My Strength and My Portion
By Shirley Mitchell
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26
Yeah! It is Tuesday. We get our verse of the week to meditate and memorize. I want to encourage you to keep trying to focus on just one verse for the week. If you stay determined, the Word will take root in your heart. If you have failed with some of the previous verses, don’t get discouraged and quit, but continue to press on. This spiritual discipline is worth pressing through our failure! So free yourself of guilt and let’s go! For those of you who are just joining us, we dedicate Tuesdays to focusing on just one verse for the next week.
This week’s verse is a follow up verse from last week. Last week, we learned Psalm 73:25 which says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” Thisweek we will learn Psalm 73:26 which says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” The Hebrew transliteration for the word “fail” is raphah. It means “to sink, relax, sink down, let drop, to be disheartened, to refrain, let alone, to show oneself slack.” We may fail. Our hearts and our flesh may fail. Glory to God, He never fails. He never falls short. He is never inferior. He never deserts us. He can’t show Himself slack. He does not get disheartened. He doesn’t drop us. I have felt worthy of being dropped, but He never gave up on me. What a God!
We may fail and fail again, but He will never fail us. So let’s have the perseverance to keep going even if we make a mistake. We aren’t called to be perfect; we are just called to love, trust, learn, and pursue. If our activity is of human origin, there is a real possibility it will fail. However, if you and I are in the process of fulfilling our callings, we may have lessons along the way to rid us of arrogance and jealousy, to unveil future things to us, and to bring us into accordance with God’s heart. Yet, the overall calling will be fulfilled. When we walk in obedience, our callings can’t be thwarted by human hands. Hallelujah!
So let’s focus on this verse for the next week. Carry it with you wherever you go this week. Study it, pulverize it, and memorize it!
Memorization Reminders:
Please join me in memorizing these verses and implanting God’s thoughts into our minds. I’m expecting for God to radically change our lives if we do this. Redeem your time to make room for memorizing God’s Word. Take this verse with you wherever you go. Meditate on it, and pulverize it.
We are blessed to live in a time where we can have the Bible at our fingertips even through the internet or an actual Bible in our hands. Yet, this blessing can become a curse if we do not treat the Bible with such honor to savor every word of it as those through the centuries who have longed to have His Word so much. They had to memorize every Scripture they had ever been given because their own copy of the Scripture was not possible.
Most of us probably don’t memorize Scripture because we think that we do not have the time. However, our minds have a lot of wasted space that can be given to God. We have to redeem the time. For women, we can use the time while putting on our make-up or blow drying our hair. For men, use the time while shaving. For both genders, we can use the time while we shower, stop at red lights, do the laundry, wash the dishes, and mow the lawn. Let’s face it: our minds are thinking about something during this time. Instead of being focused on our obsessions, worries, cares, to-do’s, and problems, give this time to God.
Take your verse(s) with you wherever you go. You can type your verse out and put it on beautiful sheets of your choice. You can write it out on index cards. Many people prefer index cards spiral bound to keep them together. For iphone users, I’m sure there is an app. You can write it on your iphone notepad or record your voice speaking it and replay it throughout the day.
Now that we have the verse and we have found the time, let’s focus on the method. We don’t just memorize it by saying it over and over; we meditate on it. We spend time thinking about what each word means and what it doesn’t mean.
Then one of my favorite techniques as taught by Waylon Moore is to pulverize the verse. Say the verse over and over each time focusing on a different word in the verse. For example, say Psalm 73:26 (today’s verse) aloud and say with more umph the underlined and bolded word:
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:26
Repeat this process until each word in the verse has been emphasized.
After meditating and pulverizing the verse continuously for a week, the seed planted in our hearts will begin to germinate. You and I will no longer be merely short-term memorizing, but the Word will dwell within us. When God’s Word dwells within us, something miraculous happens. Our minds are renewed and transformed into the mind of Christ. We worry and fret less. We are armed for the attacks of the enemy. Our lips will be full of praise for our God. My friend, I’m ready for that kind of transformation!