Be a Walking Bible

For years, I led a men's discipleship group in my home on Tuesday evenings. We would sit in a circle and stir one another up for Christ and the gospel. One of the central activities of that discipleship group was to memorize scripture every week.

I had a little wooden basket I passed around that table that contained Bible verses on tiny cards, and each man got a new card with a Bible verse on it to memorize for that week. I'd have the men take that card to their bathroom mirror, keep it in their truck on their mirror visor, somewhere where they could see it every day, and then each week we'd go around that table one by one and recite the verse we had learned that week. I doubt if any of those men remember anything I taught them in that group, but they sure remembered those Bible verses.

The importance of scripture memory, friends, is key to the Christian life as the more we hide God's word in our hearts, the more we'll be on fire for God. Psalm 119.11 gives us a good reason why we should memorize God's word. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

I remember Vance Havner saying, sin will keep you from the book, and the book will keep you from sin, and it's true, friends. One of the hallmarks of the underground church in China, which has grown by leaps and bounds in the fires of persecution, is the fact that Chinese believers have memorized so much scripture that they are walking Bibles. What would happen to us here in the West if persecution came, they took our Bibles away, and threw us in jail? Would we have enough of the Bible hidden in our hearts to recite it in prison by memory? If I had you take a pen and notebook right now, friend, and ask you to begin writing down all the scriptures you have hidden in your heart, how long would you be occupied in that task? Thirty minutes? An hour? All day? All night, perhaps? When Jesus was tempted of the devil in the wilderness, he fought that tempter with the word of God by answering, it is written, a man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Again, we see Jesus said unto him, it is written again, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. Jesus just turned the word of God in on the devil, and finally the devil left him alone. Well, you start quoting the word of God, friend, the next time you are tempted and see what a difference it makes, the importance of scripture memory cannot be more emphasized in our day of having to live in a sin-soaked society, where it's harder and harder to live unto God.

I never forget Stephen Offred saying, we cannot master the word of God until the word of God masters us. Thy word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. I want to challenge you, friend, to begin to memorize scripture on a regular basis, and make it a habit in your life.

I can promise you this, your walk with God will deepen as you hide more of his holy word in your heart. Be like the Chinese believers, and be a walking Bible. Let us pray.