Hey friends!
I came across this little book called “How to Memorize Scripture for Life” by Andrew Davis and wanted to recommend it to you. Its a little book that is just under 50 pages published by Crossway, so it shouldn’t overwhelm you. If you are someone who is looking for help in memorizing scripture or you have never thought about the benefits of memorizing the Bible, I want to encourage you to pick up this book.
Paul writes in Colossians 3:16 “Let the words of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God”. There is one great way to obey Paul’s instructions here and that is by saturating our minds with God’s Word.
David writes in Psalms 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planed by streams of living water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
As we read through the Bible, we see that the Bible over and over again gives us commands to mediate on the word, to think on it, and to let it change our thoughts and our minds. We as followers of Jesus allow the Word to master us and to be changed by it. Psalms 119:11 says “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you”. The benefits of memorizing scripture is two fold (there are more, just focusing on two), we are first filled with the Word which allows the Word to cleanse our thoughts and direct them to what is true. Secondly, it gives us instruction for when we need wisdom, and it allows the Holy Spirit to recall what you have read and memorized helping us in a struggle with sin, a word of encouragement, or even wisdom in a situation.
When it comes to memorizing the Bible, we often can make excuses in fact Davis writes that part of overcoming not memorizing is overcoming excuses because our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). We might say “we don’t have a good memory” or “If I read every day, why do I need to memorize it”. This book is a great guide to help motivate and encourage all of us to memorize the Bible. Its a great practical guide to start with one verse. I hope you grab it, you are blessed by it, and that our group will be a group with the Word of God hidden in our hearts. If you do pick it up and are encouraged by it, let me know, I would love to chat about it. Be blessed.