“I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.”
Scripture Reading: Psalm 23
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . . I had a great serve. In tennis of course. I started in tennis after my 7th grade year of Football and Track. That summer I threw myself into lots of tennis lessons. At the beginning of the summer, the coach made a recommendation to change my grip on my racket. I was HORRIBLE, for a while. . .then after a while I began to improve. What happened was that I was beginning to develop muscle memory.
Wikipedia describes muscle memory as, “When an active person trains movement, often of the same activity, in an effort to stimulate the mind’s adaptation process, the end result is to induce a physiological change such as increased levels of accuracy through repetition. Even though the process is really brain-muscle memory or what some call motor memory, the nickname muscle memory is commonly used.”
Muscles and mind together begin to learn a behavior because their is repetition and memory. The same is true of scripture and our mind. As you continue actively working on memorizing scripture, then you begin to “hide them in your heart.” Once hidden, they cannot be taken away. They will always be there. You will find that as you encounter situations in your life, these “muscle memories” pop up. They remind you a a better way. They provide strength in times of struggle, wisdom in times of uncertainty, and courage in face of fear.
So . . . I think in our pursuit of Spiritual Fitness, we should work out our Mental Muscle Memory so that when we encounter a situation, we might have an immediate chain reaction that sparks a Scripture in our brain.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be working on scriptures that tie us in to the rich tradition of Christ’s love and grace.
Memory Verse: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” — Philippians 4:13
Prayer: Abba, Father, allow me to reflect on your words and hide them in my heart.
PS. I think the best way to memorize anything is just sheer repetition. Just say it over and over again. If that doesn’t help you much, you can try these resources.
http://www.christianstraininglog.com/resources/memorization.html
