Memorization.

Recently, my dad memorized the Sermon on the Mount in the NIV (listen to it! The Christian Manifesto: The Sermon on the Mount). I haven't memorized a verse daily since I was in my Sunday school days as a child. I have memorized a verse here and there; but if I'm honest, I have probably forgotten them, as memorization is not a practice in my life.

Memorizing something from the Bible puts into your heart what God wants and who God is. There are some good reasons to memorize in
Psalm 119:1-11
"Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD!
Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous rules.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me!

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you."

What really hit me in the sermon, was the relationship between scripture and the working of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit needs the word of God in order to work on you, to change you.

John 17:17
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Sanctify means to set us apart, to make us holy, and to make us useful. The Holy Spirit uses the word of God - the Bible - as fuel to change you. If you are not reading the Bible the Holy Spirit doesn't have a chance! The Holy Spirit has nothing to work with; except your background, what you've heard from your family or your friends, and what you've heard for half an hour Sunday morning. He needs the word of God and without it the Holy Spirit starves.

This thought reminds me of something Jesus said in the Gospel of John 15:1-11

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

When Jesus says 'my word', I go back to what John says about Jesus in chapter one "...the Word was with God and the Word was God... the Word became flesh." (John 1:1, 14). Jesus can get 'into you' through the word of God, the Holy Bible, if you read it every day.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Don't starve the Holy Spirit.

The Word of God; is it in you?