Hello dear,
When was the last time you learnt a Bible verse and committed it to memory?
I’m not talking about religiously or mindlessly quoting pieces of scriptures but intentionally storing it up in your heart and letting it take hold of your imagination. Psalm 119:11
When we were kids, we had bible recitation competitions, “sword drills” and “draw out your sword” in which kids were to find certain passages in the Bible and the first was given a price. This made us search the scriptures to know them.
But when we grew up, it seemed like we dropped all that and grew into an age that places no emphasis on keeping God’s word in our hearts.
We are now told to put our bibles under our pillows at night and receive all the protection exuding from its holy pages even when our hearts know nothing of the flames of its timeless words.
Our hearts grew cold as our knowledge grew old. We now know a lot about God and so little of him. We forgot that He Instructed that His words must never depart from our mouth and heart (Joshua 1:8).
Sadly, we have departed from the word and became pals with our phones which though may be loaded with at least 15 Bible translations, are covered with the dust of our laxity and negligence. Let me not talk about how we abandoned our hard copy bibles, the dust would drown a continent!
I write this with so much concern that my heart quakes and wonders if we will still be able to teach our Children God’s word. Would they still know scriptures, treasure it and recite it. This is not rote or religion, it’s a command of God’s word.
If you are like me and you have been having a hard time cultivating this beautiful habit here are a few things I’m learning that can help:
Be intentional. Make it your goal.
Truth is, you must see the need for you to soak in God’s word. It’s a great armoury! You shouldn’t be in a situation and you don’t even know what God has to say about it. If only you have stored up this treasure, then out of your belly, the living waters will flow and it will be just like a guided missile, nothing can be sweeter!
Make it your goal in life to study and treasure scriptures in your heart. You don’t have to lump up ten chapters in one day and expect yourself to master all overnight. It’s a gradual process. Start with one verse and continually chew it until it is safely tucked away in the innermost chambers of your heart.
Start from the known- John 3:16, Psalm 23 and all those verses you learnt in Sunday school till you begin to learn new ones. Start to consciously bring them into your day- practice daily in the shower, while doing your make up, using the rest room or even doing laundry. Mutter a verse of the scripture, recite it, imagine it and take hold of it until it takes hold of you.
As you are preparing for the new year and writing your goals, let this top your list and it won’t be a bad idea to start right away. New Year is not just a time when the calender changes, it’s a time when your priorities change. Start today!
Write it on your doorposts
In Deuteronomy 11:20 God instructs the Israelites to write His laws on their doorposts. These days, our own doorposts seem to be our phones, tablets, laptops and cars.
And thankfully, the word is abundant in our times; audio messages, tapes, songs, audio bibles etc. We can use sticker notes, screenshots, and all social media platforms to connect with the word. We can also make images of the word and scatter it all around us such that the word colours our world.
There is just so much we can use and we have no excuse whatsoever for not keeping the word ever before us.
Use a Bible app or devotional
Like I said, it’s easy to connect with God’s word in this generation, so easy. We have bible apps, people on our timelines are sharing scriptures everyday.
All you need to do is refresh your circle and make sure you are following the right people on different social media platforms. Get connected and get lost in this holy art.
There are so many apps we can use. If you need help, I can recommend a few – “You Version Bible App”, “Everyday with Jesus”, “Word for today”, “My utmost for his highest”. These are some apps and devotionals that I’ve used and there are lots of them. They have been a huge blessing and are helping me to be consistent.
Please don’t joke with your life! Get busy and get serious with the word. It’s easy, it’s time to start!
Welcome to December!
