Introduction
“Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit.” – Unknown
I love studying my Bible. Ask Jaclyn. It keeps me up at night. While she, Max, and Em sleep, I can think to study a verse that leads me to another that intrigues me and then, just about when I think I’ve come to the end of it, the shades on the windows begin to lighten.
Sunday School did it to me as I hope these studies will do it to you. I am very grateful to those Sunday School teachers who were electricians, carpenters, almond farmers, police men and women, and who knows what else, but on Sunday morning, were those who inspired my passion for the Word.
My greatest hope here, is to share with you that same passion that has so often saved me from so many bad choices I could have made in life. David wrote, in Psalm 119:11 , “I have taken your words to heart so I would not sin against you.” Later, in verse 72, he writes, “Your teachings are worth more to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.”. Still later, in this same chapter, in verse 162, he writes, “I am as happy over your promises as if I had found a great treasure.”
May you find in God’s Word, that treasure for which you have been searching all of your life.
Thoughts
“And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom but with words taught us by the Spirit. And so we explain spiritual truths to spiritual people.” – 1 Corinthians 2:13
No More Time
"But Felix became afraid when Paul spoke about living right, self-control, and the time when God will judge the world. He said,
Never Too Old
“The Celts had a phrase, “Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance,” by which they meant if he is not
Love Yourself
"When David came to Saul, he began to serve him. Saul liked David and made him the officer who carried his armor." -
The Road
The Romans Road to salvation is a way of explaining the good news of salvation using verses from a single book of the Bible, the book of Romans. It is a simple yet powerful method of explaining why we need salvation, how God provided salvation, how we can receive salvation, and what are the results of salvation.
Verse 1
The first verse on the Romans Road to salvation is Romans 3:23.
We have all sinned. We have all done things that are displeasing to God. There is no one who is innocent.
Romans 3:10-18 gives a detailed picture of what sin looks like in our lives.
The second verse on the Romans Road to salvation, Romans 6:23a, tells us the consequences, the punishment we have ‘earned’ for our sins, is death.
Verse 2
Verse 3
The third verse on the Romans Road to salvation is the second half of Romans 6:23, Romans 6:23b, where the Word tells us God gave us the free gift of eternal life through Jesus.
Romans 5:8 tells us that Jesus died for us! His death paid the price of our sins. His resurrection proves that God accepted His death as the payment for our sins.
The fourth stop on the Romans Road to salvation is Romans 10:9. Because of Jesus’ death on our behalf, all we have to do is believe in Him, trusting His death as the payment for our sins – and we will be saved!
Romans 10:13 says it again. Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins and rescue us from eternal death.
Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, is available to anyone who will trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Verse 4
Verse 5
The final aspect of the Romans Road to salvation is the results of salvation. Romans 5:1 has this wonderful message: Through Jesus Christ we can have a relationship of peace with God.
Romans 8:1 tells us that because of Jesus’ death on our behalf, we will never be judged guilty for our sins. Finally, we have this precious promise of God from Romans 8:38-39 that nothing and no one will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The End of the Road…
… or just the beginning? Have you come to the end of your own road? Have you followed the Romans Road to salvation, today? If so, here is a simple prayer you can pray to God. Saying this prayer is a way to declare to God that you are relying on Jesus Christ for your salvation. The words themselves will not save you. Only faith in Jesus Christ can provide salvation!
“God, I know that I have sinned against you and am deserving of punishment. I know that Jesus Christ took the punishment that I deserve so that through faith in Him I could be forgiven.
With Your help, I place my trust in You for salvation.
Thank You for Your wonderful grace and forgiveness and for the gift of eternal life! Amen!”
Have you made a decision for Christ because of what you have learned through the Romans Road to salvation? If so, please click on this link to an incredible resource for growing your walk with God which I highly recommend.
From What is the Romans Road? on GotQuestions.com
Memory
“How can a young person (or any person) live a pure life? By obeying your word. With all my heart I try to obey you.
Don’t let me break your commands. I have taken your words to heart so I would not sin against you.” – Psalm 119:9-11
One of my teachers once said that memory, especially memorization is like skydiving or a ‘leap of faith’. I skydived and I’ve certainly taken my share of ‘leaps of faith’. Yeah, memorization can be like them, especially when you think that the more often you do either one, the better you get at them.
Memorizing verses, lines for a script, or a room full of people’s names requires, first, the determination to do so. That’s on you, seriously. You wouldn’t be reading this right now if you didn’t think there was a whisper of a chance you could do this. I believe in you. You can do this.
There are many methods out there and I might borrow from a few of them as I share my own experiences at skydiving, leaps of faith, and memorizing. We’ll see.
In advance, I want to warn you, that I do remember things. Ask any of my peers in ministry. My personal method of memory is one inspired by Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and is nearly right in the middle of it. It is comprised of 176 verses broken up into the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. My method of memorizing though, has nothing to do with any of that. ;)
Psalm 119:1 and 2 are both my method and reason. Read this:
Happy are those who live pure lives, who follow the LORD’s teachings.
Happy are those who keep his rules, who try to obey him with their whole heart.
Reason: I want to live a pure life. Just like you and Paul, I understand it is a process, it’s a ‘being changed’ as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18:
“Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings ever greater glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
I also want to follow the Lord’s teachings. For 50 years they have been the inspiration and motivation for my walk with God.
Now, to the method: Read Psalm 119:2 a few times. Then, and maybe not at this moment, but soon, read the rest of Psalm 119.
‘Keep the rules’ means you have to know the rules. Knowing begins with the mind.
‘…with their whole heart’ means employing your emotions.
This verse ‘clicked’ for me the morning of February 28th, 1988. It was my birthday. It was also my first day of work at Vintage Car Wash, which is still one of my favorite jobs ever! That day, I began ‘feeling’ my conversations with my customers.
My method of memorization was to collect what I wanted to know with my ‘whole heart.’ It began with prayer for the individual, then for an emptying of myself, and then, a determined focus on our conversation as if nothing and no one mattered in that moment except the individual in front of me. In that moment, I memorized them. I knew them and I appreciated them.
I theorized something in my employment there and had 200-500 people a day on whom to test my theory.
It worked, then, and it still works, today.
Listen to some of these verses from Psalm 119:
“When I learned that your laws are fair, I praised you with an honest heart.” – v. 7
“With all my heart I try to obey you.” – v. 8a
“I have taken your words to heart so I would not sin against you.” – v. 11
“I wear myself out with desire for your laws all the time.” – v. 20
Do you see it? law, obedience, words, and laws met with praise from the heart, all of my heart, to heart, and lastly in our example, desire.
Please, prayerfully consider Psalm 119. If there was still a right and left brained theory, this chapter would so incredibly weave them both together!
Oh! Though that, indeed, is the foundation and reason for my skydiving and leap of faith into memorization, there is one small, practical application I want to share with you. This is the method I used to memorize chapters and verses of the Bible as I grew my walk with God and I hope it helps you in your own studies.
Layers of Memory
I used 3×5 ‘flash’ cards a lot in my memorization and this one method really stood out to me as the method by which I seemed to be able to retain the verses I wanted to be ‘written in my heart’. It would involve ‘layering’ the verse to myself like this:
Section 1
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.
Sections 1 & 2
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.
Sections 2 & 3
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.
Sections 3 & 4
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.
Sections 4 & 5
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.
Section 5
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life.
I hope this little exercise is a bit of inspiration into your own adventure of memorizing the Word of God. Very much like skydiving, where we step off of the security of the ground and out of the protection of the airplane, we have our parachute, that which holds us up, the Word of God, in our hearts.
“The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13
In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus utilized the Word He knew as He faced the enemy’s temptations. Hide the Word in your own heart so that when temptation comes you may respond, as Jesus did, “It is written”!
Studies
“Make every effort to give yourself to God as the kind of person he will approve.
Be a worker who is not ashamed and who uses the true teaching in the right way.” – 2 Timothy 2:15“
The apostle Paul said, “Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” – 1 Timothy 4:8
Fitness experts tell people to strengthen their body’s physical core – the central muscles between your hips and shoulders that give your body power, balance, and stability.
Nearly every physical activity you do originates in your core or moves through it, so having a weak core can impair how well the rest of your body functions.
True of your spiritual core, as well.
These studies are ideal for anyone involved in church, whether it’s directing traffic in the parking lot, greeting in the foyer, working in ministries, or participating in small groups.
They’re also useful if you’re simply an individual who wants to know God better and become more competent in representing Him to the world.
Contact
“Do you have a question or comment about one of thoughts or studies? Do you need prayer? Do you have a testimony to share?” – Let me know!
I wasn’t sure about creating a ‘Contact Form’ mostly because my site is more of just a personal expression. Many of us have our Instagrams, Twitters, and Facebooks which have better ‘comment’ or ‘contact’ implementations. Still, just in case this site has blessed you and you have a praise report, a prayer request, or just a comment about one of the thoughts, I leave this here for you.
This is a safe place to jot a note as I do not save your info, at all. I will receive your contact via this form as an email notification, only. I’ll honor your privacy, read it, pray over it, and then delete it. If you give me permission to share your contact form, like in the case of a testimony, then, and only then, will I share it with others as an encouragement to their faith.
“And our brothers and sisters defeated him by the blood of the Lamb’s death
and by the message they preached.
They did not love their lives so much that they were afraid of death.” – Revelation 12:11