Internalize – Fanning the Flames of Faith Part 3
What does it mean to internalize God’s Word? Wendy Macdonald explains what she has experienced by memorizing Scripture.
Internalize
In the two previous podcasts I shared the 1st two steps of the Five Ways to Fan the Flames of Faith.
Today I’m sharing step 3 in the acronym F-A-I-T-H. ‘I’ is for ‘internalize.’
Have you ever read a familiar Bible verse a million times, and then one day a fresh revelation from it caught your attention? Years ago, a close friend gave me a wall plaque with a mountain scene and Psalm 46:1 printed on it. Here’s the verse;
“God is our refuge and strength and ever-present help and trouble,” Psalm 46:1.
I hung it on a prominent place in our home so that it often reminded me to draw on God’s strength during times of difficulty.
The Need to Internalize the Word of God
We need to internalize the Word of God daily. It doesn’t matter whether we’re using a Bible reading plan or using a book marker to read our way through the scriptures. The most important thing is to be in the Word regularly.
Some days I only focus on one verse, other days I read several chapters. The secret is to keep reading until we find encouragement to savor. We can internalize words of wisdom by meditating on scripture verses. King David loved God’s word and hid it in his heart, and so should we.
Memorizing Scripture
One of my favorite outcomes of memorizing scripture verses is the comfort I draw from them in the middle of the night when I wake up and find it difficult to fall back to sleep. Reciting verses fills my heart and mind with goodness. It fans the flames of faith and burns off fearful thoughts.
Just as Psalm 46:1 says,
“He is a refuge, and our strength,”
when trouble threatens to disrupt our peace. Life’s problems will still happen. But when we tap into God’s power, we are able to run into His tower of refuge, instead of tumbling under the weight of worry.
A Thinker and a Tinkerer
I’m a thinker and a tinkerer of thoughts. My analytical mind rarely sits still. I enjoy building with words as intensely as one of my sons built with blocks when he was little. He built tractors, trains and towers. I build poems, blog posts, and stories that I hope to inspire others with. I hope they’ll also turn to the true ‘tower of refuge and strength.’
My son needed to piece his creations together one block at a time, but the Tower of God is available immediately. When we’re experiencing a desert of the soul moment, we don’t need to do a rain dance to resolve our drought. All we have to do is run to ‘Abba Father’ and He welcomes us with open arms. He’s forgiving of any false towers we may have built. His feet aren’t bothered by blocks lying around on the floor of our failed peace. He’s not a deity of condemnation because He is a tower of grace and salvation.
God is Ever Present
And here’s where I tell you the fresh revelation that sprung from the words in Psalm 46:1, ‘ever present;’ I hinted at this already. God doesn’t need to be assembled or coaxed into showering us with His presence because He’s already ‘ever present.’ We would be wise to internalize this truth.
He is our tower of refuge and strength. Our God is not a statue we need to create or a direction we need to face. He is here now. He is here always. The Lord is ever present. It’s we who have moved away when we fail to pray, to believe, to read the Word that reminds us of who and where He is. He is ever present. Internalizing the Word of God helps keep false gods at bay and shows us how to fan the flames of faith.
I’d like to close with a poem I wrote on the morning I notice a glorious truth of our ever-present father:
Our ever-present God is full of strength and truth,
Whom we may follow and trust in everything we do.
No rain dance is required when we experience drought
Because He’s always present if we believe and do not doubt.
How do you internalize the Word of God? Do you memorize Scripture? What do you think is the connection between forgiveness and faith? Contact us at HopeStreamRadio, or comment below.
Wendy Macdonald
Wendy is writer, poet, photographer, and contributor to our Christian internet radio station, HopeStreamRadio.
Read and hear more from Wendy L. Macdonald on the contributor’s page or on her personal website.
Wendy’s show, “Walking With Hope” airs on HopeStreamRadio, providing observations and insights from both her life experience, and her knowledge of God.
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