A very important memory for me is memorizing Isaiah 52:13-53 for a Easter church service. The way I memorize is not to remember the words. It is to know the words and why they are being said. To make them come naturally.
Try it for these verses. Memorize them and say them aloud ... and mean what you are saying.
Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
As many were astonished at you — his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind — so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
When You Lie Down ... 1 Thessalonians 4-5, 2 Thessalonians 1-2
Testing. I like testing. It is probably the teacher in me. If there is one thing I want my students to do and understand is that they must know WHY they do what they do. WHY they believe what they believe. WHY they got an A or an F. :)
Test all of your actions against God. Does it meet His standard?
Test all of the people you follow against God. Do they meet His standard?
Obviously we are not perfect and will fall short. Yet, look at your actions and the actions of others against the backdrop of God. Hold on firmly to the good. And toss out the bad.
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
John came to prepare the way. He was a fulfillment of this prophesy. We also are called to prepare the way. Every day those who are lost look at us. They see how we talk. How we act. How we live.
For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
Exhort and Encourage. All fathers are called to this. To strongly urge our children through life and to strongly encourage our children through life.
Exhort could be replaced with "make urgent appeals" or to "incite by advice or argument". I kind of like the incite version. It is more along what you actually do as a dad. You need to fire up your kids. Like a good coach does with his team.
Make the appeals, make the arguments, yell, cheer, cry, laugh, prepare them for the fight ... and then send them out into the field.
For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord; who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
The world hates the light.
The world doesn't want to see. The world doesn't want to hear.
All around you today is the serpent's tongue whispering that whatever your heart desires is right. It is a tempting argument as well. Because then you only have to worry about fulfilling your desires.
It is up to you to know God's truth. To work on aligning your heart to the will of God. And to bring your mind and body under the control. These things are hard. But the reward is eternal.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
I'm not a Paul. I'm not even one of the lowest men and women who worked along side of him. Paul was good at coming up with lists of things that make me KNOW that I still have to work to be more like Christ. I definitely can't say as he does: act like I do.
But, there is one small, and yet huge, thing that all Christians can act as Paul did. Do not cease to pray. Pray that you and other Christians will be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all things and of God's love.
In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Tomorrow we die ...
Yes, we do die. Yet we should live, not for today, but for what comes after. Our death is not the end. It is the door to eternity. An eternity with God or suffering without God.
Our lives today are lives meant to prepare us for eternity. It not a call for selfishness, but goodness. It is not a call to fulfil the desires of your flesh, but to live as Christ lived.
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
Christ is my foundation. He is the cornerstone of my heart and life.
Now that God has given the base upon what I should build ... how have I done? You can build a terrible house on top of a good foundation. I suppose I could not put the roof on. Which would be rather stupid. But I've seen abandoned homes that ended at that point.
As we build upon Christ we need to remember to use justice as our measure. Righteousness to keep our paths straight. The Word to build our walls. And Love to cover our heads.
Help me to live as Christ. To sacrifice for my family. To love my wife as you did the Church ... giving your life. To seek out the lost. To give with love to those in need.
To look upon the cross and know that is how far my love must go.
