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The Gospel of Mark Committed to Memory

Many Christians look on the Spiritual discipline of memorizing God’s Word as something tantamount to modern-day martyrdom. ask them to memorize Bible verses and they react with about as much eagerness as a request for volunteers to face Nero’s lions. How come? perhaps because many associate all memorization with the memory efforts required of them in school. it was work, and most of it was uninteresting and of limited value.

Frequently heard, also, is the excuse of having a bad memory. But what if I offered you one thousand dollars for every verse you could memorize in the next seven days? Do you think your attitude toward Scripture memory and your ability to memorize would improve? any financial reward would be minimal when compared to the accumulating value of the treasure of God’s Word deposited within your mind.

For example, memorization supplies spiritual power. When Scripture is stored in the mind, it is available for the Holy Spirit to take and bring to your attention when you need it most. That’s why the author of Psalm 119 wrote, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (verse 11). It’s one thing, for instance, to be watching or thinking about something when you know you shouldn’t, but there’s added power against the temptation when a specific verse can be brought to your mind, like Colossians 3:2: “Set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things.” When the Holy Spirit brings a definite verse to mind like that, it’s an illustration of what Ephesians 6:17 can mean when it refers to “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” a pertinent scriptural truth, brought to your awareness by the Holy Spirit at just the right moment, can be the weapon that makes the difference in a spiritual battle.

(Don Whitney, Resurgence, 2010)

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