old guys who said it well...

just thought i'd share a couple of quotes that were included in the chapter "wielding the Word in the fight for joy" from "when i don't desire God." these were especially helpful, because i was reading them as the new year dawned (or like within a week of it... it's not like i was up that early on new year's day reading to greet the daylight). the new year is a good time for me to refocus, revise my growth plan and to work at redeveloping good habits. anyhow, to the quotes...

"it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in scriptural language, and your spirit is flavored with the words of the Lord, so that your blood is Bibline and the very essence of the Bible flows from you."
charles spurgeon

...i think he made up the word "bibline" - but it's cool and descriptive, so that's ok

"now... i would give a few hints to my younger fellow-believers as to the way in which to keep up spiritual enjoyment. it is absolutely needful... we should read regularly through the Scriptures, consecutively, and not pick out here and there a chapter. if we do, we remain spiritual dwarfs. i tell you so affectionately. for the first four years after my conversion i made no progress, because i neglected the Bible. but when i regularly read on through the whole with reference to my own heart and soul, i directly made progress. then my peace and joy continued more and more. now i have been doing this for 47 years. i have read through the whole Bible about 100 times and i always find it fresh when i begin again. thus my peace and joy have increased more and more."
george mueller

"Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. if i had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, i would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our mind with what it needs. this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. that's where you need it! how does it get in your mouth? memorization."
dallas willard

"my beloved... work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life..."
philippians 2:12-16

hey steve, go for it in 2008, get back to the basics. <--- subliminal message to me

(i'm back at memorizing psalm 119 - 10 days in 40 verses down :) - 132 to go - so rich!!!)