The Bible is a wonderful Book. Most Christians know how to read it. But, reading isn’t all we’re commended to do with the Bible. We’re commanded to read it, sure, but we’re also commanded to study and maybe even to memorize it.
2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)
15 Do your best to present
yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed,
rightly handling the word of truth.
Psalm 119:11-12 (ESV)
11 I have stored up your word
in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
12 Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!
The act of memorizing the Bible is actually a very excellent form of Bible study. The process of memorization requires you to think more deeply about that passage and what it means. You become aware of every word and how it relates to others in that portion of Scripture.
So, how are we to do this? Well, it’s pretty much up to you and how you learn best. I do best just reading and repeating. Some of us learn best by listening to someone else recite a passage and repeating it, some like flash cards. There are other methods, too. The Navigators are pretty good and you might check Youtube.com for some more methods. I do suggest you memorize by topic: salvation, for instance. That helps you share with other if that is your purpose for memorizing Scripture.
How about studying rather than just reading? “Just reading” is important. God likes us to sit and read His Word to learn the stories, lessons, doctrines, etc. as we read. It’s a good way to commune with God and have Him speak with us.
Studying involves a more deliberate approach. One of the simplest way to dig a little deeper into Scripture is to paraphrase a verse or two, put that passage in your own words. That way, it makes you look more closely at the passage and analyze it. You are forced to understand the idea better in order to write it down in another form.
Another simple study method is called the ABC Method. You can use this method for a paragraph or chapter, even a book of the Bible if you’re ambitious. It goes like this:
You need to find A title for the passage. That’s the “A”.
Then you need to decide on a Basic verse for the passage. That’s the “B”
And, the “C” is for commitment. What commitment has this passage made on your life?
Some students of the Bible add a “D” for “difficulty” to the study. So, if there is something they don’t understand about the passage, they can research it a little later using more advanced study tools to better understand what is puzzling them.
Memorizing and Bible study go hand in hand. The passages I’ve memorized keep coming to mind when I’m studying Scripture. Maybe I’m reading a portion of Acts where the disciples are in trouble. James chapter one comes to mind about trials, what they mean to us and how we are to respond to them. Sometimes I even compare one passage I’ve memorized with another I’ve memorized or one I’ve heard on the radio program with one I’ve memorized and the Holy Spirit gives me insight through whose two passages being put side by side.
And, that’s it. There’s nothing miraculous about better understanding the Bible. It just takes some time and dedication.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 