HOW ELSE DO DO YOU ESTABLISH A SOLID FOUNDATION IN YOUR LIFE?
You hear God’s word and you read God’s word…
#3. YOU STUDY GOD’S WORD.
Not just read it but begin to really dig into it and study it. Acts 17:11 says, “They accepted the message eagerly and they studied the Scriptures everyday.” The Bible values this attitude of digging into the Bible and really understanding what it means. What’s the difference between reading the Bible and studying? The difference is you take notes when you study. You write down something. You learn something for your own life from it.
What makes this Bible a Holy Bible? The fact that you use it. Jesus said in John 8:31-32 – “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Underline the word “HOLD”. It means to study, know and firmly grip.
Why study it? Just for better information? NO. God wants to build a foundation for our lives. God wants to set me free from just going along with the crowd – or trying to just fit in.
There’s a fourth way to build a foundation of the word in our lives.
#4. I MEMORIZE GOD’S WORD
Some of you right away are thinking, “That’s the one I'm not doing,” because the last time you memorized something that you can remember was when you were in third grade and you didn’t do very well even then. I’ve talked to many people who say, “I just can’t memorize.”
The truth is we memorize stuff all the time! Phone numbers, passwords, birth dates, anniversaries, statistics. Here is the secret to memorizing. We memorize what’s important to us. The Bible says in Proverbs 7:2-3 “Guard My words as your most precious possession. Write them down and also keep them deep within your heart.” I'm not talking about just a mental exercise of memorizing God’s word. I'm talking about getting it into you life into your heart. When it is there, you will have a foundation that no one will ever be able to shake.
Psalm 119:11 says “I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” When temptation hits you, where does it hit you? Sometimes it doesn’t come conveniently when you have a Bible and can look up a verse. So if you put a verse in your mind and heart it helps you when temptation comes. The more verses you memorize the more help God can give during tough times, when you’re facing a decision, facing a time of depression or stress. God can pop a verse into our minds to help us to make it through.
That's why all the way through this message series, we have been giving you a weekly memory verse. The fastest way to grow spiritually is to memorize God's word - put it in your heart and mind.
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