A Woman of Influence

Amy Carmichael was born in the Northern Ireland in 1867, but she spent most of her life in India as a missionary, even though she was chronically ill.  It was she who founded the Dohnavur orphanage and mission and saved over a thousand children, some of whom were destined to be Hindu temple prostitutes, from a sad future. 

Although early in life she had lamented the fact that her eyes were brown and not the color she admired in others (blue), yet as she attempted to blend into the culture of southern India with her dress and darkening her skin with coffee, her brown eyes were an asset to her. 

Amy was also a poet, a hymn writer, and the author of thirty-five published books.  She died in India at the age of eighty-three.

Here are two separate quotations from her writings, both of which relate to the importance of knowing Scripture and using it to defeat the devil.   

Someone gave me a bit of brick and a little slab of marble from Rome. It was wonderful to touch one of them and think, Perhaps the Apostle Paul or one of the martyrs touched this as they passed. But how much more wonderful is it to think that we have, for our own use, the very same sword our Lord used when the Devil attacked Him. [Brooke Foss] Westcott says "The Word of God" in Ephesians 6:17 means "a definite utterance of God". We know these "definite utterances" - we have the same Book that He had, and we can do as He did. So let us learn the "definite utterances" that they may be ready in our minds; ready for use at the moment of need - our sword which never grows dull and rusty, but is always keen and bright. So once more I say, let us not expect defeat but victory. Let us take fast hold and keep fast hold of our sword, and we shall win in any assault of the enemy.

Thank God for the battle verses in the Bible. We go into the unknown every day of our lives, and especially every Monday morning, for the week is sure to be a battlefield, outwardly and inwardly in the unseen life of the spirit, which is often by far the sternest battlefield for souls. Either way, the Lord your God goes before you, He shall fight for you!

Indeed, as we memorize our verses, we are shining and sharpening our swords and keeping them ready for the inevitable attacks by the enemy, whose mission is to kill, steal, and destroy us.  Be ready!

An Interview with Romain

When it comes to memorizing Scripture and being able to remember and quote it, complete with its reference, my twenty-six-year-old son-in-law Romain Dupont is one of the best.  He has been a Christian since the age of eighteen, and his leather-bound French Bible is well-loved and well-used.  He has painstakingly hand-color-coded many Scripture passages by topic, and all the pages from Jean 3 (John) to Apocalypse (Revelation) are completely detached from the rest of the Bible—and have been for several years—because Romain has read and reread these portions of Scripture many, many times.

Romain’s approach to memorizing is much different from mine, and since he and my daughter Angela are visiting the States for a few weeks, I took the opportunity to interview him.

Why do you memorize Scripture, Romain?

The Bible is food for us as Christians.  It nourishes us and helps us to grow as Christians.

We also renew our souls by the words of God.  The word of God affects our intelligence and our thinking, and we need to renew that thinking and our behavior by meditating on the Word.  As it says in Romans 12:2, we are supposed to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Jesus used the word of the Lord as a weapon against the devil during His temptation in the desert when He said, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

 

I memorize Scripture to nourish my spirit (my heart), to renew my mind, to give me a formidable weapon against the devil, to know Jesus better, and to find out the will of God.

How do you decide what to memorize?

I memorize principally verses that concern Christian living, the things of God, my relationship with God, and what God wants to do in me.  If a verse fills a need for me or helps my relationship with God, I find several verses on the same topic and meditate on all of them.

You meditate?  What does that mean to you?

I think about the verses, and I pray about them because I want to understand the things of God.  I ask Him to make His words real to me in my spirit.  It’s like the parable of the sower:  First I need to hear and understand the word of God.  Then I receive the word very deeply with joy—the word or seed is not just on the surface or in my head, but in my heart.  I try to keep the words in my heart in spite of troubles that come or the circumstances around me.  After I have meditated on the verses, I know them by heart.

What kinds of topics do you use for meditation?

Some of my meditation topics have been the love of God, the blood of Christ, dependence on God, sanctification, faith, and prayer.

Do you have any words of wisdom for those of us who are trying to memorize Scripture?

There is no power in simply learning verses.  We must get the verses from our heads to our hearts.  My advice is to open your heart to God and ask for His revelation. 

Jesus said in Luke 10:21, “I praise you, Father,…because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children.” 

In I Corinthians 2: 10-14, Paul writes about the things that God has revealed to us by the Holy Spirit “who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”

While memorizing, we can ask God to reveal to us His meaning of the verse for us personally, and the Holy Spirit will teach us.  Little by little the word will become part of our spirits.  When it’s firmly in our hearts or spirits, the next step is to confess it inwardly and declare it out loud.  Then live it out by practicing it.  Even though we may not feel it inside us, we need to remember that feelings are part of our souls (the soul is our mind, will, and emotions)—not our spiritual beings.  It’s important to act out what we believe and not what we feel.

Thank you, Romain, for your insights!