When I was around 7-8 years old, I was taught how to pray by my grandmother. In Islam, children are taught at an early age to memorize verses from the Quran for when we go to sleep, awake, eat, wash hands, etc but usually around the age of 7, most families begin to teach children the full prayers for the day. One has to understand that this is not like Christian prayers which can be in any language. Daily prayers in Islam MUST BE done in Arabic. The problem is that about 84% of the Muslim world does not speak Arabic.

Not only is the child learning to memorize prayers, but they must memorize them (usually) in a language that is not their own mother tongue. That was my case. Being a very stubborn girl (still am, for those of you who don’t know me!), I refused to learn how to pray until my mother (who spoke Arabic because my parents worked in Saudi Arabia) translated them for me and put them in writing.

Given this background, I did not necessarily relish memorizing Scripture when I became a Christian. Lo and behold, no one was making me memorize either. When I began to study the Bible, I found the words to be like poetry and they filled my soul. I had a DEEP DESIRE to learn these words so that I may share them with others who were having a bad day or were struggling so I began memorizing snippets of Scripture like many in my Bible studies had done.

Last year, for Valentine’s Day, I wanted to give my husband a different gift. I memorized what is sometimes known as the “Love Chapter” from 1 Corinthians 13 (you know, “love is patient, love is kind…”). I memorized it and recited it to him on Valentines Day, except that I said “Stephen is patient, Stephen is kind…” I stumbled just a tad bit, but overall was able to remember it. I tried recalling the chapter over the summer and SURPRISE! It was still there! 🙂 I still pray the chapter out loud so I can continue to remember.

The reason to memorize is not to play a game to see who wins or to have a race. It is to commit the verses to your memory, to pray them over your family and friends or others God places into your life. It is to be a discipline to bring you closer to our Father, it is to help increase our prayer life and to study God’s living Word.

Will you prayerfully consider joining me? I will post the “plan” that I am going to use (borrow from Dr. Andrew Davis) and also how I modify that plan to fit how I learn.

These are my own reasons… now, what are yours?