We are continuing a series of posts about the importance of memorizing Bible verses. Our previous posts were about memorizing verses to help us in the battle against sin and discouragement. This post dives into an entirely new topic.

We have a wonderful privilege as Christians, we get to praise God! Praising God isn’t something that will end once we die, we will be praising God in eternity as well. He is certainly worth our praise and much more! But what does this have to do with memorizing Bible verses? We can memorize Bible verses to help us praise the Lord. How? There are a few verses I think on from time to time that fill my heart with praise to the Lord. I am going to share a few of them with you now.

• “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork.” Psalm 19:1. There is much more to this Psalm than just this first verse, but it is what starts my mind on the amazing power of God. This verse comes to my mind whenever I see anything in creation that I see as beautiful. Sunsets are one of my favorites. The autumn leaves are something else I love to see! A snow covered landscape (being born and raised in Georgia, this is not something we have ever seen a lot of), majestic mountains, deep green valleys, creeks and rivers, a clear starry night, etc. When I see and take in any of these things or things like them, my mind almost immediately goes to this verse. All of creation declares the glory of God, and thinking on this verse brings us to praising God for what He has done.
• “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. We go from a general verse that touches my heart to praise God to now a very personal verse that touches my heart to praise Him. This verse is all about reconciliation. It can be confusing at first reading due to all of the pronouns, but once I understood what God was telling us in this verse, it filled my heart with praise for God! It still does today! The verse is saying that God the Father made Jesus to be sin for us (all mankind). God made Jesus to be sin even though before this point Jesus knew no sin, meaning Jesus had never sinned. Why? Why would God make Jesus be sin? The answer is for us! That we might be made the righteousness of God in Jesus! So in other words, when God the Father sees us, He does not see sinner, God sees “the righteousness of God” in Jesus! How can this not make you want to praise the Lord!?!?
• “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17. This verse is in context to the rapture, when Jesus comes back for His own. The dead in Christ shall rise first and then we which are alive shall be caught up (raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet Jesus in the air. This is a great promise, but the end of the verse is what I would like to draw your attention to. “and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. That means “FOREVER”. We are talking about the future, about eternity. We will be with God forever! What does this do in your heart? It ought to bring us to praise Jesus!

There are many more verses that can be cited, but I think this is all very clear on how memorizing specific Bible verses will propel us to worship and praise God. Creation, salvation, and eternity with God are just a few examples. Use God’s Word to fill your heart with Praise for the God who made you and loves you!

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Efesios 5:19

We postpone our current blog series until next week to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. We are thankful for each of you. Thank you for keeping up with our ministry in Argentina! We are grateful to have you all with us on this journey as we serve the Lord. 

We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, Ivy, and Isla Henry

Last Sunday we were in Ohio (Akron and Ashtabula). From there we drove down to be a part of a mission conference in Sebring, Florida. This Sunday we will be in Blairsville, Georgia for both the morning and evening services. With each meeting we are given the opportunity to testify of what God is doing and what we believe He will do in the coming days, months, and years! Thank you for your faithful prayers.

The next few posts are about the importance of memorizing Bible verses. The theme of our post last week was about memorizing Bible verses to have victory over sin. This week, we are going to look at another reason to memorize Bible verses. Discouragement is something everyone deals with. It can be at work, with the family, or in your own personal life and goals. Sometimes things don’t go like we hoped they would and that causes discouragement. How do we deal with discouragement? Is it even okay to be discouraged? I think the hard truth is that discouragement is a part of life. It is okay to get discouraged, although I don’t think you should remain discouraged! Being discouraged as a result of something and remaining discouraged are two totally different things. What can we do? I believe God’s Word has the answer. We should memorize verses in the Bible to help us in times of discouragement. 

People dealt with discouragement in the Bible. Remember that David encouraged himself in the Lord. “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” I Samuel 30:6 David was more than just discouraged, he was scared! The people that had followed him and trusted him were now ready to kill him. I think discouragement is an understatement! What did David do in this time? He encouraged himself in the Lord. How did he do so? The Bible doesn’t specifically make that clear, but I am sure he through on how God has worked in his life before, about how God loved him and cared for him. These things will help us too!

When you are discouraged, think on these Bible verses…

• God loves you. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” 1 John 3:1. Maybe things are bad, but God loves you. In failure God loves you, in success God loves you, and even in discouragement God loves you!
• You are accepted. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:6. If you are a believer in Jesus, you are accepted. God is not watching you to see if you can stay “good enough”, you weren’t good enough to begin with! You are accepted!
• Jesus is preparing a place for you in Heaven. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:1-3. This life isn’t forever, in 100,000 years you will be with Jesus. What is going on right now cannot continue forever. Things will get better!
• Jesus has offered to take your burden. “²⁸ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30. Discouragement can be a heavy burden, but Jesus wants to take that from you. 

It is great to have these verses on file to read, but it is even better to have them in your heart, so that when you are discouraged, the Holy Spirit recalls them to you! Sometimes you don’t have a Bible handy to read, but it is always with you when you memorize Scripture!