100 ways to change your life

Preface.
100 Ways to Change Your Life

This book is about the archaic custom of memorizing Scripture, why we must revive it, and how you can begin a lifelong habit of learning Bible verses by heart. Think of it as a shopping spree for the mind, a chance to collect and store up treasures you’ll enjoy for years.

Restoring the art of Scripture memory is crucial for us, our churches, and children. It’s vital for mental and emotional health and for spiritual well-being. Though it’s as easy as repeating words aloud, it’s as powerful as acorns dropping into furrows in the forest. It makes the Bible portable; you can take it with you everywhere without packing it in purse or briefcase. It makes Scripture accessible day and night. It allows God’s Word to sink into your brain and permeate your subconscious and even your unconscious thoughts. It gives you a word to say to anyone, in season and out of season. It fills your heart and home with the best thoughts ever recorded. It saturates the personality, satiates the soul, and stockpiles the mind. It changes the atmosphere of every family and alters the weather forecast of every day.

It takes one minute a day, or five or ten—whatever you can devote to it. It can be done in your bath, your bed, at your desk, or in an airplane (you can’t say all that about too many things). It can be done on the go, in traffic jams, while shaving, at sunup, or before bedtime. It can be done alone, with another person, or in groups. It’s an amazingly versatile habit but also a vital one, profitable whether we’re in the nursery or in the nursing home.

Here, then, are 100 ways to change your life—100 Bible verses everyone on earth should know by heart. Please don’t complain if your favorite verse isn’t among them. I kept changing my list even up to publication date; but I’ve left a blank page in the back so you can add your own verses and keep the habit going.

I’m deeply grateful to my literary partners: Thomas Walters, my editor; Chris Ferebee, my agent; Sherry Anderson and Emily Youree, my assistants; my Web expert and advisor, Joshua Rowe; and my dear wife, Katrina, who read every word with a keen eye. Undying thanks also goes to the church I’ve had the joy of pastoring for thirty years—The Donelson Fellowship of Nashville—who participated in a yearlong sermon series on which this book is based.

If you’d like to contact me, please visit my Web site at www.robertjmorgan.com, where you’ll also find free supplemental resources, including a study guide, publicity tools, and downloadable materials for churches and small groups wanting to learn these 100 verses together.

100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart.