Start Memorizing Scriptures

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16

Before written languages were developed, memory was the only way to learn. In our day, memorizing has a bad name as ‘rote learning’. But memorizing never makes your mind a duller place – just the opposite! When we have stored wonderful words in our memory, we will have a much richer inner life than someone who doesn’t.

Eva Hermann spent two years in a Nazi prison camp. She wrote how a young cellmate happened to recite the prayer of St. Teresa: ‘Let naught trouble thee; let naught frighten thee; all things pass. God alone changeth not. Patience can do all things. Whoever has God, has everything. God alone sufficeth.’ When Eva saw how much this helped the girl, she began to repeat the prayer at the end of every day. Eva later wrote of how her time in prison was transformed by the words she had memorized. This illustrates that the words we carry in our minds are available to transform any given moment.

So when there is a verse of Scripture that speaks to you, stop and write it on a card. Set the verse to music and sing it – like the people in OT times and today still learn scripture by singing it! If you’re a visual learner, light a candle and read these words: ‘God is light; in him there is no darkness at all’ (1 John 1:5). Attach an image to the verse. When God’s Word is rehearsed, remembered, and repeated often, it’s like a stream of joy, peace, and strength that flows and carries your soul along with it.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, Your Word is a lamp to my feet! Let me be guided by it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen