Day Thirty four  -  Memorize a verse

Acts 23:5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.

                  Paul was in a very difficult situation.  He had many enemies,  some that wanted him dead.  The ruler of his own people has just commanded him to be slapped across the face.  Paul responds with a show of anger until he is informed that the man that he is angry with is the high priest.  When Paul understood,  he recalled a scripture from the Old Testament.  The scripture instructed Paul “not to speak evil of the ruler of thy people.”  The verse that Paul memorized came to him at that moment and allowed him to control his anger and his spirit. 

The Bible is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105).  We hide God’s word in our hearts that we wouldn’t sin against Him.   We don’t always have God’s Word opened in front of us.  The time that we need God’s instruction and the power of His Word is not when we are studying it in church.  We need it when we are in the world,  under the temptation and pressure of the world.  When we memorize His Word,  we are able to take it with us and have it available in those moments of testing. 

There are many verses in the Bible that tell us what to believe and how to believe.  It is easy to exercise faith in church when we have the Bible open and when we are around the family of God’s people.  It is far more difficult to exercise faith in the midst of a crooked and perverse world.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  We can’t always listen to it,  but we can bring it to memory and rehearse His commands and His promises. 

This is the work of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said,

John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

You can’t have things brought to your remembrance if you have not learned them beforehand.  When we learn them,  we can rely on the Holy Spirit to bring them to our memory when we need them.

An exercise to increase our faith:  Memorize a verse about faith.  Place the verse on your desk or on your bathroom mirror.  Every time you read it,  work on committing it to your memory.  If you memorize it,  the Holy Spirit will bring it to your mind when you need it most.