From an early age, I have been memorizing Scripture. King James Version as it was back in the 1960's and 70's...not the easy to read version that is popular now. My dad taught me Scriptures when I was hardly more than a toddler. He was in seminary and so to help him learn the verses he would teach them to me. My favorite verse back then was Isaiah 53:6. I liked being compared to a sheep....never mind that it was a naughty sheep.
Then in my elementary school days, every year I memorized two or three pages a week, single spaced and on both sides of the paper of some of the best, most foundational verses in Scripture and each week I would quote these verses--all three pages of them --to an adult "listener". They had to be word perfect in order to count. Every week there was a new batch of them to learn...and I did this for several months. And at the successful completions of these memory verses, I was rewarded with free weeks at Spofford Camp in New Hampshire.
That camp holds special memories for me. Not only fun. Not only my first "boyfriend". Not only my brave attempt at water skiing. But there was a certain Friday nite; the last night of camp when they would light a roaring bonfire on the beach and there we sang songs and listened to the week's special speaker give his last talk. And something he said grabbed my attention and my heart responded with "Yes!! I want that !" and I raised my hand to "accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior."
That is where my young years of memorizing Scripture took me. And then fast forward through many years of darkness to a time when as a young mother, memorizing the Bible once more became a priority. While my 3-5 year old daughter took ballet on Saturday mornings, I would come with my 4"x6" index cards with verses typed on them. I did that for years finally accumulating a stack of cards maybe 4" high in which i punched holes and put on a ring so I could easily review.
Then later in about 2006 I developed a memory program, keyboarding pages of verses all divided into different topics. And my pastor asked me to present my program in the adult Sunday School class where I handed packets of verses bound in plastic covers to those who expressed interest. As far as I know, only two people successfully learned their verses
And finally came BibleMemory.com --a Bible memorizing app that lit my fire once again. So far, there I have learned 205 new verses to me (I did not count any verses I had known previously.) And now in my latest phase I am using a method described in the book by Dr Andrew Davis, "An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture." In conjunction with the Bible Memory App, using the methods in this book, I am learning the book of James. Now I already knew almost all of the book of James in the NKJV (New King James Version) but now am learning it in the NLT (New Living Translation) which is easier to understand but that is not why I'm using it. I'm using it because it gives me a new, fresh look at some old verses in dusty corners of my brain.
It is true that I really am struggling these days to learn passages. My mind and my memory have been profoundly damaged by Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) and also by schizophrenia which ultimately is a brain disease and it does physical damage to the brain. BUT...I'm fighting back. These efforts at memorizing I know, exercise my brain and hopefully will keep the plasticity of my brain and slow the effects of aging and disease.
How does God make use of all these efforts of mine? Well I could recount hundreds of times when I was in need or in prayer or struggling in some way-and God whispered a line or two to me and I would know the verse well enough to find it in my Bible or my concordance....and these verses were indubitably from God as time and time again--they were perfectly suited to my needs in the moment. I don't know how people can pray --both speaking to God in his "language" and hearing from God the things he longs to tell us, but which we lack the vocabulary to hear because we do not know his Word. How can you make godly decisions, or discipline your children--or just converse with God--if you have no objective knowledge of God 's Word??
Please do not misunderstand my intentions as I write this post. It is not to "toot my own horn" or to try to look holy. It is merely that this passion of mine has SO benefited, I want to share it. I want to inspire you, challenge you, pique your interest....and hopefully you will begin a journey of Bible Memory. Start small. Write one of your favorite verses but one that you do not yet know by heart, on a 3x5 card and carry it around...read it, burn it into your brain...until you can quote it without difficulty. You won't regret it!
And lately I have felt an urgency to my Scripture learning. What will you do brothers and sisters, when owning a Bible becomes a criminal act? What will keep you sane and receiving the comfort of God while you are imprisoned for your faith?
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