Memory Verse Challenge-Week 3

Last week I mentioned I was embarking on a Memory Verse Challenge in order to get the Word of God firmly planted in my heart, mind and spirit.  Each Monday I will post the new verse for that week.  I hope you will join me in this challenge.  The more we have God's word in us, the more peace we'll have in our lives.  That's the power truth has over lies.

This week's verse reminds me that God gives us the weapons we need in order to fight against any and every attack from the devil.  God never leaves us without help or support.

 

(Continue reading verses 12-18 to find out what makes up the full armor of God.)

Week 2:  Romans 10:17  Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.

Week 1:  Psalm 9:9-10  The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.  Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Sunday Blogvotional: Knowledge of the Word is Power

In Matthew chapter 4 we read about the account of Jesus being tempted by the devil.  It's all pretty familiar to us but there is one particular aspect that usually sneaks by unnoticed.  It's the fact that the devil quotes scripture to try to lure Jesus into his trap. 

Do we find it odd that the devil would know even the slightest bit of God's word?  I daresay he knows it inside out.  It's like studying the playbook from the other team.  The enemy is wise in the ways of deception - doing what it takes to lure the enemy into his snare.  It's easy for Christians to believe if someone is quoting scripture than they must be alright.  Surely a Bible quoting person wouldn't steer us wrong?  But the devil didn't quite get the fact he was talking to someone who knew scripture even better than he did. 

Jesus, not only fought off the devil's temptations that day, He also gave us an example of how we can fight the evil one.  We can know and fight lies and deception by knowing truth even better than the devil. When something comes up in our lives that contradicts the Word of God, we will see it for what it is - lies - and have the strength to walk away.   

The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:3,4

Encouragement for the week: Keep your eyes open and be aware. Know your Bible - it can save you from falling into temptation's snare.

The Word Firmly Planted

It's the beginning of the year and resolutions are in full swing (if they've made it this long).  With that said, I'm embarking on a new challenge of my own.  It's not so much part of a resolution as much as part of my desire to have the Word of God planted in my heart, mind and spirit.

Let me back up a bit.  During a recent Bible study as well as through a recent prayer commitment I discovered (or shall I say rediscovered) that the best way to fight back negative thoughts, fears, worries (all things devil-initiated) is to redirect my thoughts away from the devil's lies and back to God's truth.  The best way to do that is to recall the truth God has spoken through His Word.  The Bible is full of verses which remind us of His love, power, grace, forgiveness, faithfulness, patience.  The list goes on and on. 

One morning I woke up early and as I lay in bed my mind began racing with thoughts I knew we're leading me down a negative path.  The first step for me was recognizing what I was allowing to take place.  The second step was to immediately redirect my thinking.  I began trying to quote various scriptures.  The problem was that I was having a problem recalling very many.  Sure - I could have pulled out my Bible and read any number of the uplifting verses I've underlined over the years.  But I realized how valuable it is to have verses "at the ready" - being able to recall them at any moment.

So my challenge this year is to learn one verse a week.  For those of you who are good at math that will be 52 verses for the year.  That's really not that difficult a challenge.  The difficulty is in remembering them two, three or four weeks later.  The idea isn't so much about memorization but about firmly planting them in my mind.  So in order to do that I'm planning on adding a verse every week - not replace it each week.  By week 52 - I hope to be saying all 52 verses.  Now that definitely sounds like a challenge.

I will keep you updated on my progress as well as give you the list of verses I'm committing to memory.  Maybe you would like to join me.  I hope so.  God has given us a great weapon, His Word, the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17) to fight off the attacks of the evil one.  There is power in the Word so we'd be wise to arm ourselves with it.  Here are the two verses I've started with:

Week 1:  Psalm 9:9-10

The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.  Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord have never forsaken those who seek you.

Week 2:  Romans 10:17

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.

Sunday Blogvotional: Burdens Can Be Lifted

Burdens are to be lifted.  As Christians, we have something special that not everybody can so easily get.  We have the option of tapping into peace (even when things are beyond stormy).  Our Father in Heaven, who loves us deeply, wants to unburden us.  Often, we don't even give Him the chance - because we so desperately want to control the outcome.

Life can be overwhelming and hard to take.  But we are never too far away from life-changing peace. We can go to Him and lay our burdens down at His feet.  He is never too weak or too busy to take them off of our hands.  Besides, God doesn't want us to be burdened by life's problems.  He has better things for us to do with our time such as serving Him, reaching out to others, and sharing Jesus.  Sounds like an unbelievable trade-off.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28

Encouragement for the week:  Are you burdened by something?  Realize that God doesn't want you distracted by the things of this world.  Then release you burdens to God - giving Him control.  He may not take your problem away but He can and wants to take the burden of it away.  Let the outcome be His (no matter what it may be).

Smelling The Roses

 

Maybe you've heard it said that there are two types of women in the world: the "Martha's" and the "Mary's".  (Luke chapter 10: 38-41) Mary seems to be a free spirit and shall I say, people focused.  Martha is focused on the task at hand.  I'm definitely a "Martha".  My life is made up of a continuous list of to-dos (either written down or stuffed in my brain in an unorganized form of chaos).  There is always something to do.  

Don't get me wrong.  I'm most definitely not a "type A" personality.  I'm not a go getter.  I'm not a task master (although my child might disagree sometimes).  I don't thrive on 5 hours of sleep just so I can put together a 20 page scrapbook of my daughter's piano recital that lasted all of 1 minute or to prepare homemade frozen meals for an entire week.  Believe it or not - there are people out there like that (you may even be one of them).  But it's not me. 

I'm the kind of person that seems to always find the importance (or over-importance) in the most menial of tasks.  I create a list and can't truly relax until the list is complete.  Problem is - the list has a hard time getting completed because I keep adding to it.

Sometimes I look back at my life and realize that I've missed out on some of the enjoyment of it simply because I was focused on the "responsibility" of it.  Let's face it - girls just want to have fun.  So does it sound silly to add something fun to my to-do lists?  Maybe I'm the type of girl who just needs to give myself permission to prop my feet up, to take my daughter to a movie, to go on a date with my husband or to eat chocolate for dinner (okay I already do that sometimes).  

We're only here on this earth for a blink of an eye.  It's important to soak up the special moments and treasure them.  In fact, I'm pretty sure there will be more special moments if I actually stop to notice them.  I recently read a book that was heavy on eye-opening insights.  If I had read the book straight through without stopping to chew on what I read, I would have missed 90% of the message.  

Life is like that.  If we don't take moments here and there to absorb what's happening in and around us, it will simply pass us by unnoticed.  This year on my to-do list, I'm going to try my best to stop, smell some roses, and smile as I take in the blessings around me.  I hope you can do the same.