Do something that produces big dividends - memorize God's Word

Angel Martinez memorized the entire New Testament and could quote it without any reservation, qualification or hesitation. I was privileged to know the noted evangelist and had him preach in several of the churches I served as pastor.

Martinez, who referred to himself as a little shoeshine boy, was converted in a Baptist mission in San Antonio in July 1935 at the age of 13 and preached his first sermon in September of that same year. At the conclusion of that message, every member of his family except his father was converted to Christ.

During the course of his illustrious 60-year ministry, Martinez saw more than 500,000 come to faith in Christ. He was known for his colorful attire, his simple but powerful messages, and his memorization of Scripture.

He once told me that he began the memorization process by listing some of the better-known verses of Scripture and committing them to memory. He then selected some of the well-known chapters of the New Testament, such as I Corinthians 13, Romans 8 and John 14, and memorized them. From the more familiar chapters to some of the shorter epistles, Martinez continued his memorization process.

When he started memorizing the New Testament he confessed that it was a long and laborious process as he rehearsed the verses of Scripture over and over again. After months of disciplining himself to learn the Scripture, the memorization process became easier and easier until he could memorize a whole chapter in a relatively short period of time.

I will never forget his response when I asked him why he took on such an enormous project. He responded by quoting Psalm 1:2: "But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night." He also referenced Psalm 119:11 which says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee."

Many people today do not have access to the Bible. In April 1997 thousands of Bibles were confiscated in Uzbekistan. In this country known for its authoritarian presidential rule, the law forbids the distribution of Bibles.

In November 2003 a village was ransacked, Christians were beaten and arrested, and Bibles were confiscated at H'le and O Village in la Bang Province in Vietnam. Unidentified police officers entered the village in vehicles and began threatening the villagers, warning them about holding unofficial prayer meetings before taking away the Bibles found in the houses.

Recently Cybercast News Service reported May 23 that in Saudi Arabia it is a matter of official policy "to either incinerate or destroy Bibles, crosses and other Christian paraphernalia."

God forbid we should ever be restricted from having a copy of the Bible, but what if that were the case? How much of God's Word have you hidden in your heart and mind?

In January 1968 North Korea seized the intelligence-collecting ship USS Pueblo, an incident that came close to igniting a second Korean War. The 83 crew members were imprisoned and in some cases tortured mercilessly. In order to maintain their sanity in a horrific situation, they called to memory as many verses of Scripture as possible and combined their knowledge of the Word of God to create what came to be known as "The Pueblo Bible."

I recently came across a website: Bible Memorization - Benefits and Methods. Here are some of the benefits of Bible memorization listed on this website:

1. It multiplies the effect of God's Word in our lives.
2. It conditions the thought life, the secret of success.
3. It gives the Holy Spirit wide access to us.
4. It keeps us alert for spiritual battle.
5. It facilitates and transforms our personal Bible study.
6. It makes group worship more meaningful.
7. It can give spiritual authority.
8. It gives freedom in teaching and preaching.
9. It is indispensable for our evangelism.
10. It helps you pray in public.

Consider the words of Joshua 1:8: "The book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth (he is quoting it); but thou shalt meditate therein day and night (he is rehearsing it continuously), that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."