Reservoir of His Word

This post is by Jennifer Dixon.

Have you ever driven over the dam of a reservoir with its massive amount of water?  Like a reservoir stores water to be used at a later time, so our hearts need to store God's Word to be used when needed.  There are multiple reasons to and unlimited benefits of memorizing Scripture.  Jesus used Scripture to defeat the Enemy.  The Word of God is our only offensive weapon in the spiritual warfare we face throughout life.  We are commanded to store up Scripture.  We are commanded to pass it down to the next generation.  And finally, God's Word can be a source of comfort to us. 

As we see in Matthew chapter four, when Jesus was tempted, He combatted the Enemy by quoting Scripture–THREE times. Jesus did not have a copy of the Law with Him; He had it memorized.  It was in His heart, to be used when needed. 

And we know from Ephesians 6:10-17, that we are in a spiritual battle.  We do not struggle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  All of the Armor of God is listed in this passage:  the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation.  All of these are weapons of defense.  But the last weapon mentioned is our only weapon of offense; it is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  If we have only one weapon to use offensively to defeat the Enemy, shouldn't we be so familiar with it that we use it wisely?  If someone is attacking us, we must be able to fight and attack, in order to be victorious.  We must know our weapon!  We must know the Word of God!

Proverbs 7:1-3 says, "My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you.  Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.  Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart."    The commands in these verses cannot be accomplished without memorizing Scripture.  We are to store them, guard them, and bind them. 

Coinciding with this thought is Deuteronomy 6:6-7.  "And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."  God's Word is to be in our heart.  We are to meditate on it.  We are to memorize it.  We are to teach it diligently to our children.  It should flow from our heart, through our mouth and speech (Luke 6:45).  

Finally, having God's Word in our heart can be a source of comfort.  When we face different circumstances, with His Word memorized, certain verses come to mind.  We are comforted remembering that He will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5).  We are comforted knowing that when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8).  We know that we have an anchor (Hebrews 6:19).

So let us be encouraged to build up a reservoir of God's Word in our hearts, never letting it run dry..  Let us commit to memorizing Scripture.  Jesus memorized the Word.  The Word is our weapon.  We are commanded to store His commands and to teach them diligently to our children.  And the Word is a source of comfort and strength.  May we be diligent to always have a full reserve of the Living Water. 

Jennifer says:

I love being a homeschool mom to my two teenagers.  I also work part time as a social worker.  I enjoy spending time with my family and crafting.  I would like to write more.  I have a dream of one day writing a children's book.

Photo by Raphaël Biscaldi on Unsplash