“…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 Testament and the New Testament.” Our thoughts wander. Our imagination tends to run away into the territory of temptation; therefore, we need to focus our mind on the Word of God.
of the words
The Bible is verbally inspired. Inspiration carries more than the thoughts of God; it conveys the very words of God. This means that these words have no errors. There is no book on earth like the Bible.
The word here for “words” is the spoken word, a saying, or speech.
PRINCIPLE:
Storing God’s Word in our minds means that we build 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 growth in my life is the memory of Scripture. I memorize Scripture that deals with my temptations and failures. It is not enough to memorize 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 side [memorizing a verse without the address is like knowing a beautiful girl and not knowing her phone number]. Do not attempt to memorize 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 just memorize words. That is why most people fear memorizing. Memorizing dead words does not help anybody. Also, memorize pertinent verses to your life. Do not memorize random verses that do not relate to your daily experience. If you memorize relevant Scripture, you will increase your spiritual firepower.
