Bible Memorization, tools, tips, methods, etc.

I am looking for ideas from other people who have developed good methods of how to memorize scripture and get it in to their minds/ hearts. Has anyone used software that works well for them? What else have people used, etc.

We are starting Bible Quizzing in our church with the youth and I want to memorize along with them (entire books) as they are so I can be a good example as well as learn for my own discipline and relationship with God. Thanks. Doug

I have some little cards I got from an organization called FAST. They have some with Scripture verses on them or you can get blank ones and write your own verses. They fit in your pocket and you can look at them anytime you are waiting.

Edit:
[color=0000CC]From the FAST program:
Step 2: How to Memorize
Perhaps the most effective way to memorize Scripture, is to use a verse pack. Find one with two inside pockets and a clear plastic outside pocket. It can be leather or vinyl, but make sure it is small enough to easily fit in your pocket. And make sure you are stocked with plenty of blank verse cards. Both cards and packs can be obtained at many Christian bookstores.
Write the verse you wish to memorize and its reference on one side of a verse card, and the reference only on the back. Next, slide the card into the clear outside pocket with the words of the verse facing out. If you keep your verse pack with you, you can pull it out any time you have a few minutes and work on a verse: walking down a sidewalk, sitting at a stoplight, waiting in line, etc. Redeem such moments carefully, and you will be able to learn countless verses without having to set aside any special times for memorizing. Always make it a rule to memorize every verse word-perfect.

Put recently memorized verses in one of the inside pockets, Newly learned verses need to be reviewed frequently, and having them with you at all times will be a big help. Blank verse cards can be kept in the other inside pocket, just in case you read or hear some beautiful verse you want to memorize. Simply pull out a card, and jot the verse down.

Daily Review
For most people, the hard part about memorizing Scripture is not actually the memorizing, but the retaining. An average person can memorize a verse in 10 or 20 minutes quite easily, but then he will go on to forget it just a few days later. Successful Scripture memorization requires one to do more than just memorize a verse--he must learn to engrave it on the tables of his heart, permanently. The secret is daily review!
Once you have memorized a verse, date it, and put it together with the other recently memorized verses in your verse pack. Review this group of verses every day--preferably during your Morning Watch. Don't miss a day! Look at the side of the card with only the reference, quote the verse, and then turn the card over to check your accuracy. When reviewing verses, it is extremely important to develop the habit of always quoting the reference before and after the verse. This will help cement the reference to the verse. After a couple of weeks a verse will become extremely easy to quote--but don't let up. It will take two full months, to get the verse permanently engraved in your brain.

Back Review
Once the date indicates a verse has been in your daily review group for two months, move it to a permanent back review file, that you keep at home. Work through these verses as often as you can--we recommend once a week, at first. Later, after you have accumulated several hundred verses, you may wish to move some of your best-known verses to a section for monthly review. As a rule, all back review verses need to be continually reviewed at least once a month--to keep them fresh and on the tip of your tongue. If a verse becomes a little rusty, give it some extra attention: put it back in your verse pack with your other daily review verses for a week or so.

Just Think...
If you merely memorized two verses a week--and used an effective review system--you would have over one hundred verses in less than a year. In ten years you would have over a thousand! Imagine--a thousand verses all perfectly engraved on the table of your heart, complete with reference, right on the tip of your tongue! Just think how the Spirit of God could begin to use you with that kind of Scripture stored away in your heart!
The key though, is consistency. You will need to set a pace and stick with it! Don't memorize too fast or too slow--two or three verses a week is about right to start with. And you will need to make a real effort to keep up with your review. It is daily review that moves a verse from the short term to the long term memory banks, and the back review keeps it there, fresh and alive. The goal of course, is not to just memorize a certain number of verses, but to make Scripture memory a way of life. To make it an integral part of your Christian experience. Two verses a week can become a thousand in ten years--but only if you are consistent. [/color]

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[color=0000CC]2nd edit: to add link to sermon[/color]
Denny Kenaston has a sermon called How To Study the Bible that has some ideas too. You can find it:[url=http://www.charityministries.org/msg_detail.a5w?vlast_index=804]Here[/url]

I am looking for ideas from other people who have developed good methods of how to memorize scripture and get it in to their minds/ hearts. Has anyone used software that works well for them? What else have people used, etc.

Hello, I am very pleased to contribute to a thread like this.

I can give you my personal experience through much trial and error. I have found that [i]nothing[/i] works -- no software, no memory programs, no flash cards, no scripture drills, no intense reading -- nothing at all can help in the way which is genuine profitable. All the abovementioned methods succeed in only getting scripture into your head. This is tantamount to memorizing the bones of the body from a college anatomy textbook. You can use such surface knowledge in the pulpit, but it won't do anyone any good, and God won't anoint it.

The best way to [i]memorize scripture and profit also from it[/i], I have found, is to [i]slowly[/i] read the Word of God with a heart that is humble and hungry. Chew the cud of what you read, spend a whole quiet time session meditating on a few verses if you must. You will not be able to blanket-memorize massive chunks of scripture verbatim, but what you do retain you will benefit from immensely. Little by little, work your way through the Bible; this method has shown me the greatest quiet times; it has yielded the most fruit afterwards. Take a lesson from a person that eats: a prudent man will eat a small meal, slowly, and he chews the food well. He may spend all of 15-20 minutes at the table, and he gets up when done. He finishes eating so that his body can now focus on [i]digesting[/i] what has been eaten. The body converts food into power during the digestion phase, not during ingestion. When we ingest we must make sure the food enters into stomach where it can begin to be metabolized; if it only stays in the mouth (meaning the head by rote memory), it will only turn to soggy mush and be rendered useless to the body.

Digested food is Scripture that imparts life to your spiritual system in Christ. Most Christians mistake massive ingestion for digestion, and they make themselves sick and make a waste of their time. Scripture, in these instances, exits as quickly as it enters, with no imparted nutrient and life. You can memorize truckloads of Scripture by rote -- whole chapters and books --and retain them in memory, and there can be absolutely no life imparted, because the morsels were never digested and processed.

Instead of looking for great ways to memorize scripture, we should instead be looking for better digestive aids. We need our reading to be profitable to our spiritual bones, and not just gratifying to our mealtime regime. Truthfully, I tremble at the thought of storing scripture like a squirrel does nuts. I've had my "scripture nest" raided too many times, and discoved all the work was for nought. But nobody can steal digested food; it becomes part of you. If it enters your heart, it won't depart, but if it stays in your head, it remains dead.

Brother Paul

[i](edit)[/i] I just reread my post. I see that I didn't really answer the original request of the thread's author, and all this kind of went off on a tanget, expounding Psalm 119:11 instead! I'm sorry. Disregard this entire post if it doesn't help you. I'll leave it here for anyone that may profit from it. Thank you, and again I apologize for not staying on track.

double post

Paul,

I don't disagree with what you are saying... BUT... as the disciplines of just reading God's word, memorizing scripture even in bulk is a good discipline because God's word does not return void...

other have suggestions? or experience?

Doug

My sister and I have developed a method that we use for Bible memorization. It usually works really well but the main problem I deal with is the discipline of reviewing what I have memorized to keep it in my head.

I'll try to explain simply - and not be confusing! When I decide on a verse (or passage) to memorize, I usually go through these steps:

1. I start with the first verse and get familiar enough with it that I can say it to myself without looking. This part can take a little while and sometimes I break up the verse if is long until I have each part down; then I put the parts together.

2. Once I have the verse "memorized," I say it to myself at least six times without looking (although I usually check periodically to make sure I am saying it right.)

3. If I am memorizing a passage of Scripture, then I repeat the whole section of Scripture that I have memorized so far, including the verse I have just memorized.

4. I then try to say the passage of Scripture that I have memorized at least once a day for awhile. After a few days or weeks I have noticed that I only have to review it occasionally to keep it memorized.

This seems to work pretty well for us, but I understand that different people have different ways of learning things so it probably won't work for everyone. I hope it has been helpful though; and God's blessing on your memorizing!!

as the disciplines of just reading God's word, memorizing scripture even in bulk is a good discipline

I don't disagree, just be advised that the Pharisees [i]memorized[/i] the entire Pentateuch and they completely missed Jesus Christ, and we likewise can also miss the quickening of the Word of God by the Holy Spirit if our intentions are purely to satisfy for the sake of memorization alone. By all means, blanket-memorize in bulk if you feel this will better equip you against the world, flesh and devil...just be advised that such [i]will[/i] return void if it has not been processed...and not only that, it will work to your detriment. I know of ministers that have memorized huge chunks of God's Word and they have absolutely no authority or power at all, and they harden the hearts of those who hear them. Have you ever been on a thread where someone just keeps cutting and pasting scripture and indiscriminately posting verse after verse? What is your reaction? Don't lie; it's a form of repulsion, right? It bores you. You don't want read the verses because you know they've been synthetically posted, not coming from the heart and so you quickly scroll past it all. Apply the same to someone who memorizes scripture for the sake of memorization and then tries to use it for a specific purpose in public or private. God says, "No. You must [i]eat[/i] the Manna and have it become a part of you. If you try to store it up in your tent, the manna will rot." Unprocessed, unquickened scripture is deadly. The undigested letter hardens and kills.

I'm just trying to challenge you, brother, and open your eyes to perhaps a new consideration, a deeper concept of truth. This may fly in the face of everything you've heard about the fruits of memorizing scripture. As a student of God's Word and your brother, I feel I should alert you of this...and I think it can do no harm to you or anyone else who who reads this. Honey is good and sweet and profitable to the body...but there are proverbial warnings governing the ingestion of honey, and people who gorge themselves on honey for the sake of satiating the feat of mere memorization are not altogether wise. All I'm saying is memorize as much as is sufficient unto thee (Proverbs 25:16), but take the time to swallow what you have before putting more in your mouth, otherwise you run the risk of vomiting. Scripture-vomit may have substance, but it is not useful to the body, nor will it strengthen the heart.

Brother Paul

Brother Paul,
I completely agree with your statements. The reason why I want to memorize Scripture is so that it will quicken my spirit and CHANGE me by His Spirit. Thank you for your wisdom in these things.

Silly double posty... 8-)

I have found a couple of effective methods for memorising Scripture. One that is especially good is picking a verse to fast with, that is while fasting, when I get hungry or distracted I repeat a verse thet the Holy Spirit has laid on my heart for that time. Another is to organize the Word of God into coherent threads that relate to one another or even pick topics. I have been blessed with teaching oppurtunities and organizing and then sharing God's Word has deepened it's meaning for me and given my mind a place to occupy within the Word of God. I've also kept index cards in my pocket at various times to pull out and review whenever I get a free moment, also you never know when you can pass those cards on to someone else.

One thing about memorising God's Word, if you are serious about your walk with Christ you had better expect warfare from the enemy and he doesn't wait for you to find it in a concordance. I have been attacked fiercly and have cried out to God, in His word; there is only one offensive weapon we have, the Word of God. Of what use are we if the Holy Spirit can only find John 3:16 or John 11:35 hidden in our hearts?

I hope I was helpful

Rich

brother paulwest thankyou for your anwser to this and it was meat to my spirit. I have grown around people who can quote scripture and know the word inside and out but don't know the lord. I personally can't quote scripture word for word but i meditate strongly on what i do read and test my understanding with the Lord and the rest of the bible. I have an understanding of scripture that God reveals to me and in most cases i relay this to non-christian in parable form.

Brother Paul

In reading what others were saying about memorizing scripture I wondered if what has been true in my new life would be meaningful to anyone. Your post suggests it might. After I met God, I began to learn scripture by heart. For me that is the way. This was not at all like memorizing, which I had been pretty poor at. The second scripture I learned by heart was John 1:1. I was struggling to translate the Greek word logos into the English. That’s when God revealed Himself to me as Jesus Christ. Then came Phil. 3:10. God had just made it real in my life. (Still is.} Then it was Eph. 3:20-21. Then I noticed that I was actually quoting scripture when I had not memorized it but was just trying to communicate a true principle/something God had said about the issue at hand. I did not often know where in the Bible it was written so I used the Strong’s that God had provided. Sure enough it was in the Bible.

Maybe it would help if a gave a small example: I wondered, in 1992 if God would approve of my attending a woman’s Bible Study where men and women studied separately but at that time a woman seemed to be the head of it. I asked Him specifically in prayer (about the men-women point and my other concern of did this woman leader know about the death of self). Soon after that, I heard the scripture (radio? sermon at church?) “the Lord gave the word and great was the company of those that published it.” As I looked at that scripture in Psalms, I was certain that it was women sharing the Word of God. I called a Chaplin to ask if he knew the Hebrew. He suggested I call a local Rabbi. Wonderful things occurred in the process of my learning that YES it was women and yes it was ok for me to study with these women. That day I learned by heart “The Lord gave the Word and great was the company of those that published it.” Anyone would.

PS: At my first bible study meeting I shared how I came there and someone gave me the founder’s book on how the bible study came about. In Chapter 4, I read her account of a small death of self (she did not call it that), and in Chapter 5 she listed five things she continuingly learned as true. One was “the power at the cross of the death of self” Now that had already been the explanation God had taught me of what was occurring since I learned Phi 3:10 by heart. I think of that as His first explanation of how it is so much occurs in Revival.

Back on point: LEARNING BY HEART. Memorizing the Word of God is a wonderful thing to do. I am sure God makes His word alive that way to us. Have you ever had that deep desire that every word out of you mouth would be the Word of God? I know that and how it can be in the heart of those who have memorized whole books of the Bible. I study and sometimes pray His Word daily. [u]But learning His Word by heart is very precious to me and it does not seem to me to be memorizing.[/u] It’s connected to obeying Him and my walk with Him and probably much more. There is no way to forget it. Very soon when I would hear His Word, how to explain this Father, the sound of it was like the sound of John or Matthew or Paul; like, “Gee, that sounds like Mark.” He brings corrections to misquotes by others and many other rich, growing things. I still use Strong to find the passage and understand more deeply all that I can of God’s point right then. But Oh, to know His Word by heart, that is, that is to know Him alive right then. I would have to forget Him before I would have any chance of forgetting a scripture learned that way. Right this minute I am hearing “the scripture and the power of God.” That is in the Bible for sure. I will go and see as soon as this is written. I think His point is that these two must come together. That is the way to learn. Maybe the power of God is there (?comes) when we learn by heart. Once I had a thought that made me laugh: learning this way was like having little mind-of-Christ brain cells pop into being. Oh to have more of the Mind of Christ.

Gotta go dear brother Paul. It was a pleasure to happen upon your post. I know He teaches us each uniquely but surely I am not the only one that learns this way. Few people talk about such things. Does anyone know if replies on threads are also sent to the person you reply to. I hope you see this PaulWest

I know He teaches us each uniquely but surely I am not the only one that learns this way. Few people talk about such things. Does anyone know if replies on threads are also sent to the person you reply to. I hope you see this PaulWest

Dear JoanM,

I am glad you were pleased by coming across this thread, and I agree that few people talk about these things like they should.

There is a mysterious thing (I know no other way of describing it) involved with the ingrafting of the Word of God, which is the purpose of all of our reading and memorization and study and meditation. In the end, it all just boils down to a mysterious action of the Holy Spirit, the impartation of divine life, the quickening of the Word to our being.

Rote memorization alone is not sufficient, neither is blanket reading or even musing over a specific verse with a Greek or Hebrew lexicon. Something additionally mysterious must happen for the Word to come alive and live within us, and that life can only come from the Author of Life, quickening His Word to our spirits as we meditate [i]in[/i] the Holy Spirit.

You can read a particular verse a hundred times over, getting different slants from a KJV, a NASB, a NLT and a Greek interlinear. You can then go and read Matthew Henry's thoughts, John Gill's enlightening comments, Matthew Poole, etc. Then you can pray for revelation and think and muse and turn the conglomerate of information over and over in your head - but in the end it simply will not be quickened (or processed) if the Holy Spirit does not brood. You will have all the information, the semantics, the proper hermeneutics, but the knowledge will still be powerless to impart life to yourself and others.

But when the Spirit broods and suddenly you have light, you at once have an unction-filled understanding, you have mysterious divine life that is vibrant and throbbing with the fragrance of God. This is precisely the reason why I do not get too preoccupied with judging different Bible translations. In the end, the Spirit must brood (I have witnessed the Spirit breathe life into the KJV, the NASB, the NLT, and even the MSG); all translations are equal when breathed upon by God. In these moments, the Sacred Writ comes alive within your spirit like a blazing sword and it pierces your marrow, it divides the soul from the spirit and the life-giving truth is at once galvanized into you in a way that exudes staggering, New Life vibrancy - to yourself and to all who come near you.

Sister, what must happen for the divine life, this ingrafting of fire from the Word of God to become embedded in our spirits? Ah, it is a mystery! I don't know how it happens, all I know is that the gunpowder is God's Word and the spark is the Holy Spirit. We are vessels. Vessels are meant to hold, to transport, to house objects of more worth than the container itself. A 250-million dollar Naval destroyer cruising through the Indian Ocean is a [i]vessel[/i] transporting commodities more important and costly than the vessel itself - namely human life. One seaman of the lowest rank is more precious than the vessel, though if the vessel goes down, the life also goes with it.

We are vessels to house the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ Jesus, and God has chosen our mean vessels to house the living, eternal Word. We are to be filled with gunpowder, with Holy Writ, in season and out of season, for who can tell when the Wind listeth to blow our way? In an instant, the spark can burst hidden Scripture into an open flame and cause it to sear others in an irrevocable way.

This is precisely why we are to develop habits of storing God's Word up, of hiding His Word for both offensive and defensive purposes. Hidden Fire can prevent sin, but hidden Fire can also spread to other vessels.

Brother Paul

Thank you for responding. I wrote a reply but at the end there was no preview,submit cancel options. There was a carrot and "submit type". I am sure I did some odd thing. I did wonder what the IP symbol meant and clicked that to see. When nothing happened, I clicked reply and did. Sigh! I am content.

I am going to look for "how to" information. Sermonindex is my first web experience. Your resonse was full. I am asking about gunpowder-to-spark and brooding. Maybe something in the atmosphere of IP will deliver. Humor helps me.

Reading this thread reminded me of a story I heard about Willie Mullan. During tea and coffee after a meeting, a member of the congregation came up to him holding a Bible and asked, "Mr Mullan, how do I get to know this book?". Mullan looked at him straight in the eye and said softly, "Read it."

Sounds obvious, but I've certainly met many people who claim to want to know the Bible and yet will read anything but the Bible.

I am going to look for "how to" information. Sermonindex is my first web experience.

Dear sister, this thread is exactly what you are looking for:

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=15477&forum=21&8]The Message Board Handbook[/url]

The brother who created it did a very fine job. It will teach you how to manuever about the website and maximize the technical usage of your time here. Hope this helps!

God bless and happy learning,

Brother Paul