When I was a young Christian, a good part of my “quiet time“ was spent to memorize strategic bible verses (“Quiet time” is the time you spend to pray and read the Bible every day). And now in my retirement years, I have to admit, there was no better investment of my time than learning key verses by heart.
Why is that ? God’s thought was written down. It is real miracle that the manuscripts survived wars, the downfall of empires and the persecution of protestants who loved their bible. It is not so long ago that in Europe they destroyed bibles and burned at the stake those who preached the word. But the comprehension of the gospel has powerfully transformed our society. Most of what we consider basic rights and the freedom to have our own opinion are concepts that come from the bible. (Even if religious people have also used their understanding of the bible to condone apartheid, slavery and persecution of bible believing Christians in the name of God)
But in French we say: “Words fly away. What is written stays “.
Why should I memorize the word of God? What benefit for me?
We live in a world (Google, YouTube, and Facebook) that use algorithms. They keep feeding you what you seem to be looking for. If you were looking at online gambling sites, the algorithm concludes you want to learn everything about it. And every possible video or publicity on that subject is sent your way. They want online gambling to stay “top of mind”, hoping to make some publicity dollars with that. (Google makes more every year with their ad revenues than the PNB of many countries). And I’m using “online gambling” as an example. We so unwittingly encourage the devil to tempt us on our weak points.
Do we want our “weakness” to stay “top of mind” so that we keep being exposed to what tempts us? We are in a time where many “have the form of religion but deny what makes it powerful” (2 Timothy 3.5).
Anyone who evangelizes knows how resistant people can be to our opinions. Would we have more power if we “talk about” God’s word or being able to use the very word of God that the Spirit brings to mind just when people need it?
“For He is strong that executes his word” (Joel 2.11)
So if I memorize the word of God, God who is the “engineer of our circumstances” will prepare opportunities to witness of Him. We’ll be ready.
A church that attracts people only because of a friendly family-like atmosphere or modern-style music without teaching them to learn by heart certain bible verses exposes the people to a great danger.
This is what the Psalmist says :
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
11 I have treasured (laid up) Your word in my heart,
So that I may not sin against You. (Psalms 119.9 and 11)
“ Lay up His Word in your heart “is the same thing as to memorize it.
When we are in the « heat of the moment » or in the « thick of the battle », the Holy Spirit finds in us a Word we have memorized that He can use to do miracles for us and through us. Because all we need is a bit of faith. And as we know faith comes from what we hear and what we hear comes from the Word of God. (Romans 10.17)
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” but Paul also says, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching. (vs 8).
Having the word “near you” is like having the right tools with you when your car breaks down.
Thanks to the word we have memorized, the Holy Spirit can give discernment and warn us of danger (or when someone else is in danger and is not aware of it). It can also help you overcome timidity and give you the right words when you need to warn someone who they don’t realize the danger they are in.
The Holy Spirit can warn us that our thinking and reasoning is faulty
He will help us analyze our reasoning in light of His word. And show us the course of action we need to take in a given situation.
Several years ago we were walking in an area called the Colorado Provençal. It is a place in Southern France where the sandhills give yellow and red pigments used by painters. In front of us a young couple walked hand in hand on the path among the pine trees. The young girl had blue hair and the young man had a black T-shirt with “ I am Godless” written on it. It was written so big we could see it from 50 yards away. (Not many Christians would show who they belonged to as clearly).
The thought went through my mind that I could not overlook this situation. And I accelerated my walk to catch up with them. “Excusez-moi (Excuse-me). Parlez-vous francais or English ?” – “No we speak French, Why ? “ “ Because I’m afraid for you !” And I threw a look to the sky. They followed my gaze. And I said, “If God doesn’t exist, you have nothing to fear. But if He does exist, I’m hoping He won’t feel insulted “.
The fact that I had learned to memorize some key Bible verses by heart allowed us to have a quick discussion.
They were wondering of what I was talking about. I reminded them of what was on the T-Shirt. “I am Godless”. “Do you know what that means ?”, I asked them. This was a nice young couple but ignorant of the consequences of their decision to wear this particular T-shirt that day…
They explained the T-shirt was bought at a “ heavy metal” concert but were not aware of what it meant. except that it seemed “cool” to buy a souvenir. And we talked about the Bible. They really paid attention to my short explanation of salvation. (Using bible verses I had memorized) And they accepted that I pray for them on the spot (while people were passing by). I warmly recommended that they start reading the Gospels.
The girl said her aunt had a Bible on her bookshelf.
Conclusion
This is the problem of our generation. The Bible is on someone else’s bookshelf (or in our iPhone) but not in our heart. A message on a T-shirt can be read by hundreds of persons. I may seem cool to do the publicity for things we don’t even believe in. We say, “If God is for us, who can be against us”?… But if we provoke God and He comes against us, we are recklessly playing games with our spiritual lives.
Read the article, “How memorization of the Bible saved my life”
You don’t know how to memorize. Contact the Navigators organization who have a great booklet with pocket sized notecards already printed with the basic verses to memorize
Let’s Pray
Lord, we are often so ignorant of your teaching and your ways. Please give me the desire to memorize Your word each day so I do not unknowingly sin against you. Amen.
