knowing God’s Word | Devotions by Chris Hendrix

Tag Archives: knowing God’s Word

June 14, 2023 · 5:36 AM

Memorizing Scripture

One of the things I learned about myself early on was that I could memorize pretty easily. I could watch a movie once and pretty much be able to quote it. When my parents would send me to vacation Bible school, I found out they give prizes to kids for memorizing Scriptures. That was all the motivation I needed. Then when I got into junior high and high school, I was required to memorize entire chapters in the Bible. Since it was for a grade, it didn’t have the same motivating power, but I did it. One of my friends there didn’t just memorize chapters in the Bible, he memorized entire books in the Bible. I never got that far, but memorizing Scriptures all those years helped me to know God’s Word and to be able to recall it whenever I need it.

Right after Jesus was baptized, He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to fast for forty days. At the end of the fast, Satan came to tempt Him. Jesus responded to the first temptation by telling him that man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by the Word of God. The third one was always interesting to me because Satan used God’s Word against Jesus to try to get Him to sin. Jesus recognized it being out of context so He wasn’t able to fall for the temptation. He often pointed to the Scriptures throughout His ministry while teaching to help us understand it more and to show us that it needs to be foundational in our lives. He built His life on God’s Word and so must we.

Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (NLT). Just like Jesus used God’s Word to defeat the enemy, we can too, but we have to have it in our heart. It’s good to read God’s Word every day, but when we memorize it, something different happens. We plant it in our mind to stay. Our brain sees it as important. Studies show that we typically can only recall about 10% of what we read. That’s why reading alone isn’t enough. Memorizing Scripture isn’t just for kids. We as adults need to be doing it as well. It will take discipline and effort on your part, but the rewards outweigh that. Not only will it help you fight temptation and keep you from sinning, it will help your brain and change how you think.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Application Is Key

My son and his friend climbed up into the treehouse part of his old swing set the other day. They immediately came back down to tell me how dirty it was in there and that it was covered in leaves. Then they wanted to know if they could clean it out. A small broom was useful in clearing out the leaves and paper towels helped them wipe everything down. Then the friend came down to tell me that she was able to put her hand through one of the boards. I told my son to get out as I walked over to it. Sure enough, several boards had rotted through where the leaves had piled up. Until I can replace the boards, the treehouse is off limits.

As I laid back down in my hammock, jokingly I thought, “But I have buckets of water seal in the garage. How could it have rotted through?” That thought was met with another one that said, “It doesn’t matter how much water seal you have if you never apply it!” My mind then went to James 1:22 that tells us to be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer only. Many of us have read the Bible and even memorized it. We’ve stored it in our minds, but if we don’t apply it into our lives, things can still fall apart and rot through. It’s not enough to know God’s Word. We must do something with it.

One of my favorite verses is Joshua 1:8 because it gives God’s secret to success in life. It says, “Be sure that the book of the Law is always read in your worship. Study it day and night, and make sure that you obey everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (GNT). We can read it, hear it and study it, but if we don’t obey and apply it, we miss out on the blessings it offers. If we want to guard against rot in our heart and find success in this life and the next, we must apply God’s principles to our lives and live it out. Application is the key to unlocking all that God has for you. Put it to the test and watch Him move in your life.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as applying god’s word, applying the Bible to your life, be a doer Of the Word, bible study on, bible verses on, christian living, Devotional, devotional on, doing what the Bible says, how to have success, Joshua 1:8, knowing God’s Word, knowing the Bible, Memorizing the Bible, study the Bible, what does the bible say about