I know the roads by heart. Although it’s a 3-hour drive to see my grandkids, there are only a handful of turns.

So two weeks ago when GPS was advising me to take an unusual exit off the interstate, I wasn’t sure whether or not to follow it. I already knew the best route, the easiest path, the quickest roads.

And this unusual exit wasn’t it.

The Road Well Traveled

The 6-lane interstate is wide and quick. We naturally want to take the proven path, the one everyone else advises, the one that’s worked for us in the past.

But in our memory verse this week, Jesus was advising us again the road well traveled.

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
Matthew 7:13

Read how The Message puts it:

Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do.
Matthew 7:13

We’ve been learning already in Matthew 7 about that narrow gate and the roads it has us travel:

• Don’t be judgmental
• Deal with your flaws first
• Ask for what you need
• Trust God’s gifts
• Do to others as you’d want done to you

Those can be some backwoods country roads. God sometimes takes us off-roading on dirt paths and up gravel driveways. He’s less concerned about the quickest route and more concerned about growing us along the journey and getting us to the proper destination.

Following our spiritual GPS may seem mysterious at times. And sometimes harder. And maybe even lonely now and again.

The way of faith is often a narrow way.

But the rewards? They’re always worth it! (We’ll see that in next week’s memory verse, Matthew 7:14, and the last memory verse of our Fall memory challenge).

God’s Direction

On my trip to see my granddaughters, I decided to follow the GPS instructions and get off I-65 earlier than I normally do.

And it paid off. I learned later that a bridge had gone out on I-65. Traffic had backed up for miles. If I had stayed on my regular path of following the crowd, my delay could have been hours.

Entering by the narrow gate may not always feel comfortable, but if God is the one pointing us to it, let’s take it.

Do you use GPS or are you an old-school paper map driver? How is your spiritual GPS? Share your thoughts in the comments.

How Do You Want to Be Treated?

When I’m sick, I don’t want people hovering over me. I don’t want to answer phone calls about how I’m doing. I don’t want to report my pain levels every hour to update my condition.

So when others are sick, I assume that’s how they want to be treated too.

But that’s a risky assumption.

In our memory verse for this week, Jesus is telling His followers to treat others like they would want to be treated.

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:12

We’ve labeled it the Golden Rule. But what exactly does it mean? Was Jesus telling them to do the exact things they’d prefer themselves?

Therefore Is There For…?

Matthew 7:12 begins with “So,” or as other translations put it, “Therefore.”

So let’s take a few steps backwards to see what “therefore” is there for.

In the previous eleven verses we’ve been memorizing, Jesus is explaining how love behaves.

Dallas Willard lays it out like this in his book Divine Conspiracy.

“In the previous verses (1-11) agape love has been concretely illustrated in three ways:

1. Not condemning of blaming those around us (vv. 1-5).
2. Not forcing ‘wonderful things’ upon them (v. 6).
3. Just asking for what we want from them—and from God (vv. 7-11).”

At times, it may feel like a risk to treat others this well.

• Maybe they’ll take advantage of our goodness.
• Maybe we don’t know what they really need.
• Maybe we don’t want to put ourselves in their shoes to find out.

But the more we learn to trust God for what WE need, the more we can learn to give others what THEY need. We’re in the sweet spot. We get our own needs met from God as we meet the needs of others.

Treat Others Well

As we want our own needs to be met, let’s meet the needs of others. It might not look exactly the same from person to person. While I prefer a hands-off approach to caring for me when I’m sick, someone else might prefer the exact opposite. If I’m to fulfill the Golden Rule, I give them what THEY need, because I would want them to give me what I need when it’s my turn.

Lean on grace to do it. It’s the only way we can succeed. Without the love of God operating in us, this summation of God’s law is too hard for us.

When we ask God for grace and love for others, He won’t give us the equivalent of stones or serpents (Matthew 7:9-10). He’ll give us what we need so we can pass grace along to the next person.

Let’s continue asking God for courage and compassion to live out the Golden Rule to treat others as well as we would want to be treated, however that looks.

The Bad Dad

You’ve see him. Maybe at the checkout line at Walmart. He is ignoring his toddler’s pleas for candy. Until he’s not. He comes to life and yells at the child, jerks her up, yells at her.

It’s the bad dad.

Yet . . . even with him, if YOU were to turn around and make an ugly comment about the child, this dad would likely be the first to defend her.

Don’t mess with his kid.

Jesus understood this. He knows how we work (we’re all the bad dad sometimes). That even on our best days, we’re not very good.

But even on our worst days, we inherently want to protect our child from outside threats.

The Good Dad

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
Matthew 7:11

As we study and memorize Matthew 7:11 this week, let’s remember this truth about God: God’s gifts are ALWAYS good (James 1:17).

His gifts may not always seem good at the moment (discipline doesn’t usually “feel” good, even though it is good for us, Hebrews 12:9-11).

But we can trust that God will always be good.

God is the perfect parent.

His Perfect Gifts

So go to God for what you need. Ask. Seek. Knock. He’s a door, not a wall (Matthew 7:7-8).

How many ways did Jesus have to say it? Over and over He drove home this message: Go to the Father when you are in trouble. He’s a safe Dad (Matthew 7:9-10). He’s got your back.

When we ask, we receive. We get God’s protection. We get His lavish gift of grace. We even get His very Spirit placed inside us (read the parallel passage, Luke 11:13).

We’ve all seen good dads. A new father holding his precious child for the first time is a beautiful sight to see.

And if we know this is beautiful?

How much more lovely is the view of God holding us in His hands!

How you seen exceptional parents? Have you overcome being raised by bad parents? How do you experience God as Father? Share your thoughts in the comments.

When We’d Rather Give

We’re so reluctant to ask.

My husband Jeff had shoulder surgery last Friday. His right arm will remain in a sling for a few days. For now, he can’t do all the things he once did.

He needs help. But he doesn’t like asking for it.

Isn’t that the way we all are?

We’re more comfortable being the givers than the takers.

• Maybe we don’t want to become indebted to a giver.
• Or we don’t think we’ll receive what we want.
• Or it hurts our pride to be on the receiving end.

But it’s safe to ask.

Know Who to Ask

Jesus kept driving home this point in the Sermon on the Mount. We resume memorizing Matthew 7 this week.

This week’s verses are:

“Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?”
Matthew 7:9-10

Jesus is reminding us how the process works.

When children have needs, they ask their parents for help. The parents in turn want to meet those needs however possible.

When we, too, know who to ask, we also will receive.

And when we know to ask God? We’ll receive exactly what we need.

Remember: It’s safe to ask.

It’s Important to Ask

When Jeff asks me for help putting on his socks, I’m not going to step on his toes instead. Or when he needs a lift to physical therapy, I’m not going to give him a bicycle.

Next week we’ll hear this more firmly from Jesus in Matthew 7:11.

But this week, let’s remember to ask for what we need. It’s important to ask. Go to the Father. With confidence and courage. He wants us to.

Jesus says so: it’s safe to ask.

Don’t tear down walls to get through; just knock on the door. God will open it.

Study and memorize Matthew 7:7-8 with us this week.

[NOTE: Next week, Oct 11-17, is our planned 1-week break from Matthew 7.]

“Ask with confidence and humility.
Seek with care and application.
Knock with earnestness and perseverance.”
– Adam Clarke

Walls Stop Us

Has your home ever been flooded? If you live in a flood-prone area or along the coast when a hurricane strikes, you’re likely familiar with the problems of flooding.

When our local disaster relief group PAR cleans up homes after hurricanes, they often have to tear down walls that have severe water damage so they can be rebuilt. It’s hard work and if not done properly, can cause additional damage to the structure of the home.

In our everyday lives, we often try to tear down walls, too, perhaps creating even more damage along the way and using up our emotional and relational energy.

• We judge what’s not ours to judge (Matthew 7:1).
• We try to extract specks from others when we have logs in our eyes (Matthew 7:3).
• We throw holy things to dogs and give pearls to pigs (Matthew 7:6).

Trying to barge through a wall is too hard. It stops us.

And it’s unnecessary.

Doors Are the Better Way

Here are this week’s memory verses.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8

In these verses we discover there is a better way to get to the other side than ripping out walls.

1. LOOK FOR THE DOOR

We don’t have to try to go through a wall. There is a door instead. Go to the source; go to God.

Charles Spurgeon said,

“His doors are meant to open: they were made on purpose for entrance; and so the blessed gospel of God is made on purpose for you to enter into life and peace. It would be of no use to knock at a wall, but you may wisely knock at a door, for it is arranged for opening.”

Don’t try to go through a wall. It’s not an opening.

2. KNOCK ON THE DOOR

Try the door instead. Knock on it. Again and again. Don’t leave too soon if you don’t get an answer right away.

Be persistent in your knocking (Luke 18:1-8). In the original language, “ask, seek, knock” are in the present imperative tense. That means they imply continuous action, not one-time events: Ask and keep asking. Seek and keep seeking. Knock and keep knocking.

3. TRUST GOD TO OPEN THE DOOR

Anybody can knock on a door. It takes no special skills, no special tools. Trust God to open when you knock (don’t try to kick it in), and then take what He gives you. Let God be in control. He’s the One who holds all good gifts. He wants to give them to us when we ask Him (James 1:5-6).

Rewards on the Other Side of the Door

And then? Jesus said everyone who asks, receives. The one who seeks, finds. To the one who knocks, it will be opened.

• You’ll receive exactly what you need, not just what you think you need.
• You’ll find the One you’re looking for who can help you in everything.
• You can walk through doors that God opens for you.

We don’t want to live in homes with ripped-out walls. No one wants to crawl through sledge-hammered holes to get from one room to the next.

God gives us a better option: Just knock. He’ll open the door.

Has God opened a door for you that you couldn’t have entered otherwise? Testify to His goodness. Share in the comments.

Can our gifts hurt more than they help? How do we decide what to give and to whom?

Memorize and study Matthew 7:6 with us this week.

Extravagant Gift-Giving

Maria was about 10 years old. We had become friends the week we were in El Salvador.

On the Sunday morning our group was packing up to leave, Maria ran home to get something. She returned with a box. It contained a giraffe cup and saucer.

She handed it to me. It was a parting gift. I didn’t want to accept it. It was likely a prized possession.

Should I, the American woman from a wealthy country, take this present from the Salvadorian child who had much less to give?

What Did Jesus Mean?

When we read this week’s memory verse, we wonder what Jesus meant.

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”
Matthew 7:6

It can be taken two ways. Jesus might have been meant:

(1) Don’t give a valuable gift to the undeserving. They won’t take care of it.

But Jesus wouldn’t say some people are too worthless or undeserving of His love. He values everybody, wanting all to know Him and be saved.

Perhaps he meant this?

(2) Don’t push people into accepting what they’re not ready for. It won’t help them.

The difference is subtle. But the difference is real.

In Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard has a name for those who give pearls to pigs: “pearl pushers.”

Willard gives this illustration. Parents who push religion on kids often cause them to rebel. Trying to “manipulate or impress others into rightness and goodness with our condemning and our ‘pearls’ or holy things” can backfire.

They are pearl pushers.

Give Helpful Gifts

Sometimes people just aren’t ready yet for the gifts we try to give them. Our gifts wouldn’t be helpful at this point. It would like shoving pearls into pigs. Pigs can’t digest pearls.

Willard says,

“The point is not the waste of the ‘pearl’ but that the person given the pearl is not helped.”

We often want to give extravagantly. We can become overeager to share the good news with friends, ready or not. Or we want to give unsolicited advice that helped us.

But giving unwanted gifts can turn people against us. They become suspicious, wondering what we want in return. They don’t want to feel indebted to us, so they resent the gift. We lose their trust.

Just as teenagers don’t want our religion shoved down their throat, or butterflies don’t want their cocoons stripped off them too soon, our premature gifts or inappropriate gifts can be more harmful than helpful.

Instead, we can try to discern the recipient’s need and ability to receive our gift before we give it. Be judicious about pulling out our holy things. Get to know the person first before we shower them with pearls they won’t wear.

God does this with us. He sometimes waits to give us the right gift until we’re ready to use it properly. We’re not always ready for certain blessings because we’re too immature to handle them, just as we don’t give expensive jewelry to a toddler.

What Are Your Pearls?

When my young friend Maria tried to give me the cup and saucer, I first said no. I couldn’t take this! It was too much, too expensive from her.

But when I saw how much it meant to her, I couldn’t not take it. I received her gift, her pearls, as pearls, with excitement, and with love.

Perhaps the cup and saucer has come to mean even more to me than it could to her. For the past 9 years, I’ve kept it front and center on my bedroom shelf. It reminds me of unselfish giving. Of quick love. Of tender hearts.

I showed it recently to my 2-year-old granddaughter. She immediately wanted to play with it. I pulled it down from the shelf. She’s still too young to be given free rein with it, but we sat together with it on the carpet and examined it. I want her to understand it is special.

It’s one of my pearls.

What is a pearl you can give to someone this week? Who is ready to receive a holy thing from you and who is not?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Blurry vision leads to extra problems. Take the log out of your eye so you can see clearer.

Study and memorize Matthew 7:5 with us this week.

I thought I’d be the exception. I wouldn’t need glasses. My vision would stay 20/20 despite my age. I would will it to happen.

But, no surprise, you can’t just will yourself to see clearly.

I had my yearly eye exam last Thursday. It’s the only doctor I look forward to visiting because so much depends on it. If I went to keep reading books, keep seeing my granddaughters’ faces up close, keep threading a needle, I need my vision.

Jesus was giving more than optometry advice when He spoke to His listeners on the mountainside. Listen to our memory verse for this week:

You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:5

If we want to see clearly, we first have to realize when there’s a problem. And be willing to correct it.

Otherwise, we just create more problems. For ourselves and for others.

I don’t know what your logs are. I have plenty of my own to wrestle with.

But whatever each of our weaknesses are, we need to take care of them before we can adequately help other people.

If we don’t? We’re hypocrites. Just pretenders. Acting as if we’re capable, when we’re not.

My eye doctor said my vision had not worsened since my last visit. That was good news. But I still need glasses to see up close. Maybe I’ll use them to take out a log or two along the way….

Share your thoughts in the comments.

Unwanted Gifts

In between the births of our 2nd and 3rd children, we switched churches. As my due date approached for our 3rd daughter, the ladies in my new small group I attended wanted to host a baby shower for me.

But I didn’t need a baby shower. I actually didn’t want another baby shower. I had all the baby things already. And I was still a relative newcomer; I didn’t want extra attention drawn to myself.

They kept insisting. I felt awkward. It seemed rude to keep declining their offer, yet it seemed worse to agree to gifts I didn’t need.

We’ve all received gifts we didn’t want. Maybe a sweater we’d never wear or a knick-knack we’d never set out or food we’d never eat.

I’ve given my share of useless gifts too.

But sometimes? Gifts are not only useless, they may be hurtful.

Actually, I was afraid to get another baby shower. Our 2nd baby had died right after birth. To receive a baby shower for this 3rd child felt too risky.

When Our Giving Hurts More Than Helps

Our giving hurts more than helps when we give unsolicited advice. Unwanted help. Critical suggestions. It’s what Jesus was saying in this week’s memory verses:

3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when there is the log in your own eye?
Matthew 7:3-4

What do our logs look like?

• When we offer to help but we have bad motives, we have a log in our eye.
• When we give to get something for ourselves in return, we have a log in our eye.
• When we criticize a friend to make ourselves feel better, we have a log in our eye.

We’d do well to take the psalmist’s advice first:

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:23-24

Self-awareness isn’t the same as self-absorption. Self-awareness is part of being kind. It’s taking a look in the mirror to straighten ourselves up before we give offensive advice to others on how to clean themselves up.

A Better Gift

With better vision, we’re then able to give better gifts (such as, understanding, compassion, encouragement, prayer). We can actually be helpful if someone needs a hand getting a speck out of their eye instead of poking our dirty logs of condemnation and judgment into their tender eyes. We may even be asked to help more often as we grow and become blessings to others.

The ladies offering to give me a baby shower finally convinced me to say yes when they offered a time of celebration instead of a time of gift-giving. They blessed me with words of encouragement and camaraderie. I felt loved by their gift of prayer and presence.

I appreciated and needed those gifts.

Jesus wasn’t telling His listeners that day on the mountain to not help a brother out. But He was saying to check yourself first for logs and beams before you help others with specks and motes.

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Are Christians too judgmental? Most polls say yes.

Memorize Matthew 7:1-2 with us this week: “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

The  Billboard

The same billboard catches my eye every time. As I drive back and forth on Highway 280, the words loom large. They preach: “STOP JUDGING.”

I always wonder, “Who paid for this? And why?” Is it a progressive organization responding to a harsh church? Is it a Christian group striving to protect its reputation? Is it a political group making a point?

Last week I decided to find out. I made a note to look up the website when I got home: stopjudging.org.

It wasn’t what I expected.

Do You Judge?

This week we’re studying and memorizing Matthew 7:1-2 (you can join our memory challenge here).

Jesus said these words: “Judge not, that you be not judged”. It sounds so simple: Don’t judge. Don’t draw definitive conclusions about someone else’s opinions or behaviors as right or wrong.

We read similar thoughts from Paul and James:

“Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.”
Romans 14:4

“There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?”
James 4:12

Yet, we do it anyway. We judge.

• Sometimes we judge based on political party or favored candidate.
• We judge if someone isn’t wearing a mask or if they are.
• We judge others based on accents, on clothing, on causes supported or not supported on social media.
• We judge by church attendance, by doctrinal stances, by worship styles.

We assume our way is the right way. So if others don’t agree with us, they must be wrong. And too often, we let them know.

We frame it as “speaking the truth in love,” but others perceive it as obnoxiously spouting our opinions.

Don’t Judge

Yet Jesus is clearly saying here: “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

That doesn’t mean we can’t hold opinions and form beliefs. Jesus wants us to hold onto His teachings, to properly discern right and wrong. And to help others do likewise.

But there’s a line we aren’t to cross. Don’t pass judgment on a fellow human. We don’t know enough to do so. Only God sees what is in a person’s heart. He alone can properly read motives.

And when we refuse to stop judging? When we remain judgmental?

We reap what we sow: the world judges us back. Unfavorably. It reflects bad on us. It reflects bad on Jesus.

Our judgmental attitudes need to go.

Love More

When I arrived home last week, I looked up the website from the billboard, stopjudging.org.

It discovered it is a statewide campaign launched by the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Alabama Department of Mental Health. The goal? Stop judging those with mental illness and substance disorders. Stop piling on shame and ridicule. Start healing instead.

The site gives a list of resources. It gives a list of vocabulary we can use to change the way we talk, to change the way we’re perceived, and to change the way others feel perceived by us.

I think they’re on to something. They’re encouraging conversations of kindness and understanding, to help free people from unwanted behaviors, to promote healing for illnesses.

I think it’s what Jesus was saying, too.

Jesus didn’t need a billboard to say it. He said it in a sermon on a mountain.

But maybe He also is using this billboard to remind us of His message: Stop judging.

We have many opportunities every day to practice this. We’ll improve our reputation (and by default, His reputation) by loving more, judging less.

That’s how people will know we are His: by our love, not our judgments.

Have you ever felt judged? Done the judging? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Want to sign up to memorize Matthew 7, but haven’t yet?

Today is your moment. You’ve got nothing to lose!

When you register, you’ll get links to our resources and a weekly email for 10 weeks.

Memorize with us every week. Or just read and study alongside us.

Quick signup here:

Get more details here.

We took an unofficial poll in our scripture memory group, Hide His Word. How would you fill in the blank?

“The hardest thing for me about memorizing scripture is _____.”

The #1 difficultly we had with memorizing scripture? Being consistent.

Beginning September 6, 2020, we’ll start a 10-week challenge to memorize Matthew 7:1-14. We’ll finish the week before Thanksgiving.

How can we be consistent from week to week to transfer these words from paper to our heart?

4 Ways to Be More Consistent in Memorizing Scripture

Here are 4 ways to be consistent in memorizing scripture.

1. TAKE BABY STEPS

Set small but specific goals. Keep them reasonable.

Our challenge is to learn 1-2 verses a week. That’s all. Set aside 5 minutes a day. Simply say the verses to yourself 3-5 times a day, looking at them when necessary, looking up when you can.

Some people prefer learning one phrase per day. Others use 1st letter prompts. Or practice the verses by typing them. (We’ll send you lots of resources and links to help you when you sign up to learn Matthew 7.)

Whatever your preferred method, keep it quick. You’ll be more apt to do it.

2. ELIMINATE OBSTACLES

Make it easy. Make it obvious.

If you have to dig out your Bible or chase down your 3×5 memory cards every time you want to memorize, you’re less likely to do it. Place copies of the text now in several places. Where are you most likely to see them each day? Perhaps on the bathroom mirror, on the refrigerator door, by the remote control.

If you’re a morning person, recite in the morning before tiredness becomes an obstacle. If time is a problem, listen to the text on audio during your daily commute or while you’re making your coffee.

Think ahead about excuses you’ll use. Then defeat the excuses before they defeat you.

3. SET REMINDERS

Often we just forget to memorize. How can you remind yourself?

First, create a schedule. We’ve created a schedule here for Matthew 7:1-14.

Then, try these suggestions. Maybe an accountability partner can help you remember. Make a weekly date to recite to each other. Or set a daily timer on your phone to spend 5 minutes with your verses. Create an item on your digital task list to recite the verses.

We’ll also be here to remind you. We’ll send you a weekly email with the current verses and first letters. We’ll post a Monday morning devotional here at the blog. We’ll ask you on Facebook each Monday about the verses you’re choosing to learn that week. And check in with you on Fridays about your progress.

4. FOCUS ON THE GOAL

Why do you want to memorize anyway? Memorizing is great exercise for your brain. But higher goals are (1) to grow closer to God, and (2) to love others better.

Spending time with Jesus in His words is a great way to connect with Him, not only in the minutes you’re actually memorizing, but deep in the night when you wake up or when you’re seeking wisdom in the middle of the day.

Study the context. Read the surrounding chapters of the Sermon on the Mount. Use a YouVersion reading plan to stay connected (we suggest this 10-day plan).

Talk to God in your prayers about these words. Let it be material for conversations with Him as well as for conversations with others about Him.

Is It Time to Try?

Don’t think you’ll memorize perfectly. No one can.

But an imperfect attempt to memorize is better than a perfect failure to try.

Only by the grace of God can any of us memorize scripture and allow the Spirit to use His truths for our transformation.

If scripture memorization is something you’ve wanted to improve on, this can be your time. 

Get more details here.

Then sign up here with your email address. It’s easy.

It’s a baby step but a step in a positive direction toward spiritual growth!

We’ll be here with you every step of the way.

What’s the hardest part about memorizing scripture to you? Share your thoughts (and any tips!) in the comments.

What’s Your Source?

Where do you get your news? What’s your source? We hear a lot these days about minding our sources.

For our next memory challenge, we’re going straight to the original source.

We’ll be memorizing red letter words, the words spoken directly by Jesus as recorded by the writers of the New Testament.

SIGN UP HERE!

Memorize Matthew 7:1-14

In the past, we’ve memorized portions of Matthew 5 and Matthew 6.

In this challenge, we’ll memorize Matthew 7:1-14, to complete our journey through sections of all three chapters of the Sermon on the Mount. (Here are resources for Matthew 5 and resources for Matthew 6.)

Whether this will be your first time memorizing scripture or if you’ve memorized a lot, this is a great portion of scripture to learn.

We’ve discovered it’s much easier to memorize in community than on our own.

We go at a comfortable pace (or you can create your own schedule). We’ll memorize 1 to 2 verses per week for 10 weeks between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, with a one-week break halfway.

Matthew 7 include verses such as,

1 Judge not, that you be not judged.

7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Sign Up Today

If you want to go straight to the source too, sign up today and memorize with us.

Here are the details.

•  Schedule
Memorizing begins September 6, 2020, and ends November 21.

•  Reminders
We’ll send you an email each Monday morning with memory tips for that week’s verses. We’ll also post a short devotional on each verse here at the blog on Monday mornings. Our Facebook community, Hide His Word, participates actively as well, strengthening each other with friendship, insights, and prayers.

•  Resources
We provide several resources you can print. After signing up, you’ll receive an email with links to 3×5 cards you can print, 1st letters page, journal pages, etc. (All our resources are in ESV, but you can memorize in any version you prefer.)

Click here to see the full schedule.

Download this button for your blog or social media posts.

It’s easy to join. Just sign up with your email address and we’ll add you to the list.

We’ll send you the words to memorize each week, not from our mouths, but from Jesus’s. His are words you can trust!

Questions? Will you be memorizing with us? Please share in the comments.