Summer is a Comin’!

As I write this, I have just finished writing out my summer goals. You know, the things that you haven’t had time to do during the school semester, simply because there isn’t enough time? Yeah, those things.

One of the items on my list is memorizing Scripture. I personally haven’t really sat down and purposely memorized a verse or passage of Scripture in awhile (Psalm 119:11). To be completely honest, I miss it and I have become lazy.

Perhaps you are like me and have not taken the time to memorize Scripture in a while. You might have thoughts such as, “I don’t have a good memory,” or “It is difficult for me to memorize Scripture,” or even, “I just can’t get into it. It is completely boring!”

I understand completely! It can be daunting and seem hard at times. However, I want to point out that those are lies you are believing about yourself! Satan wants you to become lazy and have self doubt. He wants you to believe that the living Word of God is boring and unattractive (1 Peter 5:8).

That is why I am here today to help you in a few ways:

1. I am here to say God’s Word is alive and active (Hebrews 4:12)! If you search for God and what He has to say to you, you will find Him and be filled with the goodness of God (Matthew 7:7-8).
2. I am here to say laziness is a sin!! Laziness is the exact opposite of what God has called us to be (Proverbs 13:4, 21:5, and 26:14). Don’t get me wrong; God wants us to rest at times and take care of ourselves, but not to the extreme where we don’t want to work or do anything (Colossians 3:17).

The last thing I want to say is that I have a challenge for you! I will be doing this challenge all summer long, so we can do it together! Here is the challenge:

Over the months of May through August, I will memorize a different Scripture(s) each week. Here are the verses I have selected that I will memorize this summer:

• Week 1- Philippians 4:6-7
• Week 2- John 14:27
• Week 3 – 1 John 4:18 and Mark 4:39-40
• Week 4- Isaiah 43:1
• Week 5- Psalm 94:19 and Revelation 1:17
• Week 6- Psalm 87:1
• Week 7- Psalm 23:4, 119:60
• Week 8- Matthew 6:34

For the sake of the length of this blog and that I believe the verses you choose should be between you and God, I will stop at week 8. I will put additional verses in the comment section.

Before I end this blog I have a few things I hope you will keep in mind:

1. Start where you are. If my plan and weeks look too hard for you, tame them down to fit where you are in your walk with God (Proverbs 16:3).
2. Accountability! Ask someone to do this with you, set reminders on your phone, set apart time every day…etc. This step is essential to the challenge because I can tell you that Satan is not going to be happy once you decide to start hiding Scripture in your heart. Satan is going to try to distract you in every way possible! You have to be on guard (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
3. Set up fun ways to memorize! Write the scripture(s) on note cards, make up songs, or even put motions and movements to the verses.
4. Give yourself grace! If the week becomes busy or for some reason you don’t memorize the Scripture by the end of the week, tell yourself this: “Mercy triumphs over justice” (James 2:13b). Remember we are doing this to get closer to God, not to check something off of our bucket list (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)!

I believe that now you are equipped for action! I hope you will pray and consider doing this with me this summer! May 16th is when it starts! Good luck and may you “…abound more and more in knowledge, and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ…”(Philippians 1:9).

Alyssa Rasor (and Your Heavenly Father)