I think I have finally come to a point where I am convicted enough and determined enough, by God's grace, to do something about it. So the next two posts will be related to these two topics: scripture memory and prayer.
Fighter Verses
There are fifty-two weeks in a year and each year has a memory reference. So if you do a two verse reference per week, you have 110 verses memorized in a year. That's incredible. Anybody can do two verses a week. And sometimes they will take chunks of scripture and break it down so that after 4-6 weeks you actually have a whole passage memorized, maybe even a chapter such Psalm 23, Psalm 139, or Romans 8. Is that not cool?!
Why Would I Want To Do This?
Let's face it. The majority of Christians find scripture memory a daunting task. But doesn't this sound easy. It is such a valuable tool. For better of for worse, many of us have trouble getting in bible reading every day right? We make excuses and perhaps struggle with truly processing the importance for reading scripture much less memorizing it. I know I do.
Consider this. Let's suppose that tomorrow our government goes entirely haywire and our right to even own a bible goes out the window. It has happened before and it could certainly happened again. What will you have to work with? There are cultures in the world today that have no access to scripture. There are others that have been in that predicament and when they have received God's word in their own language, it has been the celebration to end all celebrations.
Many of us have bible's all over the house and have never read it through, much less memorized much of it. Sometimes we do not appreciate what we have until it is gone. That day could absolutely come. Let's not wait until then to decide to store up God's word in our minds and hearts.
Extended Memory
Another awesome aspect to me is that this app has an extended memory collection. If you memorize the 2015 set you will have all of Matthew 5-7 memorized. That is the whole Sermon on the Mount. 2016 will have us memorizing the whole of the book of Philippians. That is about four chapters. 2017 presents Romans Ch. 5-8 for memorization and 2018 has five different significant chunks of scripture. 2014 focused on the entire book of James.
Can you imagine having chunks of scripture laid out in such a simple way. If you focus on each, both the fighter verses and the extended memory collection throughout the year and get it all memorized, that is a whole lot of God's word on the inside of you. That's a big sword to swing while battling the world, the flesh, and the devil. And, it only requires an average of four verses per week to memorize. Let's be honest, we put more energy than that into memorizing sports stats and song lyrics. Surely we can put forth the minimal effort that this program requires.
Many will make the excuse, "I just can't memorize. I have a terrible memory." I'll bet that if I told you I would give you $1,000 dollars for every verse you memorize this week that you would find a way. The question is, "Do we consider God's word as valuable as $1,000 or gold or silver"? (Psalm 19). Believe me, I have to wrestle with this one. But isn't the infinite value of knowing God by being able to meditate on His word internally worth the wrestling match.
Details
The app itself is $2.99 for droid or apple. You may be thinking, "I don't pay for apps". Well, neither do I ordinarily. I am all for free stuff. However, I can tell you that the fruit of investing in this app will far outweigh the cost.
There are other tools on the app such as ways to see the verse and have it take out different words and have you fill in the blank, etc. There are also other resources that can be found all over the fighter verse website. Including memory tools for kids called foundation verses(also found in app), cd's with memory songs that can be purchased, and so on. The verses are also available in five different translations. This is absolutely worth checking out and investing in.
One More Tool
There is one more system that many at Desiring God use, in addition to the Fighter Verse resources, to aid them in memorizing bigger sections of scripture, including the goal of whole books.. It is a very simple but useful system that helps to ingrain scripture into your long-term memory banks.
It was actually developed by a pastor in Durham, NC named Andrew Davis. It is entitled "An Approach to Extended Memorization of Scripture". You can get it on Kindle as an e-book for 99 cents. It is another small investment that I highly recommend. John Piper, the founder of Desiring God ministries, includes the nuts and bolts of the process in Chapter 8 of his book "When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight For Joy". Another book I highly recommend in general for your spiritual growth.
I am providing those nuts and bolts here for anyone who is interested. Please look it over and consider it. The more scripture you have on the inside the stronger you will be in your day to day walk. Psalm 119:11 states, "I have hidden thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee". That is the goal.
I pray it is a blessing.
HOW DO YOU MEMORIZE A WHOLE BOOK?
I will borrow Andrew Davis’s method and simply give it to you as he gives it in his booklet. It’s the method I use. Sample daily procedure: The following is an example of how someone could go about memorizing Ephesians at the rate of one verse per day:
1) Day one: Read Ephesians 1: 1 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes. Be sure to include the verse number. 18 Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
2) Day two: Yesterday’s verse first!! Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 1: 1 ten times, being sure to include the verse number. Look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory. Now, do your new verse. Read Ephesians 1: 2 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes. Be sure to include the verse number. Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
3) Day three: Yesterday’s verse first!! Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 1: 2 ten times, being sure to include the verse number. Again, you should look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory. Old verses next, altogether: Recite Ephesians 1: 1-2 together once, being sure to include the verse numbers. Now, do your new verse. Read Ephesians 1: 3 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes. Be sure to include the verse number. Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day.
4) Day four: Yesterday’s verse first!! Recite yesterday’s verse, Ephesians 1: 3 ten times, being sure to include the verse number. Again, you should look in the Bible if you need to, just to refresh your memory. Old verses next, altogether: Recite Ephesians 1: 1-3 together once, being sure to include the verse numbers. Now, do your new verse. Read Ephesians 1: 4 out loud ten times, looking at each word as if photographing it with your eyes. Be sure to include the verse number. Then cover the page and recite it ten times. You’re done for the day. This cycle would continue through the entire book. Obviously, the “old verses altogether” stage will soon swell to take the most time of all. That’s exactly the way it should be. The entire book of Ephesians can be read at a reasonable rate in less than fifteen
Piper, John (2004-09-21). When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight For Joy (Kindle Locations 2109-2134). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
I hope you have found all of these tools useful.
Josh
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