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…
Theme Song!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryThe Lord has blessed me with some personal strengths but I can assure you that a good singing voice is NOT one of them. No how, no way, no day. This is probably why whenever a singer has told me that they admire my love for and focus on Bible memory, I’ve usually responded by sharing how much I admire them for having such a good singing voice… it’s actually a fantastic illustration of how the Lord designed His body, the Church, to function: we all have at least one great strength/gift, and in that way we “complete” one another, and thus we “complete” the body of Christ on earth.
I recall one time in particular when I was honored to spend an evening (dessert) with a really nice woman who oh by the way just happened to be the reigning Miss America at the time (I was 19 and smittennnn) and she had a terrific singing voice (it was what she went with for the “talent” portion of that year’s pageant along with playing the piano) and someone had told her that I loved memorizing Bible verses and she said, “I’m so jealous! I would LOVE to be able to memorize a lot of Scripture, I can’t tell you how much I admire that!” and I immediately replied, “You’re jealous? I’m jealous of your amazing musical talent!”
The Lord could have blessed me with that had He so desired, but it’s clear that He didn’t… but one of the (countless) AMAZING things I’ve seen firsthand about the Bible in general and Bible memory in specific is that it not only “turbocharges” the human mind, the human brain, but it can also enable and empower a person – even one so hopelessly non-musically-inclined as I – to write a song, so without further ado I’ll end by just saying that I’m both humbled and thrilled about how it turned out and to be able to share it for the very first time with you, my audience and friends and fellow workers and servants of our magnificent Lord Jesus Christ – please feel free to SHARE IT (via YouTube, or this entire post via the Social Media buttons below) with your friends, family, fellow congregation members, and social media followers… it just might make their day! And it’ll “plant some seeds” for Bible memory in any case. (And you just might hear them humming it the next time you see them. =)
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Life Lessons from the Basketball Championship Series
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryThe pro basketball championship series has ended and with it, another season. Two main lessons/takeaways for me from this season-ending, summer-summoning series (one of the many great benefits of Bible memory especially on a regular, systematic basis is that literally EVERYTHING in life reminds one of something in the Bible, EVERY event big or small or in between brings back a Bible verse or lesson or principle or sermon previously ingested).
The first takeaway is that the Celtics had the #1 defense in the entire league for the season… and the Warriors #2.
It wouldn’t be prudent, um, wouldn’t be worth the time (Ephesians 5:16) to research the actual statistics but let’s just say it’s very, very common, in ANY sport, for the team with the #1 defense during the season to end up in the championship series. And they’re often joined by the team with the #2 defense.
And that reminds me of something I alluded to in a recent post, that the Christian life on OUR end is ALL ABOUT de-fense, de-fense, de-fense!
Note that it doesn’t say “Attack him (the devil, Satan, per verse 8)” or “Hunt him” or “Destroy him”. But rather, to just “RESIST him.” Clearly DE-FENSE. Why? Why are we to relegate ourselves to DEFENSE in the Christian life? Because the Lord Jesus has already taken care of the offense, He has already secured VICTORY!
And just as we have ALREADY been adopted by God as sons and daughters and therefore siblings of our Lord Jesus Christ…
… but haven’t yet experienced the final and complete consummation of such…
… so also Christ has ALREADY secured the victory per the verses above but the final and complete consummation of that will be delivered by God.
To borrow another sports illustration, we’re currently like an Olympian has won the race but the medal ceremony hasn’t yet taken place. The victory is a DONE DEAL, has ALREADY OCCURRED, but the final consummation of that will take place shortly (relatively speaking, in terms of eternity, as clearly explained in 2 Peter 3:8). That’s why we needn’t “go on the offensive” at all, ever, in the Christian life but rather are commanded to simply “resist” the devil and evil and sin and temptation. And further proving this to be true is what I mentioned in a recent post, that the “sword” of the Spirit in Ephesians 6:17 could rightly be interpreted as “knife” or “dirk” or “dagger”, a weapon not intended for offense but defense due to its short length.
Through the years I’ve heard of many people who have “gone on the offense” against the devil and that deeper dive into the demonic realm destroyed them, destroyed their minds and lives. Because our role as Christians is NOT to “go on offense” but rather to leave THAT to our “Field Commander”, the Lord Jesus Christ, and instead to be humble, peaceful, loving, and kind when it comes to others and to just “resist” and “stand firm” when it comes to the devil and his minions and schemes.
The second takeaway from the just-ended pro basketball championship series is that, as stated a number of times in past posts but always well-worth repeating, it’s not how one STARTS the really counts but rather how one FINISHES.
That’s true of individuals and also of teams.
In this case, in this series, the Celtics had a great START, winning Game 1 on the Warriors’ home court (thus taking away from them home-court advantage in the series) and then winning Game 3 at home to go up 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. But they didn’t have a great FINISH, losing the next three games straight and thus the series.
And that reminded me of a fellow in the Bible named Demas.
He too had a GREAT, fantastic, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious START, making it all the way to the innermost circle of the Apostle Paul himself, and Mark and Luke…
… but a horrific FINISH.
Like Daniel in the Old Testament, let’s trust God and “purpose in our hearts” not to end up, not to follow the path and model and example of Demas but rather that of Paul, who had a horrific START…
… but, humanly-speaking, no doubt the GREATEST-EVER FINISH outside of our Lord Himself.
Because what truly counts is not how you or I started but how we finish.
And that is one of my main daily motivations in life. One day may it be said of you and me that we too “fought the good fight… finished the course… kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7), knowing that “in the future there is laid up for [us] the crown of righteousness” (verse 8).
Medal ceremony!!!
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Picking Out
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryPackets of taco sauce are a terrible thing to waste.
Before I sold my only vehicle in order to finish building this website, I used to visit the Taco Bell drive-thru every week or two and they’d usually give me a few packets of sauce too many so I just got into the habit of sticking them in a big plastic shopping bag in one of my kitchen cupboards. And after I sold my car I haven’t been to Taco Bell even a single time so that bag drifted its way out of my mind for that entire time… until last week when I had occasion to delve into that cupboard for something else and, wa-la, there was the big bag of taco sauce packets right beside it… bingo! Because I had since bought a lot of frozen burritos and chimichangas and the time had come to start working my way through those but I prefer not to eat those plain, definitely need some sauce so the timing was perfect and the bonus was warmly welcomed.
But I immediately noticed an issue: over the several years I had accumulated those taco sauce packets, some had gone bad at least on the outside of the packet, at least in terms of appearance but that was plenty sufficient for me to toss those questionable ones into the trash and start putting the good ones to good use. 🙂
So I took that big bag from the cupboard and dumped all of those packets onto the (newly-swept) kitchen floor and starting “picking out” the good packets and pushing the bad ones out of the way to form their own pile which I proceeded to toss in the trash can when I was done with this timely task… and while I was doing this it immediately directed my mind to the passage in the Bible which says that this is exactly what the Lord is going to do when He returns: He’ll “pick out” the “wheat” and later toss the “chaff” into the trash bin of hell.
I can’t think of anything which is at once so sad and so blissful a thought! Sad for all those who will have rejected the gospel, the “love of the truth”, God’s plan of salvation…
… but beyond blissful for all those who WILL have put their faith in Christ and Christ alone for the payment of their sins, paving the path for God’s full forgiveness so we can have a relationship no longer of enmity and strife but of peace and love with Him now and spend all eternity in heaven when this mortal, finite, temporal life is over, be that through physical death or the Rapture.
It’s a simple yet excellent illustration of the most important matter in this life: where one will spend the life to come, eternity.
So next time you find yourself “picking out” a certain flavor of Starbursts or color of M&M’s or your preferred type of snacking nut (cashews and almonds for me, though I like them all) think about the “picking out” of believers from unbelievers, sheep from wolves, wheat from chaff which the Lord will do some day (and sooner rather than later methinks, me feels it in me bones… the sky is getting pretty red and “threatening”, my friends, the sky is getting pret-ty red and “threatening” – Matthew 16:3).
And if you see someone else doing this with candy or nuts or anything else, that might be a great “doorway” for the gospel, just to mention to them that after reading this post, watching them reminds you of that coming day and perhaps simply and lovingly ask them if they KNOW which group THEY’LL be in at that time… who knows where the Holy Spirit might take that notion inside of that person’s mind and heart and soul. May each of us do our part (the Lord through us) to share the gospel with as many people as possible so the following lyrics can be said of as few people as possible.
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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:
1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
3. Add your name to my Prayer List!
4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
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