Grant Abbott Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit

What is the purpose of bible memorisation? To remind ourselves of the important words of truth and encouragement from the bible to strengthen our faith and inspire our service. To share the good news with others through specific words of truth and encouragement that will help them on their journey of faith.

The Holy Spirit, who lives in us, is our resident spiritual teacher (John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:7-15). Jesus said the Spirit would remind us of everything that Jesus taught us (that is all the words of the bible, since he is the Word of God). When we read through the bible on a regular basis, these words are stored in our memory banks, we just struggle to recall them. That's the Spirit's job to jog our memory.

I often rely on this technique as I prepare answers to ebible questions. I take some time to reflect on the question and to listen for the Spirit's voice. Then a key word(s) will pop into my head, or the book of the bible or author will come to mind.

I use a computer bible application called biblegateway.com. It is free to download onto a laptop or smartphone. I select the search function and then enter the key word or words that come to mind. The screen then shows all the bible texts that contain the key word or phrase. I scroll through these texts and the Spirit always highlights the one He had in mind. I click on the search link and the bible passage appears on my screen. I can then read the passage in context or a whole chapter if I want.

Ebible has a tool to read through the whole bible in one year. It takes less than 30 minutes a day for the average reader. I highly recommend doing this as it provides "fresh" memory input for the Spirit to jog that will get us the truth we are seeking.

When someone else needs words of encouragement, it doesn't take us very long to find the relevant passage on our smartphones. We can then share the passage with family or friends, or share it later as a text or email. 

When we find bible memorisation a great struggle, why not use that time to pray for our family and friends instead. The Holy Spirit is certainly able to lead them to His truth without us having to quote bible passages. Because these prayers for the revelation of God's truth, are always in accordance with God's will, we can be assured that our prayers will always be answered.

December 28 2020 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

April Streets

In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus said: “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” In much the same manner as the physical body needs physical food, so does the spiritual body or the Kingdom within needs spiritual food that is the Word of God. 

In Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13, Jesus said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Partaking of the Word of God is the spiritual food that will build and sustain the spiritual body.

Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Therefore, hearing the Bible on audio will increase faith and as the Kingdom of God is being built in this manner, it will begin to uproot all doubt, which is nothing more than a suggestion from the adversary. To know where to begin in the Word, trust God and inquire of Him (Proverbs 3:5-6).

By hearing the Word of God, you may find that certain Scriptures minister to or resonate with you more so than others. If so, this may be a way of God beginning to engineer those Scriptures into your Spirit for memorization. The more Scripture you begin to download, the easier it will be to upload, in order to sustain the Kingdom when tribulation comes. 

As the Spirit of God knows all things, likewise, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13).

December 29 2020 • 3 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

I don't know the particular situation of the individual questioner, but it would seem to me that there would almost have to be facts related to his past and present life that he has so committed to memory that it would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) to forget them, despite whatever decline in memory that he might currently be experiencing.

To me, the keys to the desired goal of memorizing Bible verses would be:

-- assigning the same degree of importance and priority to that as to the other information he routinely recalls;

-- not regarding Bible memorization as somehow being a "separate" category of information that is inherently more difficult to commit to memory, or that is intimidating in that regard; 

-- continued repetitive reading and study over whatever length of time is sufficient for memorization purposes; 

-- (if possible) selecting passages that are "naturally" easier to 
memorize (for example, narratives of events such as are found in the gospels and Acts, or in the historical books of the Old Testament), or that have direct relevance to his life or situation; and

-- use of audio recordings of Bible readings (available either online or for purchase), where the repetitive hearing of the passages can present another, and perhaps easier, means of memorizing them.

Jesus' promise to His apostles in John 14:26 regarding the help of God Himself in the Person of the Holy Spirit in remembering everything that He had said to them is still as valid 2,000 years later as it was at the time that He originally spoke those words, and applies not only to the gospels, but also to the rest of the Bible, which was inspired in its entirety by that same Holy Spirit.

Finally, as shown by Jesus' teaching regarding the widow's mite (Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4), God regards efforts in proportion to one's ability, rather than on an absolute scale. God will be aware of both the questioner's possession of the desire to memorize, as well as his determination to make whatever effort toward that goal of which he is capable.

December 28 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report