Memorizing the Word is one of the best of all spiritual disciplines. I couldn’t live without it! It combines meditation, prayer and the study of God’s Word. I earnestly desire to be a Psalm 1 man, and there is no better way than memorizing the Word.
I believe actively and aggressively meditating on the Word will radically change your life. It will fill your heart with faith, hope, and love. It will bring enormous joy and peace into your life because God’s Word is alive, active and powerful!
I memorize one verse a day, and after I finish a chapter I spend a few days reviewing the previous chapters. I memorize with my twenty-six-year-old daughter, and we occasionally quiz each other. So far, after ten years, I have memorized the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), the Gospel of John, Romans, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Hebrews, James and several chapters in Psalms and Proverbs.
I try to give myself two hours in the morning to spend in the Word. As I am memorizing the verse of the day, I have a study Bible and commentary so I can study the passage in more detail as I memorize it. I then pray the passage back to the Lord and try to meditate on the Word throughout the day.
Some days are better than others. I try to make my last thoughts of the day before I go to sleep meditating on the Word.
I don’t have a sophisticated system of memorizing the Word. I have found that if you are sold on the value and see the importance of something, you will put in the work and gain the benefit.
Thanks Kent for sharing your story. You are a great encouragement to me,I have been praying that God would show me more men who are actively memorizing the Bible, so thank you Lord. Sounds to me like you have a great system. I know by experience that memorizing that Bible does change you from the inside out. Storing God’s word in our heart’s is one of the beat things that any christian can spend their time doing. I also think it is great that you are an example to your daughter and encourage her to memorize scripture as well. Keeping running your race, I pray that your story will encourage other christians to start memorizing the Bible.
Mickey, God’s Word has life and power, it’s so worth the effort to memorize. I am glad that my story could serve as a motivator to you! Press on!
Kent, very encouraging story.Thank you for sharing it. I love that you are leaving a legacy of MEMORIZING with your daughter.it is something she will never forget.keep up the great work,running the race.until the Great Day.
Wonderful story. I love that you memorized the book of John. All those words Jesus spoke are etched in your mind. So amazing and motivating. Everyone has something they’ve chosen to “chase”, and I wholeheartedly agree with you that the manner of memorizing isnt the key—its the fact that you want it bad enough to chase it—whether your method is old fashioned (like mine) 🙂 or whether its some hi-tech method. Thank you Kent for sharing.
Cherie, my method of memorization is very old fashioned. It takes hard work. The goal is to focus on the reward; the motivation will follow. God has rich promises to those who will actively meditate on His Word (Ps 1; Jos 1:8)
Paulette, it’s been a great joy to memorize the Word with my daughter. She has become quite the “memorizer” herself. It has helped to knit our hearts together. Have a great Christmas!
Kent, thanks for sharing your story and your love for God’s Word. Motivated me!
Love the last line of your story — “I have found that if you are sold on the value and see the importance of something, you will put in the work and gain the benefit.” Very challenging! Thank you for sharing.
Hi Kent, I would love to know, just curious, what you are memorizing now?
Natalie’s comment is also my sentiment exactly. I love your last line. I really enjoyed reading your story. Thank you for sharing it.
Thank u so much, Kent. Your story is a great encouragement and it’s so awesome that you and your daughter share this.
Thanks for your testimony, Kent! It’s inspiring!
Wow Kent, as I’m memorizing Romans (in chapter 4) I have been wanting to dig deeper each day and love hearing your method- very encouraging-you sound like a gifted teacher of The Lord! God Bless you,
I am so inspired in reading your note Kent and thank you for sharing it with us. I am impressed that you memorize one verse a day as that makes it so doable, so possible that all of us should be able to do it. I am older and find it more difficult and the option of one verse a day is challenging to me! May our Lord bless your continued work to hide His word in your heart!