At the beginning of 2016 I announced to my church and here on my blog that I would be blogging through the Bible daily. I took this challenge on to help motivate our Spencerville Church family to study the Word of God consistently. It was an ambitious goal, but one I thought I could definitely achieve. Needless to say, I WAS WRONG! I believe I only made it through about 140 days give or take a few. Praise God though many still read through the Bible in a year even without the motivation of my daily blog.

Now in 2017 our church has once again set forth on an endeavor to read through God’s Holy Scriptures in one year. If you would like to follow the reading plan that Spencerville Church will be following in 2017 (a different plan than last year) you can do so by signing-up for our weekly update at the bottom of Spencerville’s website, and since we are already into 2017 here are the readings for this the first week of January:

1. January 1, 2017: Gen 1:1–2:25, Matt 1:1–2:23, Eccles 1:1–5
2. January 2, 2017: Gen 3:1–4:26, Matt 3:1–4:25, Eccles 1:6–11
3. January 3, 2017: Gen 5:1–32, Matt 5:1–48, Eccles 1:12–18
4. January 4, 2017: Gen 6:1–7:24, Matt 6:1–7:11, Eccles 2:1–11
5. January 5, 2017: Gen 8:1–9:28, Matt 7:12–8:34, Eccles 2:12–17
6. January 6, 2017: Gen 10:1–11:32, Matt 9:1–38, Eccles 2:18–26
7. January 7, 2017: Gen 12:1–13:18, Matt 10:1–42, Eccles 3:1–8

This year I am not making a commitment to blog through every day of the Bible reading, I’ve learned my lesson. My wonderful wife, Christina suggested maybe I tackle a slightly less ambitious goal of just writing something once a week. I have taken her suggestion and in 2017 I will be writing once a week on one verse that I have chosen to memorize for that week.

And here is my challenge to you, along with your daily Bible reading would you be willing to join me in memorizing 52 scriptures. One scripture for each week of 2017. The 52 scriptures are not long, in fact I would guess that many of them are already at least partially, if not fully planted in your brains, from your childhood Sabbath or Sunday School days. If you have kids this might be a fun weekly activity for you to participate in together.

If you decide to join me on this endeavor I would encourage you to come-up with a system of memorization. My system is very simple and you can feel free to copy it, are you ready for it? 🙂

Right down the scripture on a 3 x 5 card and then carry that card with you and look at it several times a day.

Will you join me in this endeavor?

If you still aren’t sure or this just sounds like another task to add to your already busy agenda then let me share with you 5 points Rick Warren gave on the benefits of memorizing scripture that I wholeheartedly affirm.

Why should you memorize God’s Word?

• It’s the number one tool for resisting temptation. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, His only defense against this attack was the Word of God. If Jesus knew a better way to fight temptation, believe me, He would have used it.
• It helps you make wise decisions. I can’t count how many times I’ve asked God for guidance about something very specific, and He has brought a Scripture I’ve memorized back to mind, showing me what to do. The Bible says, “Your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105 GNB). The more you know what God says, the more you are going to know how God thinks, because the will of God is found in the Word of God. The more you fill your mind with the Word of God, the more you will know the will of God.
• It strengthens you when you’re under stress. We all get stressed from time to time. And the Bible says this, “Remember your promise to me; it is my only hope. Your promise revives me; it comforts me in all my troubles” (Psalm 119:49-50 NLT). If you will memorize Scripture, your stress level will decrease dramatically and your confidence level will increase dramatically.
• It comforts you when you’re sad. The Bible is full of comfort. Jeremiah said, “Your words are my joy and my heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16b GWT). I can’t tell you how many times I have been down and read Scripture, and it gave me great comfort.
• It helps you witness to unbelievers. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (NIV). If someone asks you what the Bible says about an issue or what they should do in a situation, what do you tell them? If you have Scripture memorized, it’ll help you be far more effective in sharing because you can share the truth of God’s Word.

Are you ready to join me?

What is this weeks memory verse?

We’ve actually already seen it in this post…

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” -Psalm 119:105 (KJV)

May this passage be your truth in 2017.