Basic Disciplines | Part 2

A Spiritual Discipline is an intentional habit cultivated in our lives that is designed to lead us into greater Christlikeness in our thoughts, affections, and behavior.

These are things we do so that we might become. The disciplines themselves are not ends in the themselves. The disciplines aren’t the goal. Unbelievers can learn discipline. Unbelievers cannot be transformed by them.

Last week we started talking about Bible intake. We talked about the value of establishing a habit of daily Bible reading. This is not a biblical command, but it is a good practice.

Today, we are taking things a step further and talking about Scripture memorization.

There is actually more in the Bible about Scripture memorization than there is about Scripture reading.

Psalm 119:11 “Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.”

Psalm 37:31 “The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.”

Psalm 1:2 “But his delight is in the law of Yahweh, And in His law he meditates day and night.”

Psalm 40:8 ““I desire to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my inner being.””

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 ““These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

Deuteronomy 11:18 ““You shall therefore place these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as phylacteries between your eyes.”

Proverbs 3:1 “My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart guard my commandments;”

Proverbs 6:20–22 “My son, observe the commandment of your father And do not abandon the law of your mother; Bind them continually on your heart; Tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will lead you; When you sleep, they will keep watch over you; And when you awake, they will speak to you.”

Proverbs 7:1–3 “My son, keep my words And treasure my commandments within you. Keep my commandments and live, And my law as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.”

Joshua 1:8 ““This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way successful, and then you will be prosperous.”

Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with gratefulness in your hearts to God.”

John 15:7 ““If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

We have the value of the Word presented: keeps us from sin and foolishness.

All the things we mentioned last week from Ps 19 apply here as well. It makes us wise, restores the soul, enlightens eyes, etc.

Sometimes there is resistance to the idea that you should be memorizing Scripture.

Some people think they have a less than average ability to memorize things. That may be true. Does that mean it isn’t worth putting in the work?

The truth is that our memories are actually better than any of us realize.

How many songs do you think you know by heart?

It’s probably more than you can imagine.

Amazing Grace how .............

Jesus Loves me................

O say can you see by the...................

Somebody once told me the world..........

We don’t talk about......

It is estimated that the average person knowns between 500 and 2000 songs by heart. You cannot even list them all, but if someone were to start one, you’d be able to sing along.

How many of you have ever memorized the order of the US Presidents?

How many of you memorized the books of the Bible in order?

Some of you have memorized various historical facts, dates, etc.

How many phone numbers and addresses do you know by heart? Significant dates?

The reality is that you are able to memorize things and you do it regularly without realizing it.

What better thing could we commit to memory that the very Word of God which the Holy Spirit uses to effect change in our hearts and lives?

Some object that scripture memory takes too much time. It does take time! I’m not going to pretend like its quick and easy, you can memorize the bible in 2 minutes a day. It takes time.

But what I will tell you is that there are times throughout the the day that you can use for Scripture memory that you currently use for other things or else don’t use at all.

Brushing your teeth. Doing makeup. I used to print out Scripture passages, laminate them, and put it in the shower to work on.

It does take time, but you can utilize time that is currently used on nothing else.

Some object that they’ve tried to memorize verses but it doesn’t work.

I like what one person says “Scripture Memorization doesn’t “work” … WE work!” It is hard work, it is a discipline.

Years ago everyone had to memorize practically everything. Society was primary an oral society. Today, we have smart phones and access to information at our fingertips and the need for memorization of phone numbers and addresses has decreased.

As a society, our memorization ability has decreased significantly.

That doesn’t mean the ability is gone. It may mean it is hearder, but not gone.

This is just like exercising muscles. The more you work at it, the easier it becomes and you are able to lift more weight, run longer, bend further, etc.

You can work out your mind and get in memorization shape.....if you are willing to work on it.

Let’s do an exercise. This exercise comes from an article about memorizing lists of information.

In order to quickly and easily remember any new piece of information, associate it to something you already know or remember in some ridiculous way. Those last four words are essential to effective memorization—and they are also the reason why many people who have been taught memory techniques do not apply them. The technique seems silly because it is silly. For some reason unknown to us, God designed our brains to remember things that are absurd and unusual. This fact didn’t bother giants of the faith like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas so it shouldn’t bother you either. Use it, as they did, to honor the Creator of our imaginations.

Let’s put this concept into practice by memorizing these twenty items in sequence: Otter, Thor, Zeus, American, Idol, Weathervane, Ice Cream Sundae, Parents, Sleigh, Adult, Tree, Steel, Bear, False, Eyelashes, Watches, Wife, Ox, Butler, and Donkey.

While you may be able to find associations between some of these words (e.g., Thor and Zeus are both mythological gods and otter, bear, ox, and donkey are all animals) there isn’t any obvious connection that ties them together. You could use a brute force technique (e.g., reciting the words over and over until you can repeat them verbatim) but that is too time-consuming and not very effective. Instead, let’s try to associate them in some ridiculous way.

Let’s take the first five items— Otter, Thor, Zeus, American, Idol—and combine them into a ridiculous, but memorable, mental picture. Since most people are familiar with the music competition show American Idol, let’s combine those two words (American, Idol) as the basis of our first vivid image.

Instead of the usual panel of judges on the television show, picture the guest judges as an Otter, Thor, and Zeus. To make it easier to remember these items, give them an action: The Otter loves the singers and is enthusiastically clapping; Thor too appreciates the music and is banging his hammer (Mjölnir) on the desk in approval; Zeus, however, is displeased and is throwing a lightning bolt at the contestants. (To remember them in order, be sure to see each one in turn, creating a vivid picture of them before moving on to the next.)

Now follow Zeus’ lightening bolt as it misses the singers and hits the words American Idol in the logo behind the stage. The shocked duet that was singing are dressed as a Weathervane and an Ice Cream Sundae, but when you look closer you notice they are . . . your own Parents (or someone else’s parents if that makes it easier to picture).

Frightened by the Greek god’s action, the Parents look for an escape. To their surprise (and ours) Santa Claus comes to the rescue, beckoning them to jump into his Sleigh. As Santa rides off into the sky, the Sleigh crashes into a very tall Adult Tree (the children trees on either side are unhurt). Santa and your Parents fall out of the Sleigh, but before they crash to the ground they grab onto a Steel beam that is sticking out of the side of a building.

The Parents are barely hanging on by the tips of their fingers but, fortunately for them, underneath is huge Bear ready to catch them if they fall. The Bear is rather peculiar looking, though: he is wearing large False Eyelashes and two diamond-encrusted Rolex Watches, one on each arm. Coming toward the hero are his bear Wife riding an Ox, and his very human Butler (dressed as a proper English servant) riding a Donkey.

Now before you do anything else, close your eyes and try to remember each of the items—starting with Otter—by picturing them in the sequence of events. Chances are that you were not only able to remember at least ten out of the twenty but were also able to remember their order. That’s not bad for having merely read through the passage one time. If you spend an additional five to ten minutes reading through the list and sequence again, and create clear mental images of each (particularly the ones you missed) you’ll soon be able to recall all twenty perfectly.

The purpose of having you memorize this list of seemly random terms was mainly to have you prove to yourself that you could, using absurd visual images, quickly and easily remember new information as well as the sequence in which they are presented. But you might have also noticed that the terms weren’t chosen at random. Strung together they provide cues to remember the order of the Ten Commandments using terms that are the same or similar sounding:

1. “You shall have no other gods before me.” – No other (Otter) gods (Thor, Zeus)

2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” – No idols = American Idol

3. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” – Vain = Weathervane)

4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” – Sabbath = Sunday = Ice Cream Sundae

5. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” – Honor your Parents

6. “You shall not murder.” Murder = slay = Sleigh

7. “You shall not commit adultery.” – Adultery = Adult Tree

8. “You shall not steal.” – Steal = Steel

9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” – Bear false witness = Bear False (Eyelashes) Watches

10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” – Do not covet wife, servants, ox, donkey = Wife, Butler, ox, Donkey

With a little work, you can memorize large lists relatively simply.

I once tested this technique. I shuffled a deck of cards and started memorizing the order. If I stayed with it, I’m confident I could have memorized the order of the entire deck.

Create absurd images in your mind as you memorize

Substitute one item instead of another (like an Adult Tree)

Make the images out of proportion

Exaggerate the image

Make the image alive—use action, not static images

Link the images together - Memory Palace (with nooks and crannies)

Memorize entire books of the Bible

Pick a shorter book or section

Key: Repetition over time

Use all of your senses.

Read it, seeking to photograph the verse with your eyes

Read it out loud to hear it.

Write it out to engage your body.

Repeat it over and over.

I have resources available if you want more help working on this.

It absolutely takes a ton of work. But it is so worth it.

Psalm 1

Rom 6

Rom 8

I have not intentionally worked on Scripture memorization for some time. Preparing for this has convicted me a bit and I am personally going to start memorizing a book of the Bible. If you would to join with me and we can work on it together, let me know.

A Spiritual Discipline is an intentional habit cultivated in our lives that is designed to lead us into greater Christlikeness in our thoughts, affections, and behavior.