Royal Council :: Scripture Memorization

Miss Shiloh {of End of the Matter Blog}::

Throughout the Bible we are commanded to hide God’s Word in our hearts. It is very important for Christians to memorize Scripture because there may come a day when our Bibles will be taken away from us and we will need to recall the Word of God. It is also important to meditate and memorize Scripture so we will be able to remember it through out our daily lives.

During trying times and trials we can memorize verses that will encourage us to be strong and of a good courage (Joshua 1:9), to wait upon the Lord (Isaiah 30:18), and to rest in the center of God’s will (Romans 12:2). In joyous times we are to rejoice in the Lord. 1 Chronicles 16:9 tells us to sing psalms to the Lord. It says, "Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works." Memorizing Scripture will also help us when the devil, our greatest enemy, tries to tempt us as children of the Most High. We are commanded to memorize Scripture because of this very fact. Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." Later in Psalm 119 in verse 105 we read: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Even through a dark night when we realize that we don’t know where we are headed the Lord is there and His word is a light to us. We need to memorize and hide God’s Word in our hearts.

Yes, but how?

Sometimes memorizing scripture can seem harder then memorizing a song or a scene from a movie. I believe that this is because Satan is working against us. He doesn’t want us to have the Bible hidden away in our hearts. So, with this in mind, we need to work harder and store God’s Word in our hearts even more so. Here are some ideas that may help you with memorizing Scripture…

1) Write your Bible verse(s) on a 4x6” card and bring it with your everywhere you go. When you are outside working pull it out of your pocket and memorize a few lines or when you are waiting in line at the store work on it there too.

2) Record yourself saying your verses out-loud then throughout the day play your recording and listen to it over and over again.

3) Make up a tune and sing your Bible verses or find a hymn that fits with your chosen scriptures.

4) Do hand motions while you repeat your verses. These could be Sign Language or just your own motions which help you remember.

5) Find a pattern in the Bible verse. This could be like remembering how many “when thous” are in Deuteronomy 6:7: "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

6) Memorize with your siblings and take turns quizzing one another. Or get together with a close friend and encourage one another along.

7) Memorize Scripture as a family. My family recently finished memorizing the Ten Commandments. As a family we memorized one verse at a time during dinner time and recited it together. Sometimes our father leaves out a word or a line and we fill them in with the correct word or line.

Memorization can be a challenge, but it’s something the Lord has command Christians to do! I pray that each and every one of you will continue to press on and work on storing more of God’s Word in your heart day by day. So, that we might each be able to say, “With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Psalm 119:10-11).

Press On Dear Sisters!

Shiloh

{Note: This article was going to be published in Hearts for God magazine (formerly Bethany's self-published magazine)to before it was printed the magazine went out of print. So we have decided to share it here for your use. Thanks!}

Miss Bethany Ann ::

To be completely honest, I've been struggling with my Scripture memorization here lately. I've found that it isn't the memorization part that I am having problems with, it's the self-discipline to stop what I'm doing, sit down and devote some time to hiding God's word in my heart. So often there are a hundred other things I'd rather be doing. watching a good movie, spending time on the computer, reading a book, sewing, taking photography, doing a puzzle, and the list goes on! But I've found that when i do decide to memorize the word of God that I am blessed!

This year, I was blessed to be able to memorize the book of 1st Peter with my sister. We completed it within a couple months and I'm so glad that I've made that investment. While we did memorize the whole book I must add that we truly only only the first chapter by heart {knowing it without error, etc}. Memorization often takes time but it's worth it! At first I was excited to be able to memorize such a large portion of the Scriptures, but then I thought "What? i can't do this! it's 5 whole chapters! 100 + verses! How can I fit that in my head?" but then I remembered a sweet pen-pal of mine who memorizes all of 2 Corinthians {11 chapters, I believe} so I realized that truly "All things are possible with God"!

There are times when memorizing large portions of Scripture is important, but sometimes memorizing small verses at a time, slowly will give us the most benefit. I often like to take verses from character traits I'm working on and memorize those. Or if I'm struggling in a certain area such as keeping my thoughts pure, i memorize verses for my defence so I can use them when I'm in need. No matter how much you memorize the important part is to just do it! It takes a bit of self-control to say "no" to self and actually memorize a verse or two each day. But we must not let the devil bring us down! Just like having devotions every day and not just every once in a while is important, so is memorizing Scripture often.

There are many different ways you can memorize, but I've found that this method works best for me. Johanna shared it with me recently during one of our phone calls and it has made memorizing Scripture so much easier for me! What you do is you read over the verses  a couple times to get it in your head. This is were you "semi-memorize it" as Miss Johanna put it. :D Then you think of each word, or say it aloud very slowly, taking noticed on the bigger more important words. If you are memorizing Psalm 119:1 then it would go like this: "Your WORD have I HID in my HEART, that I might not SIN against you." Then you take those words and meditate on them so you can remember then when quoting the verse. It could look something like this:  "WORD, the Word of god, the words of His mouth, holy, precious, etc" This way when you are going over the verse, it makes it easier to remember the words. Now is the part that helps me the most: you write down the first letter in each word of the verse. Like this: Y W H I H I M H T I M N S A Y Now you've got a "help" for in case you can't remember a word, but don't want to look at the verse and ruin it. I've found this part to be SO helpful!

One other method I've used before goes like this: you write down the verse on paper or on a black board. You say the verse aloud once and then erase or mark out one word so you cannot see it. You then say the verse again and when you come to the word you marked out, try and remember it. Continue to do this until you have marked out all the words in the verse and remember it all without looking at the page or board.

One thing that is helpful when finding a method that works for you is to know what kind of memory you have. My sister Ashley has a photographic memory, so she has to see the words in order until your able to remember them. For those with this kind of memory, it might help to make memory verse cards and print them of place them were you will see them often. You could also make or find a computer screens with Scripture on it!

Miss Johanna Rose ::

Scripture memorization is a very important occupation, which I believe is crucial to implement into our lives. Not only will memorizing scripture enable us to defeat the Enemy's most unexpected darts of temptation, but also many verses serve as a wonderful reminder of the loving-kindness of Jesus Christ. Here are a few of my memorizing tips ::

• First select a verse that truly speaks to your heart; one that truly applies to your life, and will encourage your throughout the day.
• Once a verse is selected, read through it three times -- enunciating the words extremely clearly, and drawn out. This helps the brain to remember the words better.
• After you have read it through three times, analyze the verse. For example, I recently memorized 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, which says, "Rejoice Always, Pray without Ceasing, in everything Give Thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." To analyze, I would say to myself OUT LOUD, "What do I need to do in all circumstances? Rejoice. What do I do when I am in trouble, or am thankful, or just need to talk? Pray. What should I do no matter what happens? Give Thanks. Why is this important? Why do I need to do these things? Because it is the will of God. Who is God? Christ Jesus." While this may seem very odd ladies, it truly helps to remember the verse clearly.
• Read the verse out loud once again, in a normal way. :-D
• Now, write the verse out once on a card. On the other side of the card write down the first letter of each word in order. 
• The verse should be pretty much memorized now! Use the card (the side with the letters) as a prompt if you get stuck!
• Review the verse the next day -- it should be fully memorized now!

May the Lord bless you as you strive to hide His words within your heart!

Blessings,

~Johanna