Our church's scripture meditation theme for the month of June is "God's Holiness." My church is in the habit of memorizing Bible verses according to a specific topic on a monthly basis. In August, we will have completed 6 years of memorizing scripture with this plan. For the first 5 years, my church memorized verses on the theme of "Discipleship." By the end of 5 years,
the church family had 5 verses on 12 topics regarding "Discipleship."
The topics were subjects like: Content in God, Fearing God, Teachable Spirit, Praising God, Trusting God, Victory in Jesus, Humility before God...and the list goes on.
This past year (September through August) we began a new theme for our scripture memory plan -- "More About Jesus!"
This plan will help us all memorize 5 verses on topics such as: God's presence, God's power, God's knowledge, God's sovereignty, God's will, God's grace -- you get the idea.
It is such a blessing to be able to refer to the Bible, from memory, at any given moment! You can find this Bible memory plan at http://www.gracebaptistmarshfield.org/?page_id=75
How are you doing on memorizing scripture? Believers regularly seem to have something else to do and the memorization of God's Word often takes the back burner for another time...another day. My family has chosen to make a purposeful effort on our scripture memory this summer. We are taking our church's "Discipleship" theme and working on memorizing -- or confirming in our minds what we memorized a few years ago -- 5 verses a week (one topic a week). The summer allows more free time for our children and this is a great way for young minds (and older ones too!) to spend some of their "free" time. I don't believe there is anything wrong with playing a clean, fun video game occasionally or playing with friends. In fact, I believe Christians should be able to have great fun...after all, we have the joy of the LORD as our strength!! HOWEVER, when these and other activities are pursued at the expense of pushing all efforts to memorize scripture aside, then I believe there is heart problem. Too often time is spent on worthless pursuits these days...this time of scripture memory helps our family focus on something that will benefit each of us in our relationship with the Lord. Just think of how the scriptures give us clear reasons for the urgent need to memorize God's Word!
Psalm 119:9-11, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."
Joshua 1:8, "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."
Psalm 1:1-2, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night."Each Saturday we all come together before bedtime. We then go around the room reviewing the verses with each person saying aloud the next verse in the topic. We don't make this the "shame game" for those who cannot remember. We truly try to encourage each other to do their best and keep on keeping on. We then end our time with a time of prayer -- each person prays for one specific prayer request. It has been a great way to end our week and to set our focus for the worship of the Lord with our church family on Sunday.
My wife and I have found 5 ways scripture memory impacts our family:
1. The children (even the teens) enjoy this family time with a spiritual emphasis. In fact, they almost crave it (even though they don't always admit it...it becomes very clear once we begin).
2. This time creates more quality time for discussion as a family..and with modern electronics slowly robbing normal family communication -- this is a huge plus! (Modern electronics and their use in a Christian home is a totally different post for a different day! :-)
3. This time set aside for scripture memory has a profound lasting affect! God promises His Word will not return void. We long for more than just "well-adjusted, good kids." Our goal for our children is that they become Godly disciples of Jesus Christ. God's Word is powerful (Jeremiah 23:29; Hebrews 4:12)!!
4. This time gives our children (and us adults) a more secure atmosphere in the home. We are regularly talking about spiritual things -- major plus! However, to be truly transparent you will need to be vulnerable. Let's face it...opening up to any person always requires a certain amount of vulnerability! One of the great needs of a child or adult is to feel secure. This secure feeling will encourage a person to be somewhat vulnerable when "opening up" to a parent. They will feel safer to talk about spiritual things...to say things you want/need to hear as a parent...because it is a regular occurrence in the home. What or who could possibly provide more security for a home than the Word of God impacting every aspect of our lives?! It will take time and consistency...but it will happen.
5. This time helps our children see Mom and Dad are studying and memorizing the Bible too! Children need to know, see for themselves, and experience the reality of Mom and Dad's actual relationship with the Lord. It is a good thing to tell the kiddos that "right now Dad is having his devotions...let's talk after I'm done." But when you are done -- go find Junior and ask him what's up!
What are you doing with your summer?
No comments:
Post a Comment