Scripture Memory Challenge

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”         Hebrews 4:12

God’s Word stands alone. It is powerful and effective. When His Word goes out, it never returns void. There is no match or equal to its life-giving truth. It’s alive, and it’s active. When meditated on and practiced, God’s Word is effective in giving freedom and hope to a lost and dark world. Knowing God’s Word is vital to faith in Christ. We must know what we believe and why we believe it. Many people claim to believe in Jesus, yet many of them have never even read His Word. The blessing of living on this side of the cross is the hope that we find in Jesus Christ, and we have His inspired, spoken Word within our reach. Do we use it? Do we read it? Do we spend time meditating on its truth? Do we MEMORIZE it?

Before I e

ven continue, I’m going to address the fear that has already begun to arise in you, I’m sure. The word “memorize” has a tendency to immediately cause some to tune out. “I can’t memorize” or “I have a terribly memory and can’t even remember my own phone number half of the time” are excuses that are already coming to your mind as you begin to think about the challenge it would be to memorize God’s Word. Might I stop you in your downward spiral of thinking right there and remind you that we serve a God who created us with brilliant minds – minds capable of storing an immeasurable amount of information. Perhaps you’ve simply forgotten all the things that you’ve so easily committed to memory. Let me give you an example. The other night, I was driving home with my husband, and I had my Ipod on shuffle. As each song played through my speakers, I sang along to every word. Having a few thousand songs stored on my Ipod, there are numerous songs that I haven’t even listened to in years. Still, the moment that they began to play, the memory flooded back, and I sang along without difficulty. What I’m trying to say is this: you make time and effort for what you deem important. Let me say it a different way. You will commit yourself to whatever you prioritize. Perhaps you have a favorite TV show, and you coordinate your schedule around this show

in order to watch it every week. I’m with you on this one. I’ve recently become one of the many addicts to the increasingly popular show “Downton Abbey”. It’s amazing how my once “packed” schedule was suddenly freed up to catch up on two entire seasons of this show to be ready for the premiere of season 3 last week. Hmmm…now, what I’m NOT saying is that watching TV is wrong. What I AM saying, however, is that memorizing scripture is more than possible…if you want to. And what I’m also saying is that taking the time to commit God’s Word to memory is a discipline that reaps tremendous rewards.

So, I am personally inviting you to join me on this Scripture Memory Challenge. Here’s how it will work. I will provide a verse (or two…don’t lose me here!) each Wednesday for 6 weeks for us to comm

it to memory…together! You are not in this alone. We are doing this together! Starting today and for 5 more Wednesdays to come, I’ll be posting a Scripture a week to memorize, and each one will correspond directly to my Bible study, Found On My Knees. So, whether you’ve had the chance to participate in this study with me yet or not, this will be your opportunity to engage in it now. I’ll be memorizing and posting from the New International Version (NIV). Feel free to choose your own version that you read from. Are you ready? Here we go!

Week 1: Getting to my knees – Brokenness:

“Come, l

et us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has injured us, but He will bind up our wounds.” Hosea 6:1

Take this next week and commit this verse to memory. Write it in your prayer journal. Jot it down on a note card and carry it with you. Rehearse it until you can easily call it to mind, and meditate on its truth. Find a friend who is willing to take this challenge with you, and quiz each other at the end of each week. This is going to be fun, but more than that, it is going to be so rewarding. When we commit God’s Word to memory, we write His Word on o

ur hearts. Begin to love and crave His Word with me as we commit ourselves to this challenge! Who’s with me?