Some may be wondering what revival and Bible memorization have in common. The Lord taught me something on Sunday that I thought might be a blessing to someone. As I write this, we are having a revival week at our church. Our pastor preached a message on Sunday evening that was meant to encourage us to prepare ourselves for revival as we attend the services this week. He gave some points which were very encouraging to my heart, not only as I prepare myself to have revival but also as I strive to be more diligent in memorizing God’s Word on a weekly basis.
Let me share what he taught our church about preparing ourselves for revival and tell how God spoke to me about applying these points to my Bible memorization time! I promise that it all ties together.
First, we must be in the right place. Genesis 24:27 says, And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren. When we are where we are supposed to be, God will reveal His will to us. Many Christians today are forgetting how essential being in a church service is. Livestreaming has its place, but there is nothing that compares to assembling with other Christians in the house of God. We must put God first. When we put God first during a revival week at church and make sure that we are in our places every night, we will have a better chance of God working in our hearts and revealing to us what He wants from us for us to have our own personal revival. I mean, after all, who wants to miss that?
This same principle applies to Bible memorization. If we set aside a specific time and place to memorize God’s Word, we are more likely to memorize it. If we just say in our minds that we are going to memorize Bible verses on a certain day but never make a plan and set aside a specific time to do it, we probably will not do it. Sadly, I can testify to this fact. If I do not purposely set aside 10-15 minutes to memorize God’s Word, I just do not do it.
Second, we must be in an attitude of prayer. Our church has at least two revivals or special meetings each year. We have an annual fall revival and a spring missions conference. We get so excited when our fall revival comes along. If we are honest, however, we do very little praying about it. We do not prepare our hearts for revival. Our pastor encouraged us in his sermon to be in constant and fervent prayer for our revival this week. As Christians, we all should want God to speak to us, not only during a revival meeting but throughout every single day of our lives. If we do not pray and ask Him to do a work in our hearts, we cannot expect Him to do it.
Sometimes we set aside the time to memorize Bible verses, but we do not really stop to pray and ask God to let the verses truly penetrate our hearts. Bible memorization is not something we do just because we should do it. It is something we should do because we love the Word of God and want it to make a difference in our lives. Therefore, before we begin memorizing verses, we should stop to pray and ask God to speak to us through the verses we are memorizing.
Third, we must be fully confessed. I John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This point greatly convicted my heart. Of course, we all know that we should pray and ask God to forgive us for our sins on a daily basis; but when it comes to having revival, it is immensely important. We need to learn to ask God to take away all barriers in our lives that will keep us from listening to His Spirit when He speaks to us. If we have unconfessed sin in our lives, God cannot work in our hearts.
When we memorize God’s Word, we need to make sure we do not have anything in our hearts and minds that would hinder us from memorizing His Word. It could be unconfessed sin in our hearts that hinders our desire to memorize the Bible, or it could be something that upset us during the day, the distraction of the radio or television, or even children screaming for our attention from outside the bedroom door. Just as we must break down any barriers that keep God from speaking to our hearts during a revival service by fully confessing, we also must not allow any barriers or distractions to keep us from memorizing God’s Word.
Last of all, we must be totally submitted. James 4:6-7 says, But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Our preacher said something interesting while sharing this point. If not read carefully, the meaning will be missed completely. He said, “If God can’t change you, He won’t change you.” Basically, if we truly want God to work in our lives, then we must let Him do it. After all, we all have a will, and God will not force Himself on anybody. If we are going to be revived in our hearts and in our souls, we need to be submitted totally to let God change what needs to be changed in our lives. We should not come to a revival meeting with an attitude which says, “Oh, it’s just revival…again!” Show up to the meeting with the attitude of submission. When we do this, we will do whatever God tells us to do and let Him change us in any area He brings to our attention.
So many times, we set aside time to memorize the Bible, but we do it because we need to do it or because we should do it. We do not often do it because we know it can change us. We must try to approach our Bible memorization time submitted to this thought: “These verses are important enough to be in the Bible, so they can change my life.”
We have a tendency to think God only speaks to us during a regularly scheduled church service. God can speak to us through His Word and move us during our daily devotions and Bible memorization time if we will be in our places, have a prayerful attitude, eliminate barriers or distractions that hinder us, and be fully submitted to letting the verses truly speak to our hearts and change us.
by April Hernandez