Don’t Say You Don’t Remember

Many people believe in a God that they don’t trust. They offer an intellectual nod to the truth that there is a God, but they refuse to surrender their hearts and souls to His Lordship and leadership.
On the other hand, you can’t trust in a God you don’t believe in. What makes us think that perfect faith occurs with one quick prayer? Why do we buy into the lie that we humans can get to a place in our spiritual walk where we never doubt or struggle or ask any more questions?
You will only get so far if your sphere of spirituality is limited to academia alone. If you don’t get out and begin to walk with Jesus, you will have no positive memories to build your Christianity upon.
I hate computer passwords. We are challenged to make our passwords so difficult that others can’t steal our identity. The only problem is that I make my passwords so obscure, I can’t even remember them. So, what do I end up doing? I have to create a new password every time I enter.
There are a few sites that are an exception to the rule. There are a few pages I visit so often that I couldn’t forget the password if I tried. The more you connect with God, the deeper He enters into your memory bank.
If you visit the Lord sporadically, chances are very good that you have to keep on starting from scratch. But if being with Jesus becomes a habitual connection, you can be sure you won’t forget how to enter into the resources that are available to those who walk by faith.
My childhood address was 89 Summit Ave. in Cedar Knolls, NJ. The telephone number was 201-539-8706. My kindergarten teacher’s name was Mrs. Osborne.
I can vividly remember all the details of Terri and my first date. It occurred on April 24, 1981 and we ate at Pizza Hut.
I can’t tell you what Terri made for dinner last night. It was at 9:07 on Sept. 24, 1969 that the Mets first clinched the pennant. Gary Gentry induced Joe Torre of the St. Louis Cardinals to hit into a double play.
What time did I get up this morning? I have no clue. I know all the words to every Barry Manilow song. I still need the projector to know the words of the songs we presently sing at church. We remember what matters most to us.
I marvel at how amazing the human mind is, especially in its ability to record and store data in the form of memory. There are essentially two things that distinguish between what cements itself in our long-term memory and what goes in one door of the brain only to quickly slip outside the other.
The first is the significance that we attach to the thing we’re remembering. The second is how frequently we think about it and how often we recall that memory or how frequently it springs to mind on its own.
I share my little stroll down memory lane because one of the best aids to climbing out of the valley of despair is to remember what God has done. But you can’t draw from a memory bank that you have made no deposits in. Are you giving God legitimate room to work within your life?
It’s nice to read what God did for Israel and the early Christians and the saints of old, but what has He done in and through you?
You can’t expect God to do it again if you never gave Him the chance to do it in the first place!
When I start to fight my spiritual amnesia, one of my “go-to” books of the Bible was written by the Old Testament prophet named Habakkuk.
When he began to wrestle with all that was happening in his present, he dove into the annals of all the Lord had done for him and his people in the past.
Rather than being so shortsighted that he could get duped by misreading the circumstances being reported to him on the daily news, he got out the God movies and highlighted all the God moves and began to beg the Father of Heaven, “Do it again.”
It’s almost as if Habakkuk were saying, “Hey, guys, remember when God delivered us from the bondage of Egypt, and He opened up the Red Sea, and He led us through the wilderness, and He made the walls fall in Jericho? 
Can you imagine how different our world would be if what God did then, He also does now?
It’s that experience we have with our children and grandchildren when we do something that brings joy or hope or security to them. As a matter of fact, it is music to this father and grandfather’s ears when he hears, “Do it again, Daddy! Do it again Pop-Pop!”
When was the last time you looked up to Heaven and begged the God who loves you beyond words, “Do it again?”
Habakkuk understood the importance of this kind of remembering. He was honest about his feelings of what was going on around him.
He doesn’t agree with God or have a clue what the Lord is doing and why He is choosing to do it the way He does. But Habakkuk had been through enough that he is willing to live by faith even when the facts give him a very uneasy feeling.
The prophet prays a prayer that every believer should still be praying 2,600 years later. In Habakkuk 3:2, he prays, “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.”
“God, I remember what you did. You took my breath away and shut my mouth with your amazing display of your deity. God, I remember what you can do. Now please renew those deeds in our day.”
When I’m in the valley, and when I’m in the pits, you are the same God yesterday, today and forever.
When the dog bites, when the bee stings and when I’m feeling sad, I simply need to remember God’s greatest hits and then I don’t feel so bad, alone, scared, anxious, depressed and hopeless.
What God did before; God will do again and this time it will be even better than yesteryear.
I just have to recall all that God has done in my life for me, through me, even in spite of me. I must return, renew, replay and restore to everything that has to do with who I know God is.
When I can’t see him in my present situation, I remember what he’s done in the past and expect Him to show up again tomorrow.
Don’t say you don’t remember. Make “Jesus memories”— the only way to remember.”
ED. NOTE: The author is the senior pastor of The Lighthouse Church, 1248 Route 9 South, Court House.