I enjoy a good game of chess.

That has been the case since I first learned the game as a child.  I just went a decade without playing even a single game (as you know, I have far bigger fish to fry these days) but started playing again over the recent holidays and it really is like riding a bike.  I’m definitely not great at it, rather I’d rate myself as a solid “decent” but no Bobby Fischer or Garry Kasparov, that’s for sure; instead of enjoying the game based on skill level, the main reason is that the game is entirely bound by the rules.  They provide structure, yes, but the aspect which is even far greater in my view is that once a person knows the rules, the rest of the game (strategy) is comparatively easy.  Conversely, when someone doesn’t  know the rules, well, you don’t want to be that person in the chess world.  (And – unless you really, really, really love them – you probably won’t enjoy playing a game with someone who doesn’t know the rules.)  Because those are  the game of chess.

And that’s why I really enjoy it:  because the rules make the game totally expectable.  They eliminate any conjecture or guesswork:  if you move a piece to a square that’s unobstructed and diagonal from your opponent’s bishop, you can know with utter and complete and indeed infinite certainty that your piece can be legally captured on the next move.  It doesn’t mean that it will be (your opponent might not see it, might want to accomplish another purpose or make another move or two first, etc.) but you can know with infinite certitude that it can  be, and that’s what allows one to develop a winning strategy.

And that’s exactly how the Bible is in the “real world” (as we used to say as kids), in life.  Not knowing it, not being aware of what it says, is like trying to play chess without knowing the rules, or trying to walk in darkness.

And conversely, knowing  what it says enables a person to do  what it says and that, my friend, is THE KEY to life, to blessing, to all good things:  obedience to God via His Word, the Bible.

Just like in chess when you know that placing a piece in a square which has an unobstructed diagonal path to the opponent’s bishop makes that piece totally vulnerable and quite possibly might end up costing you the game, so also knowing the Bible makes us aware and enables us to avoid the pitfalls of life, to avoid sin and its many devastating consequences…

• “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin [Wow! Triple-wow!] against You.” (Psalm 119:11)

… and not just to avoid the pitfalls but to reap real rewards…

• “This book of the law [i.e., the Bible] shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to [i.e., obey, heed] all that is written in it; for then [causation] you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” (Joshua 1:8)
• “But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by [i.e., obey, heed] it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:25)
• “But his delight is in the law of the Lord [i.e., the Bible], and in His law he meditates day and night.  And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” (Psalm 1:2-3)

… in the life to come AND in this one!

• “… godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8)
• “… godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.” (1 Timothy 6:6)

Knowing and obeying the Bible is the path to true and lasting blessing and joy and fulfillment.  And there’s literally no better way to know and obey the Bible than to memorize  it.

If you’d like to help me help countless others do so, please see the Side Panel to the right for several ways, all but one of which don’t cost a dime and hardly any time!  (Hey, that’s a rhyme! 🙂 )

And if you’d like to memorize, to store entire books  of the Bible in YOUR mind or that of your children or nieces and nephews or students, stay tuned since I sense that in six or twelve months from now I will have received all or at least a sufficiently huge percentage of the specific memory method which the Bible itself has been revealing to my mind’s eye ever since I began this historic project… more updates here on this blog as events unfold over the coming months, I am absolutely certain that it will not only change countless lives but revolutionize the world of education, the very way we learn and teach.

I saw a news article which reported that “chess has been shown to raise student’s overall IQ scores.  A Venezuelan study involving 4,000 second-grade students found a significant increase in their IQ scores after only 4.5 months of systematically studying chess”…

Just wait until the world sees the results when I show students (and adults!  Because as I often say, it’s never too early to start memorizing Scripture but it’s never too late  either!) across the country and the globe HOW to literally transfer and store, permanently, huge chunks of the infinite and effective and beyond-mighty Bible, the “living and abiding” (1 Peter 1:23), “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12) Word of God Himself, which does not “return void” (Isaiah 55:11) but rather “performs its work” (1 Thessalonians 2:13) in any and all who simply believe and receive it.

Stay tuned.  Never-before-seen and indeed never-before-imagined things are on the way.

.

Share this post with, well, EVERYONE!

.