• Home
  • About
    • Our Contributors
    • Our Beliefs
  • Blog
  • Bible Studies
    • Scripture Dig
  • Archives
  • Shop
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Do Not Depart

Encouragement and Tools to Abide in God's Word

You are here: Home / Scripture Memory / Philippians 1 / Why Memorize Philippians? Make the Trade

Why Memorize Philippians? Make the Trade

January 21, 2019 by Lisa Burgess Leave a Comment

Welcome to Do Not Depart! Be sure to subscribe to the Do Not Depart RSS feed or email updates to receive regular encouragement and tools to abide in God's Word.

Welcome back to Do Not Depart! If you haven't already, subscribe to the Do Not Depart RSS feed or email updates to receive regular encouragement and tools to abide in God's Word. This post may include affiliate links. To read our full disclosure policy, click here. Thank you for supporting this site!

On Monday, January 28, we’ll begin memorizing Philippians 1, a few verses per week. [See the memory challenge here.]

But why? Why should we trade our time and energy for that?

What’s in it for us?

Memorize Scripture

Let’s remind ourselves about the basics of Philippians, the 11th book of the Bible in the New Testament, the 5th letter. Who was it written to, who was it written by, what’s it about?

TO: Holy people living in a city in Greece (Philippi)

Philippi was a rich Roman colony in Greece, made up of both Romans and Greeks. They frequently worshiped the Roman emperor as well as Egyptian gods and other deities.

Although we don’t live in Philippi, are we holy people, too? Our gut response is: No! I’m not good enough to be called a holy person.

But the truth? If we’re a believer in Christ, we ARE holy ones, saints, the set-apart, in Christ Jesus. Not because we’re good. But because Jesus is.

This letter is for our encouragement, too.

Philippi map

FROM: Two servants, Paul and Timothy

Just as we don’t likely introduce ourselves as saints, we don’t usually say this either: Hello, I’m a servant.

But again, in Jesus Christ, if we give ourselves to Him to advance His cause, we are His servants. If it was a good enough title for the apostle Paul and his dedicated helper Timothy, we should claim it as well.

ABOUT: Being like Jesus

The book of Philippians is often called the book of joy. But it contains so many themes. In Philippians 1, we’ll look at:

  • Thanksgiving
  • Prayer
  • Spreading the Word
  • Living the Life
  • Encouragement
  • Standing Strong No Matter What

WHEN: Around 62 A.D.

Paul was probably a prisoner in Rome, Italy, when he wrote this letter. He had originally traveled to Philippi in Greece more than ten years earlier (Acts 16:11-40; remember Lydia? the Philippian jailer?). The church there was likely the first Christian community in Europe.

What’s the Trade?

So how is this useful to us in 2019?

Because Paul was in the midst of hard times, his joy and faith in Jesus are an encouragement to us in the midst of our own times.

Our circumstances differ, but our emotions don’t.

We don’t want our faith to differ much either.

  • I want the faith of Paul (Philippians 1:6).
  • The prayer life of Paul (Philippians 1:9).
  • The joy of Paul (Philippians 1:18)

Will we get Paul’s faith simply by memorizing words he wrote?

No.

But if memorizing these words puts us more in touch with God in the next few months, focuses our thoughts more on Him, and feeds us truths that never change, then the door for transformation is wide open.

Let’s walk right through that door.

The trade of our thoughts for His thoughts, our time for time with Him, and our effort for His delight is an offer we don’t want to pass up.

Memorizing scripture only takes a few minutes a day. It’s a small investment for a lifetime of benefits.

Sign up today to join us on this next adventure with Christ.

Sign up Philippians

Learn more background on Philippians here.

Get more details about our free Philippians resources here.

Why spend time and effort to memorize Philippians 1? Here’s why.

Click To Tweet

Share
Pin1
Tweet
1 Shares

Related

About Lisa Burgess

Lisa looks for God in ordinary people and in everyday moments, then shares where she finds Him on her blog LisaNotes.com. She is a wife to Jeff and a mother to two girls here, one in heaven.

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
What If Progress Means Going Backward?
Faith that Cultivates

Join the DiscussionCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This Month’s Theme

  • Jesus is the Way
  • And He Shall Be Called Series Intro

Enter your email address to have new posts emailed to you:

We’ll come to you

Enter your email address to have new posts emailed to you

Categories

Bible Memory – Lent 2021

Memorizing Isaiah 12

Let the Children Come

Let the Children Come

Want more #HideHisWord resources?

Memorizing Psalm 1

Find Us on Facebook


Search

Recent Posts

  • Series Wrap-Up: The Lord Is My Light
  • His Marvelous Light
  • When the Darkness Deepens
  • Though I Sit in Darkness…
  • Let Your Light Shine
  • Life-Giving Light

Archives

© 2025 · Pretty Creative WordPress Theme by, Pretty Darn Cute Design