just sitting on the plate right in front of us, just bursting with flavor and nutrition, but it cannot nourish us un - til we internalize it. We have to chew our food, slowly breaking it down one bite at a time in order to digest it so that our body can fully take in the nutrients. Simi - larly, memorizing scripture is a way to take the words in the Bible and put them into our hearts. Memoriz - ing scripture make God’s word continually available to us It allows us to recall verses to ease our difficul - ty sleeping because we are troubled by the day ahead, or consoling others who need comfort or direction in confusion times. Mediating on scripture while enjoying beautiful scenery enhances our appreciation for what God has made. In the Book of Psalms, David was inspired to record that he too had scripture committed to his memory in chapter 119, verses 9-11. How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hid - den in my heart, That I might not sin against You. In his book, 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart , Robert J Morgan writes about a Vietnam pris - oner of war, Howard Rutledge. Until his incarceration Howard had felt little concern for spiritual things, but now he desperately tried to recall snatches of Bible verses, hymns, or sermons he had heard in his childhood. Fortunately, as a youngster he had attended a church in Tulsa, OK with a Sunday school that had stressed the impor- tance of scripture memory. There in the POW camp, he wracked his brain for every single verse he could recall. During the rare moments that he could commu- nicate with other POWs, he found them seeking to do the same. Howard wrote, “How I struggled to recall those scriptures and hymns! I had spent my first eigh - teen years in a Southern Baptist Sunday school, and I was amazed at how much I could recall. Regrettably, I had not seen the importance of memorizing verses from the Bible. Now when I needed them, it was too late. I never dreamed that I would spend almost seven years in a prison in North Vietnam, or that thinking about one memorized verse could have made a whole day bearable.
Howard Rutledge was never a member of God’s Church but he saw value in having scripture memorized. How much more those of us God has called? HOW TO The task of memorizing is not limited to those who are especially young or scholarly. You do not have to have a great memory or have lots of time on your hands. Any ordinary person is capable of memorizing sections of God’s word with a time investment of 10 to 15 minutes per day. Doctor John Mitchell was a pastor and college profes - sor who was known to have memorized the entire New Testament. Before preaching on a section of scripture he would read it out loud 50 times. Afterwards, he would try to repeat it without looking at the text, only referring to the text when he needed to, until he had it memorized. The same technique can be used for one verse or an entire book of the Bible. Of course, it does not have to be done in one sitting. Here is a quote from one of Mitchell’s students, Kenneth Birding, who used this technique to memorize large sections of scripture. Mr. Burning writes: “I discovered that I’d already memorized most of the passage I was trying to learn before I ever really started to try to memorize it”.
There are books and articles easily accessible online that explain various techniques to memorize sections of God’s word. Most of us will find that we are more than capable of doing this. So when we are ready to start memorizing, what verses do we choose? Here are a few
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