SSMT: Verse 7

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our sins; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5-6, NIV

SSMT: Verse 6

(9) But he said to me "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (10) That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

SSMT: Verse 5

" (12) Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. (13) Bear with eachother and forgive whatever grievances ou may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (14) And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Colossians 3:12-14

So far memorizing the scriptures I've chosen in this challenge has come very easily to me. So I'm challenging myself a little this time with a very unfamiliar scripture, that is more than one verse long. And already I love this one. Can you imagine just how different our world would be if every single person (myself included) lived their lives in perfect accordance with this command? Staggering to imagine. I'm challenged by it.

SSMT: Verse 4

"I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galations 2:20

SSMT: Verse 3

"He has showed you, O Man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
Micah 6:8

SSMT: Verse 2

This is the second verse I've chosen to memorize as part of my 2011 challenge to myself to make scripture memory a priority:

"I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death." Philippians 3:10

I had a hard time picking this time because there were so many that I wanted to choose. I had to remind myself that I have the entire rest of the year to pick other verses. I actually selected Philippians 3:7-8 first, and even wrote it in my notebook, but tore it out and replaced it with this. This is one fits me exactly where I'm at right now.

Hello, New Year

I plan to do a Christmas recap sometime this week, and I plan to pay more attention to this blog in general in the new year. But for now, I wanted to write about the committment I'm making in 2011, in an effort to put it out there and make myself somewhat accountable.

For 2011, there are several things I want to do different or start new. And maybe I'll do some of them, and maybe I won't. But one thing I am committing myself to, and that I plan to see through to the end of the year (and hopefully forever) is scripture memory.

In the women's bible study I did at church this fall (Faithful, Abundant, True), I felt very convicted of this...that I should be making scripture memory a priority. Not just reading my Bible, and not just doing Bible Study, but that I should be taking my thoughts captive by meditating on certain scriptures and committing them to memory. I knew that Beth Moore was going to be starting her Siesta Scripture Memory Team again in January 2011, so I decided to wait until then and join up with that.

The way this memory team works is everyone commits to memorize 26 verses for the year, that's one every two weeks. And you pick your own verses, that way it's more personal to you and you're more likely to commit it to memory. I don't have all 26 verses picked out yet...I want to wait and see where God leads me in His Word this year, but the verse I picked for my first is the same one I put at the top of my post a few weeks ago:

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your Word. I will seek You with all of my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You." Psalm 119:9-11

I liked that the verse sums up why I'm doing this. My goal for this year is to seek Him with all my heart and in all I do. And I just typed the whole thing from memory, so hopefully I'm well on my way to having it permanantly memorized.

I'll put my new verse up here every two weeks just to keep myself accountable. And for the record, I did keep my 2010 resolution all year long without fail, so I'm hoping this will be a breeze too. Happy New Year, y'all!