Discipleship Lesson 5: Bible Memorization
Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
- The Command To Memorize Scripture
The Bible should be your everything: your life (Deuteronomy 32:47), your wisdom (Deuteronomy 4:6), and your righteousness (Deuteronomy 6:25). We should set our “affection on things above” (Colossians 3:1-4) by making Bible memorization a daily, habitual practice (see Psalm 119:89).
Psalm 1:1-2 “1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
1 Timothy 4:15 “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”
“To live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21; Galatians 2:20), so we should desire to become closer to our Lord and more like him every day, and “let the word of Christ dwell” in us (Colossians 3:16). Since we have the Bible, we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). This means that we have the ability to speak and think and act just as Jesus Christ did if we internalize the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus and all of his disciples memorized the Bible. Their devotion to memorization is clearly shown by their repeated quotation of the Old Testament scriptures in their preaching and writings. In the Bible, Jesus quoted from 24 books of the Old Testament about 180 times. “It is written” is a very common way the Biblical authors cite the Bible (e.g., Romans 1:17; 1 Corinthians 1:31).
Psalm 40:7-8 “7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”
God commands us to memorize his word: “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul” (Deuteronomy 11:18). We are not supposed to just have the Bible in our home and hand, but also in our heart. Every thought should be brought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Proverbs 6:21-23 “21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. 22 When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. 23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.”
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 “6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”
- The Benefits of Memorizing Scripture
- Memorizing the Bible will occupy your idle time with good things
God knows our hearts (1 Kings 8:39; Psalm 44:21; Acts 1:24), and sees all aspects of our life (see Psalm 139:1-18; Proverbs 15:3), even our thought-life. He knows everything that we do and think.
Ezekiel 11:5 “… for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.”
Psalm 94:11 “The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.”
The way we think determines who we are (Proverbs 23:7; see also Psalm 55:21), and how we are (Romans 8:6), so God desires that our thought-life be pure and godly (Psalm 51:6). Because our default thoughts are to sin, and the majority of people think only evil continually (Genesis 6:5), God tells unrighteous men to forsake their thoughts (Isaiah 55:7), and asks, “How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?” (Jeremiah 4:14).
Matthew 9:4 “And Jesus, knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?”
By habitually memorizing God’s word, you will ensure that your mind is always thinking about something good, and that all of your thoughts are right before God. The best way to “redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16; Colossians 4:5) is to memorize the Bible.
Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, hatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (See also Psalm 19:14).
Three Kinds of Time
Spend all of your idle time in things like memorization. Examples of idle time include:
- During Transportation: by foot, by car, by bike, etc.
- During Domestic Chores: when cleaning, cooking, washing, preparing, etc.
- During your Occupation: in certain jobs or employments, etc.
- Memorizing the Bible will give you a greater understanding of the Bible
Whatever we think about the most is what we become good at. Bible reading teaches us the Bible, but Bible memorization causes us to learn the Bible more deeply. Memorizing the Bible is like reading it hundreds of times.
Psalm 119:97-100 “97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. 98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.” (See also Psalm 49:3).
- Memorizing the Bible will give you strength against sin
God’s word is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12), it is the sword of the Spirit which we can use to battle any temptation (Ephesians 6:17). When Jesus was tempted of the devil (Matthew 4:1-11; see also Luke 4:1-13), he quoted the scripture from memory in each temptation as a defense against sin (cf. with Deuteronomy 8:3; 6:16; 6:13; see also Psalm 37:31).
Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
1 John 2:14 “… I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”
Whatever is in our heart is what we will speak:
Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”
Whatever is in our heart is what we will do:
Matthew 15:18-19 “18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”
| Hatred
James 1:20; Ephesians 4:26; Ecclesiastes 7:9 |
| Lust
Matthew 5:28; Proverbs 6:25; Job 31:1 |
| Laziness
Romans 12:11; Colossians 3:23; Proverbs 14:23 |
| Dishonesty
Proverbs 12:19; Proverbs 6:16-17; Ephesians 4:25 |
| Envy
Proverbs 14:30; Galatians 5:26
|
| Pride
Proverbs 16:18; Romans 12:16; Proverbs 25:27 |
| Covetousness
Exodus 20:17; Hebrews 13:5; Luke 12:15 |
| Bitterness
Ephesians 4:31-32; James 5:9; Matthew 6:14-15 |
| Selfishness
Philippians 2:3-4; Philippians 2:21; 1 Corinthians 13:5 |
Selected verses to think of when tempted to sin
- Memorizing the Bible will make you a better witness for Christ
In order to preach the gospel, we must use God’s word (1 Peter 1:23-25). The more of the Bible that we know by heart, the better we can preach the gospel (see also Jeremiah 20:9).
1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”’
- Memorizing the Bible will cause you to be filled with the Holy Spirit
Because the Holy Spirit inspired the words of scripture, when we are meditating upon the word of God we can more easily become filled with the Spirit. According to the Bible, being filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) is partly done by letting the word of Christ dwell in us (Colossians 3:16).
John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (See also 1 John 2:20-29; Ephesians 4:23).
III. How to Memorize Scripture
The most effective method for memorizing the Bible is the rote-repetition method. It works for single verses, passages, and even entire chapters or books of the Bible.
- Step 1 – DECISION: Decide on what you will memorize.
- Step 2 – PREPARATION: Write your to-be-memorized verses on index cards, one verse per card.
- Step 3 – REPETITION: Carry the cards with you wherever you go, and whenever you have idle time, pull out the cards and memorize. Mentally break the verse(s) you will memorize into quotable chunks, and then repeat each word cluster for about 100 times, and then move on to the next word cluster until you finish an entire verse, and then repeat the entire verse 100 times. Then, move on to the next verse.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
- Step 4 – RETENTION: Quote what you memorize once a day for a week, and then once a week for a month, and then once a month for a year.