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Memory Verse Monday

One of the best ways to enhance your walk with the Lord as well as walk in obedience is through scripture memorization. In this segment I will be debriefing a verse and growing alongside you all to be more apt to counteract spiritual warfare as well as filter our words with truth on a daily basis.

Scripture memorization is a spiritual discipline that we all can grow in and be more determined to practice. I learned the importance of scripture memorization my freshman year of college when girls I would share truth and advice with would ask, "Okay... but where is that in the Bible?" And I couldn't give a clear answer. I knew it was truth but I didn't know where it was in scripture, what the verse meant in context, and how it was intended to be interpreted. By not knowing those answers, I had limited where that conversation could go and how I could speak to the situation.

"Okay... but where is that in the Bible?"

That was a humbling moment for me as well as a wake up call that I needed Christ' words to resonate in my heart and the best way to do that is to actively participate in allowing His words to first resonate in my speech and my mind. As I started to study and memorize scripture, things started to shift in my life and my ministry. When I was at coffee with girls I disciple who were hurting and struggling, verses immediately came to mind to encourage them and point them towards the Lord. These were verses I had no idea why I was memorizing them in the moment, but God used that act of O B E D I E N C E for His glory. When I would be in a setting that I was tempted to speak or act in a sinful way, the words of the Bible came to mind and stopped me in my tracks. James explains this well in Chapter 3.

"Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way." James 3:10 CSB

I could not sit there and speak hateful things when the words of the merciful and gracious Savior were fresh on my tongue and my heart. Having the Word close to my heart and allowing the Word to invade my speech has made me a better follower of Jesus and prepared me for servant-ship towards Christ in my daily life. Through the next few months, I want to create a community of Christians committed and invested in scripture memorization because this can be a game changer in the life of the living body of Jesus, the Church.

The verse chosen for this week comes from Job. If you haven't read through Job, I encourage you to dive deep into this book filled with desperation and a longing for Christ. Job endured intense suffering but despite all those trials and tribulations, he remained a faithful servant. Job clings to his Redeemer and lays himself down for the glorification of God. Although He endured much suffering and had no idea when this chain of chaos would end, He remained steadfast in the Lord. This story is an encouragement to my own personal walk as well as convicting towards how my focus has shifted away from God in my own personal seasons of suffering.

While my suffering from a human level isn't comparable to much of what Job walked through, my reactions have been far off the mark of what they are called to be. From suffering in Middle School being defined by small things like when I broke my new hair crimper a week after I got it and it was "The end of the World"(honestly, probably for the best.) And then to bigger things like walking through a major surgery and then moving several times in late high-school. Regardless the "suffering", in those seasons I struggled to fixate on the promise given to me by my Savior and move past the current predicaments of my life. My prayer is that in the next trials I walk through I will react more like Job and trust in the goodness and provision of God. Job trusted in the promise and though He was hurting, he was rotted in the truth of God and the hope that one day he would see his Redeemer face to face.

My prayer is that we would all aim to see Christ in the deepest waters. I pray that you walk alongside me in memorizing this verse so that we may be focused on the face of the Lord and speak truth to those we know in seasons of suffering currently. Here is the verse for the week:

“But I know my Redeemer lives, and at the end He will stand on the dust. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me (Job 19:25–27).”

Jesus, I pray our hearts would long within us for your promises this week. I pray that we fixate on you in dark valleys and that through your word our hearts would be transformed. Use us for your glory and shape us to grow your kingdom. Let us steward our lives towards your name this week and be the light you have called us to be in this temporary world. Thank you for the cross that you have carried and the blood that you have shed, let this truth resonate in the forefront of our minds and our actions this week. Amen.

-Sarah Beth Strong

Senior at Western Kentucky University

Here is a lock screen for you to save and use this week as you memorize this verse throughout the week.

There is a devotional I am going to link here from She Reads Truth that goes over this verse that is super helpful if you are interested in studying this passage deeper.