June 4

NOTE: This post was written last night, but our internet wasn't working, so I am posting it today.

Today I woke up and just started quoting Ephesians 6:10-18, trying to perfect it. I said it a bunch of times to my mom and three younger sisters. After about 15 minutes of saying it to them, I finally got it! Ephesians 6:10-18 ~ CHECK! I was so happy! 

Ephesians 6:10-18
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"

Well, I am leaving for camp on Thursday, so I decided to tidy up my room and start to pack. While I did that, I listened to the Musical Scriptures CD playing the next longest verse, Ezekiel 36:23-27 through my radio. I had it on repeat, so it must have circled about 20-30 times. I am now familiar with it, but don't have it memorized yet.

Then I decided to do my Sword Study before I have to run out for the evening. I finished Week 1, Day 4, and learned all about the time period the book of 2 Timothy was written. Did you know 2 Timothy was the last book Paul ever wrote? Shortly after he wrote it, he was martyred. I'm sure this book held high significance to Timothy. I can't imagine having someone you know die for the name of Jesus. Thankfully, that's not something we have to worry too much about living in America. Let's pray that it stays that way. 

I also didn't realize how terrible Paul's prison was. I knew it wasn't our cushy prisons we have today, but I didn't realize he was being kept in a prison for the worst of criminals in that day, just basically a hole in the ground. It was never dry, and never warm. But throughout Paul's letters you see that he was glad to suffer for the name of Christ. How many of us would be willing to do the same?

Remember how I was saying a couple days ago that I didn't know where Tarsus was? Well, I found a map in my Sword Study. 

From here you can see Rome (where Paul was in prison), Ephesus (where Timothy lived), and Tarsus (where Paul was from).

At the end of the Sword Study, they had a quote that I've heard before, but I love so much, especially since my Bible is falling apart from my study of 1 Peter last summer. ;)

"A well-worn Bible is a sign of a well-fed soul, and a Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone whose life isn't!" ~ Anonymous

Right now I am working on memorizing Ezekiel 36:23-27 some more. 

Ezekiel 36:23-27

"And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stoney heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."

June 1

Hey everyone! Sorry for a late post. Life got busy last night. Here is my first post about June 1.

June 1 we got our boxes around 4:15pm Central Time but didn't wait that long to start studying. I woke up around 7am and was really hoping the materials would be on the website. Sadly, they weren't. I went browsing around the internet where I found out the book we were studying was 2 Timothy (almost wrote 1 Peter. :) Did I ever tell you how much I enjoyed studying 1 Peter last year?). I got right to work reading the whole book.

After that, I found the iPhone app in the App Store and saw that the verses were already on there, so we bought it, and I started studying. I am trying a new approach to studying this year. Instead of going in Bible Bee's order or in traditional order (Bible Bee's order in the past), I am starting with the longest passage and ending with the shortest passage. This is one of the tips I learned from Daniel Staddon's book, "The $100,000 Word". I really think this will work really well for me as I tend to be really enthusiastic about memorizing in the beginning of Bible Bee, and end up really discouraged and not wanting to do as much towards the final stretch.

The first verse I got to working on was Ephesians 6:10-18. I was told this was a previous verse, but since I only memorized 150 out of 800 last year, and even less the two years before, I had not memorized this one. I am not done memorizing it, but have become so familiar with it that I only need about 5 or 7 helps at the beginning of verses, and my Mom only had to correct words a few times. The most trouble I'm having is that I keep saying "full armour of God" instead of "whole armour of God" (Yes, I'm memorizing in King James).

Then the materials were released on www.biblebee.org. I was ecstatic! Now I could start doing the Sword Study as the first week was released as a PDF on the website. I didn't print it out as there wasn't a whole lot of writing to do. I decided just to get a pen and notebook paper, and write it out there for the time being. I finished my Sword Study for Week 1, Day 1, and decided to work on Ephesians 6:10-18 some more.

The box came, and the whole house was excited! Five out of six of us are enrolled in the Bible Bee, the four year old being too young. She really enjoyed being a Supporting Sibling last year, and was really sad that nothing came for her this year. We do remember ordering and extra T-Shirt for her, but the site wasn't cooperating the days before, so maybe it just never really ended up in our cart. We quickly gave her my Senior pin (I don't use them), promised to get her a shirt, and she was happy after that.

That was pretty much my first 2012 Bible Bee day. June 2 update coming soon!