How can I memorize Scripture? I’ve got the worst memory!
First of all, you don’t have the worst memory? Want proof? Watch this funny commercial that aired on Super Bowl Sunday a few years ago.
(And no, I don’t even like the taste of it.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPOj32jv2ig
Before I share these with you, I need to confess that I
really do have a poor memory compared to many. Pastor Mike is quick to learn
people’s names. I struggle to do so. So please bear with me. However, when God saved me
in 1976 (yeah, I know what you're thinking and you're right) I learned the secrets of memorizing scripture. Over time, this enabled me to memorize over 100 scattered scripture verses. Then
I moved on to memorizing chapters, which then led to memorizing a few epistles of
scripture. Because I haven’t regularly reviewed those books, I admit I can’t
stand up and quote them now. But I’m so glad I did. I can think my way through
them rather easily. And they have shaped my life. I’m not bragging, I’m trying to encourage you, because if I can do
it, anyone can!
Here’s a great link that will help you memorize Eph.2:1-5 this
month. http://matthiasmedia.com/briefing/2012/06/a-smorgasbord-of-bible-memorization-methods-and-one-way-to-learn-whole-books/
The key for me is to repeatedly read the passage and then
memorize a bit at a time. Try reading Eph.2:1-5 every day and then work on memorizing
a little bit of it each day. “By the yard it may be hard, but by the inch, it’s
a cinch.” Here’s another fitting quote. “How do you eat an elephant? One bite
at a time.” So enjoy feasting on Eph.2:1-5 one small bite at a time. I carry
the print out of this passage with me and review it every day. By the way, I learned
our passage in a week. Could have done it faster I guess, but was enjoying the
meal, one bite at a time. If you follow these suggestions, you’ll be very pleased
how much you will glean and you’ll have the passage nailed by our Sunday March 2nd
meeting. (It’s from noon to 1pm in the cafeteria.)
This week our SOS Bible study will conveniently be on Ephesians 2:1-5. Please dig into Eph.2:1-5 and post your reflections on that, not on the memorization article. Please remember to post by each Wednesday night. (You can get started reading and thinking about our passage as early as each Sunday evening which is when I publish this weekly blog for us.)
Study
Study tips:
Read it out loud. Read it slowly. Read it repeatedly. Read it inquisitively.
Imagine you get to interview the writer regarding what you’ve just read. Write
down what questions you would ask. What did you mean when you said…?
Now seek to
discover the answers to your questions.
Use cross
references, concordances, commentaries (I like www.Biblehub.org
or www.preceptaustin.org) and contemplation. What’s one insight you discovered
that you’d like to share with me?
Obey &
Share
What did you
discover from this passage about-
Knowing God-
Did this passage reveal anything about God the Father, Son or Holy Spirit for
which to thank or praise Him? If so, try writing it out as a praise to Him.
Growing more
godly- What things from this passage do you need to seek God’s help to live
out?
Try writing
this out as a prayer.
Oops, “I almost forgot” to remind you that we are all to be reading our way through the gospel of Luke this month, a chapter a day. So just look at the calendar to know which chapter to be grazing in. This can be a rich source of discussion between you and your mentor. I certainly found that to the case in our group. And your mentor can review the monthly memory passage together with you. We usually began our meetings doing so.
Sun. Feb.16th 7:00pm You are cordially invited to a great evening fellowship time at the estate of Jack & Janie Rogers- 10749 Cherrywood Dr. Palos Park. He is a very successful business leader. Come enjoy an unforgettable time together because their house is! We'll enjoy some delicious desserts. I'll ask Jack questions re. leadership and you can too. Plus, you can ask me any questions you wish about the Word and the Christian life. You won't want to miss this. Please RSVP me that you''re coming at dgarratt@sbcglobal.net. Thanx!
Did you notice in Psalm 118 that Pastor Mark preached from today, the mention of the fear of the Lord? It's our character trait of the month. Be on the look out for it.
PS- We are here to help you succeed, so ask for help when you need it. "If you ask for help and don't quit, you will succeed." You can write that one down in your wealth catcher. Err, you didn't forget that did you?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEphesians 2:1 - 5 =
ReplyDeleteI believe that this is a simultaneous action that Paul is referring to here. There is a "death" and "life" correspondence that associates to us, the believers. As the doctrine of salvation, justification, and sanctification admit to being a both instantaneous and continual motion through our lives, we are consequently "dying" and "living." We "die" to ourselves on a daily basis allowing us to truly "live." These two actions are vital to a cross - baring lifestyle. This makes Jesus' life, and primarily His death, the center of our focus and our life.
Like in the notion mentioned by Albert Einstein, the present isn't reality, we are more so living in the past and the future. Let me draw the connection that we are dying constantly through Christ, and then being resurrected and refined through Him at the same instance. There is no present time that one of the actions is not taking place, for they are almost inseparable. As stated in verse 5, this is all and act of grace.
Thanks Ken. So are you thinking what I'm thinking- that Paul is talking in 2:1-3 about the Ephesians before they were saved when they were spiritually dead and then 2:4-5 describes what God in grace did in giving them new life through faith in Christ? Looking forward to our Sunday get together!
DeleteAs I read Ephesians 2: 1 – 5, I am reminded to never forget where I came from. That I was going to hell. I know that I was disobedient and I lived for me. When I think back; my desires, my thoughts and my passion were not for the Lord. I knew of Christ, but to say that everything was his is another story. I know I deserve death and that all my sins and dirt separate me from God. Thank You Jesus! For Your Mercy! For Your Grace! For Your Unfailing Love! For your blood that covers me! It is his love that breaks me, that brings me to my knees in reverence. Lord I never want to be ungrateful; I never want to forget the numerous miracles you have performed in my life. Let me never forget your continuous protection, your unmerited favor, your guiding hand and your warm embrace. Thank you Lord! Thank you Lord! Thank you Lord! Thank you Lord! This passage is of remembrance for me, remembering where I came from and remembering who He is!
ReplyDeleteAmen Jesse! What a great worshipful response! Amen!
DeleteThis is a sobering, heavy paragraph. The letters written by Paul cover so much ground, from heaven to earth to hell, from eternity past to eternity future, from dead in sin to alive in Christ. They are comprehensive and give us perspective. And after telling us who we are Paul (inspired by the Holy Spirit) tells us what to do.
ReplyDeleteSo Eph 2:1-5 is humbling because we 'were dead in trespasses and sins'. We 'walked' in them which shows us that it was, and is, our choice.
Verse 2 mentions both the world and the devil. It says that this spirit 'is at work in the sons of disobedience'. He is talking about spiritual warfare. It's easy to only look at sin as a choice, a bad desire, etc. but there really is a deep spiritual battle taking place that involves demonic spirits that cause deception. We still make choices but there is a spiritual battle.
V. 3 talks about 'the passions of the flesh' and 'the desires of the body and the mind'. So the trifecta of enemies, the world, flesh, and the devil, are all mentioned in vv. 2-3. We are children of wrath like the rest of mankind. In other words, we deserve to be punished and so does everyone else. This is not a feel-good message. It offends our pride but it is exactly what we need to hear.
Verses 4-5 give the solution: God is merciful and loving, even when we were spiritually dead, and made us alive with Christ by His grace.
So I give praise to the God who looked at us, and at me, and chose to extend His grace even though we had done nothing to deserve it. Thank you Lord for your mercy, love, and patience upon me. What an amazing honor to be alive together with your Son Jesus!
So true and so well summarized Mike! Thank you. And what a great ending of praise you wrote.
DeleteEphesians 2:1-5 is beautiful scripture. It is beautiful because it shows God's deepest love for man(me), and how He is willing to still forgive and reward a creation that constantly sins against Him. Now, if I was God, the whole human race would be no more, but thankfully, I am not God.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I am thankful that I am not God because even being a god of my own life is does not work, and I believe that that is exactly what Paul is conveying in verse 3: we are "children of wrath", therefore we need a God to save us and put order and direction in our life.
This verse motivates me to fight against temptation because a wrestle with sin is easier to win than the price that was paid on the cross because of my sins.
Yes Ivan, thank God for God- coming to our rescue when we were children of wrath. Thank God that He has made us His dearly loved children through faith in Christ. Amen!
DeleteMy thoughts also, If I were God I would've never taken one look at me, I never would have chosen me but I'm so thankful he isn't like me. I'm also thankful that I don't have to save people because that's his job but that he will reveal himself through his people and seat them with Christ.
DeleteThere is something about memorizing scripture, where it becomes a part of you. You tattoo it on your heart and mind. It just seems to come alive and make more sense. What a privilege we have. Just think, the power of a person's own words written out. It's getting close to Valentine's day, so I will use that as an example. It is one thing to give a significant other a pre-written, Hallmark Valentine's day card, but it is another thing to give them a card that you hand wrote, with all your sincere words and expressions. A person's words, written on paper, seem to have the power to reach deeper into our hearts. And just think, God took the time to write to us. Even as we talked about wisdom last week, this is just another gift and, one could say training, to grow in that "skill of wisdom," keeping God's word impressed in our minds and embedded in our hearts.
ReplyDeleteAs I read Ephesians 1-10, it seems that Paul was writing directly to me. Although, his letter was originally intended for the people of Ephesus, a group of people involved in idol worship and foolish debaucheries. Paul was writing to these people, telling them that they have a new identity in Christ. It just blows my mind that Paul wrote this scripture explaining me before I knew it was me. Trapped in a state of sin, conforming to the world and flesh, following its desires and thoughts, literally on a highway to hell. That was me, that was the Ephesians, that was all of us.
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ..." It is by a gift, given to us by a Father, who we see here, as one who loves us so much, that out of that love flows mercy and patience and above all grace. For "it is by grace you have been saved." This just reveals Our Father to us, that even though we were dead in our transgressions and sins, He provided a way for life, a life everlasting. And while, in all honesty, this type of love is rare to be seen, if at all on this Earth, it is difficult to understand how someone could give us that unmerited favor, after everything we have done. This grace and love, to not only cleanse us of our sins, give us life, change us, make us new, but to also raise us up with Christ, so that we can be called sons and daughters, as Christ is called such. So that we are "seated with him in the heavenly realms," where Christ sits. Just a greater revelation of God's character and loving attributes.
Yes Eddie, what grace, unmerited favor, that we who were dead in our sins should now be made alive and even seated with Christ. I John 3:1 comes to mind. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMeditating on these verses I was reminded of the life I lived before God saved me. For a few months now I’ve been thinking to myself how I’m so thankful to have God, to have the peace of knowing that he’s with me. I’m just so amazed of his faithfulness and love for me that the thought of not having Him is unbearable for me. He has become the sustainer of my life, the one that keeps my ground leveled. It’s a very scary thought for me to think of what life would be like without him BUT I FORGET that there WAS a time when I didn’t have him.
ReplyDeleteAs I have taken my thoughts back to those times without God, I’ve been trying to somewhat relive those moments of what my thoughts were like and what I was feeling. Did I really feel miserable and hopeless? Was I aware of the great void in my life? and the answer is NO, not really. I knew that I needed saving, I can’t tell you that “needed saving” wouldn’t be my choice of words, but in my heart I knew I needed help. I knew that I wasn’t completely happy with life but I can recall moments when I thought life was “great.” I needed a lot of healing and restoring but the idols I had were satisfying me “temporarily” and I was fine with life. As I think of that, there’s something very scary to me about the comfortableness that I felt. The fact that I felt some sort of satisfaction with life and didn’t think I needed a savior but that the spirit was leading me straight to hell. It causes me to look at unbelievers in a different light. There is truly blindness without God and a veil only he can uncover from our eyes.
I knew the person who led me to the Lord for years until I got saved. This man, Dan Garcia, was dating my mother at the time and he never tried forcing me towards salvation, not once did he try drowning me with scripture. Yes he was greatly annoying to me because he always talked about how God was good to him. He was always smiling and I thought he was weird and crazy for the most part but then came that one moment, a moment of opportunity. God in his mighty ways so graciously allowed my Idols to fail me and drew me to himself. When I was desperate for healing I went to the person I thought knew God and I thought maybe a man who knows God could help me. I’m so thankful Dan had an obedient and ready heart that night to lead me to the Lord. God was so patient with me and therefore I should be patient with others because it is God who in his love and mercy seats us with Christ.
These verses speak to me about God’s perfect timing, his provision, HIS plan. It is truly by his grace ALONE that I have been saved and was seated with him and I firmly believe this because when he encountered me I had years of filth on me that ONLY his blood could cleanse, and a bucket of tears. I had nothing good that would consider me worth saving. I see his Sovereignty, he chose me for no other reason but his own (a reason I will never understand) and of course not for no reason, he has a plan and has so graciously invited me to be a part of it.
Thanks Nori for your very honest reflections of your BC days. I don't hear enough of such. Your perspective is very helpful as we seek to interact with others. They may be feeling fine about their lives. The gospel deals with unfelt realities that the lost are spiritually dead, deceived and doomed even if the lost person is feeling great. The gospel can disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. TYF (Thank You Father) for the new life You've given to Nori! May her light continue to shine brightly. Mt. 5:16
DeleteThanks for sharing Nori. I can relate to your last paragraph and I love the way you poignantly say it - "I see his Sovereignty, He chose me for no other reason but his own (a reason I will never understand) . . . not for no reason, for a plan, a plan he so graciously invites us to be a part of". That's exactly how I feel and I too, am grateful for his plan.
DeleteAs I read Eph. 2:1-5 I felt the whole gist of salvation was summarized in those verses. It is as if we could take them and use them to witness the gospel to others. Eph. 2:1-5 is a reminder that we are born into sin. We have natural selfish nature which causes us to act impulsively, "gratifying the cravings of the flesh" and not thinking about obedience to God.
ReplyDeleteThese verses also show it is because of God's loving character that we received mercy and by grace we were given the chance at a new life through faith in Jesus and by following his example. It reminds us the God truly loves us through it all. He did not start loving us AFTER we were saved, but from the beginning. The term "saved" in itself shows His love because we could not save ourselves, and he would not have met us in the midst of our self destructive, disobedient habits if he didn't love us. I am very grateful that we have the bible so accessible because it is verses like these that help us remember God's character and is the medicine to our bones in times of strife.
Good reflections Socorro! I especially like your statement, "We have a natural selfish nature which causes us to act impulsively, "gratifying the cravings of the flesh" and not thinking about obedience to God." Yes, our first, impulsive act is usually the wrong desire and action. Thanks so much for sharing.
DeleteReading these verses reminded me how lucky i am that God chose me to be saved. It reminds me how merciful God is. it reminds me that God could have let me and everyone else suffer for eternity. It reminds me to fight against the desires of the flesh because, in the end following God gets me eternal happiness and joy, where as following my flesh gets me nothing but suffering and misery.
ReplyDeleteYes Lucas! You are right about that. Who or what we follow is huge. And as we see in the passage, the word "followed" and "following" is crucially used. Thanks!
DeleteThis scripture brings me joy and conviction at the same time. Just the first sentence halts me - you were dead in your transgressions and sins. Dead - meaning without life, without breath, without anything. Transgressions and sins - meaning wrongdoing and error. Reading on... "we were by nature deserving of wrath". Wrath - hatefulness, madness, extreme anger. And it's true, I am nothing without Jesus. I deserve nothing if not for Jesus. Id be living in my error, mistakes, wrongdoing if it weren't for Jesus. And the joy comes in verse 4-6, HIS GREAT LOVE FOR US, GOD WHO IS RICH IN MERCY, MADE US ALIVE ... IT IS BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the joy comes because my God is an amazing God who loves, who brings life, who saves by grace, but it also brings conviction because how could it be that me - the one deserving of wrath - can have so much favor from the almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the God above all? How can He love so much that he can oversee my wrongdoings over and over again? His love is a ridiculous love. The kind of love the world would say is sappy, a love that the world would judge as over the top, too much, too giving, too unreal because no one can be that selfless. But He loves unconditionally...
It's hard to receive something so beautiful. As if it's too good to be true. But it is true and because it's true, I feel convicted for failing to love like he does, for failing to surrender myself like He did for me...
So my prayer is Lord, show me how to love like you, how to daily surrender to you. Help me be more like you. Remind me that your grace saves me, renews me daily and that your love can conquer all things. Lord, just allow me to lay myself down to you. Consume me, fill me with your love God so I can love the way you call me to love, so I can show mercy and grace to others the way you have given it to me. Thank you that you loved me first. Thank you God for giving me a Savior. Thank you for the cross, Jesus. Thank you that your Holy Spirit lives within me. Thank you for conviction God as it's a reminder that your spirit dwells within me. Keep challenging me to become more like you Jesus. And thank you that there is victory in you.
Thank Christina for your good words and beautiful prayer, which I found myself praying out loud as well.
DeleteReading this passage reminds me of the path I was once traveling before I came to know how loving and merciful God is. How my life was really nothing but death and living for the flesh but God, in his unconditional love, sacrificed his Son just so we can be alive with Him. Furthermore, I am reminded of how God saved me but yet He didn't do this because He needs me (in fact it is I who needs Him) but rather as a gift. Oh man, and what a gift it is! We are all so undeserving of this gift yet God gave us it with his unconditional love.
ReplyDeleteI grinned and giggled as I read your good words Nick- "Oh man, and what a gift it is! We are all so undeserving of this gift yet God gave us it with his unconditional love."
ReplyDeleteSo true and what a joyous truth!
This is my very 1st blog, and though I have been hesitant & very late, here we go. ☺ It has been such a great blessing for me to read everyone’s heart felt expressions of love & gratitude towards God. It blows me away to see how the Living Word of God (John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word & the Word was with God & the Word was God. V14 And the Word was made flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us) has changed each one of us, though we are from different ages, culture and walks of life.
ReplyDeleteWhat I love about Eph 2:1-5 is how the verses 1-3 are written in past tense. God reminding me “who I used to be”, and verses 4-10 God telling me “who I am in Christ”. 2Cor5:17 If any man is in Christ he is a new creation, the old things pass away, behold are things are new.
I love what Pastor Mike said concerning spiritual warfare. I believe the battle between the ways of this world, the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the lustful desires of the flesh is an on-going battle. This truth is woven throughout the entire Old Testament. God delivered the Israelites out slavery in Egypt with a strong arm and with power and after 40 years of walking around in the desert because of unbelief, and when they finally made it to the Promised Land, they had to conquer all the sinful pagan nations that inhabited the land. The amazing battles they fought and the miraculous victories were only brought forth by the POWER of the Living God. God fought for them as they humbled themselves, were obedient to His word and stood in faith. They were examples for us today. Only by the power of the Living Word of God can we have victory.
2Cor10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty thru God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Thanks Bea! Yes, as you said, Only by the power of the living word of God can we have victory!
Delete