If at First You Don't Succeed

TRY TRY AGAIN!
Here's an option for attempting to make Scripture Memorization a bigger part of our lives in 2012:
Join Beth Moore's online blogging community in their Siesta Scripture Memorization Team. Go here to check it out:
http://blog.lproof.org/2010/12/siesta-scripture-memory-instructions.html/comment-page-20#comment-156401

I have signed up and, by God's grace will have 24 passages memorized by next year!

~Erin

My Next Attempt

Just when you thought I had given up all hope, I am resurfacing - attempting once again to create the HABIT of Scripture Memorization. Here's my off-the-cuff acronym for how to make this a habit in my life. (Please note I can neither confirm nor deny this will work! lol)

H - Hear from God - Look to Him for guidance on What to memorize and look to Him to give you the desire and ability to follow through.
A - Accountability - which apparently needs to take a more tangible form than online! Nonetheless, I still think this is a biggie - someone else needs to be asking you if you've done your homework.
B - Bite-sized Pieces - Don't bite off more than you can chew (like the longest Psalm in the Bible, for example). Select a passage and set a goal or create a system that works for you, taking into consideration things like your personality, your schedule, your stress levels, etc.
I - Intentionality - Schedule it in, prioritize it, have a system in place that will make this happen. (Going with the flow sooo doesn't work here, people!)
T - Team Up - This is slightly different than accountability in that you are working with someone else, on the same passage. For me, this will be my children for now.

Here's my game plan:

We are going to use the Scripture Memorization System found on www.simplycharlottemason.com. We are starting with Galations 5:25 (the fruit of the Spirit passage). From there we are going on to a smattering of other verses. Eventually, the verses will coincide with the rest of our education and will mainly focusing on character development and habit forming.

So there you have it. Here's hoping the umpteenth try is a success!

Some Encouragement

RENEW - N - NEED IT

The "N" in Beth Moore's RENEW acrostic stands for "Need It," meaning an important part of Scripture memorization is that we genuinely recognize our NEED for God's Word to be "hidden in our heart."

This understanding is both general and specific. General because we know "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.." (2 Tim 3:16-17) Specific because God uses His Word to directly speak into our own, personal lives. By virtue of Scripture being "God-breathed," it is a living thing - able to commune with us and minister to us in beautifully personal ways. A good example of this from my own life is verse Psalm 113:9: He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord. I wouldn't expect this verse to speak to someone who has never struggled with infertility in the same way the words ministered to me in my years of longing for children.

This is the beauty of writing God's Word on our hearts - it is like carrying around a treasured love letter which we can pull out and re-read whenever we feel that longing to be near our Loved One, whenever we long for our Heavenly Home, whenever we need to be reminded of Whose we are and who we are.

When you select Scripture to memorize, do so prayerfully and personally. Don't memorize things so you can "use them" on your spouse or children. Don't memorize verses so you are more prepared for your next confrontation with a relative humanist. Memorize verses that speak to your heart. The Need involved when you use this approach will help motivate you to really get it down.

These were the points Beth Moore made. To be honest, they really challenged us regarding directing our first memorization to be Psalm 119 - because maybe not everyone "needs" these verses. But in the end we figured, if we are going to continue on with memorizing more and more (as we hope to do), we may find more motivation by really knowing our "why." As we move forward, we must remember we are hiding God's Word in our hearts that we might not sin against Him, that our ways would be blameless, that we might do nothing wrong and walk in the ways of the Lord. Let it be so - Amen.

Checking In

Hello Warrior Women!

How is the memorization going? Many of you had end goals of May 1st or thereabout. How did you do?

For me, I am giving myself until the end of June and I was originally hoping to memorize the first half of Psalm 119 - 12 stanzas I believe. As I have been working through this, I realize there is a BIG difference between "short-term" memorization and "long-term" memorization. My desire is for the latter, which means I may not achieve my original goal. I want these Words to be infused into my very marrow - a true part of who I am in a way that seals the Words into my heart - not simply something I can regurgitate a month from now and completely forget about a month later.

With that said, I can honestly say I am close to having true depth of knowledge on the first 2 stanzas. Seems a grim admission compared to my original intent, but I hope it serves as an encouragement to you instead.

KEEP ON GOING. WE CAN DO THIS.

Erin

ps - I am planning on adding some posts about the rest of the "RENEW" acrostic. Be on the look out!

pps - If you have completed your original goal (or the goal has passed regardless), SET A NEW ONE and let us know about it!

ppps - Invite More Women to Join Us!

Examine It - Part 3

Psalm 119 Example - In Conclusion

First section alliterated with first letter of Hebrew alphabet. The Psalmist here, or using more popular terminology, the singer/songwriter is doing what singer/songwriters do and that is they sing and they write songs about what they know, what they have experienced what they have seen in life. This singer who in psalm 119 is singing about the word of God and its place in his life observes life. The first thing he observes about the word of is how great things go at least in the sense of living a successful and fulfilled life, how great things go for the individual who is living God’s word, who is obeying God’s Word. The singer/songwriter as he looks around himself at life, at what he has seen of life, he has seen a group of people who are happy, successful, prosperous, even if things are going difficult in life, they are individuals who appear to be blessed because they are satisfied and content in life when a lot of people aren’t. As he is looking at these individuals he recognizes that their blessedness is centered on their relationship with the word of God. They are individuals who are keeping it or trying with all of their heart and all of their being to do what is right, and that is where their satisfaction and contentment in life is found. As the singer/songwriter is singing about these people and this thing he has learned about in life, his mind turns to himself. Vs. 5 he sees that in his own life there is a lacking in this area and he cries out the emotions of a singer/songwriter, songs being an emotional language, “oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes”, as he sees this group of people who are blessed he desires to have that same blessing on his life. He recognizes that it comes from keeping the word of God, he has a deficiency in this area and his heart is crying out desiring that in itself, it too would have that kind of whole hearted obedience to God’s Word and the blessing that comes with that. He knows that, as he goes on in the psalm, he won’t be ashamed. He will have a right view of what he should and shouldn’t do. His whole life as these blessed people who are keeping God’s word, then his whole life, as there’s will praise God. His life will be a testimony. He will understand what is right and what isn’t. AS he ends this song, going from his observance of those who are satisfied and blessed in life to a viewing of himself and his need and desire to follow God’s Word that way, a lacking that is there he wants to overcome, he recognizes and sets his heart to “I will keep thy statutes”. He recognizes that it is not his doing; it is not of works, that it is not in his own heart to direct his heart this way. Even though in vs. 8 “I will” he desires to keep the statutes, his emotions cry out to, “Oh forsake me not utterly. He recognizes that he needs God’s help in this, he is failing in this, and it is not by his own works or his own strength. These individuals who are blessed, they are setting there will to keep God’s word, but God is the one who really has to do the work and the person who is humble and seeks God with his whole heart will find that God doesn’t forsake them even though they fail, God will give them satisfaction, success, blessing in life that will be a testimony to his names sake.
This is like the first stanza of a song.

Thank you to Mr. Dick Emberley for his insight into this particular chapter of Psalms!  It's been eyeopening for me and has helped me understand the passage better as I memorize it.

Examine It - Part 2

Psalm 119 Example - A Continuation
by Dick Emberley

The book of Psalms is divided into 5 sections, 5 books actually. Probably grouped that way by Hezekiah and each of the 5 sections is based on themes, probably Hezekiah put it together this way. Some have seen that each of the 5 books of the Psalms is aligned with the first 5 books of the Bible. So jumping down to where we are going specifically, Psalm 119, which finds itself in the 5th division, which is similar to the 5th book of the Bible, Deuteronomy. You have a grouping of the Psalms that deals with thankfulness for God’s faithfulness. In Deuteronomy, the people are listening to the law for the 2nd time, the second generation is about to enter the land, they are seeing a faithful God who has delivered them from Egypt and they are being reminded of how important it is for them to be faithful to God’s Word as well. So when we come to Psalm 119, we are in the section dealing with the faithfulness of God and the thankfulness of man for his Word. Psalm 119 is a very interesting Psalm in the sense that it is organized as a few of them are, as an acrostic. It takes the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and it starts each of the 22 sections dividing it into the poetry, the verses. Each of the 16 lines are grouped in 2’s, 8 sections pretty closely in our English Bible, 8 verses per section. Each of those verses in Hebrew starts with that letter of the Hebrew alphabet. When you are translating from Hebrew to English or any other language as well, it is very difficult because Hebrew by its very nature is a base and poetic language. So, words are not as fixed and defined as we tend to find in the English. They can have wide meanings. When you add the fact that the Psalms are poems, translating a poem into another language is very difficult because of the nature of poetic language. Each of the sections looked at, look at it individually; try to pull the main point. Each verse is going to be a couple. In the English you don’t necessarily see 2 things put together but there are 2. When you only see one thing, it shows how difficult it is to translate Hebrew poetry into English. Within each section, you see one major point. What keeps being brought out over and over again is the Word of God. It is mentioned in many ways, commandments, ordinances, precepts, laws; it is all talking about the Word of God. In this session we are not going to get into each of the acrostics but just remember that it is God’s revelation of Himself, Jesus Christ as the Word of God. Psalm 119 is a revelation in song, in poetry, of Jesus Christ to his people so that they will understand how important the living Word of God is, his place in our life, how he needs to be our guide, our strength, our encouragement, how connected he is to our emotions, how we need to discipline ourselves, you will see over and over “I will, I will” we need to discipline ourselves, we need to control our emotions. It is going to teach us how to do that, what we should be thinking about and how we should look at life and how we should allow the Word to be our guide, our example if we want to live a life that God has designed us to, a successful life.

A note of caution; when you are studying, try to define things. Many times we use “Christian language, terms” and really do not have a true understanding of what we are talking about. For example, the word “separation”, what do you mean when you say that? Use simple language, common language to say what you mean. Ask yourself if there are prejudices in how you use it.

Prayer: these things are spiritually discerned. Keep prayer simple, open my understanding.

Meditation: This is truly an art. The Jewish culture has a good handle on this. I shall attempt to try to explain. It is quietness. It is like you are holding a diamond, you turn it a bit and look and see the colors and various aspects of that side, then your turn it a bit more and ponder as the colors and things you see will be different. I will call it P-O-V: Point of View. When you meditate and ponder what it has to say you need to take it text and then look at it from different points of view. What is God’s point of view, how does he see things? What is man’s point of view, women’s point of view? How would a child see this, a teen, an older person, a disabled person, a soldier, a doctor, a lawyer, a farmer, a wealth person, a poor person? I think you see where I am going. Each person brings to scripture a different point of view depending on where God has put them in life. The ability to meditate is to take and see things from different vantage points. There are many aspects to this and it will take time to develop the ability to think so be patient with this part.