Monday is for Memorizing The Word - Formula for Spiritual Success

"God's instructions to Joshua preparatory to entering the promised land to fight the good fight of faith in order to possess his promised possessions remains a proven "formula for spiritual success" for saints today who like Joshua have been set apart that we might become experiential possessors of our positional possession of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

As the Lord Jesus Christ calls me to digging deeper into the Holy Scripture and hide more of God's Word in my heart it has become increasingly alive and obvious to me that  for any effort I have previously put into knowing God and his ways - I have barely scratched the surface of it's rich treasures. The more I dig into the Word of God the more I understand that I have ignorantly underestimated it's worth and it's power for my life. All the answers I seek are in God's Word, The Bible. Not only does it contain the answers to my every need (I Timothy 4:8, 2 Peter 1:3) but it contains the power to will (desire) and to do (Philippians 2:13) the instructions to fulfill the promise - and in keeping of them there is great reward (Psalms 19:11).

My memory selection that I am working on is Psalms 119. I chose this chapter because of it's focus on the value of God's Living Word.

1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
4 You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me!

I'm starting with the first section which is the first eight verses. It is my desire to not only work at committing these words to my memory but to also meditate the words, the meaning and implication of the words.

The word that stands out is "blessed". Who are the blessed? Those whose way is blameless, who walk in the way of the Lord. The blessing is what I seek so therefore I must be blameless. As  New Testament Believer I am the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. But this cannot be achieved without the transformation of both hearing and doing God's Word (James 1:22-25).

God's Word is relevant for whatever you are facing, whatever I am facing. The answers to living a blessed life are in God's Word. There is so much more to the Christian Walk - power for every day living - when one studies and abides in God's Holy Word.

Wednesdays are for Worship

As I mentioned in Monday's post, I am starting a few new things that will help me accomplish a couple of things:

• improve my blogging consistency - I am aiming at posting something every day. It may not be long or in depth. I need to put to words this message that God has laid on my heart. 
• exercise myself in the activities that God is revealing as seeds for the fruitfulness I am in search of to develop my own growth in godliness and fruitfulness.
• recording my activity to be accountable.

In addition to scripture memory and meditation (on Mondays) I am adding "Wednesdays are for Worship". 

Worship is an important daily discipline towards the goal of growing in godliness. I do not use the word "discipline" to signify a chore that must be done to please God, but rather an element of consistent activity that will bring the desired result. I Peter 1:5-9 names godliness among other qualities that will keep us (me) from being unfruitful. Worship is a daily activity that will develop the quality of godliness and keep me from being unfruitful.

As I approach the thought of worship I feel the need to discover what worship really is and examine what I actually know about worship. Traditionally I have the picture in my mind that worship is singing songs that declare my love and allegiance to God and extol His virtues. But something tells me there's more to worship than that activity alone.

What I intend on doing for Worship Wednesdays is examine what scriptures say about worship. In the beginning I will probably rely on Christian thought leaders that I respect who I know have the reputation to be students of the Word "rightly dividing the word of truth."

Today I am looking at John Piper's sermon on "The Pleasure of God in His Name." There is written text with scripture references as well as an audio of his sermon on this subject. 

I chose this subject from John Piper's sermons on the Glory of God and on Worship because of the focus that the Faith Project has on knowing, believing and living life according to God's Name - in all it's various forms. 

Pastor Piper makes this statement,

"...there is another pleasure of God implied in this verse, namely, that God has pleasure in his name. When he chooses a people, it says, he chooses them for himself, so that when he acts to spare them, he acts for his great name's sake. Therefore beneath and behind God's delight in choosing a people there is a deeper delight, namely, the pleasure God has in his own name. Now what does that mean—that God has pleasure in his name? It might not mean anything different than what we saw three weeks ago, namely, that God has pleasure in his own perfections, in his own glory. The name of God in Scripture often means virtually the same thing as God's glorious, excellent character. But it often means something slightly different, namely, the glory of God gone public. In other words, the name of God often refers to his reputation, his fame, his renown. This is the way we use the word "name" when we say someone is making a name for himself. Or we sometimes say, that's a "name" brand. We mean a brand with a reputation."

It is our focus on the Name of God - recognizing his glorious, excellent character, his reputation to all of the heavenly and earthly realm - that puts us in a position to receive all of God's promises. As Pastor Piper points out in scripture God comes to our  our rescue "for His Name Sake" - for His reputation - not ours. His name, his reputation is faultless, he is faithful to do all that he says he will do - he is true to his own nature and character defined by his names. So even when we fail him, he never fails us - because of His Name.

This is a thought worth meditating on. Watch how this thought will build your faith. If you acknowledge that God is who He says He is and can do what He says  He can do it should cause a faith-filled response to rise within you. It is this faith that releases all the power behind the promises for you and me, written in his Word - his unfailing Word - backed by His Name.

Allowing your thoughts to remain fixed on His nature and His Name is an act of worship. You will find that when you do this you will not be able to be in fear and worry. There is tremendous power in His Name.

Additional resources on the topic of Worship:

• John Piper - Worship is an End in Itself - The content, the substance, the life, the goal, the end is God and the joyful experience of ascribing glory to him.
• Sammy Tippit - A Call to Worship (The Need to Worship) "Thus, true worship does not originate with man. It originates with God. Worship is the result of the grace of God being applied to the heart of man; it flows from a heart that has been graced by God. The theme song for the true worshiper becomes, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found." I did not search so far and so wide that I found Him. I did not become so good that I could worship Him. He found me and graced me. Freely He forgave me, and freely I worship and love Him. It is not my style of worship nor my service for Him that makes me a true worshiper. It is His amazing grace."
• Lisa G. Burgess - Lisa Notes Blog - Give one-of-a-kind Worship - "While you might mimic a style or repeat the same words in a song or even think similar thoughts as someone else, you can’t worship exactly like any other."

Mondays are for Memory - Psalms 119:1-8

I am starting a few new things that will help me accomplish a couple of things:

• improve my blogging consistency - I am aiming at posting something every day. It may not be long or in depth. I need to put to words this message that God has laid on my heart. 
• exercise myself in the activities that God is revealing as seeds for the fruitfulness I am in search of.
• recording my activity to be accountable.

My first new thing is scripture memory. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have always done scripture memory - mostly on an "as needed" (HA!) basis, but this is a new start of an intentional, progressive move through the scripture, hiding it in my heart so that the words of THE WORD speak to me in all of life, on all of life.

I'm setting aside Monday's on the blog to post my verses and my progress, revelations and results of hiding God's Word in  my heart. I hope you will join me. Please accept my invitation to leave a comment on these Monday posts about the verses you're hiding in your heart.

For the week of January 16th, I am memorizing and meditating (yes, I will add that...Monday is for Memorizing and Meditating...I will add another post on what God is teaching me about meditating) the following verses - Psalms 119:1-8:

1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
4 You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
5 Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous rules.
8 I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me!

Resources for Scripture Memorization:

Memverse
Online resource to aid in memorizing verses in the Bible. (This is the tool that I use)

An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture by Dr. Andrew Davis

I really like Dr. Davis opening chapter on the value of Scripture memorization, "There are numerous spiritual benefits to the memorization of Scripture. A proper assessment of these benefits begins with understanding the role of the written word of God in our spiritual development." Read more...

She Sparkles - Scripture Memory 2012

Work on scripture memory with a group of women online - A - Z. 26 Scriptures to memorize for 2012. It's more fun to do scripture memory with a supportive group to encourage and celebrate your success.

Accessorize!

I really liked how this talented blogger created a tool to help her with scripture memory. I'm gonna look for one of these. IKEA is one of my favorite stores to shop - I don't need another excuse to go there for another treasure. Oh, and I just had to add her Bible Verse Key Fob to the accessories list - this would be a wonderful idea for a theme verse for the year.

Scripture Memory - Psalms 119

Thank you - Photo Credit

In my pursuit to really know and live what I believe I am stepping up on intentional scripture memory. I've memorized scripture as a child in Sunday school to win a prize. Now as an adult I've tended to memorize the verses I need in "the heat of battle." Memorizing scripture relevant to my life circumstances became very easy to me because every word has been so vital for my daily living. I've been really happy with my progress but I sense the Holy Spirit calling me to more. I feel the need to intentionally choose portions of scripture and commit them to memory, hiding God's Word in my heart in an effort to grow in godliness and experience the power of God's life changing Word.

I discovered a website that I'm trying out  - wonder if they have an app for it, I will have to check it out. The website is called Memverse. This tutorial tells how the free online software works.

The verses I am working on is Psalms 119 - yah I know - the longest chapter in the Bible. That's not the reason that I chose this first. I asked the Lord and this is the chapter that came to mind. God has been speaking to me about the power and importance of His Word. Psalms 119 is filled with truth declaration about God's Word. 

The Lord has been wooing me to become a more grounded Christian Woman so that I am a channel of His mighty power to a world that is hopelessly lost without him. I am hopelessly lost without Him. 

Let me challenge you to watch what God will do in and through you if you hide His Word in your heart.

Go create an account over at Memverse. Let me know what verses you're working on and we can encourage each other.

Training in Godliness

I Timothy 4: 7-8 Amplified - But refuse and avoid irreverent legends (profane and impure and godless fictions, mere grandmothers' tales) and silly myths, and express your disapproval of them. Train yourself toward godliness (piety), [keeping yourself spiritually fit]. For physical training is of some value (useful for a little), but godliness (spiritual training) is useful and of value in everything and in every way, for it holds promise for the present life and also for the life which is to come.

As I sit here at my computer with fingers poised over the key board, a rush of thoughts and images rush through my mind. Where do I begin? I refuse to live another day in powerlessness. I cannot go on stuck in mediocre. It's time to make the commitment to live like I believe the Word of God to be Alive and Active.

A truth that we cannot escape that that we are shaped by our thoughts. Our thoughts are fed by the focus of our attention. We become what we feed our attention. I live in the United States of America where my friends, family, neighbors and I all spend countless hours absorbing information. Advertising, music, movies, news & commentaries on the news, we are exposed to a daily tidal wave of information and opinion all day long. For myself and most of the people I know, seeking to know the will of God is a minuscule fraction of my day. There is something definitely wrong with that picture.

It is time to walk away from a life of distraction and commit to a life of devotion. I expect things to change.

I ask myself this question, can I qualify as "godly" by the amount of time I spend in training and developing in godliness? Is the activity of a student of the Word only for pastors & preachers, or is that the characteristic of a mere follower of Christ?

I Peter 1:2-4

May grace (God's favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal,  precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).
By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.

Reading these verses in the Amplified Version really helps me to see what I might miss. God's favor, perfect well being, freedom from fears, agitating passions and moral conflicts - doesn't that sound like the solution we're all searching for? This state of being is multiplied to me in the full, personal, precise and correct knowledge of God and of Jesus my Lord. And did you catch that we've been offered the opportunity to become sharers or partakers of the divine nature?!! All of this  is mine, is yours in the knowledge of God and of Jesus, his son. 

He (God) has bestowed (to present as a gift or an honor) His precious and exceedingly great promises - so that we might escape the moral decay - rottenness and corruption that is in this world. 

What are the disciplines of the godly?  

2 Peter 1:5-9

For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),
And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety),
And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.
For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.

In the context godliness begins with the knowledge of God and diligence to the divine promises. We are to employ every effort - most of us exert very little effort with regard to any godly discipline described in this list. I don't see "going to church " anywhere on this list. Don't get me wrong - I do believe we are to come together as believers for worship and the sharing of the Word. For many "believers" going to church is the only effort they put forth towards developing "godliness".

I am called to 

• exercise my faith to develop virtue.
• develop knowledge
• develop self control
• develop steadfastness
• and in steadfastness comes godliness
• the fruit of godliness is brotherly affection and Christian love.

These are the qualities that will keep me from being unfruitful. But if I lack these qualities I am blind and shortsighted. 

I repent, Lord, I have been blind and shortsighted.

I woke up this morning with this yearning in my heart, "Lord, do not let me be unfruitful!" 

John 15:2-5 

Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.
You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].
Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.
I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.

Other excellent blog posts on Training in Godliness:

• The Profit of Godly Discipline - P.G. Matthew - I liked Matthew's sermon from I Corinthians 9:24-27. "Run in such a way as to get the prize." 
• "The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards" - a book review - Lisa G. Burgess - Thank you Lisa for sharing this book review. I like the quote Lisa shared from the author of this biography on Edward's spiritual life. "These diverse disciplines—Bible study, theological reading, meditation, prayer, and singing—worked hand in hand, the one supporting the other, in Edwards’ pursuit of holiness. These religious duties helped Edwards maintain a vibrant communion with God. His theology led to doxology. " ~ STEPHEN J. LAWSON
• Saw this quote -  "Men, time is the chrysalis of eternity - there is no other time but the present. We all go through times in our lives when we have little time for our families - it is part of the natural rhythm of life. But excessive 'busyness' must not be by choice - as it so often is. We must be aware of packing our schedules by saying 'yes' to things which mean saying 'no' to our families. Now is the time to take time..."  R. Kent Hughes, The Disciplines of a Godly Man

Too Small God?

I borrowed this illustration - out of context - because it is such a great word picture:

Sin will always appears as a trifle to those whose view of God is small. If you were to discover a little boy pulling the legs off of a grasshopper, you would think it strange and perhaps a little bizarre. If the same little boy were pulling the legs off of a frog, that would be a bit more disturbing. If it were a bird, you would probably scold him and inform his parents. If it were a puppy, that would be too shocking to tolerate. You would intervene. If it were a little baby, it would be so reprehensible and tragic that you would risk you own life to protect the baby. What's the difference in each of these scenarios? The sin is the same (pulling the limbs off). The only difference is the one sinned against (from a grasshopper to a baby). The more noble and valuable the creature, the more heinous and reprehensible the sin. And so it is with God.

If God were a grasshopper, then to sin against Him wouldn't be such a big deal and eternal punishment wouldn't be necessary. But God isn't a grasshopper, He's the most precious, valuable, beautiful being in the universe. His glory and worth are infinite and eternal. Thus to sin against an infinitely glorious being is an infinitely heinous offense that is worthy of an infinitely heinous punishment.

We don't take sin seriously because we don't take God seriously. We have so imbibed of the banality of our God-belittling spirit of the age that our sins hardly trouble us at all. Our sin seems small because we regard God as small. And thus the penalty of hell--eternal conscious suffering under the wrath of God--always seems like an overreaction on God's part. If we knew God better, we wouldn't think like that.

Denny Burke's original post can be viewed here --> http://www.dennyburk.com/rob-bell-outs-himself/ - again I am using his illustration to make a point that has a different focus than Mr. Burke's topic.

Another thing happens when we minimize God and trivialize sin - the enemy has the opportunity to magnify the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches so they appear to be larger than our perception of God. We meditate on our sickness, our lack in finances, feelings of rejection, lonliness and low self esteem. We listen to the lies of the enemy that God is far off and we cultivate feelings that God couldn't possibly love us or is not willing to hear & answer our prayers.

When God is "big" in our thinking, the thought of him not meeting our needs or answering our prayes should be shocking. The trouble is that we expect God to only live up to the failed expectations of those around us who walk in unbelief. We don't pray with confidence for healing because we know of some wonderful saint of God that died in sickness when they prayed for healing. We don't understand what went wrong so we bring down our expectations of God and say that it was not God's will to heal - but when we say this we actually call God a liar. Ouch! Yes, because He reprents Himself as "I am the Lord that heals thee". Some how there is more we need to know about how to appropriate the fullness of who God wants to be known as among men.

We have all been here - when circumstances seem so much bigger than we are and even so much bigger than hope in God to come to our rescue.

When Jesus walked this earth as the Son of God, Scripture notes a couple of times where he was astonished by Faith...great Faith & lack of Faith. He was astounded, first at the lack of belief in his hometown (critical astonishment) and second at the faith of the Capernaum centurion (admiration). And note, Jesus could perfom only a few miracles in his own home town - because of their lack of faith.

No one is immune to bouts of unfaithfulness, and we all must be on guard against thoughts of magnifying our circumstances and minimizing God. Consider the unbelief of men in scripture:

• Abraham (Gen. 17:7), 
• Moses (Num. 11:21; 20:12), 
• The Disciples of Christ (Mt. 17:19,20; Lk. 24:11), 
• Zacharias the father of John the Baptist (Lk. 1:20). 

Each in their own fit of weakness turned their back on the Lord for a time.

The scripture calls us to “Be still, and know that I am God” in Psalms 46:10. As I meditate this verse and read what other men of God have had to say about this, I sense the Lord calling me to stop all of my efforts that are self directed, to stop all of the thinking that "worries" over the circumstances, the facts of what troubles us in our life -- and instead, replace the worry and anxious thoughts with how big our God, how mighty our God, how good, loving & willing our God is to save us and supernaturally turn the circumstances for our good.

In scripture it is always God's will to heal, guide, prosper and save his own people. When we contimplate all that scripture says that He is, and all that scripture says that he can do... we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our Testimony. We do not overcome by meditating the circumstance - we overcome by our spoken testimony of God's Faithfulness & His Word.

Preparation for whatever comes your way today is to take the magnifier off of yourself, & your circumstances and magnify your almighty God. It is always a good time to "Be Still and know that He is God" on a regular basis.

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19

I pray that you would know God's love that surpasses knowledge -that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. A BIG, BIG God.