when they all three get together. They might not know them exactly but they have an idea of what they say and know where to find them. I would love to be able to rattle off my favorite verses!

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  4. I'm horrible at memorizing verses ... but I think that's an excuse and a lie that I tell myself so I don't even try to begin memorization. When I was a camp counselor in Alaska, another counselor helped the whole camp memorize verses by putting them to tunes -- didn't matter if the tune was one that we all already knew or if it was made up on the spot but we would remember the tune, sing the verse, and it was in our memory bank ever after.

    I had even gotten one of those little flip-notebooks and put 50 verses down (one on each page) and put it on my treadmill with the intention of running and memorizing a verse each day or week - however long it took to stick in my head. I failed at that but I still have the notebook on the treadmill.

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  5. i used to laugh when my mum and nana did the whole name mix up.. but i do it with my cats.. i don't think it's a memory thing, just too many dang names lol.

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  6. No, I'm not the best at memorizing Scripture...and I wish I was. What I do is write them down on Post-It-Notes and stick them on the refrigerator door so that every time I open it or walk past it, I'm reminded. Even writing things down on index cards and quizzing myself has worked wonders...that's what helped me in college.

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  7. woo! what a message this morning! especially the part about about not being babies anymore about it. so true!

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  8. I am doing SSMT for the first time and have my 1st 3 verses down. And let me tell you, I have needed them!! I am doing verses around trust and when I have been doubting God in my circumstances lately I have had those verses to fill my mind and bring my focus back on God!!

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