March 2, 2022 • 26 mins
Jani shares why her discipleship groups memorize larger portions of Scripture. How does this help Christ followers obey, enjoy, and share the Lord Jesus with others? You can also learn a tried-and-true method for storing up God’s Word in your heart (Psalm 119:11).
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to He restores my soulwith Janney Ortlund, where you
can find encouragement for yourbusy life through God's renewing
mercy.
Hello, everyone. What aprivilege it is to be back
together again. Ray and I havebeen ministering in Great
(00:22):
Britain for several weeks, whileour amazing team here at He
Restores My Soul kept thingsrunning for you all. Oh, I want
to give a big thank you to themfor all they did for me while I
was gone those four weeks.
Now, I encourage you if you'regoing through this discipleship
(00:47):
series, to stop the podcast andgo to our website,
herestoresmysoul.org, and copyoff the Bible memory page that
you'll find on today's lesson.
(01:07):
It was so wonderful to meet someof you listeners face to face in
London and Kuzzik and let's seewhere else did did I meet some
of youoh, in Ballymena,Northern Ireland. I want to give
all of you British listeners ashout out and say Thank you!
(01:28):
for listening. It was sowonderful to meet you face to
face. How that blesses us tohear that this little ministry
can encourage you over there. Iwish we could have recorded some
of our episodes with you andcaptured ways that the Lord is
restoring your soul in your partof the world. I know our other
(01:51):
subscribers would have loved toto hear your beautiful accents.
I know I sure did.
May I tell you dear listenersabout one special lunch Ray and
I had in Newby Bridge England?
As I've mentioned before, over40 years ago our family moved to
Scotland for four years. Ray wasdoing work on his Ph.D at the
(02:15):
University of Aberdeen. Nowwhile we were there, I was
involved in a Bible study withsome of the women who lived in
our little village along theRiver Dee in northeast Scotland.
It was a little village calledBanchory. One of the ladies who
attended the Bible study wasnamed Fiona Wallet, and the Lord
(02:36):
built a very sweet friendshipbetween us.
Fiona came to know Jesuspersonally as her Savior and
Sovereign King while we werethere. She and her husband very
kindly provided Ray with a largeroom in their home to use as his
(02:59):
study, as he researched andwrote his doctoral dissertation.
And we've tried to stay in touchthrough the years visiting each
other as we had opportunity. Afew years ago, her husband,
Alan, came to faith in Christand was baptized. Oh, how we
(03:19):
rejoiced with Fiona as we heardthis news.
Well, you can imagine ourdelight when Fiona and Alan
asked if they could drive overfrom Scotland to have a short
visit with us. While we werethere in Newby Bridge, up in the
beautiful lake district ofEngland. We had a wonderful time
(03:44):
together. Oh, we were recallingpast memories and catching up on
each of our children andgrandchildren and spending some
time sharing our our presentheart concerns. Now why do I
share this memory with you? Iwant to encourage you that
Christian fellowship is avaluable treasure to be nurtured
(04:09):
and cherished. Your time andmoney and prayers and letters
and emails and phonecallsthey're not wasted. Fiona
and I never could have known 40years ago, what the future would
bring. We never could havepictured ourselves meeting 40
(04:31):
years out into our future inEngland.
Now in discipleship, we areconcentrating on our second
priority, and we've talked abouthow loving one another can be
really hard. We've seen fromRomans 12:9-21 that real
(04:52):
lovethe kind that buildslasting friendshipsrequires
sincerity and humblevulnerability, and costly
forgiveness. I want to encourageyou today that it's really worth
it. Keep reaching out, keepconnecting, keep extending
(05:14):
yourself in love and humilityand forgiveness. You never know
what the future might hold foryou in that friendship.
Now, I'm a little embarrassed todo this, but I have to apologize
to you my faithful listeners.
Before I left for Britain, Irecorded several episodes, and
(05:37):
our team really workeddiligently to publish them while
I was gone. But there was aquestion about the podcast
published last week, that couldnot be taken care of to our
usual level of excellence. So wehad to go ahead and publish it
(05:57):
anyway. I want you to know thatI'm sorry because I messed up on
the assignment part. I'm surethe assignments I asked you to
fulfill the past few weeks havebeen somewhat confusing. I can
just imagine you all saying toeach other, Is Jani losing it?
Is she really asking us to readBonhoeffer's book Life Together
(06:20):
in this unusual order? Chaptersone, two, and three, and then
the introduction?
Oh, I'm sorry. All I can say is,I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And
leaders, I just want to ask youin the future, when I do this
again (because I'm certain Iwill) please just use your best
(06:43):
judgment in your discipleshipgroup. When we have a snafu like
this, just laugh with your groupand say, Oh, there goes Jani
again, and try to figure it outand, and give your group the
correct assignment that worksfor you. Thank you for forgiving
me.
Now, for our next twodiscipleship groups together. I
(07:09):
want you to slow down and catchup a little bit on your
assignments. I'm also going toteach briefly on Bible
memorization, but let's starttoday with accountability.
Do you remember your quiet timesfrom the last few weeks? Let's
go over them. I wonder, Are youreading through the Bible
(07:33):
together? I want you to discusshow it's going. Do you have any
questions or difficulties? Isthere someone in your group who
can share? Remember that I findit helpful to keep a small
basket with everyone's name init so you can pull a name from
randomly (if no one volunteers)rather than call on someone
(07:56):
awkwardly? So right now pausethe podcast and share about your
quiet times the past few weeks.
I'd also like you to haveeveryone share the verse or the
verses (or part of a verse) thatthey're meditating on. Ask if
anyone has found particular helpfrom their meditation verse this
(08:18):
week. You may need to thinkabout looking for a new verse to
meditate on as needs arise orsituations change. Sometimes I
meditate on a verse for severalmonths, other times, just for a
few weeks. The Lord will guideyou into what will be most
helpful for you to meditate on.
Pause the podcast right now andtalk a little bit about your
(08:43):
meditation verses.
Hopefully, you've beenmemorizing the books of the Old
Testament. It's good to reviewthese occasionally. Otherwise,
you'll tend to forget them. Sotry to say them together. Now if
that raises some feelings ofangst or failure or guilt,
(09:06):
that's okayit does for mesometimes, too. If you stopped
me on the street and asked me tosay the books of the Old
Testament perfectly, I'dprobably mess it up royally. So
just open your Bibles and readthrough them together if you're
having difficulty, but do reviewthem. Go ahead and do that right
(09:27):
now.
Next, I want you to review yourmemory work. We've been working
together on memorizing thispassage on priority two from
Romans chapter 12 (09:39):
9-21. I want you to save these verses
together or choose two womenfrom your group to save them
together so they can help eachother out. Talk about how they
all are doing. How did they domemory work? What's working for
them? What's hard for them?
them, but talk about ittogether, go ahead and pause the
(10:01):
podcast and say your verses.
Finally, because we're going toshare a prayer request later,
talk about the book that you'vechosen to read. We want to
encourage each other to alwayshave a good book at hand to
(10:23):
stimulate your mind and yourheart. I wonder if you're
reading through Life Together byDietrich Bonhoeffer as my group
is. We have found as we've gonethrough, that one chapter is a
little too much to cover in onemeeting, we're finding it so
(10:43):
rich. So we decided last weekthat we're just going to take
another week on chapter one.
That's where we are in, in mygroup, clarify where you should
be in your reading together. Soyou all can be on the same page,
so to speak. Maybe you'd like totake 15 minutes to read a
portion aloud together and thendiscuss it. Whatever you decide,
(11:06):
please do read a book together,and then discuss it, I beg you.
Do not deprive yourself ofreading.
I know that it's often easier tolisten. My goodness, you're
listening to my podcast rightnow, I don't want to discourage
(11:27):
you from listening. But becausewe are a generation that finds
listening easier than reading,we often don't read. I want you
to think though of the benefitsof the written word. A book uses
multiple senses. You're seeing,you're feeling, you're holding
(11:52):
the book, you're often writing,taking notes and underlining. If
you haven't started a book inyour small group yet, then take
time tonight to decide what bookyou would like to share
together. And everyone get oneto bring next week.
(12:14):
Now let's go to our teachingtime. I have asked you to
meditate on one verse or phrasefrom Scripture. Hopefully you
haven't memorized by now. I'vealso asked you to memorize
Romans 12 (12:28):
9-21. Together as we concentrate on priority two,
which is as you remember, thebody of Christ. Priority one is
Christ. Priority two is hisbody, our family in Christ.
(12:50):
Why do I ask you to memorizeScripture? Well, because I
believe that hiding God's worddeep in your heart is one of the
most important things you can doin your life of faith. It will
help you in so many ways. Hereare just a few I've found
(13:12):
helpful to me.
Memorizing Scripture will helpkeep you from sin. Numbers 15:40
says, so you shall remember anddo all My commandments and be
holy to your God. The best wayto remember God's way and words
and to be able to do them is tomemorize them.
Psalm 11 (13:37):
11 puts it this way. I have stored up your word in my
heart that I might not sinagainst you.
Think of your heart as a storeroom containing all your
feelings and thoughts, yourprinciples, your provocations,
(13:59):
your theories, your theology.
When you are faced with atemptation or, or a new idea, or
even maybe a question about howto respond to a certain
situation, God's Word hiddendeep in your heart can guide
you. You can enter in to yourheart's depths and search
(14:20):
through the files you havestored there of God's truth and
wisdom until you find an answerconsistent with God and His
ways.
Recently, I was tempted tolisten to a bad report about
someone whom I've beenstruggling to forgive. But I've
(14:40):
been working on memorizing alongwith you, Romans 12 verses nine
through 21. And the Lord broughtto mind that I can overcome evil
with good, I shouldn't listen tothat bad report. This helped me
to resist entering in and askingfor details, all those juicy
(15:02):
details I wanted to hear aboutthis person that I was
struggling over. So, I foundthat memorizing Scripture helps
keep me from sin.
Another way it will help you isthis: memorizing Scripture will
help you live your life in hopeand peace. Solomon tells us in
Proverbs (15:26):
23 to keep your heart with all vigilance. For from it
flow the springs of life.
How you respond to life flowsout of your heart. Your initial
reactions are based on what isstored in your heart. If you
guard your heart if you'revigilant over it, by memorizing
(15:50):
Scripture, you will have eternaltruths to speak into any chaos
or darkness that breaks intoyour world.
This morning, I was fortified bysome memory work I've been doing
in Isaiah 40 as I prayed forUkraine and Russia and the
(16:11):
horrors of that war. A fewminutes later, a dear friend, a
young mom of two little girlswhose husband has chosen a
career in the army texted me toask for prayer, because her
husband's division just got wordthat they will be deployed to
(16:31):
Poland for several months. Wheredo I turn when I hear that? To
those passages I've beenmemorizing. Isaiah 40 teaches me
how the God who created thisuniverse we are in looks at the
nations.
Isaiah 40 (16:49):
17 says this, all the nations are is nothing before
him. You see, God isn'tthreatened or scared by that
war. He knows exactly what'sgoing on.
In verse 23, it says, God bringsprinces to nothing, and makes
(17:11):
the rulers of the earth asemptiness.
The spring flowing from my heartthis morning tells me that my
God is in control. He issovereign. Nothing is escaping
him in the hellish scenes I seecoming from Ukraine. So
(17:38):
memorizing Scripture will helpkeep me from sin, it will help
me live my life in hope andpeace.
Here's a third way it can helpyou. memorizing Scripture will
help you know how to share Godand His ways with others, both
in your words, and in yourprayers. Matthew 12:34 says
(18:03):
this, For out of the abundanceof the heart the mouth speaks.
The good person out of his goodtreasure brings forth good
The abundance of the heart, thegood treasure of the heart. Oh
my that's what I want to fill myheart with: good treasure. I
(18:25):
want my heart to be a boundingin it. I don't know how many
times the Lord has brought tomind a verse I've been
meditating on or a passage I'vebeen memorizing to pray over a
friend or a family member inneed.
A few years ago, I set out tomemorize the book of Colossians.
(18:45):
And it has been so helpful asI've been able to share it with
others. Just the other day I wasable to pray Colossians 1:11 for
a friend, and then send it toher. It says this, being
strengthened with all power,according to his glorious might
(19:05):
for all endurance and patiencewith joy.
Some of the other verses I'vebeen able to pray over certain
grandchildren who are strugglingwith compassion or kindness or
meekness. It helps tremendouslyto have these verses stored
away, stowed way down deep;stockpiled, so to speak, in my
(19:31):
heart when I'm conversing withothers, or when I'm conversing
with my King about others.
Please feed your mind and heartwith the Word of God. Memorize
it. Do not starve yourselves.
God's Word will become moreprecious to you. It will be
(19:55):
there for you stored up in yourheart. When you are those you
love suffer, as inevitably willhappen before you reach heaven.
Well, you might say, That thatsounds great, Jani, I like the
idea, but how how do I getgoing?
(20:16):
Well, one of my present dayspiritual heroes, John Bloom,
who writes at DesiringGod.orgwrote a fabulous article called
Ten Reasons to Memorize BigChunks of the Bible." Actually,
(20:38):
I would recommend anything andeverything that John Blum
writes. He's one of my favoriteauthors: always helpful, always
accessible, always humble, andalways Christ-centered. I love
his writing. Well, in thisarticle ("Ten Reasons to
Memorize Big Chunks of theBible), he shares how he does
(21:03):
it, how he memorizes big chunks,based on a book written by
Andrew Davis called An Approachto Extended Memorization of
Scripture. I found this methodvery helpful. Let me describe
how I've adapted it for myself,and then maybe you can adapt it
(21:28):
in ways that are helpful for youand you can share in your own
group. You might want to takeout the piece of paper that your
leader copied off, called Mydaily Bible Memory Work it's
the worksheet for this week'slesson. You will find it on our
(21:49):
website. Take that out as I talkthis through.
I take out a sheet of paper thatfits my Bible. And across the
top, I make four columnslabeled: Dates | Review | Read
(22:18):
10 times | Recite 10 times. Thenalong the left hand side, I list
dates. Next, I choose a passageof scripture I want to memorize.
And during my quiet time, I workon my Bible memory for as much
time as I can devote to it. Forinstance, today, after my Bible
(22:45):
reading and prayer time, Ireviewed Isaiah chapter 40,
verses one through 17. And Icontinued working on verse 18,
which I couldn't remember fromyesterday. I make little tally
marks for how many mistakes Imake so I can determine when to
(23:06):
move on. I made four mistakestoday on verses one through 18.
So I will not try to move on toverse 19 tomorrow. I'll work
more on verses 1-18 until I havethem down better.
I also like to try to reviewother passages I've memorized. I
(23:26):
often do this during my quiettimes on Sundays. I don't think
I will be able to retain all ofColossians and Isaiah chapters
40-45, so it could be I willneed to give up keeping
Colossians word perfect to mymemory, and rejoice that I'm
familiar with it as I workharder and harder on Isaiah 40
(23:51):
through 45. I'll let you knowwhen I'm done with Isaiah
chapter 45 (if I finish itbefore I die!).
Now, I want to tell you thatwhen I was 65 years old, if
anyone had told me that I wouldbe able to memorize long
portions of Scripture, I wouldhave laughed. But here I am, and
(24:15):
now they are the ones smilingand I'm rejoicing. Now it's my
turn to encourage you. Don'tlaugh. take it to heart.
Leaders, I think this would be agood time to take a five minute
break. If you haven't done soyet. Then come on back on.
(24:39):
Now I'm going to give you yourassignment and then ask you to
turn off the podcast and shareyour requests with each other
and spend some time prayingtogether. Here's your
assignment.
I want you to have six quiettimes this week. I want you to
meditate on your verse Daily.
Review the books of the OldTestament by memory. And keep
(25:04):
working on memorizing Romans
chapter 12 (25:10):
9-21. And finally, read a portion of the book that
you're reading together whateveryour group decides on for next
week.
Now share your prayer requestand pray for each other. As you
share, try to out-do one anotherin showing honor, as we're told
in Romans 12 (25:35):
10 by expressing honor and appreciation for
others in your group. May ourkind King restore your souls as
you spend time storing His Wordin your hearts this week. God
bless you.
(25:57):
Thank you for joining us today.
This podcast is generouslyfunded through Renewal
Ministries. If you would like todiscover more about Janney and
raise ministry or make adonation, visit their website at
renewal ministries.com If youhave a question for JME or would
like to learn more about thispodcast, please visit our
website at He restores mysoul.org
Welcome to He restores my soulwith Janney Ortlund, where you
can find encouragement for yourbusy life through God's renewing
mercy.
Hello, everyone. What aprivilege it is to be back
together again. Ray and I havebeen ministering in Great
(00:22):
Britain for several weeks, whileour amazing team here at He
Restores My Soul kept thingsrunning for you all. Oh, I want
to give a big thank you to themfor all they did for me while I
was gone those four weeks.
Now, I encourage you if you'regoing through this discipleship
(00:47):
series, to stop the podcast andgo to our website,
herestoresmysoul.org, and copyoff the Bible memory page that
you'll find on today's lesson.
(01:07):
It was so wonderful to meet someof you listeners face to face in
London and Kuzzik and let's seewhere else did did I meet some
of youoh, in Ballymena,Northern Ireland. I want to give
all of you British listeners ashout out and say Thank you!
(01:28):
for listening. It was sowonderful to meet you face to
face. How that blesses us tohear that this little ministry
can encourage you over there. Iwish we could have recorded some
of our episodes with you andcaptured ways that the Lord is
restoring your soul in your partof the world. I know our other
(01:51):
subscribers would have loved toto hear your beautiful accents.
I know I sure did.
May I tell you dear listenersabout one special lunch Ray and
I had in Newby Bridge England?
As I've mentioned before, over40 years ago our family moved to
Scotland for four years. Ray wasdoing work on his Ph.D at the
(02:15):
University of Aberdeen. Nowwhile we were there, I was
involved in a Bible study withsome of the women who lived in
our little village along theRiver Dee in northeast Scotland.
It was a little village calledBanchory. One of the ladies who
attended the Bible study wasnamed Fiona Wallet, and the Lord
(02:36):
built a very sweet friendshipbetween us.
Fiona came to know Jesuspersonally as her Savior and
Sovereign King while we werethere. She and her husband very
kindly provided Ray with a largeroom in their home to use as his
(02:59):
study, as he researched andwrote his doctoral dissertation.
And we've tried to stay in touchthrough the years visiting each
other as we had opportunity. Afew years ago, her husband,
Alan, came to faith in Christand was baptized. Oh, how we
(03:19):
rejoiced with Fiona as we heardthis news.
Well, you can imagine ourdelight when Fiona and Alan
asked if they could drive overfrom Scotland to have a short
visit with us. While we werethere in Newby Bridge, up in the
beautiful lake district ofEngland. We had a wonderful time
(03:44):
together. Oh, we were recallingpast memories and catching up on
each of our children andgrandchildren and spending some
time sharing our our presentheart concerns. Now why do I
share this memory with you? Iwant to encourage you that
Christian fellowship is avaluable treasure to be nurtured
(04:09):
and cherished. Your time andmoney and prayers and letters
and emails and phonecallsthey're not wasted. Fiona
and I never could have known 40years ago, what the future would
bring. We never could havepictured ourselves meeting 40
(04:31):
years out into our future inEngland.
Now in discipleship, we areconcentrating on our second
priority, and we've talked abouthow loving one another can be
really hard. We've seen fromRomans 12:9-21 that real
(04:52):
lovethe kind that buildslasting friendshipsrequires
sincerity and humblevulnerability, and costly
forgiveness. I want to encourageyou today that it's really worth
it. Keep reaching out, keepconnecting, keep extending
(05:14):
yourself in love and humilityand forgiveness. You never know
what the future might hold foryou in that friendship.
Now, I'm a little embarrassed todo this, but I have to apologize
to you my faithful listeners.
Before I left for Britain, Irecorded several episodes, and
(05:37):
our team really workeddiligently to publish them while
I was gone. But there was aquestion about the podcast
published last week, that couldnot be taken care of to our
usual level of excellence. So wehad to go ahead and publish it
(05:57):
anyway. I want you to know thatI'm sorry because I messed up on
the assignment part. I'm surethe assignments I asked you to
fulfill the past few weeks havebeen somewhat confusing. I can
just imagine you all saying toeach other, Is Jani losing it?
Is she really asking us to readBonhoeffer's book Life Together
(06:20):
in this unusual order? Chaptersone, two, and three, and then
the introduction?
Oh, I'm sorry. All I can say is,I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And
leaders, I just want to ask youin the future, when I do this
again (because I'm certain Iwill) please just use your best
(06:43):
judgment in your discipleshipgroup. When we have a snafu like
this, just laugh with your groupand say, Oh, there goes Jani
again, and try to figure it outand, and give your group the
correct assignment that worksfor you. Thank you for forgiving
me.
Now, for our next twodiscipleship groups together. I
(07:09):
want you to slow down and catchup a little bit on your
assignments. I'm also going toteach briefly on Bible
memorization, but let's starttoday with accountability.
Do you remember your quiet timesfrom the last few weeks? Let's
go over them. I wonder, Are youreading through the Bible
(07:33):
together? I want you to discusshow it's going. Do you have any
questions or difficulties? Isthere someone in your group who
can share? Remember that I findit helpful to keep a small
basket with everyone's name init so you can pull a name from
randomly (if no one volunteers)rather than call on someone
(07:56):
awkwardly? So right now pausethe podcast and share about your
quiet times the past few weeks.
I'd also like you to haveeveryone share the verse or the
verses (or part of a verse) thatthey're meditating on. Ask if
anyone has found particular helpfrom their meditation verse this
(08:18):
week. You may need to thinkabout looking for a new verse to
meditate on as needs arise orsituations change. Sometimes I
meditate on a verse for severalmonths, other times, just for a
few weeks. The Lord will guideyou into what will be most
helpful for you to meditate on.
Pause the podcast right now andtalk a little bit about your
(08:43):
meditation verses.
Hopefully, you've beenmemorizing the books of the Old
Testament. It's good to reviewthese occasionally. Otherwise,
you'll tend to forget them. Sotry to say them together. Now if
that raises some feelings ofangst or failure or guilt,
(09:06):
that's okayit does for mesometimes, too. If you stopped
me on the street and asked me tosay the books of the Old
Testament perfectly, I'dprobably mess it up royally. So
just open your Bibles and readthrough them together if you're
having difficulty, but do reviewthem. Go ahead and do that right
(09:27):
now.
Next, I want you to review yourmemory work. We've been working
together on memorizing thispassage on priority two from
Romans chapter 12 (09:39):
9-21. I want you to save these verses
together or choose two womenfrom your group to save them
together so they can help eachother out. Talk about how they
all are doing. How did they domemory work? What's working for
them? What's hard for them?
them, but talk about ittogether, go ahead and pause the
(10:01):
podcast and say your verses.
Finally, because we're going toshare a prayer request later,
talk about the book that you'vechosen to read. We want to
encourage each other to alwayshave a good book at hand to
(10:23):
stimulate your mind and yourheart. I wonder if you're
reading through Life Together byDietrich Bonhoeffer as my group
is. We have found as we've gonethrough, that one chapter is a
little too much to cover in onemeeting, we're finding it so
(10:43):
rich. So we decided last weekthat we're just going to take
another week on chapter one.
That's where we are in, in mygroup, clarify where you should
be in your reading together. Soyou all can be on the same page,
so to speak. Maybe you'd like totake 15 minutes to read a
portion aloud together and thendiscuss it. Whatever you decide,
(11:06):
please do read a book together,and then discuss it, I beg you.
Do not deprive yourself ofreading.
I know that it's often easier tolisten. My goodness, you're
listening to my podcast rightnow, I don't want to discourage
(11:27):
you from listening. But becausewe are a generation that finds
listening easier than reading,we often don't read. I want you
to think though of the benefitsof the written word. A book uses
multiple senses. You're seeing,you're feeling, you're holding
(11:52):
the book, you're often writing,taking notes and underlining. If
you haven't started a book inyour small group yet, then take
time tonight to decide what bookyou would like to share
together. And everyone get oneto bring next week.
(12:14):
Now let's go to our teachingtime. I have asked you to
meditate on one verse or phrasefrom Scripture. Hopefully you
haven't memorized by now. I'vealso asked you to memorize
Romans 12 (12:28):
9-21. Together as we concentrate on priority two,
which is as you remember, thebody of Christ. Priority one is
Christ. Priority two is hisbody, our family in Christ.
(12:50):
Why do I ask you to memorizeScripture? Well, because I
believe that hiding God's worddeep in your heart is one of the
most important things you can doin your life of faith. It will
help you in so many ways. Hereare just a few I've found
(13:12):
helpful to me.
Memorizing Scripture will helpkeep you from sin. Numbers 15:40
says, so you shall remember anddo all My commandments and be
holy to your God. The best wayto remember God's way and words
and to be able to do them is tomemorize them.
Psalm 11 (13:37):
11 puts it this way. I have stored up your word in my
heart that I might not sinagainst you.
Think of your heart as a storeroom containing all your
feelings and thoughts, yourprinciples, your provocations,
(13:59):
your theories, your theology.
When you are faced with atemptation or, or a new idea, or
even maybe a question about howto respond to a certain
situation, God's Word hiddendeep in your heart can guide
you. You can enter in to yourheart's depths and search
(14:20):
through the files you havestored there of God's truth and
wisdom until you find an answerconsistent with God and His
ways.
Recently, I was tempted tolisten to a bad report about
someone whom I've beenstruggling to forgive. But I've
(14:40):
been working on memorizing alongwith you, Romans 12 verses nine
through 21. And the Lord broughtto mind that I can overcome evil
with good, I shouldn't listen tothat bad report. This helped me
to resist entering in and askingfor details, all those juicy
(15:02):
details I wanted to hear aboutthis person that I was
struggling over. So, I foundthat memorizing Scripture helps
keep me from sin.
Another way it will help you isthis: memorizing Scripture will
help you live your life in hopeand peace. Solomon tells us in
Proverbs (15:26):
23 to keep your heart with all vigilance. For from it
flow the springs of life.
How you respond to life flowsout of your heart. Your initial
reactions are based on what isstored in your heart. If you
guard your heart if you'revigilant over it, by memorizing
(15:50):
Scripture, you will have eternaltruths to speak into any chaos
or darkness that breaks intoyour world.
This morning, I was fortified bysome memory work I've been doing
in Isaiah 40 as I prayed forUkraine and Russia and the
(16:11):
horrors of that war. A fewminutes later, a dear friend, a
young mom of two little girlswhose husband has chosen a
career in the army texted me toask for prayer, because her
husband's division just got wordthat they will be deployed to
(16:31):
Poland for several months. Wheredo I turn when I hear that? To
those passages I've beenmemorizing. Isaiah 40 teaches me
how the God who created thisuniverse we are in looks at the
nations.
Isaiah 40 (16:49):
17 says this, all the nations are is nothing before
him. You see, God isn'tthreatened or scared by that
war. He knows exactly what'sgoing on.
In verse 23, it says, God bringsprinces to nothing, and makes
(17:11):
the rulers of the earth asemptiness.
The spring flowing from my heartthis morning tells me that my
God is in control. He issovereign. Nothing is escaping
him in the hellish scenes I seecoming from Ukraine. So
(17:38):
memorizing Scripture will helpkeep me from sin, it will help
me live my life in hope andpeace.
Here's a third way it can helpyou. memorizing Scripture will
help you know how to share Godand His ways with others, both
in your words, and in yourprayers. Matthew 12:34 says
(18:03):
this, For out of the abundanceof the heart the mouth speaks.
The good person out of his goodtreasure brings forth good
The abundance of the heart, thegood treasure of the heart. Oh
my that's what I want to fill myheart with: good treasure. I
(18:25):
want my heart to be a boundingin it. I don't know how many
times the Lord has brought tomind a verse I've been
meditating on or a passage I'vebeen memorizing to pray over a
friend or a family member inneed.
A few years ago, I set out tomemorize the book of Colossians.
(18:45):
And it has been so helpful asI've been able to share it with
others. Just the other day I wasable to pray Colossians 1:11 for
a friend, and then send it toher. It says this, being
strengthened with all power,according to his glorious might
(19:05):
for all endurance and patiencewith joy.
Some of the other verses I'vebeen able to pray over certain
grandchildren who are strugglingwith compassion or kindness or
meekness. It helps tremendouslyto have these verses stored
away, stowed way down deep;stockpiled, so to speak, in my
(19:31):
heart when I'm conversing withothers, or when I'm conversing
with my King about others.
Please feed your mind and heartwith the Word of God. Memorize
it. Do not starve yourselves.
God's Word will become moreprecious to you. It will be
(19:55):
there for you stored up in yourheart. When you are those you
love suffer, as inevitably willhappen before you reach heaven.
Well, you might say, That thatsounds great, Jani, I like the
idea, but how how do I getgoing?
(20:16):
Well, one of my present dayspiritual heroes, John Bloom,
who writes at DesiringGod.orgwrote a fabulous article called
Ten Reasons to Memorize BigChunks of the Bible." Actually,
(20:38):
I would recommend anything andeverything that John Blum
writes. He's one of my favoriteauthors: always helpful, always
accessible, always humble, andalways Christ-centered. I love
his writing. Well, in thisarticle ("Ten Reasons to
Memorize Big Chunks of theBible), he shares how he does
(21:03):
it, how he memorizes big chunks,based on a book written by
Andrew Davis called An Approachto Extended Memorization of
Scripture. I found this methodvery helpful. Let me describe
how I've adapted it for myself,and then maybe you can adapt it
(21:28):
in ways that are helpful for youand you can share in your own
group. You might want to takeout the piece of paper that your
leader copied off, called Mydaily Bible Memory Work it's
the worksheet for this week'slesson. You will find it on our
(21:49):
website. Take that out as I talkthis through.
I take out a sheet of paper thatfits my Bible. And across the
top, I make four columnslabeled: Dates | Review | Read
(22:18):
10 times | Recite 10 times. Thenalong the left hand side, I list
dates. Next, I choose a passageof scripture I want to memorize.
And during my quiet time, I workon my Bible memory for as much
time as I can devote to it. Forinstance, today, after my Bible
(22:45):
reading and prayer time, Ireviewed Isaiah chapter 40,
verses one through 17. And Icontinued working on verse 18,
which I couldn't remember fromyesterday. I make little tally
marks for how many mistakes Imake so I can determine when to
(23:06):
move on. I made four mistakestoday on verses one through 18.
So I will not try to move on toverse 19 tomorrow. I'll work
more on verses 1-18 until I havethem down better.
I also like to try to reviewother passages I've memorized. I
(23:26):
often do this during my quiettimes on Sundays. I don't think
I will be able to retain all ofColossians and Isaiah chapters
40-45, so it could be I willneed to give up keeping
Colossians word perfect to mymemory, and rejoice that I'm
familiar with it as I workharder and harder on Isaiah 40
(23:51):
through 45. I'll let you knowwhen I'm done with Isaiah
chapter 45 (if I finish itbefore I die!).
Now, I want to tell you thatwhen I was 65 years old, if
anyone had told me that I wouldbe able to memorize long
portions of Scripture, I wouldhave laughed. But here I am, and
(24:15):
now they are the ones smilingand I'm rejoicing. Now it's my
turn to encourage you. Don'tlaugh. take it to heart.
Leaders, I think this would be agood time to take a five minute
break. If you haven't done soyet. Then come on back on.
(24:39):
Now I'm going to give you yourassignment and then ask you to
turn off the podcast and shareyour requests with each other
and spend some time prayingtogether. Here's your
assignment.
I want you to have six quiettimes this week. I want you to
meditate on your verse Daily.
Review the books of the OldTestament by memory. And keep
(25:04):
working on memorizing Romans
chapter 12 (25:10):
9-21. And finally, read a portion of the book that
you're reading together whateveryour group decides on for next
week.
Now share your prayer requestand pray for each other. As you
share, try to out-do one anotherin showing honor, as we're told
in Romans 12 (25:35):
10 by expressing honor and appreciation for
others in your group. May ourkind King restore your souls as
you spend time storing His Wordin your hearts this week. God
bless you.
(25:57):
Thank you for joining us today.
This podcast is generouslyfunded through Renewal
Ministries. If you would like todiscover more about Janney and
raise ministry or make adonation, visit their website at
renewal ministries.com If youhave a question for JME or would
like to learn more about thispodcast, please visit our
website at He restores mysoul.org
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