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…
Directions
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryI used to enjoy eating dinner out at various restaurants, but ever since the Lord laid this historic effort and burgeoning ministry on my heart and led me to commit my entire life savings to this, I haven’t eaten out, not even a single time, so let’s just say I’ve been doing a lot more cooking in my kitchen, more in the past year alone than my entire life prior to that combined.
I’ve always done a pretty good job at staying away from sweets and junk food. Pretty good. There’s always that stray week or two each year that I discover my sweet tooth. Last week was just such a time, so I went to my local store and bought a few different cake mixes. Carrot cake. Chocolate. Banana nut. (Hungry yet?)
They were so delicious in theory. But a funny thing happened on the way to the kitchen. Actually, not funny at all. The opposite of funny. Because they turned out to taste terrible. Inedible!
But why, I wondered to myself, what went wrong? How on earth did I go zero-for-three, a total strike out in ovenland?
Simple: upon further review (as an NFL referee would say) I realized that I didn’t follow the directions on the box.
Rookie mistake. But it hit me that the Christian life is no different. All we have to do is FOLLOW THE CLEAR DIRECTIONS. And thankfully, God has graciously given us an error-free, tried and true, can’t-fail Cookbook. The Bible. And it’s not nearly so complicated as so many might think:
The simple truth is that I can try and try and try again to bake a cake using pear concentrate instead of eggs but it’s just not going to turn out properly. So from now on, I’m just going to FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS – in cooking (on the box) AND especially in the Christian life (in the Bible). TO A TEE. Without substitution. So the rest of my life will turn out far better than those cakes.
.
.
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!
5. Share this post on your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:
.
.
Better Than GOLD!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryYou probably think this title refers to the Bible as set forth so beautifully in Psalm 19:10 and just thinking about that verse makes me sorely tempted to change lanes and go there but I’ll stick with the plan and discuss a different kind of gold.
Specifically, the “golden rule”.
I’m sure 99.9% of us heard this many times in our childhood: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” from Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31.
Matthew 5-7 is the well-known Sermon on the Mount, which I believe is the greatest message, sermon, speech or oration of any kind ever spoken by a human, to this day, a record certain to never be broken. So deep yet simple to understand yet so elegant. Amazing.
But I believe this to be the FLOOR for us, NOT the ceiling.
What I mean by this is that this is true even on a purely human, earthly basis, right? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – because they WILL! Because that’s exactly what’s going to happen 99% of the time. With some but few exceptions, give respect and you’ll get it. Give love and you’ll get that, too. Be generous with others and they’ll be generous with you. Show kindness and it’ll come back to you in spades. A handful of verses later in that second passage, in verse 38, this is famously stated in this way: “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
Yes, the “golden rule” is a fine way to go through life, it’s a fine goal but should be the MINIMUM, not the maximum. It’s quite literally the least we can do.
So I’m calling this the “rhodium rule”, because that’s the most valuable metal on earth. It’s gold to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, but it’s rhodium to “do unto others as God does unto you.” That’s a much higher and better standard. Therefore even to those who mock and ridicule us we should show mercy. Even to those who hate us, we should show love. Even to those who are cruel to us, we should show kindness.
This “rhodium rule” is set forth throughout the Bible, with one of my favorite examples being Colossians 3:13 – “bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; JUST AS the Lord forgave you, so also should you.” Do unto others as God does unto you. Matthew 18:21-35 is another great example of the “rhodium rule”. But perhaps my favorite in this regard is Romans 12:20-21 which says, “But if your enemy [who? even your ENEMY] is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink. … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
So as I go through each day, I’m going to think in terms not merely of doing unto others as I would have them do unto me but rather doing unto others as GOD DOES unto me.
Why settle for gold when we can have rhodium?!
.
Share this post with, well, EVERYONE!
.
“Mercy!”
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryWhen I was a child, my parents maintained a good disposition but from time to time, like most parents, like most people, they’d get shocked or disappointed or miffed by various things life would throw their way and my dad’s reaction in particular was always the same. One word. “Mercy.” Or if the situation was of a more extreme nature, “Mercy!” (I think he got that from a Roy Orbison song.) It was far more statement than plea.
That memory returned as I contemplated this post. Like the previous one, there’s going to be some GREAT NEWS, which will be followed by a loving word of warning from the ever-loving God via His Word, the Bible. Like my parents also used to say per the previous post, “where there’s privilege, there’s also responsibility.” (That’s also the perspective of our heavenly Father as you’re about to read.)
First, the privilege/receiving.
God is merciful. He abounds in mercy. It’s part of His very nature.
2 Corinthians 1:3 calls Him “the Father of mercies.”
In Exodus 34:6, when Moses went back up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments for a second time due to his anger over the people’s sinful conduct including worshiping the golden calf which Aaron had made (32:35), the English Standard Version (ESV) translates God’s testimony about Himself like this: “The Lord, the Lord God, MERCIFUL and gracious…” And Micah 7:18 goes a bit further and says that God “DELIGHTS in mercy” (New King James Version, NKJV). And Ephesians 2:4 goes even further in a sense in declaring that God is “RICH in mercy.” And David – the man after God’s own heart, asserts in Psalm 25:10, “ALL the paths of the Lord are MERCY and truth” (King James Version, KJV). And in Psalm 145:8-9 he says “The Lord is gracious and merciful … and His mercies are over ALL his works” then echoes that in Psalm 86:15 – “But Thou, O Lord, art a God MERCIFUL and gracious.” I love the explanation of the difference between mercy and grace I learned as a child: grace is getting what we do not deserve; mercy is NOT getting what we DO deserve. Mercy goes hand-in-hand with compassion [and indeed is actually translated as such here by the New American Standard Version (NASB)] and forbearance and patience and lovingkindness. Indeed, this is not just attributed to God in the Old Testament but equally so in the New: James 5:11 assures us that “the Lord is FULL of compassion, as is MERCIFUL.”
It’s part of His very nature. So totally unsurprisingly, they NEVER run out. Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV) – “His mercies NEVER come to an end; they are new EVERY morning.” Just like that song many of us have sung in church.
Second, the responsibility/giving.
The bar is set very high, my friend, by the Lord Jesus Himself; in Luke 6:36 He commands us to “Be merciful, JUST AS your [heavenly] Father is merciful.” Wow. High standard indeed. The highest.
In fact, for anyone who desires to be wise, to receive wisdom from God, he or she must be “FULL of mercy” (James 3:17; and also pure and peaceful among other things).
And speaking of the link between mercy and wisdom, Proverbs 14 gives us a double-dose on the topic: verse 21 says that “he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he” and verse 31 says “he who honors Him has mercy on the needy.” (NKJV) And Micah 6:8 is among the most familiar Old Testament verses and says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” And Zechariah 7:9 commands us to “show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother.”
From a biblical perspective, there are many things about current society which concern me. Near the very top of that list is an ever-increasing and tangible, palpable lack of mercy, particularly in recent years. Especially online but even in person (just watch the news on any given day and you’ll likely see multiple examples), people more and more are choosing cruelty and meanness and unkindness over mercy.
My friend, while this certainly isn’t great for the object of said lack of mercy, it’s even far worse for the subject, for the one(s) being unmerciful.
Here’s a GREAT verse on this matter. Proverbs 11:17 – “The merciful man does HIMSELF good…” But it doesn’t stop there: “… but the cruel man does HIMSELF harm.” Wow, what a timely verse for the time in which we currently live!
But once again (I LOVE this!) that which couldn’t be stated any more clearly in the Old Testament is reiterated in the New: James 2:12-13 is equally clear and provides the perfect conclusion for this post: “So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For JUDGMENT WILL BE MERCILESS TO ONE WHO HAS SHOWN NO MERCY.” Yikes! What a stern warning each of us would be wise to not lose sight of ever, to keep firmly in mind all day every day. But like Proverbs 11:17, James 2:13 doesn’t stop there; isn’t it just like the Lord to end on an encouraging, uplifting, motivational note of positive reinforcement: “MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT.” And 2 Samuel 22:26 says the same thing: “With the merciful, You will show Yourself merciful.” (KJV/ESV) And in Matthew 5:7, right at the start of the “Sermon on the Mount” – unparalleled in oration and preaching and evangelism history – Jesus simply said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”
So starting today and for the rest of our lives, let’s actively look for and search out opportunities to show MERCY to others. The highest motivation for anything is always God’s pleasure but even if we can’t always maintain that perspective, even if one isn’t motivated by that, then do it for YOURSELF, for your own well-being. Not only in the life to come, but also in this one. Indeed indeed, “The merciful man does HIMSELF good.”
As Dad would often say, “Mercy!”
.
.
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!
5. Share this post on your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:
.
.