Avizandam In Scots law, this term describes the careful consideration given by the judge before an important decision. Join me each week as we explore various topics from a spiritual perspective and take matters. Avise endum I recently did a podcast on mentoring and discipling. Obviously there's an overlap. But I stress that discipleship is a biblical term.
and generally has more depth and mentoring. Ideally, the person being mentored has a foundation in Scripture and Biblical truth. then the mentoring is the practical outworking of these truths with the maturer believer providing a model. Mentoring emphasizes the doing. whereas discipleship focuses on the being as well as the doing.
It used to be the almost invariable practice of those being discipled to memorize scripture. For many years I used navigators' materials to disciple men. For each weekly lesson there was a scripture for the individual to memorize.
Some men memorize the scriptures easily. whereas others found it difficult. Scripture memorisation for adults now seems to be a bit out of fashion. At Calvary Church, we stress scripture memorization for our children and students. through programs such as I wanna Many of these young children learn hundreds of scriptures.
I'm very thankful that as a boy and young man I memorized Scripture. I'm thankful for that foundation. When I preach, many of the scriptures which I quote were memorized by me when I was a boy or a young man. In this podcast, I'm giving a call for scripture memorization and meditation. The Old and New Testaments are written documents.
But when they were originally written, only a few people would have had the actual text of Scripture before them. In an oral culture, scripture memorization was imperative. We fill our minds with a lot of trivialities from social media. But I'm giving you a challenge, a strong challenge, to meditate on scripture. Psalm 1 verse 3: His delight is in the law of the Lord.
And on his law he meditates day and night. Day and night is a figure of speech, meaning that the psalmist meditates on scripture throughout the day. Similarly, Moses says to Joshua, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night.
so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. Again. In Psalm 145, verse 5. on the glorious splendor of your majesty. and on your wondrous works I will meditate.
To meditate in a sense is to preach to ourselves. We've read the Word of God, we've meditated on it, and now we go over its truths in our minds. Generally, we read scripture too quickly. And five minutes after we've read it, we've no idea what we've read.
So Meditate on what you've read. And a great way to meditate on Scripture is to memorize it.
Some of scriptures, such as Psalm 119, the longest Psalm, was written in such a way to facilitate memorization. It was an acrostic. Think of memorizing a hundred and seventy six verses. But Many of our predecessors, as followers of Jesus Christ, as well as those under the Old Covenant, did exactly that. Why memorize?
Well, it slows us down, and therefore aids meditation. Psalm 119 verses 9 through 11. How can a young man keep his way pure? by guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you.
Let me not wander from your commandments. I've stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Having God's word in our hearts, having memorized it, keeps us from sinning. Psalm 37 verse 31, The law of God is in his heart. His steps do not slip.
So, with the Word of God in our hearts, having memorized it, having meditated on it, we can recall Scripture during difficult times and also when we're tempted. When our Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he quoted from memory verses from the book of Deuteronomy. In this way, he defeated the enemy. In spiritual warfare, We have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Paul was referring to knowing the word of God and being able to use it successfully in the spiritual battle.
How are we able to do that? By reading the Word of God, by meditating on it, by memorizing it. When we communicate the word to others, the truth of God is reinforced in our own hearts. Years ago in Scotland, when I was leading a Bible study for young men and women in their late teens and early twenties, I was encouraging them to memorize Scripture. Two young men told me that they had terrible memories.
and couldn't memorize the Word of God.
However, when we spoke about football, they knew all of the records of the individual teams. There was nothing wrong with their memories. it was that their focus, their love, was on football. When we love someone, We have no difficulty in thinking about that person and calling to mind experiences of the past. King David says he loves the law of the Lord and meditates on it.
This is key. The more you read the word of God, the more you memorize it, the more you will love it. And the more you love it, the more you will read it, meditate and memorize it.
So here is my challenge. This week, memorize one verse of Scripture. And as you're reading scripture this week, a particular verse will be very meaningful to you. Pray over it. Meditate on it.
Memorize it. Throughout the week, chew over this verse. This transforms our mind. This deepens our love for Jesus. and we praise him more intelligently.
and so become more and more like our Lord Jesus. Abyssando. You're listening to the weekly Avizandam podcast from The Verdict, featuring Pastor John Monroe. John is senior pastor at Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Listen to John's daily program, The Verdict, on broadcast radio or major podcast platforms.
For more information about the Verdict Ministry, visit us online at calvarychurch.com/slash the verdict.
