Scripture Memorization

One subject that I always bring up with the men I am trying to train in Spain is Scripture memorization. I believe it’s a very important part of our Spiritual growth and training. I know that if I can impress on their hearts the importance of this spiritual discipline they will grow in every area of their lives. It’s impossible to commit Scripture to memory without it affecting your actions!

I learned this first from my mom. We were homeschooled as kids and believe me when I tell you that we had to work. It wasn’t a walk in the park. Every morning we would get up early and have chapel before starting school. During that time my mom would have us memorize Scripture. Day after day we would repeat our memory verses until we had learned whole books. I don’t remember most of the verses I learned at that age but what I retained is the knowledge that the Word of God is so precious that it’s worth memorizing.

The next great influence in my life was my uncle, Carlos Arce. I remember when I first moved to Venezuela with my family in 1997. I had the privilege of seeing the ministry that God had given my uncle and the men that he was training for the ministry. One of the unique characteristics of the men that he trained is that they knew the Scriptures. They knew what they believed and why and they could show you from the Scriptures. Often during Wednesday night services my uncle would shoot out a question and the seminary students would have to stand up and answer it from the Scriptures, most of the time quoting the verses from memory. From the children all the way to the adults they had committed hundreds if not thousands of Scripture verses to memory. I’ll never forget one of the greatest hermeneutical tips that my uncle taught me. He told me that the best way to interpret Scripture is to memorize it because it forces you to repeat the passage in your head hundreds of times. This is especially true when you memorize full chapters and books.

For me it wasn’t until I was fourteen that I starting taking Scripture memorization seriously. I was talking with a Jehovah’s witness outside my house and she was asking me all sorts of questions that I didn’t know how to answer from the Bible. I knew the doctrine but I didn’t know where to find it. Unlike me she knew what she believed and quoted numerous passages to prove it. That day I went home and committed in my heart to memorize Scripture.

I want to take a few posts and share some of the things that I’ve learned about memorizing Scripture. I wish I could tell you that I’ve been faithful in memorizing all the time. I have spent months and sometimes years without learning a single verse. But I have been able to retain most of what I’ve learned. I don’t believe you have to have an exceptional memory to practice this spiritual discipline. All you need is the determination to memorize daily and the vision of what God could do through you if you would simply hide his Word in your heart.