Putting the {important} to memory

A few of my friends and I are attempting to put the Sermon on the Mount to memory. I am bringing my little Sunday School children into this as well. I can not think of a better way to be a closer follower of Christ than to place these very words of his in heart.

I have all sorts of things that over the years I have placed to memory

{like an apple pie}

being one of them.

I hadn't really thought of it before but I don't nor have I really followed a recipe when making a pie now, in a long time. I've done it so many times over the years that it is simply automatic for me to do.

Although I guess I do, every now and then, have to take peak at the exact measurements for the crust if it has been awhile, but on the most part I don't rely on a recipe for this particular dish.

So the other day when the daughter asked for the recipe I just started giving her the directions from memory.




With this being said, I can't think of a more valuable thing to know by heart than God's holy word. Maybe, just maybe, this walk with the great I AM would seem a little more automatic to me and maybe even with a few less detours if it was already in grained deep with in my heart.

{I hide thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Psalms 119:11}

So I start this adventure of putting these words to memory.

Every day I read all three chapters (Matthew 5,6 & 7)

And then I take a few verses a week and put them to memory.




Just like making an apple pie from memory, I'd sure like this walk to simply be more automatic to me.

And of course I highly recommend a study buddy....


{like the one above}


this one is simply priceless to me.



For a download of this cover maybe consider going over here and visiting Ann.


While working on this for youngest son,

I have been enjoying reading these Puritan prayers:

Longings after God

My dear Lord, I can but tell Thee that Thou knowest I long for nothing but Thyself, nothing but holiness, nothing but union with Thy will. Thou hast given me these desires, and thou alone canst give me the thing desired. My soul longs for communion with Thee, for mortification of indwelling corruption, especially spiritual pride. How precious it is to have a tender sense and clear apprehension of the mystery of godliness, of true holiness! What a blessedness to be like Thee as much as it is possible for a creature to be like its creator! Lord, give me more of Thy likeness; enlarge my soul to contain fullness of holiness; engage me to live more for Thee. Help me to be less pleased with my spiritual experiences, and when I feel at ease after sweet communing, teach me it is far too little I know and do. Blessed Lord, let me climb up near to Thee, and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle with Thee, and pant for deliverance from the body of sin, for my heart is wandering and lifeless, and my soul mourns to think it should ever lose sight of its beloved. Wrap my life in divine love, and keep me ever desiring Thee, always humble and resigned to Thy will, more fixed on Thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing and-suffering.

Morning Needs

O God the author of all good, I come to Thee for the grace another day will require for its duties and events. I step out into a wicked world; I carry about with me an evil heart. I know that without Thee I can do nothing, that everything with which I shall be concerned, however harmless in itself, may prove an occasion of sin or folly, unless I am kept by Thy power. Hold Thou me up and I shall be safe.

Preserve my understanding from subtlety of error, my affections from love of idols, my character from stain of vice, my profession from every form of evil. May I engage in nothing in which I cannot implore Thy blessing, and in which I cannot invite Thy inspection. Prosper me in all lawful undertakings, or prepare me for disappointments. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny Thee and say, Who is the Lord? or be poor, and steal, and take Thy name in vain.

May every creature be made good to me by prayer and Thy will. Teach me how to use the world and not abuse it, to improve my talents, to redeem my time, to walk in wisdom toward those without, and in kindness to those within, to do good to all men, and especially to my fellow Christians. And to Thee be the glory.

Openness

Lord of immortality, before whom angels bow and archangels veil their faces, enable me to serve Thee with reverence and godly fear. Thou who art Spirit and requirest truth in the inward parts, help me to worship Thee in spirit and in truth. Thou who art righteous, let me not harbor sin in my heart, or indulge a worldly temper, or seek satisfaction in things that perish.

I hasten towards an hour when earthly pursuits and possessions will appear vain, when it will be indifferent whether I have been rich or poor, successful or disappointed, admired or despised. But it will be of eternal moment that I have mourned for sin, hungered and thirsted after righteousness, loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity, gloried in His cross. May these objects engross my chief solicitude! Produce in me those principles and dispositions that make Thy service perfect freedom.

Expel from my mind all sinful fear and shame, so that with firmness and courage I may confess the Redeemer before men, go forth with Him hearing His reproach, be zealous with His knowledge, be filled with His wisdom, walk with His circumspection, ask counsel of Him in all things, repair to the Scriptures for His orders, stay my mind on His peace, knowing that nothing can befall me without His permission, appointment and administration.

I'm thinking that all of this would go very nicely with a slice of hot apple pie.

Sure is nice having the daughter home for Spring Break.

~enjoy