Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
(Jude 1:24-25 ESV)

Friday, February 22, 2013

Why the name Now To Him...?

    The name Now To Him... was not difficult for me to land on because it comes from the beginning of my favorite verse(s) in scripture:
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24-25)

    This has been a staple verse when it comes to my walk with the Lord.  I don't think I have recited or pondered a verse more than this verse.  Whether in times of trial, sin, temptation, or joy this verse has alway been the one to float to the top and provide the peace and rescue my soul needed.  If you have ever spent any time memorizing scripture (or anything for that matter) what you will find is that you always (or at least for me) use some type of formula or "starter" to help you call to mind that thing in which you were memorizing.  Whether it be an acronym or some type of word association technique we all have something we use to help stimulate our mind into remembering whatever it is we want to remember. "Now to Him" was that starter for me, I knew that if I can just have those three words down it would be easy for me to recite the whole passage because it started the verse in my mind. We need these reminders in our life to point us "to Him". In times of trial, sin, temptations, or joy we need and must go "to Him" who is our comfort in trial, redeemer from sin, deliverer from temptation, and source of all joy.  
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not  wander from your commandments! I have  stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalms 119:10, 11 ESV)

    I would encourage you all to hide Gods word in your heart, there is no greater use of your time or efforts. Jack Hughes said once in a sermon "Reading Scripture is good, studying Scripture is better, memorizing Scripture is best."
    Where to start? Many times we don't commit scripture to memory because we can't decide where to start. Pick your favorite book or chapter and take a verse out of there. Take a verse out of whatever book your studying presently, it will help you get a better understanding of the passage. I'm currently trying to memorize certain passages from the book of Proverbs because we are reading a chapter from Proverbs as a family every night after dinner. (I have found a deep need for wisdom in parenting recently and this is super helpful.) I also have an app on my phone called "Fighter Verses" put out by Desiring God Ministries that is super helpful and gives you a new verse every week to memorize (this is also helpful if you don't know where to start because it starts you off with a list already set up.) 
    Well I hope this has been encouraging and helpful. I hope that this blog can point you "to Him" who is the "author and perfecter or of our faith". That is my goal and I hope it comes out in my writings, because to Him belongs all glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.















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