How I Memorize Scripture

(click to listen)

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

“I can’t memorize!”

I hear that all the time, and I get it.  Memorizing is work.

But memorizing is like anything else.  The more you do it, the better you get.

And memorizing Scripture is different than memorizing some random school assignment you despised.  Jesus said His Words are Spirit and Life.  God’s Word makes wise the simple.  It’s a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.  It’s food for your soul.

As the comedian said about Pop Tarts, so I say about God’s Word:  how do I get that goodness in me?

By memorizing.

And if you say you can’t memorize, remember that even tiny children with their teeny little brains can memorize.  You can do it!

As one old timer used to say, “Don’t ask me if I CAN.  Ask me if I WILL.”  It’s not a question of if you can.  It’s a question of if you will.

So how do I personally do it?  How do I memorize Scripture?

One new verse per weekday.

I memorize verses in a row, whole chapters, whole books, not cherry-picked, not random verses here and there.

I don’t memorize verse numbers.  Some people are amazing at that, but for me that would be an impediment.  My goal is not to be able to quote chapter and verse to you, but to get God’s Word inside me.

So I add one new verse per weekday, and I also review each weekday.

My friend Dr. Edith Davis wrote a book about The Micro-Spiral Method.  You start small, and then keep circling around in bigger and bigger review cycles, always reviewing to help establish the words deep into your memory.

You may think you can’t do it, but just start small and keep reviewing and adding a little more, reviewing and adding a little more, and you will be amazed at how much you can actually accomplish over time.

Back in 2008 I said to myself, “The years are going to go by, one way or another.  What will I wish I had done?  I will wish I had memorized more of God’s Word.”

I started with the book of Ephesians, adding one verse per weekday.  The days and months went by, as they would anyway, and pretty soon I had the whole book of Ephesians memorized.  Amazing!

Then I did the book of Colossians the same way.

Then I decided to bite off a bigger chunk of the Bible:  the book of John.

On December first, 2009 I started with John chapter one, verse one.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

I kept the same plan, adding one new verse per weekday, taking off weekends and vacations, and maintained a review cycle to keep bringing it back to my brain.

On February 28, 2013 I finished memorizing the book of John.  It took me 3 years and 3 months, but guess what?  Those 3 years and 3 months would have gone by anyway, but in this case I had done something a normal person thinks they can’t, or won’t…memorized the entire book of John!

And I’m not that smart.  No, I can’t sit here and quote the entire book of John to you, but I bet some people can, and maybe you would be one of them, if you would just make the decision to start.

Thy Word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against You. (Psalm 119:11)

I want to let God’s Word sink deep into my ears.  (Luke 9:44)

I want to abide in Jesus’s words.  (John 8:31)

I want to hear Jesus’s sayings and do them, like a man building his house on a rock. (Matthew 7:24)

I want to let the Word of Christ dwell in me richly! (Colossians 3:16)

My delight is in the law of the Lord! (Psalm 1:2)

I want to take heed according to His Word! (Psalm 119:9)

And one huge way I do that is by memorizing Scripture – one verse per weekday.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

Jim Dandy Billy Goat

(click to listen)

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

“Don’t say holy cow.”

“No, not holy mackerel, either.”

“And definitely not holy cra….you know what.”

“Look,” I told my grandsons, “Holy is a word.  It has a meaning.  A serious meaning.  To say it any other way is to say it in vain, which means to water it down.”

“What does it mean?  Well, I think of holy as being separated, like separated from sin.  God is separated from sin and He wants us to be separated from sin, to be holy, to be righteous, to not sin.”

“Plus, when you say, ‘holy…whatever,’ that’s not what you really mean anyway.  You mean something else, like, ‘I’m shocked,’ or ‘That’s amazing,’ or ‘What a surprise.’  So why not just say what you mean instead of using the word holy in vain?”

One grandson said, “Because it’s more fun!”

I said, “When you say it, does anyone laugh?  Does anyone even smile?  Do you even smile?  It must not be that fun.”

“And if you want to have fun, then make up your own exclamation.”

Then I told them about former Florida State Seminoles football coach Bobby Bowden and how he used to say, “Dadgummit.”

Then I told them about my dad, their great-grandfather.

I never heard my dad say a single bad word.  Ever.  

I remember one time when I was a young teenager, and Dad was at home, off work, and a call came in from work.  You could tell it was something stressful, some kind of problem he had to solve.  It was the kind of moment where a mom shushes all the kids or scuttles them out of the room.  Dad needs space to solve this problem

I was listening closely.  What was going on?  What would Dad say?

Here’s what he said.  This is the exclamation that came out of his mouth.  He said, “Jim dandy billy goat.”

Ha ha, okay, that’s about the extent of my dad’s blue language.  Jim dandy billy goat.

So if you must exclaim something, and you don’t want to say the words you actually mean, please don’t fall into the age-old traps of cursing or blue language or taking the Lord’s name in vain.  Don’t even take the word “holy” in vain because it’s a real word with a serious meaning and we don’t want to water it down.

Instead, come up with some fun words of your very own.

Or you could just say it like my dad said it, “Jim dandy billy goat.”

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

My Bucket List

(click to listen)

I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire.  (Luke 24:32)

“Doug, what’s on your bucket list?  What do you want to do before you kick the bucket?  Before you die?  Before your life is over, kaput, fini, muerto?”

All right, well, it’s a short list.  In fact, my bucket list can be summed up in one painting by Yongsung Kim, one of my favorites.

It’s a wintry scene in the country.  It’s a cold but sunny day and a man is out for a walk.

In the painting he has stopped walking and is looking up to the sky, as if he’s pondering the weather, or something greater.

The man is painted to look like Jesus, in His robe and sandals, with a walking stick.

And behind him is a sheep, one solitary sheep.

They aren’t moving.  They are just standing there, Jesus looking up to the sky, and the sheep looking up to Jesus.

The sheep isn’t running off on his own.  The sheep isn’t pushing the shepherd to hurry up.  The sheep is just watching the shepherd, waiting for him to move.

The shepherd has led him to this place, and the shepherd will lead him to the next place, wherever that might be.

And that, my friend, is my bucket list in its entirety.

I want to closely follow the Good Shepherd wherever He leads.

As the song says, “Where He leads me I will follow.”

“But Doug, don’t you want to travel?  Aren’t there things you want to see before you die?”

You know…Jesus never went to Rome.  Isn’t that interesting?  It was the greatest empire the world had ever seen, with the greatest sights and greatest achievements.  People still flock to Rome today!  And yet Jesus never went.  Rome offered many advantages, so why didn’t Jesus go?

Jesus answers that question in John 5:19.  Verily, verily, I say unto you.  The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever the Father does, the Son also does in like manner.

In John 12:49 Jesus said that He didn’t even speak on His own, “but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.”  Then He said in verse 50, “…whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

Back to this painting by Yongsung Kim.  He titled the painting Heavenward, and it looks like Jesus is looking heavenward, like He’s looking toward the Heavenly Father, watching, listening, tuning in.

And there is the sheep, looking at the shepherd, and waiting.  The sheep isn’t going anywhere without the shepherd’s leading.

And that’s my bucket list, to keep my eyes on the Good Shepherd and to follow Him wherever He leads.

“But Doug, then you’re going to die and that’s the end and you will have missed out.”

Well, I’m already looking way past the death of this mortal body.  I’m already looking heavenward, toward eternity with God, and I’m not waiting until then to walk with Him.  I’m walking with Him now, and when the day comes I will walk right out of this body and into eternity with Him where that relationship will continue in whatever new and exciting ways He has planned.

Walking with God.  Following the Good Shepherd.  Listening for His voice.  Watching for Him to move.  That’s my bucket list, and I’m already doing it.

And I can’t think of anything more exciting or fulfilling or everlasting.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.