September 12, 2017

3 Steps to Remind Yourself of God’s Faithfulness

LYNN COWELL

“He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.” Psalm 121:3 (NASB)

What would we learn? What would happen next?

Tears welled in my eyes and sadness overwhelmed me as I thought of the pain my loved one
experienced just beyond the doctor’s doors. The emotional turmoil my youngest daughter was enduring
not only caused her hurt; my heart was breaking, too.

Why were we experiencing this heartache? Our trouble made me uneasy. I second-guessed the
decisions we’d already made as her parents, and I was even more unsure about those decisions we still
needed to make.

Did my parenting play a part in all her pain?

My confidence was draining right onto the cold tile floor.

As I sat in the waiting room, I had another decision to make. What would I do with these defeating
thoughts?

I reflected back to that morning when I’d opened my prayer journal.

I keep a diary of my prayers to the Lord. The pages are filled with names of loved ones as prayers to God
go out for them. I write out my concerns, cares and confidence-challenging situations. I also write down
verses that build my trust and faith in God. They remind me God hears me and will answer my prayers.

When the answered prayer comes, I write it and date it in red ink so the answer stands out boldly. Going
back and reviewing my history with God reinforces my confidence in Him and reminds me I can keep
going, no matter what challenges I face.

I remind myself of what David wrote in the Psalms: “He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you
will not slumber” (Psalm 121:3).

Going against all the fears in my heart, I began to reflect on the faithfulness of God in my past. It felt
completely unnatural, but slowly, as I reminded my spirit how God has been with me and with the one I
love, my faith began to rise.

In that moment at the doctor’s office, God didn’t solve all of my daughter’s health issues. But He gave me
a renewed sense of hope that I could trust Him no matter what we were facing.

So the next time you’re going through a challenge, grab your journal, and take these three steps to
remind yourself of God’s faithfulness:

1. Write out the date and what’s going on to cause you to feel fearful. The Bible says, “Cast all
your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7, NIV). For me, this was the doctor’s
visit.
 2. Next, write out a Bible verse or several, next to your fear to give you hope. If I use the doctor’s
visit as an example here, a powerful verse is, “Your faithfulness continues through all
generations; you established the earth, and it endures” (Psalm 119:90, NIV).

3. Now the hard part: Leave the third step blank. Believe in faith that God will answer your
prayer ... but trust it’ll happen in His time. And when He does answer it, come back and write it
here with a bold red pen! Writing out faith-filled verses, along with your answers to prayer, is
the simplest of ways to rehearse God’s faithfulness to you, too!

When we remind our forgetful hearts and minds how much God has proven His care for us, a bold
trust builds. We can see how God has worked good into our lives and in the lives of others before, and
we can fully trust He wants to do it again!

Remind your heart: What you’re facing is a challenge. It isn’t defeat, but challenges in life are an
opportunity for God to show His faithfulness.

I’m ready to see it again. Aren’t you?

Dear Lord, when life is hard and my confidence is in question, help me remember to look back and see
Your faithfulness to me in the past. No matter how I feel, may I remind myself, You will not allow my foot
to slip! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:

Psalm 86:15, “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love
and faithfulness.” (NIV)

Deuteronomy 7:9, “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his
covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” (NIV)

MEMORIZING SCRIPTURE: HOW TO MAKE GOD’S WORD PART OF YOU5 stages of internalizing the
BibleAugust 13th, 2017Peter Edman

BIBLE ENGAGER’S BLOG

Memorization has been on my mind and on my task list recently—including preparing a list of the top ten
Bible passages everyone should memorize. One candidate for that top-ten list of memory verses is Paul's
reminder in Philippians 4:8 to "fill your mind with those things that are good." We know that's the point of
memorization. We're giving our minds something to chew on, and we're giving God opportunities for
God's Word to come alive in us.

God's Word Deep Inside You

Recently, I read the modern classic Hearing God, by Dallas Willard. One line particularly struck me: "It is
better in one year to have ten good verses transferred into the substance of our lives than to have every
word of the Bible flash before our eyes… We read to open ourselves to the Spirit."

Now I am certainly not encouraging you to give up your daily Bible reading, and if you're reading through
the Bible this year, please keep going. But there is importance in not only reading, but also getting the
Bible deep into you. Memorizing and meditating on Scripture is a great way to do this. You can make
strides at both memorization and meditation if you copy out passages of Scripture by hand. The time you
take gives you space to meditate on the words and reflect on their meaning, and the physical activity of
writing seems to help your brain capture and make that content part of who you are.

The 5 Stages

In the same book, Willard suggests five stages that we can go through when we are working alongside
God to make a passage from the Bible a part of our lives. He suggests we try this first with passages that
are familiar to us—like those we are memorizing. Here is his paragraph explaining the stages,
using Psalm 23 as his example:

You may read, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1). First, you will find information,
which you may not automatically transfer to yourself. You may say, "This was true just for David, the
psalmist." But as you dwell prayerfully on the plain information, a yearning that it might be so for you may
arise. You may express this, saying, "I wish the Lord were my shepherd; that the great God would have
for me the care and attention that the shepherd has for his sheep!" And as you meditate on the
psalm, affirmationmay arise, as it has for so many people ("It must be so! I will have it be so!") followed
then perhaps by invocation ("Lord, make it so for me") and appropriation (the settled conviction that it is
so, that it is a statement of fact about you.)

All of us are going to be at different stages with different passages, and we can't rush through the stages.
We're all going to start at the "information" stage, and if we're honest, sometimes we only half-want to go
deeper, because then we might have to change! But we can be grateful that God understands where we
are, and is waiting to meet us in Scripture. Look at Psalm 23again. Here it is in The Message. As you
read this famous passage again, see if any of the words or phrases grabs you in a different way this time:

God, my shepherd!
I don't need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.

Even when the way goes through Death Valley,

I'm not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd's crook
makes me feel secure.

You serve me a six-course dinner

right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.

Your beauty and love chase after me

every day of my life.
I'm back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.

Reflect and Respond

Try copying this psalm into your journal as you are meditating. Pick your favorite translation. Try going
verse-by-verse or thought-for-thought, dialoguing with God. Try a pattern of actively committing some of
the words to memory, and then quietly letting them sink into you.

What stage are you at with this passage? Think about your response as you read it. Respond to God in
prayer, or in your journal. Do you want some phrase here to be more true for you? Are you thanking God
for God's faithfulness in making this real for you? Tell God about it. Pick a verse or phrase to take with
you into your day, to solidify your memorization practice.

God Satisfies the Thirsting Soul

63 [1]You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry
and parched land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power
and your glory.