Archived Daily Manna | Rejoice Fellowship | A mission to release people to rejoice in the world.

Message: In a recent comment on Galatians, we explored the idea that faith, rather than being something we do, is something we receive from the Holy Spirit. We see a second, related aspect in the same vein in Romans 10:17: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” When I think of faith, two people come to mind immediately: Abraham and Jesus. And both of them heard the Word of God, literally. In Abraham’s case, God spoke to him as a friend might, even materializing in the form of a human being (or an angel) to hold conversations with him. In Jesus’ case, He had a special prayer relationship with the Father. It appears from many passages that God spoke clear words to Jesus in His prayers, giving Him information not available to Jesus in His human form, and giving Him instructions. One must think especially of Jesus praying that “this cup be taken from me,” (e.g Luke 22:39-46) and then showing from His immediate behavior that the answer had been, “No.” One other incident in Jesus’ life stands out. When Satan tempted Him in the wilderness, what were the form of Jesus’ responses. They were recitations of Scripture. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:3-4) But during the age we now live in, for reasons known only to Himself, God does not speak to us in clear audible English. He doesn’t need to. What God wants us to know, He has written down. God’s Word does appear to us in clear legible English. Want to have God speak to you? He already has. It’s right there in the Bible, in black and white. A few years ago, Daily Prayer started a “Remember the Bible” series, to help us memorize. It isn’t a burdensome program: The memory verses are short and there is only one presented every week. So, if you have not been participating, I strongly encourage you to start. If you memorize only one short verse each week, you will be caught up in less than a year. (We have stopped at 31. There are a lot more that deserve to be memorized, but we just had to stop piling on new ones!) Bible in light The benefits of knowing some critical passages by memory are so many, and could support so much encouragement, that they would fill ten pages this size. First, Bible verses that are memorized will come back to us. We don’t have to mentally stumble around, knowing something but unable to relate it directly to God’s Word. This is invaluable in so many settings. If somebody says something that is confused or mistaken, you can point him to a page in the Bible that will help him out. Memorized Scripture is invaluable when we’re being tempted. Again, it is how Jesus reacted to Satan’s temptation. And exhortations to learn God’s Word verbatim pop up throughout the Bible. E.g. Psalm 119:11 “For I have written your Word on my heart, that I might not sin against you.” As the saying goes, “Don’t forget what you learned in the light when you’re in the dark.” Memorizing Scripture is an invaluable, unique tool to help us to live out our faith. It is important to keep in mind that memorizing God’s Word is an intermediate step, not the final objective: We are called to be “doers” of the word (e.g. Matthew 7:24-27; James 2:14-19). But we cannot follow the Word unless we know it! “But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” (Deuteronomy 30:14) Note: We have a helpful game called Match-a-Verse you can use to help learn both the text and the cite for verses in our Memory Verses. They are also listed in their entirety on the page titled “Remember the Bible.”