Week 2

Memory Verse: Psalm 16:11

"You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

I absolutely love this verse! It's so true! At one point in my life, I thought I had everything I needed to be happy. Then The Lord opened my eyes to the depth of joy and purpose found in Him and let me tell you there is nothing better... nothing even compares to the pleasure His presence!  When I realized who I really was and who He really was, I was heart broken over the amount of time I had lived without knowing Him and being on His agenda, rather then my own.

 

  You have probably heard it before...that J.O.Y. stands for Jesus, Others, You. You remember in our verse from last week that Jesus tied joy and love. Last month when we focused on love we learned that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. When we love as Jesus loves, not only will we have Him first, but we will prefer others above ourselves. In doing so, we will have joy, which we define as, "being excited no matter what." All of our definitions will carry an unconditional quality because we are talking about the fruit of the Spirit, and His production is not based upon our circumstances. Therefore, we want our children to know that God's presence is the first place where they need to find joy. If Jesus is not first, others are certainly not second, and we forfeit our joy. But when Jesus is first, we will desire to see the best in life and in others, regardless of the circumstances.  

I've got this one down! Psalm 16 is one of my favorites so it was very familiar to me. The kids are super close. Today will be the last day for them to get it!:-)

 

I'm curious to know if anyone else has strategies on scripture memory that are working for you? One other thing that has been great for us are scripture songs! We love Steve Green's "Hide 'em in your heart", Linda Biery's "Living Lyrics" and Jamie Soles "The Way My Story Goes". I'd love to hear and learn from you!