“…that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior…”
that you may be mindful
Peter repeatedly reminds his people to remember. His readers need to remind themselves of something important. “Call this to your mind,” “Put your mind full of the Old and New Testaments.” Our thoughts tend to wander. Our imagination tends to fall into the territory of sinful temptation; therefore, we need to focus our minds on the Word of God.
of the words
The Bible is verbally inspired. Inspiration carries more than God’s thoughts; it conveys God’s very “words.” This means that these words have no errors. There is no book on earth like the Bible.
The term here for “words” is the spoken word, a saying, or speech.
PRINCIPLE:
Storing God’s Word in our minds means building the Word of God into our lives.
APPLICATION:
If we memorize Scripture, God will be our divine Ally. One of the most effective means of spiritual growth in my life is the memory of Scripture. I memorize Scripture that deals with my temptations and failures. It is not enough to remember a verse, but we must understand the principle behind the verse. When temptation comes, take that principle and apply it to your situation. The right verse will come upon the television of your soul at the right time.
If we attempt to bear testimony to Jesus Christ, a verse will come to mind that is right for the situation. Stock the shelves of your mind with the Word. The Holy Spirit will enable you to do it. Do not fear that you cannot do it. Take God’s Word seriously. He will bless you for it.
If we are going to memorize Scripture, we must have a system. Let me offer you a simple method for memorizing Scripture. Write a verse on one side of a 3×5 card with the verse address on the other; memorizing a verse without the address is like knowing a beautiful girl and not knowing her phone number. Do not attempt to remember the verse for the first half of the day. Just read it over when stopping at a light, for example. Think about the meaning of the verse. Try to form a principle behind the verse. It is much easier to memorize if we understand the meaning; otherwise, we memorize words without association. That is why most people fear memorizing. Remembering dead terms does not help anybody. Also, memorize pertinent verses to your life. Do not memorize random verses that do not relate to your daily experience or doctrine. If you memorize relevant Scripture, you will increase your spiritual firepower.
