Join me in Memorizing Scripture!?

One area that I have been feeling so convicted in lately is my Scripture memorization.

Anyone with me?

I intend to do it...really I do! I would love to do it...really I do! Okay I'm busy now so I'll do it later...really I will!

Does this sound like you?

So often I am in a conversation with someone and I'm like "oh yeah...that one verse that talks about the thing with the thing? I think it might be in James? Or maybe Deuteronomy...?"

1 Peter 3:14 says,

"Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you."

2 Timothy 4:2 says,

"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching".

Read those two verses again {or for the first time if you are like me and skip scripture in blogs sometimes...yeah I do it to!} Isn't that convicting. God calls us to know his word!

And what saddens me is that as a society we have become so used to having a Bible readily available to us at all times. I have countless Bibles at my house and if one is not within arm's reach I can just go to Biblegateway.com and it's right there!!!

Now don't get me wrong. I think this is a wonderful thing. It is truly remarkable the access to the Bible that we have today! But it also makes us complacent. We no longer feel the need to memorize scripture since it's always right in arm's reach.

But it is vital to us that we always be memorizing scripture.

{Credit}

Did you know that in the times of the Old Testament many people had large portions of the Bible memorized including entire books. They did not each have their own Bible and most household didn't even have one to share among the family. Scribes would even memorize the entire Old Testament that they could summon up at a moment's notice!

And yet we struggle to know 20 or 50 verses!!! I don't know about you but this is very convicting!!

John MacArthur writes,

"Repetition expands our capability of recall. Recovering spiritual truth demands repetition and use. The more you hear, think through, and apply spiritual truth the more it begins to dominate your thinking. Eventually you will react involuntarily in the proper spiritual manner to any situation because a particular spiritual principle has become so much a part of you."

He then goes on to say,

"God has designed our physical structure to accommodate our spiritual needs. We have a marvelous capacity for memory. Scriptures is full of reports of how God's prophets were called to tell His people to remember. If I can serve no other purpose than that, I serve the highest purpose of God.First, I want to establish you in the present truth. But second, I need to constantly jog your memory so that you never forget those truths. The more they come to the front of your mind, the more you will find your spiritual responses becoming involuntary because you have become so dominated by the truth of God."


This has been on my heart a lot lately and I have been slow to respond. But I feel the need to memorize scripture growing and I hope you will join me.
 
Look for a post soon about my scripture memorizing plan. I will be doing one new scripture a week this summer and hope that you will join me! I will be making a cute button each week with the scripture on it to post on your blog {or even on your desktop} so you won't forget to meditate on and memorize God's word and hopefully will encourage others to do the same! :) 
 
I am putting together the scripture list now. Let me know if you have any ideas for some good verses or passages that would be beneficial to start memorizing. Check back soon for the start of this!