Scripture Reading & Memory Challenge for 2014

This blog's purpose is to take the things of life that might get us down and refocus our attention on God and be an encouragement. A challenge we will promote for the coming year at church fits into that category as it challenges us to fill our minds with God's Word and hide it in our hearts. There is no greater cure for discouragement and difficulty than the pure, clean water of the Word of God.

It is still early, but I wanted to share the challenge over here to give time to prepare mentally for the challenge. I anticipate (no guarantees, ok?) posting weekly on the verse(s) I have picked to memorize and would welcome feedback from anyone else joining in the challenge. Feel free to share the challenge as well, it is posted plenty early enough to get others on board.

The basics are to read the assigned book (or books) for the week, pick a memory verse, write it on a 3x5 card, or digitally save it to whatever electronic device you want to keep a file in, and then memorize it, reviewing the verses as we add to it through the year. By the end of the year, or shortly thereafter, the goal is to memorize 66 verses of scripture - one from each book in the Bible. While you may already know some verses from a book, I would encourage to learn a fresh verse, at least one that you can't say from memory currently (like John 3:16). If you already know a whole book, obviously you cannot find a verse you don't know already, but pick one for your file for review anyway.

The weekly assignments would look like this: (Don't be scared) 
Week of:
Jan. 5 - Genesis
Jan. 12 - Exodus
Jan. 19 - Leviticus
Jan. 26 - Numbers
Feb. 2 - Deuteronomy
Feb. 9 - Joshua
Feb. 16 - Judges
Feb. 23 - Ruth & Psalm 1-30 (Memory verse from Ruth only)
Mar. 2 - I Samuel 
Mar. 9 - II Samuel
Mar. 16 - I Kings
Mar. 23 - II Kings
Mar. 30 - I Chronicles
Apr. 6 - II Chronicles
Apr. 13 - Ezra & Psalm 31-60
Apr. 20 - Nehemiah & Psalm 61-90
Apr. 27 - Esther & Psalm 91-118
May 4 - Job
May 11 - Psalm 119-150 (Memory verse from any where in the Psalms)
May 18 - Proverbs
May 25 - Ecclesiastes
June 1 - Song of Solomon (Song of Songs)
June 8 - Isaiah
June 15 - Jeremiah
June 22 - Lamentations
June 29 - Ezekiel
July 6 - Daniel
July 13 - Hosea & Galatians
July 20 - Joel & Ephesians
July 27 - Amos & Philippians 
Aug. 3 - Obadiah & Colossians
Aug. 10 - Jonah & James
Aug. 17 - Micah & Titus
Aug. 24 - Nahum & Philemon
Aug. 31 - Habakkuk
Sep. 7 - Zephaniah
Sep. 14 - Haggai
Sep. 21 - Zechariah
Sep. 28 - Malachi
Oct. 5 - Matthew
Oct. 12 - Mark
Oct. 19 - Luke
Oct. 26 - John
Nov. 2 - Acts
Nov. 9 - Romans
Nov. 16 - I & II Corinthians
Nov. 23 - I & II Thessalonians
Nov. 30 - I & II Timothy
Dec. 7 - Hebrews & Jude
Dec. 14 - I & II Peter
Dec. 21 - I, II & III John
Dec 28 - Revelation

The challenge will be posted again around the end of the year, but be thinking about whether you'd like to join us.