Siesta Scripture Memory Team: Verse 23!

Verse 23! WOW! We’re almost there, Siestas! I hope you are doing so well this winter morning. I had a little bit of a restless night like all of us occasionally have, then ended up oversleeping, like all of us occasionally do. I got out of the bed to a delightfully cold house from a northern that blew in overnight. We almost never turn on the heater because both Keith and I love a cold house and lots of heavy covers. This is particularly expensive in the summer but that’s another story entirely. This December morning I got the fire place going and sat down with my Bible to have my quiet time. About thirty minutes into it, my cell phone rang. I saw that it was Amanda and she rarely calls that early so, of course, I answered it. I always do when it’s one of my children.

“Hello?”

It wasn’t Amanda after all. The sweetest little sleepy voice on the other end:

“Bibby, we have a Christmas tree at our house!”

The Joneses had gone to get their tree last night and, when Jackson went to bed, it was still outside tied to the Suburban. Amanda said that she heard him come out of his room early this morning, take a few steps, stop dead in his tracks, and gasp. Then she heard him say, “An inside tree!! An inside tree!!”

I could hear him saying the same thing when he handed the phone back to his mommy this morning. He is utterly astonished that we get to have outside trees inside our houses this time of year. It is pretty cool, isn’t it? Amanda said, “You know, Mom, that’s the wonderful part about the age Jackson is right now. He was so little last year, he really doesn’t remember much about it. This year is a whole new experience.”

I wish it could be a whole new experience for you and me. And if we’re willing to be renewed and revived in our spirits and willing to let go of how old (regardless of how young) and beat up we feel from the poundings of this world, we could recapture that childlike wonder that makes this season unmatched.

Now, onto our 23rd Scriptures! I going to give you two sets because I’m taken with both of them right now but my official memory verse for this round is the first one. I think I told you that Curtis and I are reading through the Bible this year from Eugene Peterson’s translation so that’s why some of the verses jumping off the page to me this year are from The Message. I’m so accustomed to my beloved NIV that I can almost anticipate how certain portions are going to be worded. The beauty of doing some of your reading out of a totally different version is that they come to you with glorious, unanticipated freshness.

Here’s the first one:

The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don't make anything happen. Every word I've spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. John 6:63, The Message

The reason why this verse speaks so clearly to me right now is because, at this juncture in my journey with Christ, my usual “sheer muscle and willpower” aren’t cutting it. Only a Spirit work and a Spirit word are going to make a hill of beans of difference. That’s how my Nanny would say it.

Here’s the second one. Maybe some of you haven’t chosen your verse yet this round and this one will resonate:

When I walk into the thick of trouble, keep me alive in the angry turmoil. With one hand strike my foes, With your other hand save me. Finish what you started in me, God. Your love is eternal—don't quit on me now. Psalm 138:7-8, The Message.

I used this verse for my devotional time with my LPM staff yesterday. I’ll tell you what I told them. This segment causes me to picture one of those huge battle scenes in the third movie of Tolkien’s trilogy, “Return of the King.” I see all the same characters and sights. This time, however, in my mind’s eye I see Jesus storming right through the middle of that bloody battlefield crawling with vicious and monstrous demonic creatures. I picture each one of us as a child running beside Him, little legs nearly flying, and He’s got our right hand firmly grasped in His left. With His right hand, He is swinging a mighty sword. Over and over and over again. I can almost hear it slicing the air. As we trudge across that battlefield, unending armies rage against us but He parts them like the Red Sea, slaying one foe after another with His double-edged sword.

It reminds me of another verse I memorized several months ago out of Psalm 112:

His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure. He will have no fear. In the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

Amen and Amen.

You cannot imagine how I rejoiced to see many of you name your Siesta Scripture memory as the biggest surprise on your gratitude list this Thanksgiving. There’s just nothing in this human experience like being a child of God through Jesus Christ, abiding in Him, and having His words abiding in you.

So blessed are we, Siestas!!

Hold on tight to the hand of Jesus. This is a war we’re in.