hiding His Word in our hearts

Something that I've never done much of is Scripture memorization...that is, until I came here to Mexico! Now I have to (or should I say, GET to) memorize 1 verse per week for discipleship class and 5 verses per month for children's ministry. And I'm starting to meditate and memorize more on my own as well.  I'm fairly sure that I now know more Scripture in Spanish now that in English!  I'm learning the importance of "hiding God's Word in my heart" (Psalm 119:11 - one of the kids' memory verses) and knowing His Word is renewing my mind and reshaping my heart.

We're trying to help the kids at church with the same.  After 5 months, we've now learned 25 memory verses together. These kids are incredible, the way that they can memorize! I love it when we are doing a responsive reading at church and even though it's the leaders turn to read, when we come to a verse that they've learned all of the kids just chime in! I know that they aren't always grasping the full idea of each verse, but they are storing the words away in their hearts and little by little they're making connections between God's Word and their lives...

My two favorite stories about this involve 6 year-old Israel. One day Giovanni (his dad and our pastor) was discouraged about something and feeling like it was an impossible situation. I asked Israel to remind his dad what Matthew 19:26 says and he immediately said: "With God, everything is possible!" Another time, we were at the laundrymat and Israel was trying to convince me to buy him some ice cream. He was trying to tell me that it was the kind thing to do (we had just learned about the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23) but couldn't remember the word. Finally he comes up with: "You know, the APPLES of the flesh and the APPLES of the Spirit!" So he was a little off in the wording, but he definately understood the concept!  (I still didn't buy him the ice cream though...)

 

We're now in the midst of reviewing our 25 memory verses in preparation for the much-anticipated upcoming competition, which will be held in conjunction with the church's 1st anniversary celebration.  Last Sunday, we filled 50 balloons with the citation (is that the right word?) for each memory verse and inflated them all.  Then each team (boys versus girls) took turns popping the balloons and saying the verse...

It was a close game the whole way, but in the end, the victory went to the boys!

Pray for these kids, and for me, that God will continue to work in our lives through learning His Word.