For God loved the world so much that he
gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish
but have eternal life. John 3:16
Have you ever memorized a Bible verse? Chances are
if you have committed a verse or verses to memory that John 3:16 was the first
verse you memorized. Did you memorize it in the Kings James Version (KJV)? The
verse as it is written above is in the New Living Translation (NLT). Recently
when I was chatting with friends about scripture memorization the general
consensus of the group was that they previously had memorized scripture in the
KJV and now they prefer to read and memorize in another version—either the New
American Standard Bible (NASB), the New International Version (NIV) or the NLT.
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| Jesus - Son of God |
My challenge to you and to myself…is to memorize a
verse a week. That will be 52 verses for the year. That is a great goal…and a
great accomplishment. Consider the reason you are memorizing. Are you doing it
to impress others…to make yourself look good…or to please God and allow Him to
transform your mind? Most people don’t think that they can memorize—especially
as we get older—but here are some memorization keys.
·
Pray about the verse and ask God to help you be successful in memorizing
the verse.
·
Read the verse in context and try to understand what it means.
·
Meditate on the verse.
·
Say the verse out loud, several times. Make a song out of it.
·
Hand write the verse several times.
·
If you draw or paint—make a picture of the verse. (Good for visual
learners.)
·
Record and listen to your verse. (Especially good for auditory learners.)
·
Learn and say the reference with the verse.
·
Take your verse with you. Post your verse where you will see it often…on
your bathroom mirror, by your kitchen sink, on your computer screen and maybe
even in your car—but don’t let it distract your driving!
·
Get someone to be your memory partner—even if you are not memorizing the
same verse it is helpful to have each other to correct and encourage one
another.
·
Use a Bible App.
·
Review—Review—Review.
Start with this one small verse…and then later we’ll
be able to tackle longer passages.
Read the verse in context…
But if you don't believe me
when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell
you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the
Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake
on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that
everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For God loved the world
so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not
to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment
against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has
already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son. John 3:12-18
In John 3:16 Jesus is reminding the Pharisee leader,
Nicodemus, that God loved the world…and all the people that He created. Jesus
explained that we must experience spiritual birth to be part of the Kingdom of
God—to be part of God’s family and to have eternal life. Choosing to believe or
not is important—especially since not believing results in judgment. Jesus
said some astounding things to Nicodemus. This one verse is a life changer for
most people who become Christians.
For God loved the world so
much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Consider the meaning of the verse for you
personally.
Prayer – Lord God, this is the
beginning of a New Year...and another chance to start over--clean slate. Jesus,
shine Your light into my life anew--illuminating my thoughts and actions that I
would think, say and do things that are spiritually pleasing to You. I
believe in You, Jesus. You are the Son of God—and I look forward to spending life
eternally with You.
Bible Reading: January 2 - Genesis 4-7
© 2019 Text and Photos by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights
reserved.
All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation
(NLT) unless otherwise noted.
www.blueletterbible.org/dailyreading
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