I have to admit that Scripture memorization was a scary notion a few years ago. It wasn’t until I was challenged to do it through a discipleship group I belonged to that I really attempted it at all. Once we began–as a group–to pursue growing in this area of spiritual discipline, we were constantly surprised at how easy it became. The more we practiced, the more God’s Spirit enabled us to recall. We continued to be more accurate, more confident, and more willing to accept memorization as a necessary pleasure, and not a badge of being a “good Christian.”
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” {Jeremiah 15:16}
The Scriptures themselves are plush with verses that reiterate the importance of storing God’s Word up in our hearts, not because it is a duty, but because it is a delight. Though Spirit-empowered memorization, we enable Spirit-empowered wisdom to spring forth in our minds when troubles come. We meditate and remember God’s promises because in times of duress, the Spirit brings them to mind that we may preach to our hearts. Believers pursue to know God’s Word with confidence because in doing so, they are equipped to counsel, comfort, admonish, and encourage one another more faithfully. Indeed, committing bible verses to memory is one of the most profitable spiritual disciplines a believer can pursue.
“I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” {Psalm 119:16}
It is by the Word Jesus fought back Satan in the wilderness, and by the Word we too can fight back our tendencies toward disbelief, doubt, or depression. If memorizing bible verses sounds daunting–or perhaps even impossible–for you, I’d like to offer these encouragements for consideration:
• Don’t get bogged down with addresses just yet. Approach this practice in steps. The first and most important step is to store up God’s WORD in your heart, not the location of it in the Scriptures. Resolve to know the words, and as you grow in your ability to remember them, introduce the address in steps. Here’s what the formula would look like:
verse text → verse text & book → verse text, book, & chapter → verse text, book, chapter, & verse number
Again, that progression can take years to develop, so don’t be too hard on yourself. You won’t be fighting back wrong thinking or encouraging others with numbers and locations–it is the words themselves that are profitable.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” {1 Timothy 3:16}
• Exchange nightly prayers for nightly meditation. When I am trying to memorize a new Scripture, I will look at it before I go to bed as many times as is necessary to be able to repeat it back to myself without looking. Then, I will resolve to repeat it over and over, usually until my thoughts are interrupted by a child coming into the bedroom or they drift off into some crazy tangent. Even so, once I catch myself drifting off, I’ll pull back and set my mind back upon the Scripture. And this process will repeat itself until I finally drift off to sleep. This is not a hinderance to my prayer life, because to my chagrin, I usually lazily pray myself to sleep when I do not have a Scripture to think on. My more vigorous prayer time is in the morning with my journal, so a nighttime committed to reflecting on a particular verse is a more intentional exercise. This is also a great benefit because the end of the day is usually when our prayers drift off into worries and fears, whereas repeating God’s Word is an activity of speaking truth and faith into our lives.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. {Psalm 1:2}
• Don’t tackle large, unmeaningful passages right out the gate. Start with a smaller sentence, perhaps even something from Psalms, that really means something to your walk right now. First, gain confidence that the Spirit can and does help you with this pursuit. Then, as you have a good collection of verses that you constantly find yourself remembering, try something a bit longer. But as you are getting started, keep to the short verses you know you need–the ones that address various temptations you struggle with, or comforts you find yourself constantly seeking. You will be more likely to remember a verse if it is one that the Lord has used to minister to you personally, or if you are using it to intentionally attack a problem-area in your heart.
“And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” {2 Peter 1:19}
•Think of creative ways to see the Scripture in your daily routine. When my book, Clean Home, Messy Heart, first came out, one of the readers sent me a photo of a memory verse taped above her kitchen sink so that she could look at it while she washed and cleaned. Consider doing something similar! Where do you spend a lot of time during the day? Write out the verse on paper and stick it there! One of my favorite ways to continuously look at the verse is by setting the lock screen on my phone with an image that contains the verse. This way, it is always at my fingertips, and when I get stuck or want to look at it quickly, I can access it on something I’m already lugging around. If you are interested in trying out the lock screen method, you can google the verse you are thinking of and sometimes find an image online to download to your phone. There are also apps you can download to create images with your own lettering which are helpful.
If you would like to join me in memorizing more Scripture in 2017, I invite you to receive my own custom memory verse lock screens by signing up to my email list! Only subscribers have access to these weekly images, which are sent directly to their inbox on Wednesday mornings. If that sounds like something you’d like to check out, click here to sign up and get your first one!
I hope these encouragements take the “scary” out of exploring this discipline. I have spoken with women who were certain their brains would have no capacity for memorization, but by the Spirit’s power, they are able to do it and actually begin to cherish doing so regularly. Do you have ways that have helped you memorize Scripture routinely? If so, I would love to hear about it! Post a comment down below and share your methods.
