I am guilty of wishing that Scripture memory came through osmosis. You know, just go to church and keep up with daily Bible reading, and the Scripture will be there, perfectly memorized for whenever it's needed.
Wrong.
Scripture memory takes work. Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." If I am to hide something, does that mean I'm just going to toss it somewhere haphazardly? Nope. If I'm really intent on hiding something, I'm going to spend time and do it correctly. Hiding God's Word in my heart will take action, time, and determination on my part.
I'll admit, this past year, my memory efforts have faltered. It's not that I didn't know how to memorize God's Word. I just didn't do it. I let busyness and other "priorities" take precedence over God's Word. This year, though, I am determined to work on my Scripture memory on a regular basis again, with God's help.
There are three steps that I have found to be the foundation in my Scripture memory:
1) Pray
This is a step not to be forgotten. My memory is not very good (you can ask my family, friends, and music students). And sometimes, I come to a verse that just throws me for a loop. So, I have found that the first, most important part, is to pray. Pray that God will give me the desire to memorize His Word, pray that He will help me to memorize His Word.
2) Work
As I already mentioned, memory takes work. I can't just read through a verse five times and have it memorized (if you can, good for you! I'm slightly jealous of you...). I have to choose to put aside 10 minutes to memorize. I have to choose to prop my phone up on the windowsill to work on memory while I'm washing dishes. I have to choose to work on it.
3) Review
Once I memorize Scripture, I can easily forget it the next week (like I said, my memory's not the best). So, I have my Scripture review cards on which I write the references for all of my memory verses. Every day, I work through one of these cards and it has helped tremendously. I can still quote verses that I first memorized five years ago.
Next week, Lord willing, I'll share some ways that I vary up the process of Scripture memory.
Here is the verse I'm working on this week. What verse are you memorizing?
3 comments:
Oh yes, I've always struggled with memorizing scripture. Thankfully I have to do it in school, but I need to set my mind to it a little more :) Thank you for, once again, another encouraging post!!
Thank you for the nudge to do it again. After reading this post, my memory verse (studied on my phone while I washed dishes ;) was II Corinthians 10:3-6 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
Thanks!
Liberty Bluebelle
Olivia and Liberty - thank you both for commenting! Prayers that your memory work continues to go well! :D
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