Memorizing Scripture

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:9-11Hello, brothers and sisters. I haven't seen this topic brought up here (at least, in any recent discussion), and I'd just like to open it up for your fellowship.These past several days, the Lord has been impressing on me again and again the need to memorize Scripture. By His grace, He has made me a Bible reader, but I want to move beyond that stage of temporal nourishment in the Word into a reality of having a treasury of Scripture hidden in my heart as a moment-by-moment supply throughout the day, and at any time.The way I see it, the profit in memorization is not just to be able to rattle off references here and there and whenever handy, but rather to be armed with the divine facts from the WORD of God, to be able to be reminded of them, meditate on them, and declare them to ourselves and to the universe. Although I'm rather young, I am keenly aware of my poor memory in terms of Scripture memorization. And.... being a self-confessed "math-o-phobe", I do not like numbers and am thus forever muddling up the most simple Bible references. To my shame, I have been a Christian for several years, and I have no deposit of Scripture stored up inside of me! :-o Well.... I really want to be committed to this task, and perhaps, by God's grace, these words could be an encouragement to others, or at least provide an opening for some needed encouragement through other more mature brothers and sisters. I'd like to hear your thoughts, experiences, tips, and fellowship.Pray for me.Yours, in Christ,

Hi DanielJ...!I will be praying with you that you are able to achieve what you seek. I know some fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord who are able to memorize a particular passage, but not the reference verse (where it is found). And I know others who have quite the opposite experience. They are able to know where a verse is found, but have a difficult time remembering it word-for-word. We are all different, and we learn in different ways. Some of us are a little more left-brained, and some of us are a little more right-brained. And some of us are right in the middle. The important thing is that we all find the best way to learn. At the University that I attend, I try to participate in quite a few study groups. Often, I am picked to be the study group leader (because I tend to read and comprehend a little more than others). But I rejoice in this, because I tend to learn well by teaching others. I strengthen my grasp of the knowledge by teaching it (if that makes sense). I ask questions to the group, and wait for their answers (checking to see if they are correct). Often, I find that the best way to memorize passages from the Word is to constantly share it with others.Some learn best by reading the Word.Some learn best by speaking the Word.And some learn best by hearing the Word.But remember, the world learns best by seeing the Word in action by how we live our lives. I believe that Paul referred to this as being "living epistles."Like I said, I will be praying for you in your endeavor. Please pray for me as well!II Corinthians 3:1-3 :-)

What about 'helps' to memorisation?computer programmes?navigators?iPod?What about some key scripture passages?

Daniel, God bless you in your goal to memorize scripture.Mind if I share an inspiring human interest story? (I learn best by stories).A few years ago I taught a young children's class at church. I challenged them to memorize the book of James. Well, one little girl, who is an adopted child - born in India, by the way - took my challenge further: not only did she memorize the entire book, she recited it to me in one setting, had to hesitate a few times and made only one false start. Since then Valerie has memorized and recited in one setting 1 John, and the Sermon on the Mount. The SOtM was recited in less then 15 minutes. And she also knows what verse says what! BTW, she is now 11 years old!!!!!Very few people like her, unfortunately!Just thought you might be blessed with this story....I was and still am...so awed how God has blessed some people! (And I cannot remember numbers well either... :-( )ginnyrose

Dear DanielI have prayed for you. Yes it is essential, we need to know the Scriptures, and I do confess I dont know the Bible as I would love to. Also pray in this matter for me. It is so important though, because our Lord used it when the devil came to tempt Him. I also agree with what someone else said, that we should be that "living epistle", by His grace. A missionary friend who runs a printing press on the mission station has the whole Bible on his mobile phone. And that is something that a person always has with you. I think of possible helps like the person who mentioned about the iPod.A last thought for guys like us who find it more difficult to memorize Scripture, is that it should make us more dependent on the Holy Spirit. Especially when witnessing to someone.In His strength,Gery

Hello, my dear brothers and sisters. Thanks to each of you for your encouraging messages, testimonies, stories, etc., and of course for your prayers. Had I more time, I would respond to you all personally...Well, I've been considering this a little more during the day, and I really think that with discipline this is a desire that - with a proper motivation (i.e. - not one rooted in pride or selfishness) - can certainly be worked out according to the Lord's will. Last night, I exercised to begin memorizing 4 particular verses (short verses!) that God has recently laid on my heart, and then, this morning, I practiced to repeat them, deliberately, while going about some daily tasks. I believe it is a good start. During the day, at various times, I was able to recall these Scriptures, practice them again, and then pray them back to the Lord. What a blessing! I believe I got a little foretaste of the benefits of having a heart and mind full of the Word. And.... this is just the personal aspect. I also anticipate that our Scripture memory can be a quiet, steady benefit to those around us.Well, I took a little time to look into computer helps (as philologos suggested), and I found that there are a number of free downloadable programmes available for help with Scripture memorization. One that I've begun using is called Lamp Light Scripture Memory Coach which you can download here:http://www.middlecross.com/lamplight.htmIt's a very small, simple programme, but it takes a little effort to figure it out. I like it because you enter the verses in manually (that way I can use my preferred translation/s). Then, you log in to the programme to see which verses are assigned that morning for daily review. As the verses are continually reviewed, Scriptures are gradually promoted from daily to weekly to biweekly to monthly, etc, review. This way, you are in a constant cycle of reviewing and accumulating more and more verses.Well, I'm just at the very beginning of this endeavour now. I can't really say how it will go, but we'll see. I don't want to fail, and I believe this is a good start. I think the most important thing is to be committed (and, first of all, of course, to commit to the Lord). I want to be consistent! This is key. School is starting soon, and I long to be armed with the Word to fight the daily battle with Him and with all of you. :-)I'm looking forward to more insights and help from all of you!In His grace,

My personal method of scripture memorization is through the means of bible tapes and CD's. I believe anyone can use this method and memorize tremendous amounts of scripture. When I was a child I used to read my bible when I was afraid. I read mainly the Gospels only in those days. Something about the way in which that happened helped me to remember a lot of it. In 1992 I began listening to particular chapters of scripture over and over and over in my car until the entire chapter could be recalled. I began with the book of Ephesians and then the other epistles. I DO NOT have them all memorized- but would like to some day. Impossible? We memorize songs don't we? I even took them to work and listened over and over and over until the people in my surrounding area began to memorize whole portions of NT books. Even guys who were backslidden were carried along by the word.:-) It is important to find a good KJV version with a voice that you can 'listen to'. Some people have a voice that is hard to tolerate. Some recordings have faint music dubbed behind them. This is helpful for some as the recording then becomes similar to a real long song.Regardless, any method you can use to memorize scripture you should employ. You would be amazed how call will start piecing truths together when He can call to remembrance a vast amount of scripture.

On Ray Comfort's site, there is a download that really helped me. If you go to http://www.livingwaters.com/m_equip.shtml and scroll down to the archive of previous free evangelism resources on the left of the screen, the March 2005 download is 101 verses that are very well put together. I printed them out on card paper and cut them up. I use them as flash cards.I also agree that making an audio cd is a great way to memorize scripture.

I used to sing scriptures in school and I think I memorized a new passage every single week!!I need to memorize again and it is hard making a cd is a good idea or even if you have the bible on cd going through it over and over again until you get it but I think the best way is writing it because I think you remember more through actually writing it down and then doing it again!!I am alwasy open to new ways and would love to have the whole of the bible in my head!! SomedayYou are a blessingDOm

I've started to memorise the Epistle to the Romans. I'm up to chapter 4 now.A while ago I memorised off by heart Romans 5 - 8. But I never went over it, so after a while I lost it. So my advice to those who wish to memorise scripture is revision. Once you have a passage memorised, go over it, and go over it and then go over it again. You must keep revising the passages you have learnt otherwise you will forget it. Memorising scripture is not an easy task, it takes time and sacrifice, but the end goal is worth it. :-)

I've started to memorise the Epistle to the Romans. I'm up to chapter 4 now.Thats great! Keep it up!Anyone ever hear of that group in Communist Russia (I think it was) that came together after their bibles had been taken and together assembled nearly the whole New Testament from memory?

Anyone ever hear of that group in Communist Russia (I think it was) that came together after their bibles had been taken and together assembled nearly the whole New Testament from memory? That's remarkable!Here is a system I used for awhile, http://www.memlok.com/ not to throw you into confusion, it is designed so you can print off flash cards and is customizable I believe. In all honesty, I didn't keep the discipline very long. But hope that you will! (In whatever you use)However you decide to go about it, it is really remarkable that even if you have a difficult time with the verse numbers (me too) the Holy Spirit will bring scripture back to your mind the more you get it down into to your heart.Also, something that many of us have found a great help is http://e-sword.net/ Just for a variety of things, for instance a portion of a verse that comes to mind, you can do a search in a number of translations until you locate the passage you are looking for. Have found that a lot of memorization comes in a almost subconscious sense, not from a skimming over the verses but just the opposite. When you are pondering something slowly and thinking about the meaning behind it, it becomes a part of you and will reverberate throughout the day or at other times. You may not always purposefully set out to 'memorize' it, but because you have mused on it in it's context and application or as it brings to mind other thoughts and scriptures you will be surprised how much you have retained unaware.Repetition is key.