As an author I have struggled in the area of point of view when writing my work of fiction.

As a Christian I have tried to memorize Bible verses and have had some difficulty with retaining the word of God.

Some of the problem with memorizing verses is that the Bible is written in third person but God is not the kind of God who seeks an outside viewpoint. He seeks our hearts.

So I have come up with a different way of reading the Bible and memorizing scripture. I change the text when appropriate from third person to first person.

I will give you an example using some verses I was trying to memorize today.

Psalms 1:1-3 in third person…

(1) Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (2) But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. (3) He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season. Whose leaf also shall not wither. And whatever he does he shall prosper.

Now lets do it in first person

I am blessed because I do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor do I stand in the path of sinners or sit in the seat of the scornful. But my delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law I meditate day and night. I will be like a tree planted by a river of water and I will bring forth fruit in its season. My leaf will not wither and whatever I do shall prosper.

I find that when I memorize scripture in this manner I tend to “own” God’s word and it appears more powerful in my viewpoint.