Tag: memorize

10 Reasons Why I Taught My Children to Pray Lord’s Prayer

On By pastorjonathanIn Family, parentingLeave a comment

At the writing of this post my kids are 4 and 8. Both have learned the Lord’s prayer and have been quoting it each night from memory for quite some time now. The Lord’s Prayer, or as it is also called, the Model Prayer can be found in Matthew 6:9-13 where Jesus teaches his follower how  to pray. Here are 10 reasons why I found it important for my kids memorize this (each one memorized it around age 3 before they could read).

10. So when some genius says, “the sinner’s prayer isn’t in even in the scripture” they can just start quoting scripture… “Thy Kingdom come… Forgive us our sins” (Maybe I’ll teach them Psalm 51 as well).

9. I don’t think they will come up with anything cooler on their own since this is the way that Jesus taught the disciples how to pray.

8. To improve and expand upon their capacity to memorize information.

7. To help hide scripture in their heart that is obviously both immediately relevant and applicable.

6. To provide a reference point for teachable moments… “It’s like we say in the Lord’s prayer…”

5. To give them confidence in prayer.

4.So they learn forgiveness through remembering what it is like to be forgiven.

3. So the will learn to be Kingdom focused rather than self-centered in their prayers

2. The Lord’s Prayer is a map straight to the heart and character of God.

1. So That They might Know God. (both at times have prayed on their own small childlike prayers of faith for the forgiveness of their sins and to follow God based on the Lord’s prayer).

Partnering to Remember!

On By pastorjonathanIn discipleship1 Comment

A few years ago an old college friend of mine dared me (and several others) through his blog to memorize the book of Ephesians.  Ok…. actually he didn’t dare us, but he did offer a plan.  I had wanted to memorize scripture on a consistent basis before but found myself with such a variety of options that I had no clear starting point.  I had tried memorizing scripture before by purchased topical memory systems (most recently, including a really cool app on my phone) but the verses seemed to be ones I already knew.  I seemed a little too old to attend Awana, so I resigned myself to ‘accidentally’ memorizing the Bible passages I was preaching through and thought that would be good enough.  The problem is, it wasn’t.   I was logging scripture into my short term memory, but a few weeks later I was unable to recall the passage, other than a paraphrastic sort of way.

Then it happened.  Tim posted on his blog about memorizing the book of Ephesians. At first glance it seemed an audacious and insurmountable goal.  Then, he laid out the plan and the plan made sense. I along with several others took up the challenge and was blessed.  At first it seemed like an impossible goal, but once I got started and stuck with it, it became easier.

Beyond size of the project are the benefits.  When you memorize a book or passage, you are placing God’s word in a place that it can’t be taken away from you.  You will find yourself in situations and circumstances where it is improbable to open a book, but very appropriate to quote and apply the soothing balm of God’s word.  I can think of no better way to get an accurate handle on scripture than commit whole portions to memory to be quoted and recalled often.

That’s why I was excited to learn that Tim has set up a plan to memorize the Philippians by Easter! I down loaded the free PDF and am headed over to the book store later today to pick up my notebook and double sided tape. I’m looking forward to this journey through Philippians and I want to invite you to join me and thousands of others in memorizing this precious portion of scripture. You can find everything you need over at TimmyBrister.com the name of the project is Partnering to Remember.