Memorizing Scripture
Whew… I know the title, “Memorizing Scripture” can be an intimidating one because if you would have said it to me a year ago I would have pleasantly declined with several excuses, starting with, “I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast, there’s no way I can memorize multiple Bible verses”, but bear with me for a few minutes.
First, I want you to think of WHY it is important for us to memorize scripture?
About 10 months ago I began feeling like I should memorize scripture so that I am better able to direct friends who need encouragement to particular verses in scripture for comfort instead of just giving them my worldly advice. We all have that friend… you know, the one who can just pull verses on every topic out of her brain in seconds. So I decided I wanted to be better at it. And honestly, I don’t think that is a bad reason at all to want to memorize scripture.
But wanting and doing are two totally different things and I didn’t exactly know where to start. So… in typical me fashion, I just didn’t. But then a month or two later one of my friends that I look up to so much mentioned that she needed to be more disciplined in memorizing scripture. I immediately felt encouraged and grabbed the closest book I could find. I assumed it was just a list of verses— and I was totally fine with it being just that because I just needed a place to start.
To my surprise the first 40 something pages were on “The Power of Scripture Memory”, and it was exactly what I needed in that moment. While I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book: 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know By Heart by Robert J. Morgan, I will note a few main takeaways below.
What we think about and fix our minds on is where our actions stem from. (
We need to fix our eyes on the Lord, meditate on His Word. If you constantly tell yourself lies, you’re probably going to believe them. Meditating on God’s truth equips us to be transformed by it.
The book shares several examples of people who experienced near-death situations who weren’t believers, but somehow they had fragments of scripture in their minds like dormant seeds from when they were children and maybe heard a verse at church or saw a verse on Grandma’s quilt. And those are the things that came to their minds in the toughest moments of their lives and got them through.
These stories alone could have sold me on scripture memory. It not only made me realize the importance of storing up God’s word in my own heart, but for my kids as well. We’re never too old or too young to memorize scripture. It may take more time or more practice for some, but it is possible. My 4 year old amazes me with the verses he can memorize already.
In Chapter 4, Robert Morgan says, “Scripture memory is like a special additive that exponentially increases the efficiency of santification. By internalizing Bible verses, we’re mainstreaming God’s thoughts into our conscious, subconscious, and unconscious logic.”
Scripture memory transforms our minds and helps us balance emotions.
I want you to consider for a minute why memorizing scripture feels so intimidating to so many believers? What is it that YOU are scared of? Maybe you can relate to some of the reasons below and together we can squash the excuses.
For me personally, I felt like I had to memorize every verse word for word. Now, while that is a great goal to strive for, we need to allow ourselves grace. Reading all of the examples of those in near-death situations who had fragments of verses memorized allowed me to give myself grace and freedom from perfection. Does it really matter if I skip a word? No… because this isn’t school and there isn’t a teacher that is going to quiz me at the end and mark me as failed if I leave out a word. What is going to happen is that when I am anxious I can recite Proverbs 12:25, Psalm 34:17, or Matthew 6:27 to myself and change my thoughts.
As I mentioned above, I also wasted months of time that I could have been memorizing scripture because I didn’t know where to start. I wanted a perfect plan, and well, that doesn’t exist. I found a friend who I knew would hold me accountable, and I just started. If you’re like me… I encourage you to just start!
To my surprise, once I started the verses, I realized I already knew bits and pieces of several verses, which boosted my confidence in knowing that I could do it.
So friend, what is it that is holding you back? Will you commit to 5 verses? 10? 100? I would LOVE for you to join me in memorizing scripture together. Send me an email and let me know you’re committing and I will pray for you and cheer you on.
There will be more on Scripture Memory for you and for kids in the weeks to come… don’t forget to subscribe below to receive updates on new posts and products to stay in the loop! Questions or topics you’d like me to cover? Email them to me:
lightonahillco@gmail.com
Blessings,
Lindsey
Resources you might like related to this post:
Scripture Memory Cards, Set 1 (These are the first 28 verses from the book below)
Book: 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know By Heart By: Robert J. Morgan
