I am trying endeavouring to memorize around 180 verses by January, in an effort to pass Grace Brethren Licensure review, which is quite rigorous I have been told. How will I get there? Read on to find out.
If you want an anecdotal look back at my memorization history (such as it is) check out Part 1.
So, I have been blessed by a number of situations where I have heard lots of very good ideas to help memorize Scripture. First, I would like to say that one size does not fit all. Everyone’s mind works differently, so I can’t guarantee results with what I have done. You need to find your own way along this path, but researching what others have done does give you good ideas to try and see which will be best for you.
A couple of years ago, I sat in on a nice little seminar taught by my church’s worship pastor, Jason Strain. He taught a session on Scripture memorization, and highlighted a number of ideas, including mnemonic devices, acronyms, and song. I like song: it does work. He even got into producing entire songs for our church to help memorize Scripture. You can download them for free on the church website if you like. The only downside I found with them was while I learned the verse very quickly, I didn’t learn the reference point or the verse number – so while it was now in my head, I couldn’t reference it for others. Saying to someone, “It says somewhere in the Bible, ‘Salvation is found in no one else, and there is no other name under heaven, given to man by which we must be saved,” doesn’t have nearly the same impact as saying, “It says in Acts 4:12, ‘Salvation is found in no one else…” See what I mean? Still, it’s better than no memorizing!
More recently, I was at our church’s “Discover Hope Lunch” where we introduce new attenders to our church and help them take the next step towards membership. At the end of the lunch, I was sitting around talking to a couple of nice ladies and one of them took out a little business card wallet. It was filled with Scripture verses printed onto business card paper. She said she carried it everywhere she went and used it all the time. What a neat little idea! The next day I scoured three different Dollar Stores for such a wallet, and then went and bought some business card paper to print on. I put together a dozen verses on “Scripture” and “God” and put them into the wallet. What I have been doing is taking that wallet to work, flipping open a verse and sitting it on my desk right in front of my monitor. This keeps the verse in my vision all day long, and it’s been working very well so far. This week I have memorized 2 Tim 3:16, Psalm 119:105, and Psalm 19:1. Today my goal is to do two: Romans 1:19 and John 20:28.
Tags: bible, Jason Strain, licensure, memorization
Desiring God has a handy system of verses put together in two sets – foundation verses and fighter verses. They’re designed for kids, but I’ve been finding it a great way to memorize Scripture along with my kids!
The foundation verses are a line or two, business card size, on a clip style ring. The fighter verses include longer passages and are on 3×5 cards in a 2 ring book. You can get them in both ESV and NIV. Seriously Shane – it includes enough to keep you going for a while (about 80 foundation verses and 230 sets of fighter verses) and being the size it is, could be added to at any point.
ALSO you can get memorization CDs (maybe download the MP3s now?) of people in their ministry reading the verses, so you can practice on the go.