My husband and I have been convicted recently about continuing in Bible memorization. We have been infrequent in our memorization and realize that when we hide God's Word in our hearts it guards our hearts from sin and forces us to meditate upon God's Word. I can think of no better thing to do with our minds. Recently, I was listening to Nancy Leigh DeMoss talk with a lady who struggled with memory problems and she had lots and lots of verses memorized. In fact, she said that she had visited a home with severely mentally retarded adults who could not even say a sentence and they were quoting scripture. Amazing!!!!! I was totally blown away and felt ashamed that I was not putting my full effort into memorizing scripture. At that point, I decided that I needed to get serious about memorizing scripture. Ever since our oldest child was 2 we have greatly encouraged and held him and all of our children accountable to memorizing scripture using Truth and Grace memory books. One thing that helps me to memorize is to write and read over and over. So, I decided to get a dry-erase marker and write my verse on my stove, counter top, windows, desk tops, and mirrors. Don't worry, it all washes off clean! I am also going to get some nice paper and matting and frame them throughout my entire house. One of the huge benefits I am seeing is that the kids are unintentionally memorizing scripture with me as I read it out loud every time I see it or they read it when they see it.
When it comes to Bible reading, my husband has decided instead of focusing on reading through the entire Bible this year in his personal reading to daily read through the entire book of the Bible that he is preaching through. He is currently preaching through Titus. Through all of this daily reading he is doing he is unintentionally memorizing scripture without even trying. Just this morning during our family worship, he quoted 10 verses. Plus, it helps him in his preaching as he is constantly meditating upon Titus.
I tell you all of this to encourage you that it IS possible to hide God's Word in your hearts. If anyone wants to share what helps you to memorize God's Word, I would love to hear all about it.
4 comments:
At different times in my adult life I've been good about this. For a while in college I would walk with notecards and memorize that way. My first couple of months of college I memorized James 1. I also memorized Psalm 103 that way, too. Then I'll go months or even years without memorizing. The 3 or 4 years I've been teaching our memory class at church which has been such wonderful accountability for me. As the kids are memorizing, so am I. I love it. Last summer when the kids had more time on their hands we did memory work at home, too. I bribed them. I offered a prize for every 8 verses. We memorized a large chunk of Ephesians 4 and 5 this way. (And the prizes weren't terribly expensive either.) In the book The Well Versed Family there were testimonies about teenagers memorizing entire books of the Bible and the difference it made in their lives at the time and later. I think it would be fun to take a trip as a reward for our family memorizing an entire book. Just an idea that's far off, but I do think about it from time to time. Now I don't walk with cards, but work a little with my kids each day. Reviewing with them helps me.
Celee, Thank you! That is very helpful and encouraging to me. I am currently working on Ephesians 4:17-32. It is what I need right now. I have never heard of the book, The Well Versed Family. I think that I will also check out that book. That is an amazing testimony to have entire books of the Bible memorized. It also helps to eliminate fear when sharing the gospel with others.
I love the marker idea! What a great way to surround yourself with the inspiration to memorize. When I make a notecard, I set it down and forget it. Thank you!
Here is a link to how we memorize verses at our house.
I can't think of anything better to hide in our hearts than God's Word!
http://joyfuljohnsons.blogspot.com/2009/08/simple-bible-memory.html
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