Scripture by Heart E-Book

Joshua Choonmin Kang

• Herausgeber: IVP Formatio
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Seitenzahl: 189

Beschreibung

Why memorize the Bible?In our information-saturated society, with so many details to take in, the idea of memorizing Scripture can seem overwhelming—like one more task on a checklist. But pastor Joshua Choonmin Kang has discovered what happens when we do spend time memorizing God's Word: we grasp a larger, truer picture of God. We more closely and more often imitate Christ. We worship God "in Spirit and in truth." We're better able to fulfill God's mission.However, Pastor Kang also knows that memorizing Scripture isn't easy. The process itself, like the transformation it brings, doesn't happen overnight. Scripture by Heart is therefore his help for your growth in this important practice. He offers here - 30 short devotional readings that motivate you to memorize God's Word - spiritual practices interspersed throughout that teach you how to memorize - specific help for persevering when you feel stuck or overwhelmed - a step-by-step approach that roots Scripture in your mind and heartThere is no substitute for God's Word and no shortcut to having it dwell in us. But there is help here for the journey. Pastor Kang's words and wisdom can guide you into a new relationship with the living Word, and the God it reveals.

Leseprobe

Formatio books from InterVarsity Press follow the rich tradition of the church in the journey of spiritual formation. These books are not merely about being informed, but about being transformed by Christ and conformed to his image. Formatio stands in InterVarsity Press’s evangelical publishing tradition by integrating God’s Word with spiritual practice and by prompting readers to move from inward change to outward witness. InterVarsity Press uses the chambered nautilus for Formatio, a symbol of spiritual formation because of its continual spiral journey outward as it moves from its center. We believe that each of us is made with a deep desire to be in God’s presence. Formatio books help us to fulfill our deepest desires and to become our true selves in light of God’s grace.

Scripture by Heart

Devotional Practices for Memorizing God's Word

InterVarsity Press P.O. Box 1400 Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426 World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com E-mail: [email protected]

©2010 by Joshua Choonmin Kang

Originally published in 2001 in Korean as Scripture Memorization That Causes Quiet Revolution by Durranna.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at www.intervarsity.org.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Design: Cindy Kiple

Cover images: Psalm Twenty three, verses 1-6, © Mike Bentley/iStockphoto Spring silk-screen, © specular/iStockphoto

ISBN 978-0-8308-7903-8

Contents

Foreword by Dallas Willard

Introduction

1 Bearing Fruit Through Meditation

2 Tasting the Sweetness of the Word

Practice: Take Small Steps

3 Understanding the Bible as a Whole

4 Forming a Biblical Value System

Practice: Don­t Back Out

5 Sharpening the Mind

6 Acquiring Wisdom

Practice: Sharpen Your Focus

7 Dipping into Wisdom

8 Cultivating the Affections of Our Heart

Practice: Find the Right Environment

9 Overcoming Anxiety

10 Enjoying Peace

Practice: Divide and Conquer

11 Strengthening the Heart

12 Improving the Power of Learning

Practice: Get It Right the First Time

13 Developing Concentration

14 Strengthening the Will

Practice: Use Index Cards

15 Cultivating Ourselves

16 Parenting Wisely

Practice: Arrange by Topic

17 Nurturing Disciples

18 Maturing as a Teacher

Practice: Make a Habit of It

19 Dialoguing Well

20 Offering Spiritual Counsel

Practice: Determine Topic, Reference, Word

21 Becoming an Evangelist

22 Living in Faith

Practice: Planning Our Memory Schedule

23 Overcoming Temptation

24 Finding Victory in Spiritual Warfare

Practice: Understanding What We Memorize

25 Prevailing Prayer

26 Preparing for Spiritual Difficulty

Practice: Meditation and Transformation

27 Transforming Trials

Practice: Memorize with an Eye on Use

28 Receiving Divine Guidance

Practice: Memorize for Recollection

29 Becoming God­s Instrument

Practice: Aim for Mastery

30 Fulfilling Your Mission

Practice: When Memorization Bogs Down

Conclusion: Meditating on Psalm 1

Appendix: Favorite Passages for Memorization

Foreword

The apostle Paul tells us to present our bodies to God in such a way that we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). Most who read him today stop right there, thinking perhaps, What good advice! But they do not proceed to implement it. They do not take it seriously as a doorway into the blessed life with Christ in his kingdom. They do not welcome it as a reality that will carry them away from conformity to a social existence—even a religious one—that is actually in defiance of God, and plant them solidly in the eternal kingdom that is here now.

In part this is because they do not understand the mind and do not know how to move toward its renewal. They are apt to become passive and not understand their part in the divine work of “mind transplant.”

The human mind is filled with feelings, ideas, images, ways of reasoning, habits of thought, memories and expectations of various kinds. Many of these are enslaving, harmful and false. They shape our actual beliefs and guide our actions. No doubt we most go wrong in how we think about God and about our life before God. It is in this area more than anywhere else that our minds must be renewed for the sake of the transformation of our whole life into godliness.

God will help us, but our part is also indispensable. What are we to do? The simplest and most effective way of mind renewal in Christ is memorization of Scripture: large passages of it as well as individual verses. That is why memorization must play such a large part in spiritual transformation. The human mind is quite small and limited in terms of what can consciously occupy it, but we have some choice as to what is present there. We must choose well.

Memorization of Scripture is one way of “taking charge” of the contents of our conscious thoughts, and of the feelings, beliefs and actions that depend on them. Ancient followers of God understood this well:

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11 KJV)

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105 KJV)

The entrance of thy words giveth light. (Psalm 119:130 KJV)

Our life takes a godly and good direction when our mind is consciously occupied with God’s written words. Those words then increasingly eliminate the conscious mental contents that would surely lead us away from God.

But when we take the Scriptures in by memorization, the words of God also affect our lives far beyond our consciousness. We come to live “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 RSV). Through memorization God’s words reside in our body, in our social environment, in the constant orientation of our will and in the depths of our soul. They become a power, a substance, that sustains and directs us without our even thinking of them, and they emerge into conscious thought and action as needed. This is what Jesus spoke of as abiding, dwelling in him: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:7-8 RSV).

Joshua Choonmin Kang helps us to appreciate and appropriate the power for transformation into Christlikeness that comes from knowing the Scriptures “by heart.” He gives us encouraging words about the many good effects of memorization, and excellent instruction on how to go about memorizing the Scriptures. If you will absorb his teachings and do what he says—adapting it to your personal circumstances and making it a persistent part of your day-to-day life—then you will experience the renewal of your mind and undergo the transformation of life which everyone knows should come from following Jesus closely. Grace will see to it. The Word of God which is “living and powerful” (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV) will form you in the likeness of Christ.

Dallas Willard

Introduction

My workshop topic for the Renovaré International Conference in Denver was Scripture memorization. Since I was unknown to most of the attendees and would be speaking in Korean, which would be translated into English, I thought few would attend. But when the doors were closed, there were close to fifty people in the room.

The first ten minutes went well, but then people, perhaps as many as a dozen, began slipping from the room. I thought it was the multilingual presentation or even the perennial difficulty of the topic. The real reason, I later discovered, is that they were looking for a 101 quick-tips-and-tricks-to-memorizing presentation—ideas that could apply to memorizing anything from Scripture to phone numbers to facts and figures.

When I asked the remaining crowd if they found me difficult to understand, they said no. They even asked me to continue in English. Then in halting phrases I spent the next forty minutes presenting my plan.

My main message: to memorize the Bible, we have to pray the Bible first. Nothing easy, nothing quick about it. Those who stayed in the workshop seemed genuinely moved.

Why Memorize the Bible?

I can think of four reasons.

To know God. All we need to know about God, at least on earth, the Bible tells us. It records God’s life and his works. It quotes Jesus as saying that in eternal life we will know more about God. But for now the Bible is our best source for learning about God.

The whole world should be filled with the knowledge of God.

They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)

Hosea echoes the same note.

I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings. (Hosea 6:6)

David strikes a similar chord.

Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him. (Psalm 34:8)

It’s one thing to know about God the way we know any fact, but it’s quite another thing to meet God. To meet God is to love him. But how can we love him if we can’t see him face to face? How can we love a person we don’t know?

To imitate Christ. Everyone in the New Testament who personally received Christ was called a disciple, and with that came a responsibility. Disciples must emulate their teacher. They must imitate the teacher’s way of thinking and acting. As the disciples do this, they become more like Christ himself. But it doesn’t happen overnight; it’s a gradual, never-ending process.

Beyond believing in the Lord, a true disciple will come to know him. Beyond knowing him, each disciple will come to love him. Paul says as much to the Ephesians. In loving him we mature “to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

Disciples of Christ have to go to school. They have to become apprentices studying under the divine Master and learning Christ’s key teachings as recorded in the Bible. Living in a later century we too, if we want to become disciples of the same Lord, have to go to the same school. We have to memorize the same passages. We have to learn them heart and soul before we can teach them to others.

When we commit the Word to memory and abide in it, we receive spiritual insight. Only when we see straight and deep do we bear fruit. We have this on the authority of Jesus himself: “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13:23).

The varieties of fruit Jesus speaks of here, character and ministry, are found in the divine orchard; that is to say, in Christ’s own life. Hence, to bear the fruit of imitating Christ, we must get Christ’s words down to a T.

To worship God. Worshiping God is the cause of our existence, the very reason for our existence. The Lord puts it quite plainly. “My chosen people [are] / the people whom I formed for myself / so that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:20-21).

Whatever we do in everyday life is related to worship. Certainly God honors those who are committed workers for his kingdom. But before we commit ourselves to such work, we must become true worshipers. Mary of Bethany is a good example; she was a true worshiper at the feet of Jesus before she used her precious jar of perfume on him. Even today the power of committed service has its source in true worship. Mary pleased the Lord with her worshipful act, and we please the Lord with similar acts of worship.

God seeks true worshipers. Jesus made this explicit when he spoke to the woman at the well.

The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)

Worshiping “in Spirit” means worshiping in the Holy Spirit; worshiping “in truth” means according to the truth, that is, according to the Word of God. Aaron’s sons are an illustration of those who do just the opposite.

Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered unholy fire before the Lord, such as he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. (Leviticus 10:1-2)

We have been called to worship him according to the Scriptures.

To fulfill God’s mission. Jesus committed the Scriptures to memory and had full mastery over them. His being was filled with the Scriptures. As a child he grew in wisdom on account of them. He walked in them, proclaimed them even from the cross, even as he was accomplishing God’s work of redemption.

Jesus commissioned his first disciples to make disciples of their own, and not only in Judea but in all the nations of the world (Matthew 28:19-20). To fulfill this mission the disciples had to learn the words of Christ by heart. Once the Scriptures were impressed on their hearts, they were ready to teach everything that the Lord had commanded.

The disciples weren’t able to carry the Scriptures in book form as we do today. They had to depend on their memory to fulfill their mission. If the Scriptures had not been memorized, they would never have been recorded on paper.

In the footsteps of the first disciples, we too have a mission to the world. We must diligently commit the books of the Bible to memory, which will transform our hearts as stewards prepared with the truth of his Word.

The apostle Paul speaks to this point explicitly: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Getting the Most Out of This Book

After this book was published in Korean, I had it rendered into readable English. It contains thirty meditations on memorizing the Bible, each reflecting one of the many spiritual benefits of memorization. The chapters begin with a Scripture verse taken from the chapter. You may want to commit these key verses to memory as you read along.

Interwoven with the chapters are seventeen practices that will help you learn to memorize. I was formed in the practice of Scripture memory in part by the Navigators’ very fine workbook and set of Scripture memory cards: Topical Memory System. Some of the practices in these pages reflect practices I first learned in those pages.

As a conclusion to the book to illustrate the fruitfulness of instant Bible recall, I’ve included a personal meditation of my own. In the appendix you will find one hundred of my favorite verses for memorization, organized topically. Allow God to lead you to the verses from these pages that you need to commit to heart for encouragement and spiritual growth.

When should we read, pray, memorize? Every day without exception. No less than fifteen minutes and no more than thirty minutes a day. One chapter a week should be manageable by most readers. If you find yourself overwhelmed, turn to the final practice, “When Memorization Bogs Down,” for a week’s refreshment and ideas for getting unstuck. Then return to the spot where you left off.

What should you do when you finish this book? Begin again! Continue in this way until the booster rocket falls away and is no longer needed.

New Mode of Prayer

Those of you who are already familiar with prayer in its many forms may see Scripture by Heart as a sort of lectio divina, pausing at an agreeable text, mulling it over, meditating on it until the Lord begins to speak to you and you speak back to the Lord.

And so Scripture by Heart is a sort of memorization divina, a collection of my most treasured retrievable quotations from the book of books!

Even if memorization isn’t one of the goals of your spiritual life, you’ll find much to rummage through in this book, material well worth meditating on. However you use this humble book, the Lord will surely bless your effort.

1 Bearing Fruit Through Meditation

As for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.

Luke 8:15

Learning Scripture by heart throws open the door to meditation. When we meditate deeply on the words of Scripture, we begin to bear fruit. But before we can meditate scripturally, we must have a scriptural treasury in our heart. The words of Scripture must be safely deposited in the vaults and chambers of our innermost heart.

Scripture meditation is like a cow chewing her cud. Naturally, feeding upon the Word of God comes first; we must “take in” the words of Scripture. Then, just as the cow brings up her food for renewed grinding, we chew on biblical thoughts deliberately and thoroughly; that is to say, we digest the words, mulling them over in our minds and hearts.

It must be remembered that digesting the Word is more important than ingesting it; food itself is of no use to us until it’s converted into energy. Digested food supplies the needs of the body through blood, and thus may be said to provide life itself. Memorizing the Word is like ingesting food, while meditating is digesting the food.

Jesus compares the Word of God to a seed (Luke 8:11). Seeds are small and hard to handle, but each is full of life. One seed contains thousands of apple trees. One fig contains a thousand seeds. As someone has wisely said, the mystery of life is contained in a seed.

Each word of Scripture is a seed. Plant each word in your interior garden and you will bear more fruit than your limbs can support. We can assess the spiritual richness of people by the lushness of their spiritual gardens, which will flourish as they memorize Scripture.

A shepherd who feeds a flock with the words of God has enriched them beyond expectation. But the shepherd will remain poor until he or she is filled with the same rich fodder. The more Scripture the shepherd memorizes, the healthier the flock becomes and the quicker it multiplies.

A farmer reaps what is sown and no more. If the farmer has sown in good ground, the crop will burst out all over. This seems to be a law of farming and may well be a law of spirituality; men and women of God will eventually reap more spiritual fruit than they know what to do with.

A farmer plants the seeds, nurtures the plants and harvests the fruit. In this sense, meditation is like the period between planting the seed and bearing the fruit, or the period between the ingestion and the digestion.

The first letter of Peter has a similar progression. First it urges its readers to rid themselves of malice, guile, insincerity, envy, slander. Then, “like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2).

Peter’s advice remains current for today’s Christians. When we meditate on the Word of God, we will memorize the Word of God. And when we memorize the Word of God, our spiritual life will flourish like never before.

2 Tasting the Sweetness of the Word

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 119:103

Memorizing is hard at first but grows easier with time. Those who persevere will experience an odd sensation. King David did: “With open mouth I pant, / because I long for your commandments” (Psalm 119:131). Apparently, his longing had become habitual.

We have all seen an infant’s mouth eagerly longing for its mother’s milk, or a baby bird screeching for its mother’s food. The memory of a delicious dinner is enough to excite a ravenous appetite.

A person who has tasted the Word just once will have a lifelong craving. David developed a sweet tooth, as Psalm 119 reveals. “How sweet are your words to my taste, / sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (v. 103).

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:9-10)

This has been my experience as well, but at the beginning it wasn’t so. Trying to memorize the Word was hard. If I experienced any taste at all, it was one of bitterness. Pressing on, however, I began to sense the sweetness of the Word. A whole new world of truth opened up. I experienced a kind of joy and blessed happiness previously unknown to me.

A sense of dullness in my spiritual life began to dissipate. A sense of awareness took its place. I found myself meditating on God’s Word or listening to recorded sermons. I couldn’t get enough of God’s words in whatever form. Before I knew it, I was rejoicing with David in one of his honeyed psalms. “The unfolding of your words gives light; / it imparts understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130).