Greetings brother Mike,

If you don’t mind would you please answer a question for me that has me a little puzzled and concerned. With so much to learn and comprehendabout Gods Word through Scripture and your teachings, [ and I’m doing just that], just how does one go about “living by every word” while at the sametime one [ me] can sometimes forget “what one has learned” about the Word through your writings? It seems that for me at least there is so much to learn and retain that a lot of times I just plain forget what I have learned and feel like I am not really living by every word“if” I forget some of the Spiritual insights that I have learned. I hope this makes some sense to you but sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of knowledgethat we as sons of God must retain concerning Scripture. Am I alone here or does this seem like a common occurrence? With so much to remember and to apply scripturallyin my life concerning the Word of God I somehow feel like His works are not hitting the mark if I cannot remember everything that you teach concerning how we ought to live while in these fleshy bodies. I want to retain all that God has shown me, but it seems at times that the Spirit is willing but the mind isn’t. Any insight would be much appreciated.
Thank you and God Bless,
P. S. My memory is not as good as it once was, but my passion for The Word is.

YBIC
M____

Hi M____,

It is very rewarding to know that you are learning more of the mind of God and His Son through the letters and articles found on iswasandwillbe. com
I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all the help you have been in the past when you have taken the time to inform us of broken links.
Your question today is essentially how can we keep the sum of God’s Word in mind so as to be sure to keep it all. Correct me if I have gotten that wrong.
You ask:

It seems that for me at least there is so much to learn and retain that a lot of times I just plain forget what I have learned and feel like I am not really living by every word “if” I forget some of the Spiritual insights thatI have learned. I hope this makes some sense to you, but sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of knowledge that we as sons of God must retain concerning Scripture. Am I alone here or does this seem like a common occurrence?

While I am unaware of this particular question ever being asked of me, I can still say with complete confidence that the inability to remember everything we learn is common to all men, and that you therefore are in the same place we all find ourselves. We are all very human, and are therefore forgetful of many things.
Here is how I know that to be the case:

Isa 43:26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.

Isaiah pleads with God to “put me in remembrance”. This would not be needed if forgetting were not common to us all.
King David begins several of his Psalms with this mantra:

Psa 77:6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

Solomon laments this facet of our human character:

Ecc 1:11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

So you very clearly are not alone when it comes to forgetting “the sheer volume of the material that is contained within the word of God which we discuss and expound on iswasandwillbe. com
But I am very happy to be able to tell you with complete confidence that this is nothing over which to become anxious. Here is one verse that makes this point in a very general way:

Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? (ASV)

So there is the general answer to your question. Do not be anxious for your life. Your life is in very good and capable hands, and it has all be predestinated; ‘even the days that were ordained for you before there were any of them’.

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.(ASV)

But what about the need to witness to those who demand an answer of us? Will we not be a failure if we cannot remember what we need to say under such circumstances? Again, we need be anxious for nothing. We have been given a promise which addresses this very concern:

Mar 13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.

So there it is again. What we are to speak is promised to be given us in that hour. If we are to speak, we will be given the words, and if we are not to speak, then we will not be given the words. Either way it is all a work of God, and we need not be anxious because the fact is:

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

So “living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, knowing that “all things present and things to come are ours” and “keeping the things written therein”, is not even dependent upon our very limited memories, but are rather a matter of simply “turning” to “see behind us” this entire “revelation of Jesus Christ”.

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Rev 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

When we turn to see what is “behind” us, we do so because we are seeing what we have already come through. When we are granted to do this, what we see is that in the final analysis this revelation of Jesus Christ is the same in every man who has ever lived or who ever will live. That is what “all things… life, death… the world… things present and things to come, are ours” means.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

This obviously is not speaking simply of death as so many falsely contend.

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

I hope this helps you understand that you need not concern yourself with remembering every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God. Living by every word of God, is a matter of simply acknowledging that “the world… is ours” (1Co 3:21-22) and that “all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” is all in our flesh, individually. That is what “live by every word… life, death, the world, things present and things to come… keep the things written therein…” all mean. None of this requires that we make a checklist of what every single person mentioned in the scriptures has done, and then go down that list killing Abel, Uriah and Jesus. All we need do is to acknowledge that we have indeed slain our Lord, and that “all that is in the world” and all that is “in Adam” is within each of us as his natural sons. That is what we all see when we are finally granted to “turn” to “see the voice behind” us.
We are not saved by remembering and keeping a check list of things to do. “We are saved by hope”,

Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

… and this, just four verses later, is the outcome of that hope:

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

So I am much encouraged by the words with which you close your e- mail:

My memory is not as good as it once was, but my passion for The Word is.

Lord willing you will keep that passion, and He will continue to grow in you as your old man continues to die, day by day.
Your brother in Christ,

Mike