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It's A Strategic Discipleship Tool
There’s a part of me that really dislikes Bible memorization. It’s hard to do and keeps
getting harder the older I get. I can’t say I’ve ever had the best memory, and it doesn’t
seem to be getting any better!
Video is from Discipleship Journeys with Jesus Journey 3, “Jesus Journey to a Wilderness”
But there’s another part of me that keeps pressing on, because I know the importance of
Scripture memorization.
So, to keep me motivated, and perhaps you also, here are…
3 Reasons to Keep Memorizing Scripture:
1. The example of Jesus!
You’ll remember that Jesus fasted, prayed and was tempted for 40 days in the
wilderness. You can see the account in Matthew 4:1-11. But in each case when
the devil tempted Jesus, His response was to quote Scripture that He had
memorized.
So, WWJD? He would memorize Bible passages. To see what that area looks like,
check out the video attached to this blog, which we recorded on location in the
Judean wilderness where Jesus fasted, prayed and was tempted for those 40 days.
If you and I are going to fight temptation, we must memorize Bible passages that
speak to our areas of temptation.
In this day of the internet, it is super easy to search “Bible verses on
________________” and then fill in the temptation:
Worry
Lust
Unforgiveness
Anger
Contempt
Cheating
And so on
Your search engine will likely come up with a great list of websites with
Scriptures on the topic.
To test this, I searched “Bible verses on laziness” and it up came with links to…
And there were more. Google search says it came up with: “About 615,000
results (0.48 seconds).”
2. The teaching of scripture
Along with the example of Jesus, the Bible encourages memorization in verses
such as:
Psalm 119:11 “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.”
“The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.”
"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish,
and it will be done for you.”
"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall
meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to
all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and
then you will have success.” The best way to meditate on God’s Word is
to memorize it!"
3. It is the best spiritual discipline
Our natural inclination is to ask, “How little can I get away with?” and “Can I get
away with not memorizing the Bible?” But those are the wrong questions. The question, when it comes to our relationship with the Lord ought to be, “How can I best enhance my walk with God?” One clear answer is to memorize Scriptures.
According to renowned teacher Dallas Willard, it is the BEST spiritual discipline
If I had to—and of course I don’t have to—choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life and take only one, I would choose Bible memorization. I would not be a pastor of a church that did not have a program of Bible memorization in it, because Bible memorization is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what they need. Willard, Dallas. The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship (p. 58). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
CONCLUSION:
Growing up I was so blessed to be part of a church that had an AWANA youth program
where a major component was Bible memorization. I learned many verses during my
childhood and have learned more since then. I can testify to the power of God’s Word
hidden in my heart.
When our boys were young, we had a family theme verse we memorized together:
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for
building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”
(Ephesians 4:29 NIV)
As you might imagine, we pulled that one out of our memories and “preached” it to our
fussing boys many times!
Am I a Bible memorization ninja? Not hardly. But I’m hanging in there with Bible
memory for the reasons listed above. How about you?
Discipleship Journeys with Jesus (DJJ), where the video above comes from, has
suggested Bible memory verses with each journey lesson. DJJ is a free tool for disciple
making that makes it far easier to “make disciples.” Thousands are being discipled using
these studies based on biblical journeys with Jesus. You can join with them.
Help Spread the Word!
If you found this article helpful, we’d love for you to share it with others on social media or otherwise. This will help get the Word in front of more people who need biblical guidance. Thanks for your help!
Additional resources about related subjects on this site:
Quote Card: Spurgeon On Being A Missionary
Video Vlog: Twisting Scripture
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