May 24, 2013
Memory and the Holy Spirit
"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:26)
John wrote his detailed discourses of Jesus (almost half of
the verses in John's gospel consist of His words)
approximately fifty years after Christ spoke them, yet John
was able to report them verbatim because of the supernatural
memory of them brought back by the Holy Spirit. The same
must have been true for the other biblical writers as they
recalled words and events of years before.
In a real, though different, sense, the Holy Spirit also
can "bring to our remembrance" the words of
Scriptures just when they are especially needed in
witnessing or for personal guidance or some other need. This
will only be operational, of course, if they have first been
stored in our memory, either by direct memorization or by
such frequent reading and studying of the Bible as to make
it a part of our subconscious memory.
Recall how the unlearned fisherman Peter was able to quote
long passages of Scripture when he needed them (see, for
example, Acts
2:16-21, 25-28, 34-35). He had apparently spent much
time in studying and even memorizing key portions of the Old
Testament. Jesus, of course, frequently quoted Scripture in
His conversations, and Paul quoted Scripture abundantly in
his epistles. Should we not do the same?
Scripture memorization has been a great blessing to many
Christians over the years but seems to have become almost a
lost art in this day and age. Nevertheless, Christ has
promised answered prayer: "If ye abide in me, and my
words abide in you" (John 15:7).
So, as Paul urged, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly" (Colossians
3:16). HMM
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