A few weeks ago I began memorizing 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I’m not the best at memorization, so it’s a challenge.

Here’s the deal, I had no idea why I was doing it. I just felt led to.

The chapter talks about how we are fragile jars of clay, holding God’s light inside of us.

Verse 8 & 9 says,

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

I was memorizing this and had no idea why. I just didn’t feel it. Not yet.

Then something out of our control happens, and my wife and I find ourselves suffering a loss.

As I was going through the chapter in my mind today, I clearly understood that I needed that truth right now. I had no idea, but a few weeks ago, I began to build up stores. Call them reserves.

Because you never know when a challenge, test, or temptation is going to come your way.

Much of the work of the Holy Spirit is in the subconscious mind. I’m finding it’s the daily little things of walking with the Lord that make a profound difference in my life.

I’m reading a book called The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person by E. Stanley Jones. Here’s a great excerpt that has inspired me:

The disciple of the kingdom of God produces from his stores…these stores could refer both to the conscious and to the subconscious mind…That good store becomes a reserve upon which we can call when in the hour of testing and temptation. We get through a crisis with surprising ease and power. We wonder why and how? The good store threw reserves into the battle and you come through with flags flying…The area of the work of the Holy Spirit is largely, if not entirely, in the subconscious mind.

This reminds me of the importance of not getting lazy or apathetic. There is a battle. We must stay alert.