For a lot of the readers of this blog I know that “Bible,” “church,” and “Christian” are bad words. So far, I think I have done a pretty good job of staying away from “church,” and “Christian,” but I cannot get away from “Bible.”
So before I continue on, and probably something I should have done at the very beginning of this blog, I want to write about why I’m using Bible verses on most of my posts.
Most days, before I take on the stressful tasks of the day, I spend about an hour praying. However, I don’t pray like anyone else (at least that I know of).
I write out all my prayers and do so in strait conversation with God. For example, yesterday I started, “Lord, I come before you with my mind wandering. Lord, there is so much going on right now (I had a paper due today). Lord, today has been a rollercoaster.”
A lot of the conversation goes on like this. But sometimes, I feel like God is pointing me to remember or do something. Often times I feel like God is urging me to remember a certain Bible verse. It is fairly common that I will feel God reminding me to listen to his words to Joshua: “I hereby command you; be strong and courageous, do not be frightened or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
Not only does God remind me of verses but sometimes I will call a verse to mind and ask God to help me live it out. For instance, I did this with almost all of the verses mentioned in the “Reflections from August” series.
Also, sometimes I will have a theme verse for a month, season or even year or two. When this is the case I write that verse out every night—since last November the theme verse has been most of Psalm 27 (I’m going to post on this verse in the future so I didn’t write it out here).
What this all leads to is having about a dozen Bible passages memorized verbatim. In the words of my father, “wow, you can really rattle those verses off fast.” And yes, I am aware of how old school this is in a digital world.
However, I actually don’t have a very good memory—so what I’ve done with about twenty other verses is write them out on loose-leaf paper and fold them in a stack. I carry this stack in my journal for convenience.
If God needs me to use any other verse or something comes to mind that I don’t have written down then I look it up.
Although in a digital age this might seem very anachronistic this whole process helps me to remember important stories and life lessons. If I hadn’t written out the verses that came to mind in August not only would I have not been able to share them but I would already have forgotten all of them. In fact, unless I went back and read my prayers, I’m sure I would have forgotten I wanted to move in the direction of peace.
Like the main character in movie Memento, who tattoos himself with important information in order not to forget, I memorize and write out Bible verses to help guide me through the world.
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