For all my new readers, I wanted to share the reason why I blog. My name is Joy Skarka and I am the founder of Joy Skarka Ministries. I grew up in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, a town slightly east of Pittsburgh. In 2011, I moved to Tampa, Florida to attend the University of South Florida. My story is one of failure and redemption. (more…)
Guess what – you can not screw up God’s plan for your life.
Early in college, I dated a guy who was a Christian, but was not running after Jesus. I was afraid to break up with him because I thought, “What if I mess up God’s plan? What if this is the guy I’m supposed to marry?” Throughout the relationship, the Holy Spirit kept showing me that I should break up with him. If he was “Mr. Right”, there would not have been so many red flags. (more…)
WHY MEMORIZE SCRIPTURE?
You’ve probably been told to memorize scripture, but have you thought about why? Memorizing scripture is possible and can change your walk with God.
To find out why, let’s look to Jesus. Jesus is fully God and fully human, and yet he quoted scripture to attack temptation. How much more do we, who are fully human, need to memorize scripture?
Read this account of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness and notice his weapon of choice:
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:1-4).
Jesus was the most powerful human to ever walk this planet, and what did he use to fight against Satan? God’s word. This shows us the power of scripture. It’s safe to assume that Jesus knew the content and significance of scripture. Yet he quoted God’s Word to fight against Satan and temptation.
This shows us two things: the power of God’s word to remove Satan and temptations and that to use this power we need to first memorize scripture. If we don’t have key verses tucked away in our brains, we lack the weapon when we are in battle.
Most of us know that scripture is powerful, but we fail to take the time to memorize it. I know I used to rarely spend time each week memorizing scripture. I believed a lie that the task was too hard.
When the thought of memorizing scripture first entered my mind, these are the words that followed: impossible, unattainable, hopeless, and impractical. Then one day a friend showed me this method of memorizing and my way of thinking about memorizing scripture changed. I want to show you this method so that you will have the power of scripture to use in any battle.
HOW TO MEMORIZE SCRIPTURE?
There are a lot of memory systems out there and I’m sure there is merit in all of them, but this is the one that I’ve found works best for me. Follow the steps below for each verse you want to memorize.
Friends, this way of memorizing scripture has drastically changed my walk with God. I am now learning how to use the power of God’s word in day to day life and fight off Satan and temptation. I pray and hope that this method will help you as well.
Am I strong? Beautiful? Am I good enough? Have you found yourself asking these questions? We live in a world that tears us down. A world that tells us we will never be skinny enough, smart enough, or good enough. If we let the world define us, we will always be let down. Instead, we have to be defined by the Cross.
Easter has come and gone, but the power of what happened on the Cross lives forever. When I write the Cross, I’m referring to the historical moment when Jesus died on the Cross and took on the shame of all our sins. That moment in history will forever leave a mark on you and this world.
Why? Because the Cross forms your identity. The Cross is who you are. It is not just a big theological term, but it also impacts every part of your life. It brings you freedom from your past and hope for your future. (more…)