Anne Witton

These are some thoughts about memorising scripture that have helped me and inspired me to know God's Word better. Obviously having memorising scripture is also vitally important in worst-case scenarios, for example cases of blindness or inability to read; or circumstances where it may be illegal to own or read a Bible. But there are, I believe, four main reasons why memorising scripture is so important for everybody:

(1) Warfare
Spiritual warfare. 'Resist the devil and he will flee from you'. Jesus quoted from Scripture when he was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness (Matt 4: 1 - 11). The Devil's highest attack was to mis-quote scripture and take it out of context. Quoting scripture accurately and in context is the most powerful way of defeating the devil's attacks. Note that Jesus didn't paraphrase or summarise scripture - he quoted it. If it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for us!

(2) Witness
'So is the word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty.' (Isaiah 55: 11)
'All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.' (2 Tim 3: 16)
There is nothing more frustrating than having a brilliant opportunity to witness and not having your Bible with you, or not knowing where to find the scriptures when asked to 'prove it'. It is useful to learn key scriptures to illustrate and demonstrate a gospel outline. For instance a creation/purpose scripture (eg. Gen 1: 27 and 31 and Matt 22: 37 - 38); a fall/sin scripture (eg. Romans 3: 23 or Isaiah 53: 6); a Jesus' death scripture (eg. John 3:16 or John 14: 6); a resurrection scripture (eg. Acts 3: 1); a 'born-again' scripture (eg. John 3: 5); and an assurance scripture (eg. John 6: 47 or Matt 28: 20). Obviously witnessing does not usually follow a set pattern or give you the opportunity to trot out a ready prepared outline, but it is still important to know scriptures illustrating the key points of the Christian faith.

(3) Worship
We can worship with freedom if we have God's words written on our hearts. We don't need to fumble with our Bibles all the time trying to look up an appropriate verse if we have Psalms and scriptures already imprinted within us. If we have taken the time and disciplined ourselves to learn some scriptures, God will bring them to mind at exactly the right time.

(4) Walk
We can increase our faith by reminding ourselves of God's goodness and his promises at any time anywhere. Claiming God's promises from scripture builds our relationship with God and convicts us more fully of his goodness and graciousness to us.