This past Sunday I challenged our Lincoln Park Campus to memorize scripture together. Scripture memorization is a key way God can grow us in Him. 

A good basketball player knows that you’ve got to practice throughout the week. Without practicing, their skills and ability on the court during game time will suffer. If they didn’t do passing drills, free throw repetition, and shooting practice, they’d have no hope of improving their game.

In a similar way God has given us spiritual disciplines to grow and mature us in our faith.  

For the last 13 years of my Christian life I’ve been lazy in the area of memorizing scripture. Last year, though, I made a commitment and priority to spend time memorizing Scripture each day. While it has been difficult and I’ve had to fight laziness, the practice has been helpful in my walk with God and aided me as I pray for myself and others.

I want to press on and challenge others to see the joy God gives as we store up His Word in our hearts!

I challenged the Lincoln Park Campus to memorize the greatest sermon ever given, the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 5:3 -7:27.  We’ll memorize two verses each week (sometimes three), which will take us through the year. 

Memorizing the Sermon on the Mount is just a sugguestion; end goal is to begin a daily practice of memorizing Scripture. So, if there’s something else you’d like to memorize, go for it!

I’ve been using a method I learned from Andy Davis of Durham, North Carolina, which I think may be helpful for you as you begin to memorize God’s word.

• Recite a verse out loud while reading it (10x)
• Close your Bible and recite it out loud from memory (10x)
• Write the verse on an index card, carry it with you, and pull it out from time-to-time throughout the day and review it.

My prayer is that as we mediate and reflect on God’s Word, in His grace, God might use it to transform us more and more into the image of Jesus Christ.   

Are you up for the challenge?

Let’s do this together and encourage each other in it!