Tag Archive for: spiritual growth

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and it’s a day many people ponder reasons to be grateful. But how do you give thanks when life hurts?

Moreover, Philippians 4:4 tells us to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” It’s one thing to rejoice in the things we’re glad the Lord has done. But how do we take rejoicing to the next level—rejoicing in the midst of suffering?

This is important for several reasons.

  1. Philippians 4:4 tells us to rejoice always.
  2. Being grateful stops the grumbling and complaining that the Bible warns us against (Philippians 2:14).
  3. The very act of rejoicing plants joy in us.
  4. Being grateful reminds us of God’s past good care and that brings peace over knowing his good care will continue.

For example, in January, my husband Clay was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. We immediately began praying Philippians 4:4-7 together daily—sometimes twice a day.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4–7

We’d recite “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Then we’d take turns rejoicing in the Lord before continuing to recite and pray the rest of the passage. Being grateful before presenting our requests calmed our hearts. While we no longer pray this passage together daily, we each continue to pray it when disappointment derails our peace.

But what can we rejoice in when confronting dreaded news?

Here are four reasons to be grateful no matter what season of life you’re experiencing.

1) Be Grateful for Answered Prayers

Glorify the Lord with me;
        let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
        he delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:3-4

The book of Psalms has many thanksgiving songs that praise God for answered prayers, giving us examples to follow. Additionally, Jesus showed that he expects God’s people to praise God for answered prayers (Luke 17:17-18). Indeed, we can rejoice spontaneously as we see prayers answered. We can also rejoice deliberately by writing down our requests so we can later review them to mark those that God has answered and give thanks.

Indeed, just this morning I turned to where I’d written my prayer request, “Let insurance authorize liver radiation,” and wrote in the column next to it, “Yes! We got the approval on 10/31.”

2) Be Grateful for God’s Daily Provision

Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;
        make music to our God on the harp.
He covers the sky with clouds;
        he supplies the earth with rain
        and makes grass grow on the hills.
He provides food for the cattle
        and for the young ravens when they call.

Psalm 147:7-9

We can rejoice in every need that God meets: paychecks, gifts, meals, clothing, housing, and healing. We can rejoice in every delight: family, friends, bird songs, sunsets, flowers, and rain. We can rejoice that God gives us everything we have, including our strength, intelligence, and knowledge. We can start a habit of rejoicing in the Lord for every blessing the moment it arrives.

When the weather permits, I walk after lunch and pray. I rejoice in the weather that permits walking, in the blue flowers tumbling from a neighbor’s tree, and in the Anna’s hummingbirds flitting among its branches.

3) Be Grateful for Faith Purifiers

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Sometimes God answers our prayers “No.” Sometimes we go through heartbreaking loss. But even in those times, we can rejoice because we know God is good and he will work good out of our current difficulties (Romans 8:28). When we face trials, we can rejoice that they prove our faith genuine, they purify our faith and motives, and they will bring us praise, glory, and honor when we go before Jesus at the end of times.

When we face difficulty, we can rejoice that God is building our character. When embarrassed, we can thank God for developing in us humility. In weakness, we can rejoice that God will either strengthen us or be our strength. Character lasts forever; difficulties do not.

Discovering Joy in Philippians

4) Be Grateful for God’s Eternal Promises

Praise the Lord, my soul;
        all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, my soul,
        and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
        and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
        and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
        so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 103:1-5

This psalm reminds us, “Forget not all his benefits.” Forgetting God’s benefits makes us impatient, unfruitful, faithless, and fearful. It discourages. And forgetting makes us grumble and argue, like the Israelites in the desert.

Instead, we can remember and rejoice in God’s benefits, including his eternal promises. We can rejoice in his promise to forgive (1 John 1:9). When we recover from illness, we can give thanks for health and for our future imperishable body (1 Corinthians 15:42). Redemption is something for which we can always be grateful: he’s adopted us as his own and he promises eternal life. We can rejoice that he crowns us with love and compassion, and that he satisfies our desires with good things. We can give thanks that he will reward us for our faithful service.

In all circumstances, we can rejoice that one day God will resurrect our bodies and take us to a new heaven and earth (Revelation 21:1). We will reign with him in his kingdom. And there will be no more mourning, crying, or pain (21:4). This life of hardship ends, but the next life of glory is eternal.

Next Step

Get started today by giving thanks for something in each of these categories. Download this handy prayer guide to remind you of four great reasons to be grateful: Reasons to Be Grateful Prayer Guide.

This article was adapted from Discovering Joy in Philippians. This is an affiliate link for which I receive a commission at no cost to you.

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“This is almost certainly metastasized cancer,” our GP told my husband Clay. “We’re not talking cure here. We’re talking quality of life and length of life.” The words sliced like a knife through my chest.

A week later, an oncologist confirmed stage 4 cancer.

We responded the way we’ve learned through the years: first, by praying, giving thanks out loud to God, and asking God for help; and second, by each creating a Truth Journal.

What a Truth Journal Is

What we call a Truth Journal consists of four things: truths, remembrances, Scriptures, and prayers. Clay keeps his in a Word document and has a separate page for each. He changes the font color of anything related to eternity to purple, the color of royalty. Whenever he updates it, he prints a new copy.

I have a tab in the back of my daily planner labeled “TRUTHS.” This section has pages with these titles:

  • TRUTHS
  • REMEMBRANCES
  • SCRIPTURE
  • PRAYERS

The titles are in green ink because in my Bible, I underline God’s blessings in green. I placed a gold flower sticker next to the titles because gold reminds me that Jesus is King and sovereign, and flowers remind me of Jesus’s words, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

When we wake up sad or hear something that shakes us, we get out our truth journals and read through them. Sometimes item 3 will be just what we need. Other times it’s item 12. It’s important to regularly add to the journal and to keep it handy.

Previously I wrote about using a Truth Journal to combat doubts (“Does God love me?”) and false beliefs (“God let _____ happen so he must not care about me”). I’ll provide a link to that at the end of this post. Here, I’ll explain how to use a Truth Journal to find hope in time of crisis, such as a health crisis or loss of a loved one.

Let’s begin by looking at the four parts of a Truth Journal.

Truth Journal Section 1: Truths

These are personalized statements based on Scripture. When I previously wrote about Truth Journals, I suggested co-mingling truth statements and Scriptures. But Clay’s Scripture list was long and he ended up adding page breaks before and after it. After I made a mistake copying a longer passage, I decided to redo my Truths page and attach his list onto a separate Scripture page.

Truths page in Truth Journal
Truths page in Truth Journal

In my Bible I underline what we should do in blue, so I list truth statements in blue to remind me I must act on these truths.

Here’s a sample of what’s in our lists.

Clay’s List

  • The Lord is all-powerful, and He loves us.
  • Unless we die suddenly, everyone is going to have to go through this (“but such as is common to man,” 1 Corinthians 10:13).
  • We know that the Lord intends for us to suffer and that He expects us to handle it well.
  • Hardship is necessary for our spiritual growth and is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.
  • The Lord is helping us not love this present world.
  • We don’t know the future—I could be healed—maybe forever—who knows what drugs will come up?
  • The Lord has brought us medical professionals to help us.
  • The Lord will take care of both of us no matter what.
  • The Lord will provide for Jean E., no matter what.
  • He is disciplining us not to look to the wind but to look at Jesus.
  • This is an opportunity for us to glorify the Lord.
  • No matter what happens, we will enjoy each other for eternity.

Jean’s List

Most of Clay’s are also in mine. Here are a few extras.

  • Everyone has to face suffering, death, and dying. Jesus shows us how to face it.
  • God has always worked good from the hard things that have happened. He won’t stop now.
  • The Lord worked great good out of Clay’s first bout with bone cancer.
  • We know people who have survived metastasized cancer for years.

As we realize more truths, we add to our lists.

Truth Journal Section 2: Remembrances

In my February newsletter, I wrote about how last summer, I was praying while walking when I saw a strange sight: a crow with white feathers in his wings. I snapped a few photos of him hopping among pine branches and headed home to get Clay. The pics were too fuzzy to see the white feathers, and the bird was gone by the time we got down to where I’d seen it. Clay teased that I must be making it up. (He didn’t mean it.)

With Wingtip, God answered prayer better than I asked

The next day as I headed out for my walk, I asked God to show me the crow again so I could call Clay and have him join me. But I didn’t see him during the one-mile walk. I came in through the back door and was telling Clay how I’d prayed to see the crow so he could see it, when I glanced out the window. There the bird was, perched on our fence! He stayed long enough for us to get good photos, then flew into the grapevine, giving us a chance to record him flying. When he flies, his white wingtips sparkle. I named him Wingtip.

What an amazing answer that was better than what I asked for! Instead of me finding Wingtip and calling Clay to quickly come see, God brought Wingtip to Clay.

Scripture tells us it’s essential to remember answered prayers like this.

So I have a section called REMEMBRANCES in which I’ve written these two verses:

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.

Psalm 143:5

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.

Psalm 71:15

I have a two-column list of blessings God’s given us and prayers he’s answered in providential ways. I listed as many wonderful things God has done for us as I can remember as well as the ways God brought good out of past sufferings. That raises my confidence that God will work similarly in this circumstance. While I list just a word or phrase that reminds me of what God has done, Clay writes mostly sentences and uses one column. He entitles his Remembrances section “Remember how God has done amazing things for us—Thank You, Father!

For both of us, “Wingtip” resides near the top of our remembrances. It assures us that even though God has said no to some of our prayers about Clay recently, he has good reason for it. He will give an answer that I expect to be better than what I asked for.

Truth Journal Section 3: Scripture

Both of us started writing beneficial Scriptures when we were young Christians in high school. This habit has greatly helped our spiritual growth. Prior to this week, I mingled verses with truth statements. But as I mentioned, I messed up a verse I was copying and decided to print Clay’s list and attach it to a separate page in my journal with washi tape (tape that can be lifted and reapplied). In an upcoming blog, I plan to list these comforting verses.

Our Scripture lists go on for pages. Here are a few favorites for finding hope in crises.

Favorite Verses for Truth Journals

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Romans 5:3–5

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 3:21-22

A Note on Conquering

Clay emphasizes the word conquer (Greek nike) in the Revelation passages because it’s what we need to do when we suffer. Nike in other versions is also translated “overcome” or “victorious” and is where Nike tennis shoes gets its name. We need to keep the faith by honoring God through every hardship, disease, persecution, and even to our own deaths. When we do that, we conquer and we will inherit the kingdom.  

Truth Journal Section 4: Prayers

The first time Clay had cancer 19 years ago, I made the mistake of praying over every possible future I could think of. I thought praying over each to the point of peace would fill me with lasting peace. But it didn’t. Instead, I’d pray to the point of peace about one possible future only to have another possibility disrupt my peace.

My prayer section is labeled “PRAYERS” and begins with Philippians 4:4-7 broken into lines that I can pray. We’ve both memorized it so we can pray it aloud often. One of us will recite part of the verse and then both of us will pray according to what it says.

Philippians 4:4–7

Prayers page in Truth Journal

Here’s an example of how we might pray, with the Scripture in bold and our prayers in italics:

  • Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
    • Lord, we rejoice that this is the path you’ve set before us. We rejoice that the brain MRI showed no cancer. We rejoice in how you sent Wingtip to encourage us in how you answer prayers in better ways than we even ask. We rejoice [here we go through as many things from the Remembrances section as we can remember].
  • Let your forbearance be known to all.
    • Father, help us to forbear in this situation and to show others the forbearance you give us.
  • The Lord is at hand.
    • Lord Jesus, thank you that you are at hand, that you are right here with us now.
  • Do not be anxious about anything.
    • Father, forgive me for being anxious about the results taking so long. Help me not to be anxious, for you have this in your hand.
  • But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
    • Lord, help the lab to correctly identify the molecular profile, and let it be one that is more easily treatable.
  • And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 71

Psalm 71’s theme is continual hope and it’s my favorite prayer for building hope. I plan to add a prayer based on Psalm 71 once we have the oncologist’s prognosis.

Prayer Requests and Answers

We both have a spot for prayer requests and answers. Clay entitles his “Recent Opportunities to Trust God.” I have mine on a separate page with two columns labeled “Prayer Requests” and “Answers.”

Conclusion

If you’re going through a crisis, try creating a Truth Journal and reading it often. Arrange it any way that works best for you, just as Clay and I have. It’ll calm fears and help you face crises with hope.

Downloadable Truth Journal

The Joy Super Bonus Bundle has a downloadable Truth journal that you can print.

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(To watch “Godliness: God’s Provision and Our Response” instead of reading, click here.)

What is sanctification? Is it important to live a life of godliness, and if so, how do we do it? Will God give up on us if we can’t be good enough?

Discovering Good News in John
Discovering Good News in John

Hi, everyone! Welcome to Session 9 of Discovering Good News in John.

You’ve read in Discovering Good News in John how God used the Gospel of John to lead me to trust in Jesus as Savior. At first, I was overjoyed.

My understanding of what that meant was fuzzy, however. I thought being saved meant God wiped my past sins away so I could start over and be a good Christian who didn’t sin anymore.

But I kept failing. As the months went on, I grew sure that God was disappointed he had given me a chance to be a Christian. Depression seeped in. On the following Christmas Eve, I was so discouraged that I told God I had to give up on being a Christian because I would never be good enough.

Here’s What Was Wrong.

I had false beliefs about God, others, and me, including that God would give up on me if I couldn’t be good enough. I didn’t understand how to draw near to God. And I didn’t understand the extent of God’s grace.

But God doesn’t let us go that easily. As I prayed that I was giving up, I remembered a verse I’d read about God knowing the future. Suddenly I realized that when I’d accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, God knew all my sins: past, present, and future. He wasn’t disappointed or surprised: Only I was. Joy flooded into my heart.

Justification Versus Sanctification

It turns out what confused me confuses many new Christians. We learn that conversion is repenting of our sins and trusting God for salvation through Jesus, the Son of God. We might learn that justification is a legal standing that means our sins are forgiven because Jesus paid the penalty for them by dying in our place. But then we’re confused over what comes next, which is sanctification.

Sanctification is two things. First, it is being set apart as belonging to God. But second, it is the process by which God makes us holy. We sin less and less, and we become more and more like Jesus. We take on godly character. Our lives become more and more set apart for God.

While justification is instantaneous, sanctification is a process. It’s not an instantaneous change upon conversion (like justification), but a work of the Holy Spirit over time. The work won’t be finished in this lifetime, where we face temptations and deal with weaknesses. But that should not discourage us, because it’s a work God promises the Holy Spirit will do in us.

Our Passage: 2 Peter 1:3-11

According to 2 Peter 1:3-11, sanctification involves both God’s provision and our response. Let’s read the passage now and then dive into the details:

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:3–11

The passage begins with God’s provision for a life of godliness.

God's Provision for a Life of Godliness

God’s Provision for a Life of Godliness (1:3-4)

We’ll look at four provisions found in verses 3-4.

1) The Lord Provides Us All Things That Pertain to Life and Godliness

Verse 3 reads,

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

2 Peter 1:3

God’s power has granted to us all things that pertain to life. The word life refers to the eternal life that has already begun in us and which we are now living. We are not dead in sin but alive in Christ, and we will continue to live on forever.

God’s power has also granted to us all things that pertain to godliness. This is a powerful promise. Too many Christians think, “I’ll never be holy so why try?” While we won’t achieve perfection in this life, we can live largely holy lives here. I’ve been a Christian for decades now and I’m leading a much more holy life than at first. That is because God’s power grants to us what we need for godliness, and God’s Word tells us how to respond so that we grow in godliness.

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36

Our transformation is a work of God, as 2 Corinthians 3:18 assures us:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18

Likewise, 2 Thessalonians 2:13 reads,

God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

2 Thessalonians 2:13

2) God’s Provision Is Possible Through Knowing Him

Verse 3 continues:

Through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

2 Peter 1:3

Although it often doesn’t seem like it, especially to younger Christians, Christians don’t have to live ungodly lives. The Lord has provided for us in such a way that we can be holy and not filled with lusts for things of this world.

3) God’s Promises Provide Us an Escape from Earthly Passions

Verse 4 tells us that God’s promises do two things for us. We’ll look at the second of these first:

He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

2 Peter 1:4

The word translated sinful desire is epithumia. It means passion or desire. The ESV, like other translations, is letting us know that Peter means sinful desires, but the Greek word simply means desire. God made us as creatures with strong desires. Therefore, everyone in the world is going to lust after people, positions, possessions, or pleasures of this world, or they’re going to lust after something better; namely, God and his kingdom and the Lord’s promises for us that we will have eternal life and be inheritors of his kingdom.

If we do not have a robust view of eternal life in Jesus, then we will set our desires on things of the world. We will take on symbolic immortality projects—projects that we hope will in some way enable us to transcend our deaths so that our fame—our symbolic immortality—will continue after our deaths. To escape from lusting after the things of this world, we need to have something better to lust after, and God’s promises foot the bill. We’re going to be resurrected, perfected, resplendent, and renowned inheritors of God’s kingdom who will reign with Jesus forever and ever. We’ll return to this topic in Session 11.

4) God’s Promises Provide for Us to Partake of the Divine Nature

Let’s return to verse 4 to see what else God’s promises do for us:

He has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature.

2 Peter 1:4

God’s “precious and very great promises” are what we hold onto so that “through them” we take on “the divine nature.” Through God’s promises we are sanctified.

Again, we are either going to lust after people, possessions, positions, and pleasures or we’re going to lust after God and his kingdom. The former leads to death. Lusting after God and his kingdom made available to us allows us to escape the corruption in the world and become like him. When we grasp God’s promises about our eternity with him, when we set our desires on that eternity rather than on the things of the world, then we partake of the divine nature.

So God has provided all we need for godliness. How then does he want us to respond? What is our response to God’s provision?

Our Response to God's Provision

Our Response to God’s Provision (1:5-11)

That is found in verses 5-11. Our response is to pursue godly character.

Our Response: Pursue Godly Character

Pursue Godly Character

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

2 Peter 1:5–7

Because God has provided everything we need for godliness, “we make every effort” to add these godly qualities to our lives. The Christian life isn’t about God doing everything while we sit back and let it happen. It’s not, “Don’t try to resist sin by your own power; let God do it.” We work in concert with the Holy Spirit’s work in us.

Pursuing godly character is our response to God’s provision. If we forget God’s provision, either we become proud, thinking godly character is our own doing, or we become discouraged, thinking we’ll never grow based on our own lack of ability. But when we remember God’s provision, then we pursue godly character with joy, knowing he is working in us. Indeed, Philippians 2:12-13 encourages us:

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:12–13

Here again, because God is working in us to make us both willing and able to do his will, we work out our salvation in our everyday lives.

The Scripture gives us many ways to do this.

Jesus explained that we should get rid of things that stumble us. 1 Timothy 4:7-8 reads,

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

1 Timothy 4:7–8

We can train ourselves for godliness, and in time, we’ll see results. For example, periodically I do a 24-hour complaining fast. Philippians 2:14 says to do all things without grumbling or complaining, which was a hard habit to break. However, setting aside a day to consciously refrain from all complaining (whether the complaint is legitimate or not) helps me break the habit whenever it starts taking hold.

It’s worthwhile studying each of the qualities in 2 Peter 5-7. But for now, I’ll point out that one of the things we need to do is pursue knowledge. This includes knowledge of God’s commands and knowledge of the ways Scripture tells us to pursue godliness, of course. But it also includes knowledge of the many promises of God—like the fact that we are going to reign over God’s kingdom forever. They tell us who we are in Christ and where we are going. Setting our hope on God’s promises is essential for growing in godliness.

Reasons to Pursue Godly Character

2 Peter 1:8 tells us why we should pursue godliness; namely…

Pursuing Godly Character Makes Us Effective and Fruitful

Verse 8 reads,

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:8

As these qualities increase, the more effective we’ll be in our relationships, ministries, and businesses. We’ll also bear the fruit God wants to see in our lives, the fruit Jesus talked about in John 15.

Verse 9 explains why some true Christians aren’t growing in godly character. That is…

Forgetting His Promised Forgiveness Obstructs Godly Character

Verse 9 reads,

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

2 Peter 1:9

In other words, beating yourself up over past sins you’ve committed doesn’t help you become godlier. Rather, true Christians who lack godly qualities have forgotten one of God’s promises: He has forgiven their sins. The Babylon Bee had a headline that read, “‘I Know God Forgives Me, But I Can’t Forgive Myself,’ Says Woman Whose Moral Compass Is More Developed Than God’s.” That’s a tongue-in-cheek way to make an excellent point. Those who fail to accept God’s promised forgiveness are saying Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross was not enough.

Beating ourselves up over past sins hurts our walks with Jesus. It does not help us grow in godliness.

Verse 10 has another benefit.

Pursuing Godly Character Confirms Your Election

The passage reads,

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

2 Peter 1:10

Growth over time in the qualities listed in verses 5-7 confirms our calling. When we suffer and still honor God, we confirm our calling. When we choose to obey God even though it costs us, we confirm our calling. In all these cases, we not only make it plain to all who see us that we’re true Christians, we also assure our hearts if doubts assail us.

If you’re a Christian who is dismayed over failings and fearful that you might not be saved, take heart. Your dismay and fear are both evidence of your calling. Confess your sins and repent, then thank God for forgiving you. Live like you’re forgiven, remember God’s promises, and pursue godly character.

Second Peter has one more benefit that comes from pursing godly character:

You Will Receive a Rich Welcome into His Eternal Kingdom

Verse 11 reads,

And you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1:11, NIV

That is a promise to hold onto. That is what we set our hearts on. Instead of setting your desires on the people, possessions, positions, and pleasures of this world, set them on receiving “a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

In Conclusion

Today, we’ve seen God’s provision for a life of godliness and our response. God is sanctifying us and making us more like Jesus. So we should respond by holding onto his promises and pursuing godly character, knowing he is helping us every step of the way.

This week in Discovering Good News in John, complete chapter 9: Consecrated for a Mission. We’ll answer the question, Why did Jesus go forward knowing he faced betrayal? See you next time.

Join the Discussion

  1. What one thought stuck out to you in this week’s video? why did it stand out?
  2. What one thought stuck out to you from this week’s chapter? Why did it stand out?
  3. Question 25, page 144: Describe a time when Jesus answered a prayer you asked for in his name in order to glorify God.

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I took oil painting lessons from my mother-in-law, Rae, who was a former Disney artist. (The painting displayed in this post is her work. Sadly, we lost my paintings in a move.) Each week she critiqued my progress and told me what to work on next. One week I added complementary under layers to my canvas. Because the butter leaf green background needed red for depth, I squirted red ochre onto my palette and swirled it with dabs of other pigments. The odors of linseed oil and turpentine permeated the air as I leaned close to my aluminum easel so I could meticulously merge the muddy maroon into the mossy background.

Close up of painting by Rae Jones shows big picture versus detail
Close-up of Rae’s painting shows colors used in sky

As I carefully brushed and delicately blended, my husband walked in the door, stopped, and declared, “You gave the painting measles!

“No, I didn’t,” I said, frowning. “It’s depth.”

“Come over here and look at it,” he said, laughing.

None too pleased over his lack of appreciation for my artistic enhancements, I walked over to where he stood and looked back at the painting. Sure enough: measles. What up close looked like subtle gradations of color, at a distance looked like leopard skin.

When I took my polka dotted canvas to Rae, she showed me how to meld undertones by standing back to see what the painting as a whole needed, coming in close for precise brush strokes, and then stepping back again to view the overall affect. It didn’t take long before the reds and greens not only looked as if they belonged together, but showed they needed each other for depth and balance.

The Need for Big Picture Bible Studies

Discovering Jesus in the OT cover
Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament

Reading the Bible is like painting a picture in our minds and souls. While it’s important to come in close to study passages and books, it’s also important to step back and see how the individual parts explain and deepen our understanding of the whole. Then we can see how all the parts of the Bible belong together and how they need each other for depth and balance—for the whole picture.

In the Bible studies I write with Pam Farrel and Karla Dornacher, the book Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament gives the big picture. Every chapter starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation as it displays an aspect of what the Old Testament promises, prophecies, and types tell us about Jesus. For instance, the chapter “Jesus the King Forever” starts with God’s mandate to humankind to reign over the earth, looks at God’s promise to King David of a descendant whose throne will last forever, sees how the prophets say David was a type of a future righteous King who will reign forever, notices what the New Testament says about Jesus fulfilling these OT passages, and rejoices in what is to come: Jesus reigns forever and humankind reigns under him in the new heavens and earth.

The Need for Close-up Bible Studies

Discovering Joy in Philippians
Discovering Joy in Philippians

Just as Rae taught me to come in close when painting detail, so we do best when we alternate stepping back for the big picture and moving in for the detail in studying the Bible. That’s why we also write books that move in close, too. For instance, Discovering Joy in Philippians looks with great detail at the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It starts in Acts with Paul preaching the gospel in Philippi and being thrown in prison. But we see that wonderful things happen when he and Silas sing praises to God. Then the Discovering book delves deeply into Philippians and all Paul says about discovering joy in any circumstance.

Discovering Hope in the Psalms is a close-up look, too. It examines ten psalms about the hopes God’s people share. These psalms show us how to pray in a way that helps our hope in God soar, even–or especially–when we encounter disappointment or evil. The psalms point us to the One who gives us hope for now and eternity.

What Are You Looking For?

If you haven’t studied the Bible’s big picture for some time, consider Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament. If you’ve recently finished a big picture study, one of our close-up studies may be a fit for you.

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Discovering Hope in the Psalms

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Review of 9 books

Summer reading pile

Here I review nine of my favorite books from this summer’s reading pile. They range from serious to downright fun in these categories:

  • Consciousness, the Soul & the Brain
  • Worship & Art
  • Christian Living
  • Inspirational Fiction

Consciousness, the Soul & the Brain

Review:  The Soul: How We know It’s Real and Why It Matters

By J. P. Moreland

Reading Level: College
I loved this slim book. It made sense of the many verses about the soul. The chapter on what the Bible teaches on the soul is terrific and worth the price of the book by itself. Chapter Four: The Reality of the Soul uses philosophical arguments to prove the soul’s existence, but if you lack a background in philosophy or symbolic logic, you could skip this chapter. Then the final chapter on the future of the human person discusses Near Death Experiences as well as what the Bible teaches on the afterlife. While the vocabulary is sometimes steep, every chapter ends with a review of key concepts and key vocabulary, so that makes it doable.

Here’s a quotation that gives the gist of Moreland’s position (page 51):

Old Testament teaching about life after death is best understood in terms of a diminished though conscious form of disembodied personal survival in an intermediate state.

Review: Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School

By John Medina

Reading Level: College
This was a thoroughly fun and informative book. The 12 rules explore the way factors affect the brain: exercise, sleep, stress, wiring, attention, memory, sensory integration, vision, music, gender, and exploration. Medina includes lots of case studies and lots of ideas to enhance learning. He advises both teachers and parents on how to help others learn. He shatters myths. Here’s a sample (191):

When it comes to both recognition memory and working memory, pictures and text follow very different rules. Put simply, the more visual the input becomes, the more likely it is to be recognizedand recalled. It’s called the pictorial superiority effect.

I happened to finish this book while I was also reading J. P. Moreland’s book on the soul, making for an interesting juxtaposition of one scientist attributing the wonders of the brain to evolution, and the other to God.

Worship & Art

Review: Word Pictures: Knowing God Through Story & Imagination

By Brian Godawa

Reading level: College
This is a fascinating look at balancing reason with imagination when expressing faith. An award-winning screenwriter, Godawa begins by explaining how he used to try to argue people into the faith through reason and logic alone, but often fell short. He examines the Bible’s use of story and art, and talks about art (and rejection of art) in church history. Then he looks at how the arts can be used to present the gospel message. He says (72):

Our Western bias toward rational discourse can too easily blind us to the biblical power of story and word pictures to embody truth.

Every chapter uses a different typeface, giving each its own feel. Pictures adorn most pages, nicely supporting his points. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to use the various arts to spread the gospel, including literary, visual, and performing arts.

Review: Complete Guide to Bible Journaling: Creative Techniques to Express Your Faith

By Joanne Fink & Regina Yoder

Reading Level: High School
My co-authors, Pam Farrel and Karla Dornacher, introduced me to Bible journaling. Wanting to learn more, I ordered this terrific book. It begins with an explanation of what Bible journaling is (8):

In its simplest definition, Bible journaling is a way to express your faith creatively. Putting pen to paper is a great way to remember and record biblical concepts that are meaningful and relevant to your life.

The book explains tools and techniques, profiles 11 artists (including Karla!), and presents a gallery of different artists’ works. The artists share how turning Scripture into art helps them meditate on God’s word, apply it to their lives, and remember Scripture. This is a great book for anyone wanting to use art to creatively express Scripture.

Review: Whitework with Colour (Milner Craft Series)

By Trish Burr

Reading Level: High School
I’ve always loved whitework embroidery, which historically uses white thread on a white background worked in a variety of stitches that provide texture and shades. Burr adds a bit of color to her whitework, and it makes for gorgeous pieces.

This beautiful, full color book begins with the basics of whitework: materials, preparation, color, and stitches. Then it moves into 17 projects separated by difficulty level. The projects include patterns to trace, stitch diagrams, thread keys, and instructions. The instructions are easy to follow, and she provides videos on her website.

I’d already begun a whitework project before I received this for my birthday, and the book’s instructions greatly improved my stitches. I used the techniques to embroider the Psalm 73 bookmark from my book, Discovering Hope in the Psalms. (I’d already colored the background before I decided to try whitework.)

Christian Living

Review: Tattered and Mended: The Art of Healing the Wounded Soul

By Cynthia Ruchti

Reading Level: High School
What a gem this is! The author’s prose sings as she compares the ways artists restore damaged art with the ways God restores damaged souls. Each chapter unfolds as a hope-filled parable. Then the book concludes with comforting advice to those in the mending process. What I like best is the value Ruchti observes in tattered art and wounded souls as each awaits restoration.

As God mended what had been broken in meboth in body and spiritI began to see that he wasn’t merely replacing faded material or restitching seams that had loosened. He was embroidering a design that would forever remind me of the story of what I’d been through … and how near he drew.

Review: Mentoring for All Seasons: Sharing Life Experiences & God’s Faithfulness

By Janet Thompson

Reading Level: High School

This is the best book I’ve read on spiritual mentoring, hands down. Janet Thompson begins with an introduction explaining how she came to start a mentoring ministry. Section One explains the biblical call to mentor, how churches can avoid generation gaps in their ministries, and the basics of connecting mentors with mentees.

Section Two Describes life seasons and the type of mentoring women need in each season. For each season, Thompson gives tips for both mentors and mentees, Scriptures to discuss, personal stories from mentors and mentees, a short Bible story, and discussion questions. I particularly liked Thompson’s guidelines for establishing boundaries so no one feels like they’re being asked for more time than they’ve agreed to give, and for making sure expectations are clearly discussed up front.

The epilogue finishes with a variety of short topics such as tips on choosing a mentor, setting realistic expectations, Do’s and Don’ts, mentor vulnerability, advice for when mentoring is hard, and resources.

I highly recommend this book for Christian women who want to both grow spiritually and help others grow.

Review: Messy Beautiful Love: Hope and Redemption for Real-Life Marriages

By Darlene Schacht

Reading Level: High School
Darlene Schacht begins with the powerful story of her husband discovering she had had an affair and his decision to offer grace. Then she reveals the vulnerable story of how they put their marriage back together piece by piece, with God’s help. After the introductory chapter, each chapter focuses on one key concept for making marriage work, such as “Appreciate Him for Who He Truly Is.” The writing is tender and encouraging, never overbearing. Here’s a sample (174):

Contentment requires us to trade personal and immediate gratification for a heightened sense of appreciation.

I recommend this book for any newlywed or any wife looking to improve her marriage.

Inspirational Fiction

Review: Turtles in the Road: A Novel

By Rhonda Rhea & Kaley Rhea

Reading Level: High School
This is a sweet, delightful romantic comedy with hilarious dialog. Two Christians try to follow God’s plan for their lives. But they fumble a bit in the funniest of ways. Then friends and a wise older couple step in with words of wisdom as a romance slowly and sweetly develops. This is the relaxing, funny kind of book I like to read just before bedtime. And on Kindle, it’s $2.99!

Here’s the opening paragraph:

Normally a nice long solo drive had a calming effect on Piper. All alone, no interruptions, just her, the Lord, and the open road. She’d done some of her best thinking on long road trips. Some of her best praying. Some of her worst singing.

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One day while I was meditating on the message of Psalm 1 that those who follow God’s instructions will be blessed in ways that those who don’t miss out on, I started thinking about my own life and the lives of those I knew. I’d seen couples who made forgiving an essential part of marriage grow closer, while those who held grudges divorced. Friends committed to honesty matured spiritually, while those who hid sins behind lies stagnated. Teens who chose godly friends avoided trouble, but those who hung out with the wrong crowd went astray.

One thing in particular stood out: God had delivered me from the tongue of a slanderer, even though some believed her lies. I thought of the hurts, broken relationships, and lost ministry left in her wake.

Then I thought of other women who embraced truth and kindness. Everyone wanted to be their friends, including me. I felt uplifted when I talked to them, and I knew I could trust their every word because they were so cautious to speak truth. I wanted to emulate them.

I decided to write a psalm about what God says about this, using Psalm 1 as a guide. Psalm 1 is a Torah psalm, which is a psalm that proclaims the goodness of God’s instructions (Torah means “law” or “instructions”). It’s a type of wisdom psalm, which is a psalm that explains how to become wise. Here’s what I wrote:

A Wisdom Psalm by Jean E. Jones

Torah Psalm by Jean E. Jones

A Psalm of Jean E. Jones

5 Reasons to Write a Wisdom Psalm

After writing this psalm, I realized more clearly why the psalmists wrote wisdom psalms, and in particular Torah psalms. These psalms

  1. proclaim the wisdom of God’s commands;
  2. teach others how following God’s instructions brings blessing;
  3. encourage meditation on why God’s instructions make sense;
  4. glorify God by proclaiming his goodness for making known how we should live; and
  5. are an act of worship.

When I wrote the first draft of Discovering Hope in the Psalms, I included instructions for optionally writing a wisdom psalm. The women who timed the lessons for me all wrote one, which I’m including below. One of the women, Jean Strand, printed her psalm in a lovely script and framed it. Hanging it on the wall made it something to talk about with guests. She brought it to our summer Bible study last year and everyone asked for copies! They also pleaded for instructions so they could write their own wisdom psalms; I said they’d be in the book.

But as we were finishing up the book, Harvest House (my publisher) asked me to cut ten pages so they could keep the price point down. I decided to move the instructions from the book to here. I’ll provide a link to those instructions in a moment. (Update 9/12/2023: The instructions are now in the Bonus Bundles and Super Bonus Bundles for both Discovering Hope in the Psalms and Discovering Wisdom in Proverbs.)

But first, here are the wisdom psalms my friends wrote. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

A Wisdom Psalm by Jean Strand

Torah Psalm by Jean Strand

A Psalm of Jean Strand

A Wisdom Psalm by Angie Wright

Torah Psalm by Angie Wright

A Psalm of Angie Wright

A Wisdom Psalm by Virginia Thompson

Torah Psalm by Virginia Thompson

A Psalm of Virginia Thompson

***

So which of God’s commands amazes you as to how following it brings blessing? Download and print the instructions for How to Write a Wisdom Psalm and create your own this week! You can post them here or in the Facebook group, Discovering Hope in the Psalms. Enjoy!

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What’s the ultimate reason behind unforgiveness? Part 5 of “Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions.”

Forgiving without excusing is hard, so hard it sometimes seems unforgiveness won’t ever let go.

When I stopped excusing my mother’s actions as based on ignorance and inability to help herself, I had to learn something new: forgiving without excusing. I made good progress when I prayed in ways that bolstered faith in God’s promises and good care. The anger eased significantly. But it still sometimes flared unexpectedly.

Unforgiveness & a Cry for Help

Then one day it erupted in a way that scared me. I was driving my pale blue Toyota Corolla to work as the sun was just rising, when I spied a girl in a steel blue school uniform skipping gaily, two perfect dark braids bouncing on her carefully pressed short-sleeved shirt.

Her mother loves her, I thought. And then, I hate her!

In that moment I feared what I would become if I didn’t forgive my mother: filled with hatred and jealousy towards those who had what I wanted, even if they hadn’t wronged me. My stomach churned as I realized I had it in me to be like her. In my pride, I hadn’t thought that possible. Though I might never hurt a child as she did, if I harbored hatred I would be like her.

Suddenly, I wondered when she first chose not to forgive. Had she stood at the same crossroads, but made the easier choice and let bitterness seep in, not knowing it would spread and finally rule?

I clenched the steering wheel in desperation. “God, I don’t want to become like my mother. Help me forgive!”

Unforgiveness & a Cry for Justice

Unforgiveness finds Justice in the Crucifixion

The Crucifixion (Rembrandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

I considered how Jesus compared forgiving sin to forgiving a debt, and thought perhaps if I prayed aloud to release her from her debt—for God not to punish her for her sins—that might equal forgiveness even if my emotions dallied.

“God, I want you not to punish—” Do I? “No! That’s not what I want! I want Justice!”

And then I understood. More quietly I finished, “But I also want to be forgiven.” I paused as I remembered my ugliest sins.

I turned onto the freeway. Ahead, the morning sun had risen above the horizon. “God, I know my many sins against you far outweigh hers against me. So I pray that you draw my mother to know you, and if she receives Jesus as her Savior, then Justice will be done by his shed blood. And if she rejects Jesus, then Justice will be done when her sins are held against her. I forgive her as I want to be forgiven, and leave her in your hands.”

At that moment I knew it wasn’t mine to determine whether my mother received eternal forgiveness. That was between her and God. It wasn’t even mine to know to what degree my mother’s actions were intentional: Only God sees the heart.

In my heart, mercy had triumphed over judgment.

Peace washed up and through me. Yes, Justice would be done. I was humbled by the glimpse of the depths to which I could fall without God’s grace. And I was no longer angry. I truly wanted God to give my mother the same grace I wanted him to give me.

Unforgiveness Stripped Away

That was many years ago. Neither the jealousy nor the rage returned. As new affronts came—whether from her or others—the lessons learned through forgiving my mother helped me continue to forgive without excusing.

How Excusing Sin Leads to Unforgiveness

In time I understood how excusing sin actually produced the pride that prevented forgiving. I had initially excused my mother’s wrongs by telling myself she didn’t know better; after all, no sane person would purposefully and knowingly harm children. Thus, my siblings and I were safe from repeating her actions because we knew better. We were better than she because we had superior knowledge.

When my false belief that she didn’t know better collapsed, its sister belief changed slightly: “My siblings and I and most people I know would never purposefully and knowingly harm children.” Now, we were better than she innately.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn & why unforgiveness is unwarranted

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (by Verhoeff, Bert / Anefo [CC BY-SA 3.0 nl (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons)

And that was the pride blocking forgiveness: this subconscious sense that I was somehow better than she and therefore more deserving of mercy. When I wasn’t.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who suffered eight years in a Soviet gulag, asked this about those who committed genocide:

Where did this wolf-tribe appear from among our people? Does it really stem from our own roots? Our own blood?

It is our own.

And just so we don’t go around flaunting too proudly the white mantle of the just, let everyone ask himself: “If my life had turned out differently, might I myself not have become just such an executioner?”

It is a dreadful question if one answers it honestly.[i]

If I answer honestly, then I know that if my life had turned out differently (especially if I hadn’t come to Christ), I could have murdered or abused or terrorized or done any number of things I’ve escaped. I could have been like my mother. Because I’m not innately better. And therefore not more deserving of mercy.

We can Choose to Forgive

We can choose to forgive because forgiving is about more than one relationship with an offender: It’s about future relationships; about healing us; and about participating in divine Justice and Mercy.

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[i] Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 73.

Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions | In this series: 
  1. What Forgiving Isn’t: 5 Stand-ins that Masquerade as Forgiving
  2. Must I Forgive THIS Sin?
  3. What Makes Confessing and Forgiving Inseparable
  4. Four Sins that Require Faith to Forgive
  5. The Ultimate Reason Behind Unforgiveness

To forgive, combine confessing and forgiving as Jesus taught. Part 3 of “Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions.”

Jesus said something astonishing in the Lord’s Prayer about confessing and forgiving. He said we should pray,

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12

In so doing, he linked confessing and forgiving. He followed up with this:

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14–15

New Testament scholar D. A. Carson says, “There is no forgiveness for the one who does not forgive. How could it be otherwise? His unforgiving spirit bears strong witness to the fact that he has never repented” (Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World, 75).

Confessing and forgiving in "Return of the Prodigal Son"

A wayward son finds forgiveness and his father’s embrace in “Return of the Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (circa 1668)

Confessing and forgiving are strongly connected. True repentance is the necessary path to true forgiveness, for those who haven’t honestly and deeply repented of their own sins lack the capacity to forgive others.

Previously

In my last two posts, I discussed what forgiving isn’t and said that the first step towards forgiving is committing to forgive. I began the story of how I realized that I had been excusing my mother’s sin by saying, “I forgive her because she doesn’t know better.” When the fact that she had known better bowled over my excuses, I felt betrayed. Rage overcame me. Instead of excusing sin, I needed to do the much harder job of forgiving sin.

Confessing and Forgiving Come Before Confronting

When we’ve committed to forgive, the next step is not confronting those who’ve sinned against us in the hope they’ll apologize and make forgiving easier. Tim Keller explains why: “Only if you first seek inner forgiveness will your confrontation be temperate, wise, and gracious. Only when you have lost the need to see the other person hurt will you have any chance of actually bringing about change, reconciliation, and healing” (The Reason for God, 197). Yes, Jesus said to talk to Christians who’ve sinned against us (Matthew 18), but we must forgive first.

The next step is to pray to forgive in the way Jesus taught: “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). The prayer’s order is essential: confessing and forgiving.

Confessing and Forgiving: “Forgive Us our Debts”

When I need to forgive someone, I begin by confessing my own sins. This reminds me of the grace I need and thus prepares my heart to offer grace. Without regular confession, pride slithers in, and pride doesn’t forgive.

1) Ask the Holy Spirit to Reveal Recent Sins

I ask the Holy Spirit to reveal my sins, and then I allow my mind to skim over the events of the last day or so. If anything causes a twitch in my conscience, then I stop and ask the Holy Spirit to show me if I’ve done wrong. I ask him to remind me of verses that might apply.

If I’ve sinned, then I name the sin and confess it to my heavenly Father along with a Scripture that applies: “Father, I took up a reproach against Kathy. But Psalm 15 says those who draw near to you must not take up a reproach against a friend. I confess this was wrong and I ask for your forgiveness.”

It’s important to name the sin so I don’t treat it lightly.

2) Ask the Holy Spirit to Reveal Similar Sins

Jesus taught confessing and forgiving

The Hundred Guilder Print, by Rembrandt

Next I ask the Holy Spirit to show me if I’ve ever committed the same sin I’m about to forgive. Most often I have. If not, I look for similar sins.

With my mother, some offenses I had surely repeated, but no, I’d never committed some of the worse offenses. I had, however, intentionally hurt others. One example rushed to mind: at twelve I lied to my friend Kathy’s mother to get her in trouble.

Initially, I wanted to excuse this because I was retaliating. She had told our schoolmates that she had seen my mother hitting my head as I tried to get out the door on the way to school. She told them that there must be something terribly wrong about me for my mother to hate me like that. I was furious and wanted to pay her back by proving her mother hated her too. Was that a good excuse? No. God judges us by how we judge others, not how we judge ourselves. I had intentionally tried to hurt someone. I needed grace, and I needed to give it.

Besides, retaliation is itself a sin. Kathy may have hurt me unintentionally when she gossiped (at twelve, she may not have known her words would wound). But I believed it wrong; when I retaliated, I did what I believed was wrong. That’s always sin:

For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
Romans 2:1

3) Ask the Holy Spirit to Reveal Associated Sins

I ask the Holy Spirit if I have sinned in any way that is associated with the sin of the person I want to forgive. For instance, if there was a disagreement, did I misspeak in any way? If so, I need to not only confess that to God, but I need to apologize to the person for my part in the difficulty, no matter how small.

In the case of my mother, at the moment I discovered she had known her actions were wrong I hadn’t reacted in any sinful way. But something was nagging me about Kathy. I remembered that when my mother saw Kathy watching her, she ducked behind the kitchen cabinets. I had realized then that she knew her actions were wrong. There was another time, too, when a security guard threatened to call the police if he ever saw her speed around hairpin mountain roads with us in the back of the car again: she turned red and hung her head in shame.

Speaking Truth in the Heart

In my heart, I had known she wronged us intentionally. Why then had I grabbed so quickly to my teacher’s explanation that abusive parents were either ignorant or abused? Besides, it didn’t even make sense biblically. Jealousy drove Cain to kill Abel, not ignorance or wrongful hurts. My teacher was wrong: ignorance and hurt aren’t the only reasons people hurt others; we can, like Cain, choose sin.

I’d lied to myself and to God. Why? Partly because I held the false belief that thinking bad things about people made me a horrible person. But also because I believed good Christians forgive and good Christians aren’t filled with rage. Clinging to the lie pushed the anger underground and let me believe I was a good Christian doing the right thing.

I confessed my lie and the presence of anger and rage I knew shouldn’t be there.

My prayers changed that day: I started examining my emotions as I prayed so I could be utterly honest about what was inside me. Such honest prayer was humbling: it forced me to admit I’d thought too highly of myself.

Confessing and Forgiving: “As We Forgive our Debtors”

When I’ve confessed my sins, I pray, “Forgive me my sins as I forgive those who sin against me.” Then in prayer I move to forgive those who’ve sinned against me.

1) Ask the Holy Spirit to Reveal the Truth about What I’m Forgiving

Rather than brushing all sin under the carpet of unintentional, I now try to understand whether the evidence supports intentional or unintentional sin. Because “Love … believes all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7), I give the person the benefit of the doubt based on the actual evidence. I refuse to judge hidden motives:

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts
1 Corinthians 4:5

This helps me forgive what actually happened. Forgiving something that didn’t happen isn’t true forgiving. Scripture calls sin a debt, and we can err on both sides of the debt equation. If someone owes me $1,000 dollars and I accuse her of owing me $10,000, then I will have a difficult time forgiving because doing so demands that I hold to a fantasy of having been wronged more than I have. On the other hand, If someone owes me $1,000 and I offer forgiveness for $100, the hundred is easier to forgive, but it requires I hold to the lie that the other $900 wasn’t taken.

Christ preaching on confessing and forgiving

Christ Preaching (La Petite Tombe), by Rembrandt

Either way, the truth has a way of poking through lies.

Those who wish to dwell with God must speak truth in their hearts (Psalm 15:2). If what we’re forgiving is unintentional sin, then we must forgive it as such. If we’re forgiving intentional, even malicious, sin, as much as it hurts, we must acknowledge it.

2) Name the Person and the Sin

When in prayer I forgive someone, I name the person and the sin:

  • “God, I forgive Kathy for gossiping about me”
  • “I forgive my mother for driving at high speeds around hairpin turns while drunk with us in the backseat”

Naming people individually keeps me from letting this be a flippant exercise rather than part of worship. Naming the sin ensures that what I’m forgiving is an actual sin. If I cannot name the sin according to what it’s called in the Bible, then I confess that I have held something against someone that was not a sin and ask the Holy Spirit to show me why I’ve done so. Naming the actual sin often leads to meditation on why God calls that action sin. It also leads me to the next prayer part.

Confessing and Forgiving: Ask God to Forgive Me as I Forgive

I then ask God to forgive me as I forgive this person: “I forgive my mother as I want you to forgive me; I give her the grace you’ve given me.”

This prayer does not mean forgiving others causes God to forgive me, as if I must pay for forgiveness (a paltry payment indeed, compared to what really bought my forgiveness). Rather, it reminds me of what my Lord wants me to do so I may do it at once.

***

In most cases, confessing and forgiving as I’ve outlined here is all I need do. But if I’ve suffered a great loss, I must pray three more prayers.

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Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions | In this series: 
  1. What Forgiving Isn’t: 5 Stand-ins that Masquerade as Forgiving
  2. Must I Forgive THIS Sin?
  3. What Makes Confessing and Forgiving Inseparable
  4. Four Sins that Require Faith to Forgive
  5. The Ultimate Reason Behind Unforgiveness

The first step towards forgiving is committing to forgive, but to do that, I need to know: must I forgive this offense? Part 2 of “Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions.”

In my last post on What Forgiving Isn’t, I shared six substitutes that masquerade as forgiving, but which merely manage emotions for a time. Forgiving deliberate sins that cause significant hurt and loss can be difficult, but it’s possible with the Holy Spirit’s help.

My first real struggle with forgiving came in my twenties with the sudden revelation that my mother had known her hatred and mistreatment were wrong. For years I had prayed, “I forgive her because she doesn’t know better.” I thought I had forgiven her because this prayer immediately eased the anger and hurt. But the revelation that she knew better crashed into the fence of excuses I’d used to corral my emotions, and now anger, hurt, jealousy, and rage galloped over me like wild horses.

I tried telling God, “I forgive her,” but the tumultuous emotions wouldn’t go away. I wondered if it were possible to forgive and still be angry.

The first step towards forgiving when forgiving is hard is making a commitment to forgive. But before we can make such a commitment, we need to know if we need to forgive.

Must I Forgive If I’ve tried But I’m Still Angry?

I truly thought I’d forgiven. But had I? Was saying “I forgive” enough?

I looked at Scriptures about anger. Ephesians 4:31 said, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Truth be told, I was filled with rage and anger, possibly even bitterness and malice. I tried to get rid of it by emotionally thrusting it away, but it wouldn’t go.

Must I forgive? Ephesians says yes

Ephesians 4:32

I read the next verse: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” It was easy to be compassionate when I thought she didn’t know better, but how was I to be compassionate towards someone who had intentionally wronged my siblings and me? Yet this verse juxtaposed compassion and forgiving with rage and anger. It didn’t look like I could claim I’d forgiven.

Besides, a few verses earlier said, “’In your anger do not sin’: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (v. 26). This anger had built up over years.

While it’s true that it takes time for emotions to calm after a loss, the level of anger made me sure I hadn’t yet forgiven from the heart.

A thought occurred to me and I asked God, Must I forgive? I looked at different situations.

Must I Forgive What the Bible Doesn’t Call Sin?

No, the presence of hurt or anger doesn’t necessarily mean someone has sinned against me. If something’s not sinful, I need to overlook it. For example, I might not like it that two of my girlfriends had lunch without me, but they didn’t sin.

We should also pray for the Holy Spirit to show us why we’re offended over something not wrong; it might be that what’s wrong is in us rather than the other person: impatience, pride, poor planning skills. For instance, if I’m bothered that a friend corrected me, I probably should confess pride and pray for the wisdom to take correction graciously: “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you” (Proverbs 9:8).

Must I Forgive Unintentional Sin?

Jesus taught that unintentional sins are lesser sins than intentional sins: “And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” (Luke 12:47-48).

So unintentional sins—sins of ignorance and sins of weakness—are still sins, and yes, we must forgive them, not excuse or ignore them.

Must I Forgive Repeated Sin?

“But he’s done it over and over again! He says he’s sorry, but he’s not changing so how I can I believe him?” Many spouses bring this one up.

Mk11_25They’re in good company. After Jesus taught about restoring a believer who has sinned against you, Peter went to Jesus and asked how often he had to forgive: “Seven times?” Jesus answered, “Seventy-seven!” Then he told the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. The bottom line is that if we’re grateful for the mercy God has shown us, then we must show mercy to others because the debt we owe God far exceeds the debt others owe us (Matthew 18:21–35).

Besides, how many of us haven’t repeated the same sins we’ve confessed many times before? If we want God’s mercy, others must have ours.

Must I Forgive Deliberate Sin?

Yes. Jesus never said to forgive only unintentional sins. He said, For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).

Must I Forgive Unrepentant Sin?

My mother wasn’t repentant. In fact, she still threw verbal darts. Did I need to forgive her?

I searched my Bible for the answer. Although a couple passages talked about forgiving the repentant, others spoke about forgiving all sin: “But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too” (Mark 11:25). It seemed that even if we ended relationship with someone unrepentant, we must still forgive in some sense. I didn’t know in what sense yet.

But I did know I had to get rid of the bitterness and anger, and forgiving seemed the only way.

Out of sheer obedience, I prayed, “Father, I forgive her.” The anger remained, but I knew my willingness pleased God. I committed to finding a way to forgive, trusting that the God who made me willing to change would also make me able (Philippians 2:13).

The first step towards forgiving is committing to forgive Click To Tweet

Must I forgive? Six situations examined. Click To Tweet

Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions | In this series: 
  1. What Forgiving Isn’t: 5 Stand-ins that Masquerade as Forgiving
  2. Must I Forgive THIS Sin?
  3. What Makes Confessing and Forgiving Inseparable
  4. Four Sins that Require Faith to Forgive
  5. The Ultimate Reason Behind Unforgiveness
Forgiving isn’t always what we think it is. Part 1 of “Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions.”

Forgiving isn’t managing emotions. Most Christians know Jesus taught that we must forgive. But when anger and hurt linger, we sometimes turn to forgiveness substitutes that merely manage our emotions—and not all that well.

Here are five stand-ins that masquerade as forgiveness.

Forgiving Isn’t Pretending

One of my most vivid, recurring nightmares was about me lying in my bed as a man and woman quietly opened the door to my bedroom to see if I were asleep. In the nightmare, I watched them through nearly closed eyes as I pretended to sleep, repeating over and over again in my head, “I’ve got to pretend I didn’t hear or they’ll kill me; I’ve got to pretend I don’t remember or they’ll kill me.”

Our childhood home was violent. Pretending nothing happened was required.

But pretending nothing happened isn’t forgiving because forgiving is always based on truth.

When I started dating Clay, I brought the habit of pretending into our relationship. He’d ask if something were wrong and I’d respond, “No, everything is fine.” I thought telling myself everything was fine and making myself believe everything was fine was the same as being fine. Clay never let it pass and always probed. I’d be surprised at the anger that would come out when I tried to talk about things: obviously, everything wasn’t fine.

God wants us to speak truth in our heart (Psalm 15:2, 51:6). Pretending nothing is wrong is not only a lie, it’s a form of holding a grudge. Pretending’s purpose is to make others think you’ve forgotten or forgiven when you haven’t.

Forgiving isn't pretending nothing happened or nothing is wrong Click To Tweet

Forgiving Isn’t Forgetting

As with many authors, movies often play in my head. Years ago I was with a group of ministry leaders when a woman spoke up about her struggles with forgiving an abusive mother. She said, “Maybe I just need to forget.”

Immediately in my mind’s eye I saw a raincoat-clad girl begin to climb down from a boat’s deck as the boat swayed gently in a calm sea. She reached the lower deck and entered a tidy, brightly colored room with yellow walls and a painting of a red boat on a calm, blue sea. On the back wall a dark brown curtain covered a closet. The girl went to retrieve something near the closet.

Suddenly the tip of what looked like an octopus tentacle reached out from beneath the curtain and grabbed her ankle. The girl struggled, but quickly broke loose, overturning a chair as she escaped. However, the tentacle—surely a sea monster’s arm—thrashed around, toppling more furniture and knocking the painting askew before retreating behind the curtain.

Forgiving isn't easy

Jesus said we must forgive

That, I thought, is exactly what happens when you try to forget. Life seems calm and tidy, until something happens that brings you too close to the sea monster memory you’re avoiding. That memory disrupts everything.

Shoving Out of Mind Doesn’t Work

I was skilled at shoving things out of my mind. Perhaps it was because our father claimed he could read our minds and would punish us if he found we were thinking anything bad about him. I believed him. At a hair’s-breadth notice, my mind would blank out every negative experience.

In my twenties, another occurrence of my father’s rage triggered an onslaught of memories and all those shoved-down emotions came roaring back with more intensity than I thought possible.

Doesn’t God Forget Sins?

Sometimes I hear someone say that God forgets when he forgives and so should we. God doesn’t give up his omniscience such that every time a pastor preaches on David and Bathsheba, he declares, “What? I didn’t know David sinned!” In the Bible, when God says he’ll “remember” someone’s sins against him, he means he’ll punish them, and when he says he’ll “forget,” he means he will no longer punish. God knows the depth of what he forgives.

Shoving things out of your mind and trying to forget is merely an ineffective way to manage emotions: ineffective because life will trigger memories along with the accompanying emotions now multiplied.

Forgiving is neither forgetting nor shoving memories out of mind Click To Tweet

Forgiving Isn’t Taking the Blame

Victimizers blame their victims. Unless they repent and turn to Christ for forgiveness, how else can they live with their conscience?

I’ve accepted blame I shouldn’t have; I’ve jumped in with a “That’s my fault” plenty of times when it wasn’t true. Sometimes it was because I mistakenly thought something good or neutral to be bad. But other times I was simply hoping to be liked or looking for the easiest way out of conflict.

Jesus paid the price for our sins; he didn’t say he caused them. We can forgive without taking blame that isn’t ours. Knowingly accepting blame we don’t own is deception, not forgiveness. It’s a sign of being a people-pleaser rather than a God-pleaser.

Forgiving Isn’t Taking Revenge

On the other side, I’ve also given blame I should have owned, justifying cutting words because the other person was “more” wrong or was the first to do wrong. This makes forgiving harder because it requires the other person to take more blame than he or she is due, and most people refuse. Besides, God won’t let anyone truly walking with him get away with such nonsense for long.

It may feel like getting back at someone will make you feel better so you can “forgive,” but it won’t. Revenge escalates matters. Revenge—whether responding tit-for-tat, unleashing anger, or back-biting—exacts payment in place of forgiving. It’s also sin (Rom. 12:19, Col. 3:8).

Forgiving Isn’t Excusing

In my pre-teens and teens, I struggled with anger, particularly towards my mother. I longed to know why she hated me. My mom said it was because I’d ruined her life; my dad said it was because he wanted to hurt her so he told her I was smarter than she. Both answers hurt and I wanted something else: an answer that made neither my mom nor me bad people.

At about fifteen, I read the New Testament. I became a Christian in the middle of the Gospel of John. I read what Jesus said about forgiving, so I prayed, “I forgive,” over every hurt that happened.

At sixteen, I took a psychology class. The nice, graying teacher soothingly said that abusive parents were either abused themselves or just didn’t know better. I finally had an answer. I knew my grandparents weren’t abusive (my aunts have since confirmed that), so I hung on to ignorance: it’s easy to forgive someone who doesn’t know better. The anger washed away.

Until nearly a decade later when I sat in her dark living room with my sister and three-year-old nephew. He started whining that he wanted to go home. Both my sister and I jumped to hush him before my mother yelled or hit him.

She stopped us and said, “This house has a rule: No one is to say an unkind word to him.” I jerked back, stunned. She knew better! Jealousy consumed me and I said I had to leave. For years I had corralled all the anger and hurt behind the fence of “She doesn’t know better,” and now that fence had fallen and the emotions galloped out like horses finally freed.

Unintentional sin is much easier to forgive than intentional sin. But telling ourselves that deliberate sin is involuntary just because it makes it easier to forgive isn’t honest. When it comes to intentional wrongs, we must do the much harder job of forgiving without excusing.

What Forgiving Is

So forgiving isn’t pretending, forgetting, taking wrongful blame, taking revenge, or excusing. So what is it then? That topic begins in my next post.

A brief note is due: My father has changed and no longer has bouts of rage. My mother was prone to depression and was an alcoholic. I believe that before she died, she had deep regrets over many things.

Forgiving isn't excusing Click To Tweet

When it comes to intentional wrongs, we must do the hard job of forgiving w/o excusing Click To Tweet

Are you forgiving or merely managing emotions? Click To Tweet

Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions | In this series: 
  1. What Forgiving Isn’t: 5 Stand-ins that Masquerade as Forgiving
  2. Must I Forgive THIS Sin?
  3. What Makes Confessing and Forgiving Inseparable
  4. Four Sins that Require Faith to Forgive
  5. The Ultimate Reason Behind Unforgiveness
By Jean E. Jones @JeanEstherJones

Did my last post, Why Memorize Psalms? 10 Good Reasons, leave you wondering just how anyone would go about memorizing psalms?
Now, I know people who can read a long passage a few times and it’s memorized. I’m not like that. So when I decided to memorize some psalms, I first read up on memory tricks. Here are six tips I’ve found particularly helpful.

1. Pick a Bible Version that Aids Memorization

Indented lines help you memorize psalms

Tips 1+3. Indented lines help you memorize psalms–so does drawing in your Bible

Memorizing will be easier if you choose a Bible version that breaks the psalms into stanzas and lines rather than printing them as paragraphs. Hebrew poetry consists of poetic lines with parallel parts, and being able to see those parts one above the other will help you see their relationships, and that will help you memorize. For example, look at Psalm 30:5 as it’s indented in ESV (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version)) below:

For his anger is but for a moment,

and his favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night,

but joy comes with the morning.

See the relationships? That helps you remember.

2. Recite Aloud Every Day with One New Verse per Day

Andrew M. Davis wrote a helpful little book called An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture. In his method, you review every day and add one new verse per day, using these three steps.

  1. “Yesterday’s verse first”: Begin by reciting the verse you added the day before ten times aloud, looking if you need to.
  2. “Old verses next, altogether”: Recite everything you’ve memorized to date aloud, peeking if you forget anything.
  3. “New verse”: Begin memorizing the next verse in the passage by saying it ten times while staring hard at the words.

Memorize psalms with linked pictures

Tip 3. Hyssop linked to snow to remember Psalm 51:7

Davis emphasizes saying the verses aloud and “photographing the verses with your eyes.” To help me “photograph” the line, I cover everything below it with a white card while I say it and stare at it. When I’ve said it enough times to remember it, I’ll cover the line, picture it in my mind, and say it, then immediately uncover and read the line to reinforce it.

3. Use Linked Mental Pictures

Harry Lorayne and Jerry Lucas in The The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play explain that “thoughts may be associated to each other, so that one thought will remind you of the next thought” (p. 24). They advise you to think of a mental image that reminds you of the first item you want to remember, and then associate it with a picture of the second item you want to remember. Then take the second picture and associate it with an image of the third, and so on until you’ve linked all the items you want to remember.
This is very easy with visual psalms such as Psalm 23, but let me show you how to do it with a passage that has intangibles. Here’s Psalm 51:7-8 with a key word in each line in bold:

Linked pictures help you memorize psalms

Tip 3. Snow linked to hear (ear) to remember Psalm 51:7-8

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

For intangibles, substitute an image of something that sounds similar (ear for “hear” or Mary for “marry”) or connects in some way (a hand holding a tissue for “blot”). The pictures demonstrate how to associate each key word with the next. You can also sketch the pictures in your Bible.

4. Review with a Recording

When I’ve memorized several verses of a psalm, I play a recording while I recite it. This seems to engage a different part of the brain than reading: I stumble in different places! You can use the audio feature of Bible apps such as YouVersion or record yourself reading the psalm slowly and with feeling into your cellphone’s recording app, pausing between stanzas. (I usually start with YouVersion and switch to my own recording when I’m just about done with the psalm. By that time, I know how I want to read it.)

Memorize psalms with linked pictures

Tip 3. Hear linked to bones to remember Psalm 51:8

Of course, if you’re musically inclined, put the psalm to music like the Israelites did and you’ll learn it even faster.

5. Remember the Stanza Flow

Make a mental note of each stanza’s central point so you can remember their order. Here’s Psalm 30 by verse numbers:

  • 1-3: Praise
  • 4-5: Divine description
  • 6-7: Dilemma
  • 8-10: Dilemma’s prayer
  • 11-12: Thanksgiving

6. Pay Attention to Parallelism to Memorize Psalms

The most significant aspect of Hebrew poetry is its use of parallelism. Parallelism is a huge help in memorizing, as you can see in Psalm 1:1:

Parallelism helps you memorize psalms

Tip 6. Noticing parallelism helps you memorize psalms

See how much easier it is to remember how the line flows when you see the parallel parts laid out like this? The structure here is diagrammed like this: A / B C D / B’ C’ D’ / B’’ C’’ D’’. Most Hebrew poetic lines are either A B / A’ B’ or A B / B’ A’. Paying attention to how the parallel elements relate to each other helps your memory. I often write out stanzas with the parallel items stacked so I can visualize them better.

7. Use Tricks for Synonyms to Memorize Psalms

Memorize psalms with memory tricks

Tips 3+7. Face linked to blot and lips sighing (SI=Sins Iniquities) to remember Psalm 51:9

I found Psalm 51 difficult to memorize because of all the synonyms for sin. So I made a mental picture of “TIS” next to the first stanza (standing for Transgressions, Iniquity, Sin) and “TSSE IS” next to the second stanza (Transgressions, Sin, Sinned, Evil, Iniquity, Sin). For the third stanza, I took the mental picture of face linked to blot and added sighing lips to remind me of “SI” (Sins, Iniquities; see the illustration).

 ***

There you have it: the seven tips and tricks to help you memorize psalms!

Have you used these tips and tricks? What additional tips and tricks help you memorize?

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When I first read Gorden Wenham’s careful and convincing chapter in Psalms as Torah [1] that the Psalms were meant to be memorized, I asked myself, “So why haven’t you memorized any psalms?” Answer: I find memorizing long passages difficult—very difficult! But I’d recently read a book on memory tricks, so I resolved to give it a try. Besides, I loved praying psalms and knew that would be a way to add psalm praying to my regular prayer time rather than my Bible reading time.

Memorize Psalms

When we memorize Psalms, we store them in our heart

Was I surprised: I now love memorizing psalms! And it’s easier than I thought.

Here’s why.

1. When I memorize psalms I can pray them any time

Most psalms are inspired prayers meant to be sung.[2] Psalms teach us how to pray, and I’ve prayed them for years. Now that I’ve memorized four psalms, they’re available to me to pray at any time. I usually walk during my main prayer time, and I absolutely love beginning with something memorized.

2. When I memorize psalms they increase my joy & peace

I wanted to add a thanksgiving psalm to my regular prayers to help me give thanks for answered prayers. I chose the beautiful Psalm 30. Wow. Beginning each day extoling God for salvation and remembering how he brought me to him is so uplifting that it makes my heart sing. It increased my joy by leaps. It reminded me that just as God miraculously saved me, so he can get me through that day’s troubles, and that brings me peace. Yet those weren’t my goals. They are side benefits: I aimed to bless God and he blessed me!

3. When I memorize psalms I’m more likely to do what they say

Praying psalms commits me to obeying what they say. Praying, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked” (Psalm 1) commits me to obeying God, not the world. Praying, “I will extol you, oh Lord” (Psalm 30), commits me to extolling God—to magnifying him and to telling others of his good care. In fact, I now regularly follow reciting this line with a prayer, “God, how can I best extol you today?” In the midst of memorizing this psalm, I jumped at the chance to speak on overcoming fear, knowing this would be a perfect means to glorify God. Frankly, until I memorized Psalm 30, I wasn’t actively looking for ways to publicly glorify God for what he’s done in my life.

4. When I memorize psalms they prepare me to face any circumstance

Confidence songs like Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my Shepherd”) can be on my tongue the instance a difficulty strikes. This one is full of imagery, and just picturing the mental images I focused upon while memorizing this psalms brings me the peace of the psalm even before I recite the words.

5. When I memorize psalms I meditate on God’s words more frequently

The blessed man meditates on God’s words day and night (Psalm 1). In ancient times, you couldn’t meditate on God’s words at night unless you had them memorized: Torches just weren’t that efficient. With psalms memorized, I can meditate even when my Bible’s not open.

When Clay was a child his agnostic father would come into his room at bedtime and recite Psalm 23 with him. Clay quickly memorized it and remembers walking down the street to grade school reciting it to himself. He found this encouraging and spiritually formative as he was growing up even though he didn’t become a Christian until several years later in junior high.

6. Reciting psalms makes my sleep more peaceful

This was another surprise. When I awake in the middle of the night and my thoughts start racing, I can calm them by reciting psalms. This is turning out to be a good way to get back to sleep. The psalmists apparently knew this since they talk about night songs (Psalm 42:8), meditating in bed (Psalm 63:6), and awakening at night in order to meditate on God’s promises (Psalm 119:148).

7. Poetry is easier to memorize than prose

Martin Luther “described the Psalter as a mini-Bible, which sums up the whole message of the Scriptures.” [3] Since poetry is easier to memorize than histories and letters, it’s a good way to get more of God’s words into my heart.

8. Memorizing psalms is a good mental challenge

Okay, there’s nothing particularly spiritual about this. But keeping my brain active could give me more years to actively serve God.

9. Jesus memorized psalms

WWJD? Jesus quoted psalms regularly: He had them memorized. We’re called to imitate him.

10. The psalms were meant to be memorized

Why not memorize them if they were meant to be memorized? This was the clincher for me. I decided if the ancients could do this, then I could do it.

Coming next : Tips & tricks to make memorizing psalms easier

Related posts

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  1. [1]Gorden Wenham, Psalms as Torah: Reading Biblical Song Ethically (Studies in Theological Interpretation) (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012), 41-56.
  2. [2]Ibid., 63.
  3. [3]Gordon Wenham, The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms
    (Wheaton: Crossway, 2013), 40.