This morning a nugget came to me. I was reflecting on a Word My Elizabeth spoke this week among friends about salvation. Salvation was defined as: information that transforms your mind to make a choice that’s God’s way. Basically, it is the understanding of information that can save you and the choice to follow it.

As I listened more, the topic of faith came up. In short, faith was defined as believing what God says. Believing what God says. Well what does God say? BOOM! Then I thought of a discipline that I had long steered away from and that is: scripture memorization! Now this can jump from fortifying to legalism real quick, so you have to go into it with the right mindset.

You have to look at scripture memorization as delight instead of duty. You are not preparing for a trivia gameshow, you are preparing for eternity with a Person– you’re getting ready for marriage, war even for your marriage. When you go into scripture memorization for the sake of being a know-it-all, it will benefit you NOTHING. When you go into it with the intention to know (truly and intimately understand the heart of) the God of your salvation, the experience is all the sweeter. You are learning the Lover of your soul. The Bible says in John 10:27,

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me

John 10:27

Before that verse, John 10:5 notes that after a stranger, sheep will not follow. Why? Because they do not know the stranger’s voice. They will even run from the stranger. How do I learn the voice of God? We learn God’s voice through reading the Word of God, the Bible. Now this may seem simple for some, but me being a professing follower since 1999, STILL needs a reminder. If I know what God says, and believe it– fashion my thoughts, decisions, and actions around it as though I believe it is true, then when ANYTHING that is contrary to what God says hits my ear and tries to guide me on a different path, I will run from it.

Scripture memorization and understanding out of LOVE and wanting to know the God of your salvation takes the information from your head and writes it on the tablet of your heart.

For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds, and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

Hebrews 8:10

When you go on a date, you ask questions and get answers. Often times, if you like what you hear, you’ll schedule a second date. On the second date, you ask more questions, and you are gathering more information to determine if this man is the one that you want to continue to see. You hold his words in your head and you make a choice. Then there is a third date, then a forth, then on and on it goes, until you look up one day and you all are exclusive. When he spoke previously, you held on to every word he said. Then you investigated and when you met his friends and family, you saw what they said about him. You weighed it with what he said to see if his character was proving true. Then you measured his actions. He said he loved you and you saw to validate if that was true based on how he treated you. Now, now my sister, when he speaks his heart to you you funnel it straight to your heart. You rehearse the words he has spoken. You meditate on them. You can even quote them back to your friends. And when you hear something in the streets about the one whom your soul loves, you reject it, investigate, and find out it is a lie and that the person is upset with what you have and wants to ruin it, even if it takes a lie to do it.

That is a gift knowing the Word of God and what committing it to memory can do for you. When Satan tries to tell you, “God is not good. Why would he allow this to happen to you if he is good?” You can recall the word of God that says,

“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.”

Psalm 34:8-10

Then you pull it apart. “taste and see…” Then think on it. What have I experienced of the goodness of God in my personal life? Meditate on it. The pull it apart some more. “but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing…” Meditate on it. “If I seek the Lord in this, I’ll lack no good thing.” Seek the Lord in it– obey the instruction. After you again experience God’s goodness, you can cancel the lie and run from the liar. Then you catalogue that scripture in your heart.

Lastly, the most beautiful thing about scripture memorization done right is that you will not remember it all the time. No, that’s not a mistake, you just won’t. If you remembered everything all the time, you would not maximize the greatest gift Jesus left us with, and that is the Person of Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit brings everything Jesus said to our remembrance right when we need it!

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 14:26

So enjoy the journey of learning the voice of God through scripture memorization. Have fun with it! You’re getting to know the Lover of your soul! Trust me, it will help you in the long run!

#goldnugget #scripturememorization #refreshher