Monday Miscellany - The James Challenge

I'm not a big fan of new year's resolutions.  I find they usually don't last and are too vague to really be put in to action.  Rather than write out my reasoning, just read this succinct (and highly motivating) post by Money Saving Mom.

I'm not going to post my entire list of goals here, but I want to share one: The James Challenge.

My hubby and I want to be much more intentional about memorizing scripture.  Inductive bible study requires looking at scripture in context, so we want to apply that to scripture memorization as well.  I admit, I got the idea from the aforementioned post on MSM where she lists that she wants to memorize the entire book of Colossians. Instead of Colossians, Seth and I prayed about it and decided we wanted to memorize the book of James together.  It seems to be very relevant to our lives and has so much wisdom packed in to its five chapters.  It consists of 108 verses and we are memorizing small chunks every week and are giving ourselves one week (at the close of each chapter) to review and correct our memorization up to that point.

I also admit that I've been incredibly lax in my memorization of scripture, settling for getting the gist of the verses, not knowing where they're located without my Bible handy, and simply putting it off.  I have no problem memorizing song lyrics or scripts when they're fun...so why haven't I taken the time to really memorize God's Word?

To be honest, I have no excuse.  I've purely been apathetic.  O Lord, forgive me!

So I'm setting out to change that...with the Lord's help.

Seth and I are now in our fifth week of memorization.  We have memorized James 1:1-10 and are currently working on verses 11-12.  I truly believe it is the grace of God and His Holy Spirit that is helping us inscribe these words upon our hearts.

Please know that I'm not posting about this for my own glory.  My intent is to encourage and motivate other believers to heed the command to meditate upon the Word and to write it upon your hearts.  It really does make a difference in your walk with the Lord.  He will call scriptures to mind when you need them.  As you meditate on scripture, He will reveal new insights into them.  It's actually very humbling.

Definitely keep me accountable.  I covet your prayers as we work to fix these verses permanently on our hearts.

James 1:1-10:

1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.

1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

1:4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

1:6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

1:7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

1:8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

1:9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.

1:10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.

(NIV, updated version)