The other morning when I took Glory, our miniature Aussie, for a walk I was praying. I knew we were about to end our study in Psalms 119 and I wanted to know where the Lord would have me go next for my daily devotionals.
It was then the Lord reminded me of how I began to put His word into my daily life. As a young girl I had memorized a lot of Bible verses. Sunday School teachers gave me stars for learning my weekly Bible verse; King’s Daughters, a girls club, awarded us points and badges for memorization. I still remember a lot of those verses.
However, as you all know, memorization doesn’t mean that you understand or better yet, apply that information to your life. I wanted to “know” God’s word not just have it memorized. I wanted to depend on God’s word for answers but the question was “how”.
Dave and I decided to start looking up verses that applied to specific areas of need in our life; faith, health, finances, relationship with God. Now mind you this was before computers, back in the dark ages, when you had your Bible and a concordance (a book that lists all the verses that had a particular word in them). We would sit down at our kitchen table and write all these verses down, look them up in the Bible, read them out loud and cross off the ones that didn’t really apply. Then we took the ones that were left and would copy them onto 3×5 cards.
We took those cards and punched a hole in the corner and put them on a ring. Dave had a set he carried in his work truck and I had a copy I kept in the house or my purse. When I situation would come up and we needed God’s answer we would read those verses and let the Lord show us what to do. We were living the word not just memorizing it.
Depending on God’s word became almost as natural as breathing.
Now – what’s this have to do with you and my morning devotionals? That was 35 years ago and I still have that ring with verses on it and over the next few weeks I am going to be sharing some of those verses with you. One verse at a time.
It’s so much easier now with the technology we have. You can go to an app like BibleGateway and have dozens of translations on your screen in a matter of seconds. If you don’t understand what a verse means in one translation, find one that you can. You don’t even have to hand write or type the verses, just hit print and it’s done for you. I hope you will make them a part of your life the way we did.
Here is God’s promise regarding His word:
“But you must be strong and brave about obeying the commands my servant Moses gave you. If you follow his teachings exactly, you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Always remember what is written in that book of law. Speak about that book and study it day and night. Then you can be sure to obey what is written there. If you do this, you will be wise and successful in everything you do. 9 Remember, I commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t be afraid, because the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7-9 ERV
One verse at a time, one day at a time makes a lifetime of difference!