Last week at our 10am congregation, I challenged everyone to take time this week to memorise Psalm 73:25-26. For those that were there, how did you go? In case you need a little more encouragement…

Whom have I in heaven but you, and earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

I also mentioned that for many of us, ‘memory verses’ may be a lost art – either something we ‘left behind’ in childhood, or something we never picked up at all. Whatever the case, today I want to urge you to (re)turn to actively memorising parts of the Bible as a key part of your devotional life. Here are just a few reasons it’s such a worthwhile practice (with thanks to John Piper for inspiring many of these points):

• It allows us to meditate on God’s word at times when you can’t read the Bible (Psalm 1:1-2)
• It shapes the way we see ourselves and the world, as it conforms our minds to God’s point of view (2 Cor 10:5)
• It equips us to detect error, overcome temptation to sin when it arises, and reject the lies of Satan with a force he can never resist (Eph 6:13-17, especially v. 17)
• The process of memorising will make the truths sink deep into your mind and heart
• You can minister to the needs of others with God’s word (not just your own thoughts) at any time
• A million thoughts, words, images and ideas compete to fill our minds daily, but memorising Scripture gives God’s word the pride of place it deserves

God’s gone to great lengths to speak to us and have it written down for us. Really, it makes no sense NOT to memorise what he says! So do it on your own; do it as a family; put a new memory verse on your screensaver each week; write out a verse and tape it to the fridge. Whatever you do, however you do it, let’s get back to memorising God’s word!