(May 4, 2011)

Prayer House News!

This is Family Week which means we have no classes tonight. Don't be there by 6:30pm.

======================================

Devotional!

Then I Remembered

Back in 1976 I attended one of Bill Gothard’s seminars and he talked about a formula he had discovered to success. He also made the statement that only 1 in 10,000 will follow this formula. I thought to myself; “If it’s truly successful or it will make me successful – why would so few follow it?” After trying it, I found out why. However, after following it I can testify to the truth of it, I truly experienced success.

Gothard took 9 years to complete 8 years of school then with very low grades. Prior to his entering high school he determined to make good grades – but with 4 to 6 ours of studying a night he only managed average grades. Then a Christian friend challenged him to begin a certain project, which at first seemed impossible. However, he diligently worked on this project for a semester. At the end of that semester the school grades rose to an A- average! The project was continued during the remaining years of high school, whereupon he graduated as a member of the National Honor Society. The project was maintained off and on during college and graduate school. To his amazement, in direct proportions to his faithfulness in this project, his grades went either up or down.

The project was this – memorizing scripture. Bill would memorize a chapter of the Bible each week.

The second to my last semester in Bible school – I enrolled in a class with Don Meyers studying the book of Isaiah. Bro. Meyers threw out a challenge the first day. As he was going through the syllabus and explaining all the tests and term papers that would be expected he ended it with this, “Anybody willing to memorize the book of Isaiah, can not only skip all the testes, but not do any term papers either. The only requirement would be that you come to class.” Being the type that always looked for the easy way out, I said, “I’m going to try it.”

Isaiah has 66 chapters, and 1292 verses. And in the beginning it looked enormous, but after getting in it I found out it was true – it is enormous. I wasn’t sure if my mind was good for anything so I determined a test for me – I said I would memorize the first 5 chapters – and after that if I could still remember the 1st chapter I would continue on. Well, after the first 5 I could still remember the 1st. I got started around the end of September. By the end of November (2 months) I had memorized 20 chapters. 1/3 of the way done.

To make a long story short – because of time – I was only able to finish about ½ of the book (30 chapters). But in January I sat down with the teacher for three days in a row, and quoted 10 chapters at each setting. Not the easy way. Didn’t just take a chapter and quote it – the teacher went through each chapter and would pick out a verse here and a verse there and ask me to quote them. Because I didn’t finish the entire book of Isaiah I had to take the last test. Aced the test. No sweat. Still got my “A” for the class.

That’s just half the story – during that semester I took one of my heaviest loads at school. Twelve credits is a full time student – I was taking 17. I had six other term papers as well as working full time at our church as the youth pastor. Lou and I had only been married one year. That particular semester – for the first time in my life – I made the honor-roll at college.

This thing works! I would challenge any one of you to try it. The continuous mental discipline of memorizing and mediating on Scripture rebuilt my thought structures and redirected my goals. It’s not something that is simply spiritual – there are some very logical by-products of memorizing such as, increased memory span. After spending so much time on such a large portion of scripture I found myself able to take 12 pages of notes from a different class and completely memorize them, an hour before the test, go in and ace a test.

A Greater ability to concentrate is another benefit. I cold sit in class and the things I didn’t have in my notes I was able to remember from lectures. My reading as well – I was never a good reader. I had a very limited concentration span. I would begin to read something and without even realizing it, I would find myself thinking about something else. What you are doing through memorizing is taxing your mind – you are forcing it to work. And in doing so you will find that you have a tremendous ability within yourself.

===================================

Medication: A Merry Heart

How do you kill a circus?
Go straight for the juggler.