Day 2: Memorize Scripture
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It's day 2 of our 31 Days to Hallway Praise challenge!
Yesterday, we talked about the importance of prayer, especially when going through a hardship or trial. Today, I want to encourage you to memorize Scripture.
Maybe you're new to the concept of memorizing Scripture. Maybe you've been memorizing verses since childhood. Wherever you're at in your Christian journey, you can never memorize too much of God's Word! In the missionary story The Heavenly Man, Brother Yun taught new believers to memorize the entire Gospel of Matthew in just 30 days. I was both blown away and convicted by that.
If you've never memorized Scripture before, I'd recommend starting with a few short passages that deal specifically with hardship. A few of my personal favorites are James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7; and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. There are hundreds of verses that apply to testing and difficulty, so spend some time searching and choose verses that are applicable to your current situation.
If you're a memory verse veteran, I'd also highly recommend committing to memory one or two longer passages in addition to verses on hardship. Doing so helps us to get a clearer understanding of God's Word. It helps us guard against taking Scripture out of context. And it challenges us to go deeper in our spiritual walk.
For those longer passages, I'd suggest texts that focus on Heaven (Revelation is an excellent place to look); passages that demonstrate God's power and work; and/or passages that worship the Creator. Because while trials might last for a moment, we as believers will spend Eternity with God. We shouldn't be so focused on the difficulty at hand that we lose sight of God's majesty.
Some years ago, a close friend of mine asked if I wanted to memorize God's Word with her. I loved the idea, and we've been doing so for many years now. Having her accountability has been key for keeping myself on track to memorize Scripture. If you're not sure you can do it alone, find an accountability partner. It's definitely worth it!
Today's action steps: Choose a passage of Scripture to memorize. Write out your selection on a 3x5 card. Read your passage aloud 5 times in the morning and 5 times in the evening. At the end of the week, see if you can recite it by memory!
