If you’ve been in Kid’s Ministry for any length of time, you’ve probably experienced the challenge of teaching a Memory Verse.  Sometimes you can almost hear the inner groan from children and leaders.  Memory Verse teaching can require more preparation than the Bible story.  You need 100% enthusiasm to inspire the kids to repeat the Scripture over and over.  And it takes ingenuity to come up with new ways to make Bible verses fun, and well, memorable.  So is it worth all the effort?  Simply, yes.  Here’s 5 reasons why.

1. The Bible talks about it

• ‘I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.’ (Psalm 119:11)
• ‘For all these reasons and more, I urge you to let the Word of Christ dwell among you richly.’ (Colossians 3:16)
• ‘And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.  Tie them to your hands and wear them on your foreheads as reminders.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.’  (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
• ‘But Jesus told him, ‘No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’  (Matthew 4:4)

 

2. Jesus memorized Scripture

We are always encouraging our kids to be more like Jesus.  Jesus quoted Scripture all the time.  He demonstrated His knowledge and use of Scripture when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness.  (Matthew 4:1-11)  Scripture will help our kids stand in the face of temptation, too.

 

3. God’s Word is our weapon

‘Ephesians 6:13-17 describes the believer’s armour in the battle for our souls and spiritual survival. All of the elements of the armour are defensive except one.  The only offensive weapon is the ‘sword of the Spirit’, which is the word of God (v.17).  It is the one piece of armour used to kill.  Just as Jesus used God’s Word to fend off attacks of Satan, so must we be able to use the same weapon.  But rarely does Satan give us time to ‘look up’ the correct passages when we are confronted with his lies and deception.  Bible memorization ensures that we will have the appropriate truths and principles in mind and be able to recall them instantly to effectively respond to the evil one who seeks to destroy us.’

                                                                                          John Piper

                         

 

4. Memorizing Scripture helps kids help others

Proverbs 15:23 says: A person finds joy in giving an apt reply – and how good is a timely word! (As a child I was taught and memorized ‘What a joy it is to find the right word for the right occasion.’ I didn’t learn many verses using the Good News Version but that one has stuck.)  Memorizing Scriptures gives kids confidence and assurance in helping friends and in being able to witness.

 

5. Memorizing Scripture brings blessing and wisdom

Joshua 1:8 says, ‘This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.’

Psalm 1:1-3  ‘Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but those whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers.’  When God’s Word is planted in our kid’s memories, they will grow.  Jesus grew in wisdom (Luke 2:52) and that’s what we want for our kids, too.

 

Because of a Memory Verse taught to me in Children’s Church, I can still quote Hebrews 12:1(b) and 2.  ‘And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’  It was taught over a numbers of weeks and revised often.

We were taught using the New King James version, the top single translation used in memorizing Scripture.  The New International Version is second.  Although the King James Version has a beautiful lyrical quality, verily, the age of kids using ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ is over!