12 Foundation Stones – Study Notes for Class 1B ------------ Memorizing ------------ The Word of God, Part 2 <> Target: Memorize Scriptures! Key Verses Psalm 119:11 - Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You! Psalm 1:2 - His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. Hebrews 4:12a - The Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. ----------------------- Suggested Bible Reading ----------------------- <> John chapters 8–14 Other Recommended Reading <> Continue with Understanding God’s Word ---------------------------------------------- Prayer and Praise: Morning Praise ---------------------------------------------- Psalm 5:3 - My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. I will seek You early in the morning with my praises, and throughout the day Your praise will continually be in my mouth. I know that praise is comely, and that You dwell in the praises of Your people, and I want You to dwell in me, and with me. I will praise You and give You thanks for the marvelous things that You have done for me. ---------------------------------------------- Meditation: The Golden Key of Faith ---------------------------------------------- A message from Jesus Faith is the true coinage of Heaven. Faith is the key that unlocks the treasure house of My blessings - My spiritual blessings, My material blessings, all of My blessings. For without faith, it is impossible to please Me. For he that comes to Me must believe that I am the rewarder of those that diligently seek Me (Hebrews 11:6). And why would you seek Me unless you had the faith that I would hear and I would answer and I would honor your faith and honor My Word, My promises to you? I am not a man that I should lie, nor the son of man that I should repent (Numbers 23:19). Have I said and shall I not do it? (Philippians 4:19). Have I not promised that I will supply your every need, that I love to give more than you love to receive, that I would open the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing you could not contain, if you would but trust Me and believe My Words and obey them? (Malachi 3:10). But you have not because you ask not (James 4:2). You do not stop to ask Me specifi cally for the answers to your situation, your problems, what I want you to do. I know your situation. I know your every problem. I know every tiny detail, and I have a great plan that I am waiting to unfold at the touch of your faith. Your faith can release the power of the universe! Your faith can move mighty mountains of obstacles and diffi culties! Because if you put your faith in Me and My Words, I will move the mountains, I will overcome the obstacles, and I will provide the solutions (Matthew 17:20). Faith is opening the door, stepping back, inviting Me in, and saying, “Lord, You do it. We hold You to Your promise! We take the step in the direction You say to go. We step out by faith, trusting You to meet us, and we know that You will.” Faith is the key to the life of My followers, My children. It is the key to faithfulness and blessing and provision and power and protection and inspiration and receiving every good thing that I wish to bestow upon My precious children whom I love. Whom or what do you need to pray for? ---------------------------------------------- Putting the Word into Action: Memorize Scriptures! ---------------------------------------------- <> The more you concentrate, the easier it is to memorize. <> The best time to memorize is usually first thing in the morning or last thing at night. <> Use sight, sound, and action to help engrain the verse into your memory. <> Memory work is work and you have to work at it. <> “Repetition is the law of memory!” <> Memorize and review for short periods, but do it often. <> You need to have a plan for reviewing. <> Set a goal for what you will memorize each week. <> Regularity is a key. <> When quoting your verses, try to do it aloud. <> Keep on memorizing even when you don’t feel like it or even when it is difficult. <> Select verses to memorize that are meaningful for you and that you understand. <> Try to learn the references, but don’t spend too long on them. <> While it’s good to memorize the verse word for word, don’t insist on perfection. <> Memorize a variety of both individual verses and longer passages. <> Use your verses and it will help you remember them. <> Review your verses at a steady pace. <> Memorize Scripture songs - verses that have been put to music. <> You can start by memorizing one or more of the key verses for each class in this workbook. Alternatively, select verses from the Key Bible Verses booklet. <> Seven key Psalms to memorize: Psalms 1, 19, 23, 27, 91, 100, and 121. --------------------- Supplementary Reading --------------------- Helpful Hints for Memorizing These points can be applied to anything you are memorizing and studying, not just Scripture memorization. 1. Your memory can be developed like a muscle! The more you use it, the stronger it gets, but lack of use causes it to weaken. 2. The more you concentrate, the easier it is to memorize! Finding a quiet place, free from distractions, will help a lot. An unfocused camera lens gives an unclear picture, and a wandering mind, easily distracted, doesn’t get a clear picture of the things it observes, fi nding them hard to remember. If you give your full attention, then you’ll get a good clear picture of that verse imprinted on your mind. 3. Find the best time for you In the morning when you’re fresh after waking up, or right before you start your work, is usually best. All you need is 5–10 minutes when you can concentrate without distraction, if possible. Or, try the evenings. The important thing is to fi nd the best time for you. Some people like to start the night before by reading over the verses they want to memorize the next day, so that when they wake up, they’re already familiar with them. 4. Sight, sound, and action Most people remember best what they see, while others remember best what they hear, and another portion best what they do in actual motions. By using all three of these faculties, you can increase your ability to remember. For example, by reading, you use your sight. If you quote your memory work out loud, you hear it too, as well as use your mouth to speak it. Then by writing the same verse to be memorized, it is often better remembered. Simply, the more involved you become with your memorization, the better you remember it. 5. Memory work is work! It does take a certain amount of determination and self-discipline on your part. Make hiding the Word in your heart a life-long habit! When it becomes a habit, it will get easier. It’s plain hard work to memorize! You have to work at it - like digging a hole or scrubbing the floor or washing the windows or dishes - it’s just hard work! You’ve got to keep repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating! Normally you’ll memorize a verse phrase by phrase, that’s about the best way to do it. The law of memory is repeat, repeat, repeat! 6. Set a goal or memory project for each week… ...so you don’t have to decide each day what you’re going to learn that day. There are three suggested verses in each class in the Study Notes book. We’ll talk more about this in a minute. -> For more memory tips: See also Activated magazine, issue 11, pages 12–13. ---------------- More Memory Tips 1. Regularity is a key. It’s best to have a regular time each day for memory work. 2. Try to repeat the verses you are learning every hour during the fi rst day, then two times daily for one week. 3. It has been said, "Repetition is the law of memory." The more you review, the more it sticks with you. 4. Set a daily quota of how much you plan to memorize. The main thing at first is to make memorization a daily habit. 5. Quality, not quantity. It’s not always how many verses you know that counts, but how well you can use them. 6. Memorize and review little, but often. A short time each day is much better than spending a long time every now and then. 7. For memorizing a passage of several lines or more, here’s one general approach: a. Read the whole passage, giving full attention to the meaning. If you don’t understand it, you will have a difficult time remembering it. b. Memorizing line by line. As you memorize each new line, always review the line before it, in a method of two steps forward, one back. c. Give more attention to weaker parts, spending more time on them. d. Then quote the entire passage. e. Try to review the passage every hour during the first day, then two times daily for one week. By doing this faithfully, many people fi nd they’re able to remember it well for a whole month without review. 8. Initials: Another quick verse-learning approach is to just write out the fi rst initial of each word for your review during the day. For example, to remember the verse Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me." You can jot down the reference and the initials of each word on a piece of paper like this: "Philippians 4:13 - ICDATTCWSM." - And carry it around with you. After a little while, the initials will be enough to remind you of the actual words. 9. When learning your verses, try to do it aloud. 10. Association: Many people fi nd it easier to memorize by fi nding a pattern, a picture, or a certain order of words that helps memorize the passage easier. Here are some examples of learning verses with association: a. Romans 3:23 and 6:23 - both talk of sinful man and have the numbers 23, and 3 and 6 are multiples of 3, which helps to cue your memory. b. Maybe the fi rst letter of a set of words form certain initials that are easy to remember. For example, in Luke 11:9, the initials of the main words “ask, seek and knock” form the word “ask.” ------------------------------ 10 Tips to Improve Your Memory 1. Intend to remember. 2. Understand what you are trying to remember. 3. Organize what you know into meaningful patterns. 4. Become genuinely interested in what you want to remember. 5. Use as many senses as possible. 6. Associate what you want to remember with what you know. 7. If you cannot fi nd a logical association for a new fact, invent your own. 8. If you have a great deal to remember, spread it out over a few days. 9. Review what you want to remember as often as possible. 10. Find out what time of day (morning, night, etc.) works best for you. ---------------------- Fresh Air and Exercise Exercise boosts memory power. Healthy people have fewer memory problems than people who get sick frequently. Exercise helps people maintain their strength and cardiovascular condition. It lessens stress and improves digestion and sleep - all of which boost memory ability. Best: Exercise moderately, but regularly. - A study of 1,000 people by the National Center of Health Statistics, (reported in Super Memory: A Quick-Action Program for Memory Improvement by Douglas J. Herrmann, Ph.D.) ---------------------------- Meditation Moments: Be Still ---------------------------- By Virginia Brandt Berg "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling" (Psalm 46: 1–3). In the 10th verse of Psalm 46 we come to that thought again: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" "Be still and know that I am God." Oh, that is a wonderful passage! I had an experience this week that surely brought that to mind. I was in difficulty to find someone whose address I did not have, and yet there was a great emergency! Just every part of my being seemed to throb with anxiety because that party had to be reached, and reached at once! It was something that just was necessary and needed immediate and vigorous action. I felt for a little bit like I would just fl y to pieces if I didn’t get ahold of this party and get some word to them! I was in sort of an inward turmoil, when suddenly this very verse came to me, just "be still, get quiet, know that I am God." - And so I sat down, and very quietly I looked to the Lord, just composed myself and asked God’s Spirit to be with my own heart and help me to have faith and believe Him to do something, so that I could get in touch with that one before something was going to happen that would have been disastrous! So as I sat there very still, and that verse had come to me, “Be still and know that I am God,” I was really composed to a sweet quietness. And then as I sat there very quietly looking to the Lord, there came His Voice to my heart: Just write a note and take it to where she lived before. The party had moved and that is why I couldn’t get in touch with her. - Take it to the apartment where she once lived, and maybe there would be some reason she would come back there, or the people that owned the place would find the note. It seemed like it was Jesus that had spoken to my heart, so I wrote the note, and then immediately I got in the car with a friend of mind. We went over to the apartment and just as we pulled up there, the note in my hand, here came this very party that I had wanted to reach but no one could give me her address! Here she drove up in a car! Isn’t it wonderful how the Lord works out things! And it was just the Lord that dealt with that emergency and it brought to success the whole issue! I learned then that as God’s Word says, my strength "is to sit still!" In Isaiah 30:7, God’s Word says, "Their strength is to sit still" (Isaiah 30:7b). In these crises days there is such a multiplicity of cares and burdens and so many things to be kept up with, and the mad rush! And with all the excitement it seems like we have a greater need than ever before for this kind of divine stillness, that God can just bathe our souls in quietness. You know, it is only when your mind is quiet and serene and there is a poise of spirit, that you can look to God to help you, and you hear the still, small Voice, or you come to know God, as the Word has said here: "Be still and know that I am God." How did my getting still make me know that He is God? The answer to prayer was so wonderful! He worked a miracle! And while I knew that He was God, yet again there was a witness, again here was God answering prayer in such a way that I knew in a new way that He is God! For a year and a half a long time ago, I had to live with someone that was always throwing the home into confusion and disharmony, or at least that person brought a measure of it into the home. It just seemed like this party could stir up the very dregs of our souls. It was at a time like that that God really taught this lesson: Just to keep quiet and He would handle that whole situation. The only hope for that situation was to not be disturbed and hurt, but to get alone with God and let Him put His hush upon us, just like He had commanded: "Be still." It was only when Jesus spoke that the winds become still! (Mark 4:36–41; Luke 8:22–25). And the same sweet Voice that commanded stormy Gennesaret to be still put a holy hush on our souls when this happened in our home. So many people have got the idea that stillness is a sort of controlled tension, a practiced poise, and that you can compress anxiety in some way! Well, if you do sometimes, you are just inwardly a boiling cauldron, though you are seemingly calm on the surface. But that isn’t the kind of stillness we are talking about! The stillness of God isn’t passivity! But it brings about the greatest clarity of thought and intensity of your desire God-ward. And it is in that stillness that you come to know God’s will, and His Plan for your life. I know from experience, as I have often told you, that divine stillness often comes through trials and testings! You say, “Oh, how can that be?” Oh, yes! It subdues the soul, and suffering humbles the spirit! Are you going through a testing right now? Well, dearly beloved, you just get quiet and be still before the Lord and He will tell you why. Sometimes I know there are times when He doesn’t tell why, but as a rule He will tell you why! He will show you how to get all the sweetness out of it, and how to look to Him in such a way that He will teach you wonderful lessons from it! But you’ve got to get quiet! There has to be that sweet still devotion, and then He can speak to your heart! Not in the tumult of the rending storm, Not in the earthquake or devouring fl ame, But in the hush that could all fear transform - The still small whisper to the prophet came. O soul, keep silence on the Mount of God! Though cares and needs throb around like a sea From supplication and desires unshod, Be still and hear what God shall say to thee. - Mary Rowles Jarvis What shall the believer do in times of darkness? - Just sit still and listen. Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and rely upon his God. Let him just sit still, as the Scripture says, sit still and listen. Now the first thing to do is to do nothing! - That is, stand still. That’s hard for human nature to do! There’s a saying, "When you’re rattled, don’t rush." In other words, when you don’t know what to do, just don’t do it. I know many times in life I have run into sort of a spiritual fog and I have wanted to do something so badly in my own strength! I’ve just felt like I had to unsnarl the tangled wires, or I had to somehow find an answer to the situation - but do something! The human energy just felt like it had to rush out and try to solve the problem itself, or work it out in some way! Human energy may help sometimes, but more often, just anchor your boat and let it swing upon its moorings for a while, and simply trust God! Wait upon Him, and see what God will do, and then as we are quiet and really trusting, God can work! Worry prevents Him from doing anything! If our minds are distracted and our hearts are stressed, and the darkness of shadow strikes terror to us; or we run here and there in a vain effort to fi nd some way of escape out of the dark place of trial where the Lord doubtless allowed us to get - He can’t do anything for us! The peace of God must quieten minds and rest hearts! Put our hand in the hand of God like a little child and let Him lead us out into the bright sunshine of His love! God help you to trust Him! Be still! Let Him do the work for you! Perfect faith will bring the victory. Put your hand in God’s hands, God will work it out! -------------------- Faith the Title Deed -------------------- Faith has lost its meaning to us today. Today the word "faith" means kind of a hazy vague belief of some kind in something or other; the word faith doesn’t really mean much. But in God’s Word it means much more than that! It is the substance, it is the "hupostasis"; it is the title deed! Nearly 400 years ago, when they were translating the original Greek New Testament into English, the translators ran into a puzzling problem: How should they translate the word hupostasis in the 11th Chapter of Hebrews. They knew from the way this word hupostasis was used in other Greek literature that it apparently meant something fairly substantial. Some years ago archaeologists uncovered the burned ruins of an old inn in Northern Israel. There they found a small iron chest containing apparently the valuable papers of some Roman noblewoman who had been traveling in Israel at that time, for the purpose of checking up on her various land holdings, properties that she owned in Israel. In this little chest they found that most of the papers were labeled with a big title “HUPOSTASIS.” All of these papers, which had the title "Hupostasis" across the top, were title deeds to her properties! This was long after the Bible was translated, but we can now take advantage of that discovery. If you turn to Hebrews the 11th Chapter, the word "substance" conveys the message quite well, but if you want to make it even clearer and more explicit, you can write above that word "substance," in parentheses, "title deed." Now faith is what? - The title deed! This Roman woman perhaps had never seen her properties she’d bought in Israel, but she knew she had them and she could prove her ownership even though she had never seen them. A friend gave me a car once; I got the title through the mail. Though I’d never seen the car, never driven it, didn’t know what it was like, I knew I owned a car. I knew I had it because I had the title in my hand. If you’ve got real faith, even though you haven’t seen the answer yet, you’ve got the title deed to it! What you asked for is yours; your name’s written on it, and you will see it eventually - that’s faith! So how do you get such faith? "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Hear and read the Word! - The future is as bright as the promises of God! - Believe it! (end)