by Bret Capranica | Mar 17, 2014 | Christian Living, Featured Articles
One of the most helpful aspects of my regular meeting with others for the purpose of deepening my and their discipleship is memorizing Scripture together. I’m not necessarily “good” at memorizing. I’m definitely not as sharp with it as I was 20 years ago. It requires an immense amount of concentration and repetition for me, but those two elements (concentration and repetition) prove so fruitful in not only my meditation on the word but my conversation over the application of the word with others. Here are a few thoughts on how you could approach Scripture memory in a regular meeting with others for discipleship: Choose to memorize a large portion of Scripture, rather than smaller, random, unconnected verses. For example, the last portion of Scripture I memorized with a small group of people was the book of Colossians. Before that was the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). I learned the content of these sections very well. I saw how different portions of the book or section fit with previous or later sections. It was easier to memorize the verses as I thought of them in relation to what preceded and followed them. Our conversations about the larger section was more focused and full as we, together, thought through what the whole was saying. There is a flow and a purpose to what is being memorized that not only made it easier to remember, but easier to talk about. I found myself thinking through the content of these sections of Scripture more fully during the week and at random times through my day. Make sure that you not only...
by Bret Capranica | Mar 3, 2014 | Christian Living, Featured Articles
From the outset, let me again say, discipleship is more than a meeting. It is living all of life in devotion to Christ. A meeting isn’t sufficient and doesn’t necessarily guarantee discipleship. However, I find that being intentional about pursuing Christ with two or three other people is a very helpful tool to keeping myself sharp and push myself and others to be intentional about our pursuit of the Lord. If you were to begin meeting with another person or a small group of a few people to encourage and deepen your fellowship with Christ, what would you do in that time together? What would guide your conversation and make it most helpful? You could simply keep it organic and spontaneous. I just haven’t found that to be the most helpful in the long run. Over the next few posts, I will expand on each of these and suggest some practical ways to go about each of them. For now, here is a brief suggestion of how you could arrange an hour together, assuming there are three people meeting together. Obviously you can arrange this differently with different elements and times of which you engage. I’m simply suggesting a practical way to get started if you aren’t doing anything currently. I suggest that each week, you take turns each leading one of these areas: Discuss what you are reading in Scripture or a specific book you are reading together and how it is specifically challenging and shaping you. (20 minutes) Review Scripture you are memorizing together (15 minutes). Discuss your application of a key question you were all asking...
by Bret Capranica | Mar 24, 2009 | Christian Living, Miscellaneous
Good material here: 18 Tricks to Memorize More Scripture | Fallen and Flawed HT: Desiring God...
