How do you memorize scriptures?

[lostwithoutu]

So I've learned that it is very valuable to have the scriptures memorized for many reasons.

I've always had trouble memorizing dates and names so I while I don't really have trouble remembering verses I have much difficulty recalling the number and book.

My question is what methods do you guys use to memorize?

In the past I've used flash cards and that works really well but I'd like to hear other suggestions. Thanks a bunch.

 

[Optimax]

By meditating on them.

 

[simpleone]

Hey brother...I have been wondering about this very same thing....and have been googling a good bit...

I guess the common writing on a card and carrying it around could work....but some folks seem to have some other techniques....I too could use any tips...

btw: here are couple sites:

http://www.valleybible.net/resources/MemoryPrinciples.shtml

http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/page8.html


I also read that Jack Van Impe is famed for this....
www.jvim.com

....also read memorising KJV is easier since it is more poetic...
Oh...and apparently KJV is easier to read than most modern translations....good enough for a 5th grader according to studies...

anyway....hope you find an effective method...I know I am going to try the flash card method...

I think everyone should memorize a good chunk of the bible...

 

[flyingsum0]

I dont...God puts the scriptures in my heart that I need.

 

[charityagape]

You know I've been thinking on this for a while and I've (IMO) come to the conclusion that trying to memorize them is not the thing to do at all. Oh you might commit some to memory and recall them, but I don't think it's God's best.


Take a minute and think of something you really really like. Favorite songs, favorite television shows or movies, playing the guitar, or working on your car, or sewing, or well whatever it is you really really really like to do.

Now take another minute and think about all the things you know about that thing. A favorite television series? Do you know all the characters and the plots?

Think about working on your car? Do you know all the tools and all the parts and all the steps needed to fix the this or that.


SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, my point being, when you love something, when you do it all the time, when you think about it all the time, when you look forward to the times you get to do it..............when all that is true you don't have to MEMORIZE because you begin to KNOW.

 

[HopefulJourney]

The question is not "How do you memorize scripture", but rather "How do you read into the meaning and application of scripture for everyday life".

Memorizing scripture is a wonderful thing to do, and is needed for growth. However, memorization without the understanding of it's meaning and how to apply it everyday is quite another matter.

Wisdom is the application of knowledge, and the application of knowledge with sober judgement is the blessing of God. (my own original quote).

 

[bithiah2]

the way i learn is by writing. i see it on paper and since i am writing, it also gets into my memory. that is what i did in school, and it also works with learning the Word. i don't always remember where something is, but i know what it says, and i can always look it up.
blessings
bithiah2

 

[KleinerApfel]

All good thoughts.

Like many of you, I find that there is more in my head than I realise, so when I need something, God quickens it to my mind. Unfortunately He doesn't usually give me the reference though!

I have memorised just a handful of scriptures. Therehave been times when my soul was too distressed to settle down and allow God to speak, and then I was glad to have such things as psalm 23 in my memory. Things like that can be a lifeline in the yawning gap while we wait to settle our hearts and listen.

But I agree it's much better when God speaks directly giving us what he wanst to say at that very moment.

 

[KleinerApfel]

Oh, i forgot to tell you my method!

I write it out, learn a line, recite it, put the next line in, gradually increasing. I only spend a few minutes at a time too.
Takes me days to learn a few lines, weeks to get it secure in memory. And if I don't use it once in a while to brush up it fades again.

How I wish I'd learnt a good load when I was young, and my memory was more acute! But I didn't know Him then.

 

[JimB]

I memorize scripture the old-fashioned way: one ... verse ... at ... a ... time ....

~Jim

It is just as necessary for men to hear the gospel as it was for Christ to die.​

 

[lostwithoutu]

Hey brother...I have been wondering about this very same thing....and have been googling a good bit...

I guess the common writing on a card and carrying it around could work....but some folks seem to have some other techniques....I too could use any tips...

btw: here are couple sites:

http://www.valleybible.net/resources/MemoryPrinciples.shtml

http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/page8.html


I also read that Jack Van Impe is famed for this....
www.jvim.com

....also read memorising KJV is easier since it is more poetic...
Oh...and apparently KJV is easier to read than most modern translations....good enough for a 5th grader according to studies...

anyway....hope you find an effective method...I know I am going to try the flash card method...

I think everyone should memorize a good chunk of the bible...

That's exactly what I was looking for thank you so much. And thanks to everyone for their responses and honest opinions.

I want to be able to memorize scriptures that have meaning to me. Not just to be able to quote but I would like to be able to reference them from memory when I pray and am fighting spiritual battles.

Also, I believe that God asks us to do this.


----
You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead.

Deuteronomy 11: 18

 

[handmaiden97]

I memeorize scripture using flash cards with different pictures and colors (Im visual) to this day if I sse the picture or the border on the card I know the verse....I practice them when Im driving but I use the cards as prayers....so As I memeorize the passage I often pray it as well or sue it to motivate me into a prayer.

 

[JimB]

When I was a new Christian I was amazed at people who could quote an appropriate scripture in any given situation. Of course, I learned later that when they said, “the Bible says, God helps those who help themselves” or “The Bible says spare the rod and spoil the child” they were not quoting scripture at all; they were just saying “The Bible says” to whatever popular adage seemed suitable.

But it inspired me to buy one of those promise boxes and try to memorize a scripture a day. But then I discovered later that some of those scriptures did not mean what I thought they meant or were “promises” taken out of context, etc. etc. And I could never remember where the scripture was found.

So, I just gave it up and kept studying and reading the Bible. Over time, I discovered that I could actually quote appropriate texts. Somehow they had become fixed in my brain and I could recall them, often without trying or running to a concordance. Someone has said that it’s better to let the Bible go through you than for you to go through the Bible memorizing texts. When you let the Bible go through you you will remember it.


I guess the secret to memorizing scripture (at least for me) was simply keeping my nose in the Bible and running reference and chasing themes. It may not work for everybody but it sure worked for me.

~Jim

It is just as necessary for men to hear the gospel as it was for Christ to die.​

 

[Always in His Presence]

I don't memorize scripture, but there is scripture I have read so many times, that I know it by heart.

My target is two books a day, mainly in the NT. I don't know how many times I've read Ephesians, in the last 14 years or so, most likely about 200 or so times.

The Ephesian prayers are so much a part of me, they just come natural.

I'm not saying this to boast or anything like that - I'm explaining how I get scripture into my heart instead of memorizing it.

Does that make sence?

 

[lostwithoutu]

^ makes perfect sense, I really want to be able to have not only the scripture but the Chapter and verses too. That's the hardest thing for me to recall.

 

[Lightbearer3]

Reading the word and also writing it down both helps, like the others, I write down the verse(s) on a card then separate each sentence with a different colored marker, that way my eyes automactically go to the next line instead of them "floating" all over the verse trying to find where the next line I want to memorize is.

David said: I have hid thy word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

 

[charityagape]

I don't memorize scripture, but there is scripture I have read so many times, that I know it by heart.

My target is two books a day, mainly in the NT. I don't know how many times I've read Ephesians, in the last 14 years or so, most likely about 200 or so times.

The Ephesian prayers are so much a part of me, they just come natural.

I'm not saying this to boast or anything like that - I'm explaining how I get scripture into my heart instead of memorizing it.

Does that make sence?

Perfect.

 

[JimB]

I don't memorize scripture, but there is scripture I have read so many times, that I know it by heart.

My target is two books a day, mainly in the NT. I don't know how many times I've read Ephesians, in the last 14 years or so, most likely about 200 or so times.

The Ephesian prayers are so much a part of me, they just come natural.

I'm not saying this to boast or anything like that - I'm explaining how I get scripture into my heart instead of memorizing it.

Does that make sence?

I think anybody who would read the Bible that much would certainly in a matter of months be stunned at how much they remembered and could quote. The secret, though, for mnemonic purposes, would be to stick to one translation.

~Jim

It is just as necessary for men to hear the gospel as it was for Christ to die.​