While I was on my healing journey, one verse the Lord emphasized to me was Psalm 45:10.
I read it in the Bible, and it really spoke to my heart. Then, in Bible college, with no knowledge of what the Lord had already spoken to my heart, a pastor prayed that same verse over me.
Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; (NKJV)
To me, it meant give attention to what the Lord is saying about you. When you have been abused, so often you will have been told lies about yourself; lies about your worth and lies saying you deserved what they did.
That is what I experienced.
And through this verse, it was as if God was speaking straight to my heart, forget what they said about you. Pay attention to what I Say. Incline your ear to My word and what I speak to your heart.
But how do you do that when you have been through years of abuse and been told you are less than, or not worth as much as someone else, or you deserved the ill treatment?
How do you incline your ear?
In Luke 8, Jesus tells of the parable of the Sower. I don’t have time here to read the whole thing, but I would encourage you to take some time to read that parable for yourself.
In that parable, Jesus likens the word of God to a seed.
And that’s what I want to talk about today. Taking the seeds of the ugly words and lies spoken to you by those who mistreated you and replacing those words with the seed of God’s Word.
Planting the Seed of God’s Word in Your Heart
One way we can plant the word of God in our heart is through memorizing Scripture.
The first time I felt the Lord leading me to start memorizing scripture, I thought I couldn’t do it. It seemed too hard. But the feeling would not go away.
Finally, after researching how other people memorize scripture, I came up with my own way of memorizing scripture for myself.
The How-To of Memorizing Scripture
The first thing I needed was to know what I should memorize.
One thing I learned in Bible college was to always keep the word in context. And that means reading the verses around it so that you don’t accidentally take a verse out of its original meaning.
So, I would start with a verse that has really spoken to your heart in your regular Bible reading time, or something that you’ve heard in a sermon, something that the Lord has impressed upon you.
One of the verses I’m memorizing this week is Ephesians 1:4 Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love (NKJV).
- So, what I did to memorize this verse, is first I wrote it down on a card.
- Then I repeated, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world up to the first comma.
- I repeated that phrase 10 times.
- Then, I added the next phrase onto what I had just memorized. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
- And I repeated that 10 times over.
- I keep that scripture that I’ve written down next to my Bible, and I review the verses I’m memorizing in the morning.
- And if I can’t remember it, I say the whole verse 10 times over again. Usually by the end of the week, I’ve got it memorized.
- I keep that verse in a pile and I review those verses daily for several weeks.
Do What Works for You
Now, this is just what works for me. I invite you to use this method, take what works for you and leave the rest here.
We’re all different. And we all learn differently.
The important thing is that in whatever way we memorize the Word, that we are regularly putting the Word in our heart, whether we’re working on a new verse, weekly, biweekly, or even a verse a month.
You do what works for you.
Memorizing Scripture Helps Replace Negative Words
Memorizing scripture about what God says about me and what He speaks to my heart, is one of the ways that God helped me to replace the negative things that were spoken over me as a child with what God says. It has helped me to grow stronger in the Word and in, in my faith.
Pray That Word Back to God
One of the ways that I also replace negative words is through prayer.
One of the things that I struggled with was rejection or thinking that I didn’t belong.
As I memorize Ephesians 1:4, I can say,
Lord, I thank you. You chose me in you before the foundation of the world. So, I am not rejected. I am not unwanted. I thank You father that You chose me before the foundation of the world.
And I pray that, and I thank God for that.
Memorizing Scripture is putting a Living Seed into Your Heart
I’d like to leave you with this verse.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (NKJV)
When you put the Word of God into your heart, through reading, meditating on it, studying it, or memorizing it, you are putting something that is living and active into your heart and mind.
And just as you plant a seed and wait for it to grow, as you plant the Word in your heart, it will grow and produce in you what God has called it to do.
The Holy Spirit has taken the opportunity to bring scriptures I’ve memorized to my mind exactly when I need them. And He will do the same for you.
Can I pray for you today?
Father God, I pray that you’d speak to my sister’s heart about memorizing scripture and what and how much is right for her. Help her, Father, to know which scripture to memorize by speaking to her heart while she reads, or through hearing the word preached in her church, or even through this podcast. Help her to overcome any thoughts that she can’t do it, or she’s tried it before, and it didn’t work. Help her to know that as she plants that seed of the Word in her heart, it will take root and grow just as a seed does when planted in the ground. It may take time, but when it is continually watered and nurtured, it will bear fruit. Father, help my sister in Christ replace the lies that were spoken over her with your truth, and help her to believe what You say about her more than she believes any person who mistreated her. Heal my sister’s heart in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.
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Copyright Carolyn Rice 2022
