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Deuteronomy 11:18 (The Message)

"Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder. Teach them to your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night. Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities so that you'll live a long time, and your children with you, on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors for as long as there is a sky over the Earth."


You may as well be extreme about it. You may as well be over-the-top-beside- yourself-passionately-obsessed with the words on the pages. You may as well, because there is enough grey in the world for everyone to walk around blase and non-chalant about anything and everything. I dare you, go ahead and be what these verses are implying. Maybe write down verses that mean something to you. Verses that remind you of all you have been promised. Write them down on paper and stick them on the fridge. Sticky-tape them to the bathroom mirror so every morning when you wake up and brush your teeth, the first thing that you see are the words..."do not fear," or "He shall give you the desires of your heart." Before your head can get in the way and remind you of the circumstances, look at the post-it note on the wall that says, "And my God will supply all your needs..." Tell your kid to write on their hands a verse like," and he will make even your enemies to be at peace with you," So every time they have trouble with a kid at school they can look at their hand and be reminded that God will bring peace between them and that person. Why not? It will remind you of who you are, which side you are on, and it will center you, and pretty soon these scriptures will be so imprinted on your mind and heart that you won't even need it in front of you. It will become rooted at the very core of who you are. They will define you.

So, obsess yourself with the Word of God. Become so in love and beside yourself with it that these words are the most precious words of all your life. The most beautiful thing in the world is when you find 'life' scriptures that walk you through every season of your life: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I have verses that have literally raised me from a very young age to adulthood. They have stood the test of time and have proven that the God who inspired them is faithful, and is not a liar. Take some time and find a few stand-out scriptures to you that you can put on the doors and walls and around your hands and on your foreheads! Tell your children until they are annoyed at you, and then keep telling them. Find people, even one person, with whom you can talk every day about the precious Word that has changed your life.

I know it takes passion and discipline cause some days it's very hard to feel like doing this, and the Bible is hard to navigate sometimes. Most days I start out well and eventually fall short. But keep going. Keep pushing yourself because I just know that I know that as the world gets darker, and people get more broken, and it's harder to walk in love because of the pressures waiting outside the front door (and sometimes hanging out inside the house), you will need the one true rock. More than ever you will need the One who will keep you from falling over and even if you do, He will pick you up. His Words are the same always. He will never change. He never has, He won't tomorrow, and He won't forever.

Then you will live a long time in your promised land, and you will be full of the joy that God promised you.