Many people will (mistakenly) think that anyone who memorizes a huge amount of Scripture must be some sort of “super saint”. I have this to say about that, and that’s this: Super saint? NO I AIN’T! Not even close. (To echo the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:18, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh”.) In fact, just the opposite of their notion is true, because the more of the Bible I memorize, the more I realize how utterly and entirely sinful I am in and of myself, in my flesh. You see, as Psalm 19:7-8 clearly states, the Bible – and especially memorizing the Bible – “enlightens the eyes”. It breaks through the blindness which besets us from birth and opens one’s eyes. To the truth and existence and nature and will of God. To the nature and detrimental, destructive, and indeed deadly consequences of sin (Romans 6:23). And to the nature of man. Our flesh. Our fallacy. Our tendencies. Why we do what we do. Why we do what we should not and not do what we should! (Romans 7:19) So you can see why I say that the more Scripture one memorizes, the more one will see the righteousness of God and the sinfulness of oneself, of the flesh, to the extent that I can honestly say that I’m the BIGGEST SINNER I know, I’m the biggest sinner I’ve EVER known, and I’m probably the biggest sinner YOU’VE ever known, at least that’s how I see it, that’s my (believe it or not blissful) Bible-borne perspective.
But thankfully Psalm 19:7-8 doesn’t stop there! Because it’s just as clear that the Bible also “restores the soul” and “makes wise the simple” and “rejoices the heart”! It’s not just a win, not just a home run, memorizing and reciting Scripture is a GRAND SLAM! And not just spiritually, but humanly… not just in the spiritual realm, but in the human realm, not just in the life to come but also this present life (1 Timothy 4:8). And I can testify from firsthand experience that all of this is absolutely true: so long as I’m doing so on a regular basis, my spirit remains utterly joyful, rarely ever leaving the proverbial “cloud nine”. I find that I see things that many others don’t (heightened insight produced by the Word within). And I find that my heart remains filled with and focused on the things above, not on the things that are on earth (Colossians 3:2), not on the things which are seen, but unseen, not the things which are temporal but eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18) – what a wonderful way to go through life! And what’s amazing is that I’m just at the START this journey of memorizing the entire Bible, after which the Lord is leading me to turn this into a full-fledged, full-speed-ahead, full-time ministry – here’s the plan…
PHASE 1: Memorize the ENTIRE Bible as a “love/thank You” gift back to Him and also to prove, to demonstrate to the world the utter and tangible power and benefits of the ingested (memorized) Word of God! And for the first few months to highlight the need and leave room for the Lord to lead like-minded Bible-loving believers to support this in whatever ways they’re able and willing and excited to do so when learning about this historic endeavor and opportunity.
PHASE 2: After memorizing all or at least the vast majority of the New Testament, the next step will commence and entail totally changing the emphasis of this website from seeking one-time and especially Monthly Partners so as to get and keep this going to just giving back by meeting the needs of others, to “fulfill the law of Christ” by “bearing the burdens of others” (Galatians 6:2) and “serving one another” (Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 4:10).
Specifically, I will make myself available all throughout the day virtually every day so anyone will be able to:
- Ask and receive Bible-based answers to their questions about the Bible itself, God, sin, human nature, and whatever else might be on their hearts at any given time. Literally for the rest of my or their lives, they will have a ready and waiting friend and/or listening ear and/or shoulder to cry on according to their need at the time. Without reservation, and without judgment.
- Submit prayer requests to be prayed for by someone who is brimming with the living Word within him, which I firmly believe is the biggest key to effective prayer: the Word sanctifies (John 17:17) and cleanses (Ephesians 5:26) and keeps pure (Psalm 119:9) and away from sin (Psalm 119:11); now combine all of this with the fact that “the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer” (1 Peter 3:12) and “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 5:16b) and perhaps speaking most poignantly to the amazing link between memorizing Scripture and an effective prayer life, “If you abide in Me, and MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, ask WHATEVER you WISH, and it SHALL BE DONE for you.” (John 15:7). How will people’s lives literally change and be transformed by the supplication and intercession by one in whom such a massive amount of Scripture will be dwelling? GAME-CHANGER. Life-changer. WORLD-changer! (Literally. Just ask the people who were living in the time of Elijah.)
- Find a BIBLICAL – Bible-loving, Bible-believing, Bible-practicing – church near them, right in their local area! I am already in the process of putting together this network of churches; denomination will be irrelevant, the only criterion will be the extent to which they demonstrably adhere to the principles set forth in the Bible about “how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15) With a primary focus on how supportive they are of Bible memory. I expect even just the human-interest/intellectual aspect of this project to attract countless people who aren’t even religious or are very early on in their spiritual growth who’ll need and want to find a church that will foster and maximize said growth.
- Find the businesses in YOUR area that are owned and/or managed by fellow Christians who love the Lord and His Word and realize the importance of and support Bible memory. Galatians 6:10 and 1 Timothy 6:2 make clear that it is our responsibility as Christians that our everyday choices inure to the benefit of fellow believers whenever possible, so I’m going to make that super easy and convenient by posting a nationwide (but searchable by state/county/city) LIST of Christian businesses so we can all choose THEM whenever we need a product or service; once assembled, it will appear on the “Find A Christian Biz” / Yellow Pages section here at BibleMemory.ORG so please check back for that in the coming weeks.
PHASE 3: Turn this burgeoning history-in-the-making effort into a full-speed-ahead, full-fledged, full-time ministry to Educate, Encourage, and Empower others to memorize and recite Scripture on a regular, systematic, verse-by-verse, book-by-book basis! Tall goal, but totally doable, because something very interesting happened as I memorized my very first book of the Bible, the New Testament book of James. That goal seemed not just tall but downright monumental. Undoable. Right? Wrong! Because, amazingly, the more of it I memorize, the EASIER it gets! The more of it I memorize, the more I am able to memorize. By the time I came to Chapter 5, I knew this large task was indeed going to be accomplished. BIG difference than when I was facing Chapter 1 Verse 1.
This is a fantastic real-life demonstration of Matthew 19:26 which says, “With men, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Including memorizing the ENTIRE Bible! You see, in the physical realm, the more water you pour into a glass, the less capacity it will have for more water to be added. But in the spiritual realm, when it comes to God and His Word, the Bible, the exact OPPOSITE is true! The MORE you pour into your mind, the MORE capacity you’ll have for additional verses and chapters and books to be added! Not less. And this amazing power is exponential in nature: I saw a large increase in capacity from James 1 to James 5, but double or triple the capacity by the time I finished memorizing Hebrews 1-5, and then quadruple or quintuple the capacity by the time I finished memorizing Hebrews 6-10, and so on. This finding is literally historic, and indeed the closest thing to a bona fide miracle in recent history of which I’m aware: it’s verifiable, it’s tangible, and – due to the “living and active” nature of the Bible (Hebrews 4:12) – it’s even repeatable. While the specific extent of this phenomenon might vary from person to person, the essence of the Word does not. Ever. This is how I’ll be able not just to Educate and Encourage the masses to memorize and recite Scripture on a regular, systematic basis but also to EMPOWER them to do so (the Word through me). (Believe me, once a person gets a taste of this, his or her life will never be the same. Human metaphors don’t really do it justice but in terms of the Christian life, it’s like trying filet mignon for the first time after a lifetime of eating hamburger.)
This will primarily be accomplished by producing a course, a syllabus, an entire series of videos, CD’s, and even audio cassettes, which will take all of this and make it SUPER EASY and CONVENIENT for people the world over to learn and apply this at their own pace and as their individual schedules permit. I am utterly convinced that another worldwide spiritual revival will occur, but I’m even more certain that it will only occur as people start ingesting the living Word of God by memorizing and reciting it regularly – “all the day” (Psalm 119:97) and even “day AND night” (Psalm 1:2-3).
By the way, this would be a great time to let you know that as I’ve been memorizing Scripture, a very specific METHOD of doing so is coming into focus, which, as noted above, I can testify firsthand is making it MUCH EASIER for me to memorize and retain – not just the Bible but EVERYTHING: to-do lists, schedule and meetings, various events that occur, etc., a true “sponge” effect! – and I’m 99.9% sure that it will do so for virtually anyone and everyone who applies it. It’s still coming together but seems to be getting close to the point that it can be rolled out. This one aspect alone of this one phase alone could easily and literally change the world and people’s everyday lives.
PHASE 4: Set up new and/or work with established addiction centers to specifically address the huge need for healing, curing, and then preventing from recurring (relapse) the massive crisis of addiction to pain killers, opioids, and other drugs, as well as the dreadful disease of depression. I am absolutely certain that the best and probably only way to truly beat, to truly eradicate, overcome, and conquer an addiction is to turn to something even more addictive – and I am equally certain that the most addictive thing in the universe is the BIBLE, the living and active Word of God, the Word ingested. No doubt about it. The main challenge is that so relatively few ever really give regular and systematic Bible memory a try, but I – with your and the Lord’s help – intend to change that!
It won’t happen overnight but I have no doubt that change is indeed coming. And just in case you don’t think the Bible extends or has relevance to the physical realm of human existence, I humbly give you Proverbs 4:22 which, referring to the Bible, the “my words” of verse 20, clearly states that His words “are LIFE to those who find them, and HEALTH to ALL their WHOLE BODY.” Is that an amazing verse or what?! We have a super-duper health “pill” readily available to us (the Bible is the most-published and available book of all time) yet SO FEW EVER ACTUALLY SWALLOW IT! To their utter “missing out” yet few if any are even aware of this because nobody has trumpeted it from the proverbial mountaintops but with your help I intend to change this, too, and do just that!
I didn’t start memorizing entire books of the Bible as a child but did memorize a lot of single Bible verses and – totally not surprisingly in light of that verse/truth/fact – I haven’t had to see a doctor or go to the hospital my entire adult life. Not even a single time. No emergencies. No health surprises. Not one. I don’t think the two are unrelated or that this remarkable health history is mere coincidence or the result of “good genes”; no, I’m certain it’s that verse at work.
No, it won’t happen overnight but down the road I look forward to organizing some clinical/medical trials to demonstrate that this is universal and not just specific to me. I dare say that other than imparting the Gospel or giving one’s own life to save another’s, there is no greater act of love and kindness and therefore Christlikeness (since He epitomized and epitomizes both) than to free a person from the cruel slavery and bondage of addiction or depression, to provide them with the answer, the antidote, something that actually and permanently WORKS! So even just this phase of the action plan will likely be enough to revolutionize the nation and world.
CONCLUSION: If you like what you’ve heard here and found yourself nodding in agreement several times, please read on…
Four Types (and one Solar Eclipse)
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryPer plenty of published projections predicting a pretty plump path, people from Maine to Texas (local cloud cover-contingent) are set to see quite a sight: just two hours from now, day will literally become night. In a tad over “the blink of an eye” (but close!) daylight will turn to darkness.
For a few fast minutes anyway.
That’s right, it’s Solar Eclipse Day as mass media outlets have been breathlessly blaring with tremendous anticipation all weekend in particular; the event is about to arrive with full scientific force but here’s what’s filling my mind this monumental moment:
Which nicely brings us to the meat, the main point of this post: may we use this stellar solar event with worldwide watching to “examine ourselves” to see if we are indeed redeemed, to pinpoint where we stand on the spiritual spectrum – such a solemn subject and by far the most important of this entire life – or at least come quite close to confirming which kind of person we are of the four types among mankind, as follows, and to act accordingly:
… in other words, to heed the Holy Spirit’s and Paul’s pointed words of warning to wisely…
Paul uses an exclamation point.
God uses solar eclipses and other such events to get our attention, to “shake us and wake us” to a few fine facts…
How small and puny people are in the grand scheme of things, how truly little our lives are by comparison.
How helpless we are without Him, especially spiritually.
How much we need Him in every aspect and facet of life – this one and the (much, much, much, much, much longer) one to come.
How mighty and matchless and masterful and all-powerful He is.
Or as countless singers (like the Statler Brothers) have sung to the Lord for 75 years now: How great Thou art, Lord! How. Great. Thou. Art.
Donate Pray 9 ways YOU can help MAKE HISTORY
.
Share this post with, well, EVERYONE!
.
Four Factors
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryAs everyone learned while watching the first Iraq war in 1991, there are four factors in life, in strategizing, in planning:
Those first two are pretty easy for obvious reasons.
That third one can be more challenging but still isn’t at all scary since study and analysis can provide the answers and solution.
That fourth one is what wearies people in their planning efforts throughout life. The “unknown unknowns”. But thankfully, we Christians needn’t lose even one wink of sleep over even those since, while “we may not know what the future holds, we know who holds the future.”
Thank You, Lord, for Your loving, infinite, endless sovereignty! Which makes navigating life “easy as pie”, a proverbial “piece of cake” as they say. That’s so true. Thank You for the countless ways Your sovereignty is demonstrated day by day but especially in Your plan for the salvation of man: from our Lord’s very specifically and long-prophesied birth to your sinless life to your substitutionary death to Your true and literal resurrection from the dead on the third day, You were in total and complete control, Heavenly Father, fully sovereign, and I can’t thank You profusely or often enough that such continues even to this very day, even in our far smaller lives and situations. Just like You demonstrated it on that first Resurrection Sunday.
Happy Easter, everyone! Our Redeemer lives indeed!
Donate Pray 9 ways YOU can help MAKE HISTORY
.
Share this post with, well, EVERYONE!
.
Four Thoughts (and fourteen songs)
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryA few of my previously-published posts have mentioned that this area has several different routes for my many-mile mega-walks and that my by-far favorites are the ones which involve the National Mall.
The particular path upon which I trod today took me from the Jefferson Memorial, past the Washington Monument, across the pedestrian bridge by the Tidal Basin to the Lincoln Memorial then across the Memorial Bridge to – and around – the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery, past the Netherlands Carillon, culminating at the famous Iwo Jima (Marines) Memorial and then back to where I started, and repeating that path as many as ten times but usually three to five, depending on the amount of time allotted for exercising on a given day.
This morning there were four main thoughts which walloped my mind while I was walking, in this (chronological) order.
I had chosen this same route (of the several different spectacular ones available in this area) just last week and the trees were how they normally are eleven months a year but today was a very different story as they all started sprouting bright, white (cherry) blossoms in the past few days, which reminded me of a post I penned a whole year ago so the first main thought that struck me this morning was how quickly time passes… I simply c-a-n-n-o-t believe that it has been an entire year!
The second thought that hit me during this morning’s walk was, when seeing said cherry blossoms, to take inventory of my spiritual status to see if it was in “full bloom” like DC’s trees these next few weeks, or if there were any areas which needed to be “pruned” as only the Lord and Holy Spirit and Bible can do, can correct, can cause:
The third thought occurred immediately thereafter: for the first time since last fall, the National Park Service opened the pedal-powered “paddle” boats (blue like the sky-reflecting water on this particular day anyway) and that (of course!) brought a Bible verse to mind:
But the Bible doesn’t stop there! No, it immediately wields wise words of warning, noting that just as the path of a great ship is determined, indeed, “directed” by one of its “small” parts among many, so also the path of a person’s life is determined and directed by one of its ”small” parts among many, the tongue:
Much more about that topic in a forthcoming one but for the purposes of this post, after proceeding along the path picked for today’s walk and coming to Arlington National Cemetery, my eyes were drawn to and literally couldn’t move away from those rows and rows and rows of gravestones, and that reminded me of how our focus, our gaze, our eyes should be drawn to – and remain fixed (and fixated) on – the Lord Jesus:
Just as I (quite literally) couldn’t take my eyes off of those rows and rows of gravestones, so also – and times a trillion – I shouldn’t be able to take my eyes off of the Person and wisdom and will and work and Word and words of our loving Lord.
To be sure, it’s impossible for the finite, Fall-flawed human mind to muster maximum, continual focus on Him, due to the presence and potential of sin on this side of eternity (which is why verse 1 tells us to “lay aside” not just “sin which so easily entangles us” but even “every encumbrance” – more about this too in a future post) but that should absolutely be our daily, increasingly-neared goal.
May we wisely be aware of just how short, how brief our life actually is, and maintain a proper sense of spiritual urgency accordingly.
May we wisely “test” and “examine” ourselves spiritually – rigorously (“be all the more diligent”) and regularly (verb tense) – to take inventory, to see if our walk with the Lord is indeed “blooming”.
May we wisely be aware of just how powerful and potent and potentially poisonous and self-destructive our words, our speech, our tongue can be, to never forget that though it’s small in size compared to other major parts of our body, it’s outsized in determining the direction and destiny of our lives, since it literally “directs” such, just like the “very small rudder” of a ship.
And fourthly and lastly but definitely not least – in fact, most importantly since if we get this one right, the first three will fall into place nicely – may we wisely maintain, keep, “fix our eyes”, our focus, on the Lord Jesus, since He was and is and forevermore shall be the very personification of perfection and power and purity and every good thing – to Him and Him alone be the glory, God-blessed forever. Amen.
[NOTE: I never include nearly this many songs/videos in a post but am doing so this time because each and every one is (a) spot-on to what I wrote above and (b) unique and different from the others below (hard to believe but I actually nixed ten other versions, because those ones weren’t unique enough) and in my humble view all will be a big blessing to you and are thus worthy of your time except the very last one for those who don’t like their music/hymns to be “rocky” in nature, otherwise I think you’ll enjoy all of these. Sincerely, DJ Bible]
Donate Pray 9 ways YOU can help MAKE HISTORY
.
Share this post with, well, EVERYONE!
.