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MEMORIZING GOD'S WORD

Dear Sisters in Christ,

God has given us a great tool, His word! It is so easy to fall into sin but God has given us his word and if we treasure it in our hearts it will be a wonderful instrument to keep us from sin. Remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, how he responded to each temptation with Scripture (Matthew 4:1-11). To be able to stand against evil, we must put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:13), including the “Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17b). If someone asks us a question when we are out shopping, reading a book at the library, or even at home in our own living room it is not always easy to quickly find the verse we want. But if we treasure God’s word in our hearts we will “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1Peter 3:15).

We must be diligent so that we are ready to stand against the wiles of the devil. Here are a couple tips to memorization.

Listening to Scripture that is put to music. I have found that I have Bible verses memorized that I have listened to many times.

Another suggestion is reading the verse or passage multiple times! At the beginning of this year I did not have any particular Bible reading schedule for my devotions. I decided to memorize Paul’s letter to the Colossians. I also read Colossians for my devotional reading each day. Sometimes I would read the whole book, sometimes just a part of it. But this repetition of reading plus my endeavoring to memorize it, really was going well. As I went along, I started reading other passages in the Bible and I will have to admit that my memorization efforts slacked off. Maybe not immediately but eventually they did. Now it is definitely alright to read one passage in Scripture and memorize another but this helped me understand the importance of spending a lot of time in the passage I am trying to memorize. Eventually, I did get the whole book of Colossians memorized. And recently, I was able to recite the whole book to my dad! I will close with some verses that I enjoyed from Colossians. “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:12-15).

Laura, 17, lives with her parents and four siblings. She loves caring for little children, helping keep the house organized and playing family games.