scripture

Memorize the Word—Psalm 119: 9-11

/ Susan W. LaVelle / Leave a comment

This week, we are going to discuss Bible memorization as a way to get the Bible into your heart and life. As Psalm 119: 9-11 says, “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

When you memorize verses and whole chunks of the Bible, you are tucking away those words into the recesses of your heart and mind. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us as an encourager and helper through our lives to speak to us what we need to hear. When we have the Bible—the Word of God— deep in our hearts and memories, there is much more for the Holy Spirit to use to speak to us that will resonate in our inner selves. We are better able to test the words we hear and the thoughts we think, the words we say, and the actions we do, when we have tucked into our minds the words of the Bible, especially the words of Jesus in the gospels and the rest of the New Testament. We also are better able to speak those words to others in the right time and way when we have immersed our minds in Jesus’ words through memorization.

Verse memorization doesn’t have to be overwhelming or difficult. Start with one verse that means a lot to you or that speaks to you in a personal application. Write it down on a 3 x 5 or smaller card and carry it with you. Tape it to the bathroom mirror and look at it while you brush your teeth. Say it to yourself when you are walking into your work and over to yourself at points during the day. Always include the verse’s “address” (the book, chapter, and verse where it can be found). A growing knowledge of where to find a verse in the Bible is very useful when sharing with others or just finding the verse again. Remember to go over verses from previous memory sessions regularly so that you don’t forget them.

In the WWJD? Facebook page, the verses are shown not with pretty pictures behind them but rather with a plain blue background so that our focus is the words and nothing else. You could use your phone instead of 3 x 5 cards by taking a screen shot of verses from this page and keeping them handy to go over during your day. Whatever works for you, do that!

It is totally better to start small and be consistent, instead of biting off too much at once and then giving up. Just pick one verse, write it down, say it to yourself, and go from there!

Read the Word—Revelations 1:3

/ Susan W. LaVelle / 1 Comment

Reading the Bible is more than just reading a random verse—or skipping around the Bible and reading one little chunk you happen to put your finger on. Such skipping and skimming will not give you a firm foundation of what the words of Jesus really are or what they mean.

Certainly one or two verses at a time is important for study and application, for inspiration and correction or for sharing with other people (why else would this page be sharing one or two verses every day if it weren’t important?) However, what this week’s method is getting at is finding a larger picture and context for the individual verses that you know and hear.

To get the most out of and to understand well what the Bible means, you want to make a lifelong habit of reading larger chunks of the Bible at a time. This will help you understand the full picture of what is meant therein. By regularly reading the Bible, you will gain a much broader understanding of what is being said about the range of topics, like faith, prayer, suffering, purpose and mission, others who are not like you, the church, judgment, and family life. So much more!

By making a habit of reading larger chunks, you will also be much better at preventing yourself from ripping single verses out of context or skipping verses you don’t want to follow. For example, often cults are started by someone taking one verse out of context and building a whole dogma out of it, for the cult leader to use it to hold unbiblical sway over followers and to build a little kingdom for themselves. Sometimes a whole new translation of the Bible has been based on one misapplied verse that followers are vulnerable to because they don’t understand the whole context of scripture. Sad but true!

Another very important aspect to note is that sometimes people find parts or verses of the Bible they don’t like and don’t want to follow because it speaks to something that they’d rather ignore about their own lives, for example, like those verses that speak about humility, sexual promiscuity, lying, stealing, gossip, or laziness. By regularly reading through the Bible to get the context of what is spoken about, you will not be able to easily hide from the fact that the Bible speaks about those things. Don’t we want to know what the Bible has to say in its entirety? Don’t we want to fully know and understand what God is speaking to us today through His word?

A great suggestion is to read a chapter every day, working through the various books start-to-finish or even the reading through the whole Bible or the whole New Testament. You can buy a “Bible in One Year” book which has the suggested readings laid out for you after the fashion of a devotional. There are many around but here is one that I have used: https://www.amazon.com/One-Year-Bible…/dp/1581347081/

Also, you might try an online one, which there are many as well, but here is the website for one that I have used by downloading the app to my phone so you can listen while in your car: https://bibleinoneyear.org/en/

The main point is to get started (or get back to) reading the Bible, maybe even just setting a little time limit, like at least 5 minutes per day and following a schedule, like, starting by reading through one of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Or how about the book of Acts, which talks about the early church. Wherever you start, just keep it up!

Revelations 1:3 says this about the book of Revelations, but you might take it to mean all of the Bible, as this hand illustration seems to do: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.”

Blessings to those who apply themselves to read and learn the word of God!