You have access to the mind of Christ! Think about that. Your limited understanding can expand to the point where God mingles His thoughts with yours. The gifts of revelation, prophecy, discerning of spirits, and words of knowledge are all accessible to you!
BUT…
Jesus told the disciples, “I have many things to say to you, but you can’t bear them now.” Can't bear it now? Think. What would Jesus love to tell you that He can’t tell you because you simply can’t handle the conversation? The disciples would not remain in this condition for long however, and neither will you if you follow this closely.
Jesus went on to explain how He would get them ready for more, and deeper, understanding. To paraphrase, in John 16 He said, “The Holy Spirit is not only going to reveal to you everything that I am saying, He will reveal your future and things to come. He will teach you from the inside out. He is the spirit of truth.”
The key is this—your mind interacting intentionally with God's Spirit of truth!
- Renew your mind to walk in ALL truth: It is possible to have a day by day walk with the supernatural mind of Christ and this is made possible through the Holy Spirit. Remember, “Man does not live by bread alone but by EVERY word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3). Don't just feed one or two familiar themes, explore the whole Bible—every word! I want to be able to walk in all truth. Derek Prince once said, “Your relationship with the Word of God reveals your relationship with God.” Sad to say, most of us look at Bible study as if it were boring school work. Truth is, the Word of God is a spiritual book that feeds your revelation capacity. Your soul feeds on whatever stimulates your mind and emotions. Your body feeds on physical food. Your spirit feeds on communion with God and His Word.
- The words of Jesus are powerful: Jesus said, “My words are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). They contain within them the thought structures of how God thinks. Remember in the movie The Matrix when Neo gets a download from the Matrix into his memory and is instantly transformed into a Kung Fu master? Well, when you plug yourself into the Word of God you literally, intravenously, tap into the mind of God Himself. God begins by the Holy Spirit to renew your thought structures, to breathe into the very membranes of the way that you think. He starts to infuse His truth into you—in the same way the tree feeds the branches that bear fruit. Suddenly your soul and your body and your circumstances start to fall under the authority of the very Word of God.
- Commit scripture to memory and you tap into God’s heart: When you memorize chunks of scripture it’s like taking a cosmic antioxidant into your brain that eats up all the corrosion and junk that you don’t even realize you have accumulated over a lifetime of exposure to demonic, carnal, and soulish thought structures. As the Word of God takes root in your heart, it sets off like a time capsule and it comes back to you in the moment you need it in ways and in layers that you can hardly imagine.
As a final note of encouragement, ponder this: Jesus defeated the devil after 40 days of fasting by quoting just one book of the Bible. He didn’t fly all over the Old Testament scripture. Three times He quoted Deuteronomy in response to Satan. Imagine, one book of the Bible is all you need to defeat the most powerful temptations and attacks of the devil if you have it memorized, internalized, and ready to fire back at the moment of temptation.
Question: What changes can you make today to begin to implement scripture memorization into your daily routine? Tell me about it below!
As One!
Lance
P.S. Would you like to learn a simple technique that helped me memorize whole chunks of the Bible? If you guys are interested, tell me in the comments, and I will explain it on an upcoming broadcast! (This is a cool video app you can get for free if you use Twitter!)
I can read and meditate on a scripture from my daily reading over and over th r ought the day.
Yes! I would love to know!
Yea please tell us about your memorization tool
I have memorized many scriptures and find it to be encouraging. I am interested in any “techniques” that help in memorization too. I fid it hard to find a way to memorized too big of a text like a whole book of the bible.
Thank-you for this encouragement. I tend to get lazy and not continue to work on this discipline consistently.
I use an app called Scripturetyper to memorize scripture. Also available online at Scripturetyper.com. Synchronizes across devices. It uses an algorithm to remind you when it is time to review particular verses.
I would like to know more about this technique.
A simple technique to remember whole chunks of the most important Word that promises to make a way even when there seems to be no way, a way to remember The Way that gives us life even when we see death and destruction all around, a way to keep in communion with the author and perfector of my faith. Yes, please, and thank you. ?
Please teach on scripture memorization! Thank you!
Lance, thank you for such an eye-opening article on drawing closer to the Lord. GOD succinctly states to us in Hosea 4:6 that MY PEOPLE are destroyed for lack of knowledge” He is saying that since they had no desire to place His Word in their mind and heart so that they could share it with others during their lifetime and pass it along to their children and their children’s children, then He will forget them all, just as,they forgot Him. In Matthew Henry’s Commentary he states “If we dishonor God with that which is an honor, it will, sooner or later, be turned into shame.’
I would be eternally grateful for your words of wisdom on scripture memorization. Thank you for all you do to further God’s Kingdom on the earth. May He bless you and your family richly for your selfless pursuit of Him.
Have been doing that and when the Word lives in me it rises up.the greater one and wor