Fighter Verses Again.pdf

Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand… Weeping endures for the night, but joy comes in the morning… For this light and momentary affliction is gaining for us an eternal weight of glory. So we look not to what is seen, but to what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal…  
 
Memorized verses flit through my mind to strengthen me. Some are verses I learned as a child…most are Fighter Verses… some are an original version resulting from the combination of childhood RSV verses and adult NIV verses. They are all the truth of God and His strengthening power to our tired souls.
 
I have always understood the value of having a verse on the tip of my tongue in order “to say a fit word” at the appropriate time. I have seen the power of a Fighter Verse in prayer. I have known the faith-preserving weapon of the word in spiritual battle. Fighter Verses—the memorized word is absolutely essential to walk victoriously toward our heavenly reward. But I am only now realizing the heart-changing subtle work of the memorized word in meditation. Through these long months of— do I say—… illness? trial?… shaping?… breaking?… humbling?… learning?… stumbling?… grace?…—it is all of this and more— I am beginning to see what Psalm 1 means when it talks about meditating on the word day and night. The only way to do this is to have the word in your head and in your mouth… so that it can eventually travel to your heart.  
 
God has brought lots of verses to me through this time, but most preciously, He has brought the same ones to mind over and over and over in a never-ceasing stream.  Words like, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all,” He continually brings to my mind to strengthen my spirit and soul. I praise Him for the encouragement and strength of soul that meditating on the word of God brings. Others like, “I relieved your shoulder of the burden” and “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it”… only begin to make sense after years of exposure to them and months of meditating on them. This is the way profound truth is learned. God opens our blind eyes and changes our stubborn hearts through the soaking work of the word of God. This happens because the memorized word is ever-present slowly working its way into our souls day by day.
 
Why memorize the words of Scripture? Because they are not just words, they are truths. They are heart-searching, will-breaking and soul-changing truths.  
 
May God’s Word run forth with power, bringing in a harvest of heart change.