MEMORISE SCRIPTURE
The Explanation
What does it mean to fix God’s words in your heart and mind? Among other things, it means to be continually conscious of the Bible’s teachings as you go through your daily routine. One practical way to make sure that God’s words are always close at hand is to memorize verses and passages from the Bible.
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ”
At first glance, memorising Bible verses might seem a strange activity. For many Christians, Bible verse memorisation is something kids do in Sunday school, not serious adults. And if you didn’t grow up reciting memorised Bible verses to your Sunday school teacher, the idea of intentionally memorising parts of a book - even the Book - might seem odd.
But there’s power in the act of memorising - of becoming so familiar with a word, phrase or verse that it springs to mind instantly when something happens to trigger the memory. When we consider the temptations of Jesus recorded in the gospels, we discover the same phrase repeated again and again as he was being tempted by the devil: “It is written”. In other words, Jesus spent time memorising the scripture so that when temptation came, he could tell the devil it was written in God’s word.
When you’ve truly internalised something, it can stay with you all your life - consider how easy it is to recall the lyrics to pop songs from your youth. And if you can still remember the lyrics to a Bon Jovi album from the ’80s, you’re quite capable of committing a few Bible verses to memory!
The Practice
1. Choose a verse that speaks to something in your life right now.
A Bible verse that’s relevant to what you’re going through is easier to memorise than one that speaks to a topic that’s abstract to you.
2. Start small.
Choose a short verse to start with… and make it even shorter by breaking it down into pieces. Memorize the first five words in the verse first, and add the next five when you’ve got them down. As you become more confident, you can add more words, sentences, and even entire verses - but don’t add anything new until you’ve got the previous words down.
3. Write it down.
Write down the verse you’re memorising on paper. But don’t just write it once; write it many times - five or ten times is a good start (and some people write out their memory verses up to 50 times!). Physically writing the words out is an extremely useful tactile memory aid.
4. Say it out loud.
Just as writing a verse out can help memorise it, speaking the words aloud is an excellent way to burn them into your memory. Instead of listening to your favourite podcast as you travel to school or work, why not begin reciting your memory verse out loud instead?
5. Incorporate the verse into your prayers.
When you pray, include elements of the verse in your words to God. Pray that God will help you understand and apply the verse to your life. Pray for God’s help in fixing the verse in your heart and mind.
6. Put it everywhere.
You could write your memory verse out on multiple index cards or sticky notes (combine this with tip #3 above!) and put them all over the place so that you’ll see the verse many times throughout your day. Tape the verse to your bathroom mirror or computer monitor. Tuck it into your purse, lunch box, car glove compartment, school textbook, pockets… anywhere you’ll see it. Or you could set a reminder on your phone so that it pops up every hour during the day.
7. Use music to help.
Do you find it much easier to remember lyrics than spoken words? Try setting the Bible verse to a simple tune (perhaps repurposing a song you already know well) that you can sing to yourself. (If this sounds like a strange suggestion, consider that many famous hymns and worship songs use Bible verses as their lyrics and were written specifically as aids for Bible verse memorization.)
8. Repeat, repeat, repeat!
To make the Bible verse stick, do it repeatedly. Write it down, speak it out loud, sing it out, pray it - but whatever you do, do it over and over until it’s a natural, reflexive action. The goal isn’t to reduce it to a mindless, repeated activity but to slowly press the verse into your memory through repetition. Repeat your memorisation activity over the course of several hours, days, or even weeks to pace yourself - there’s no prize for memorizing a Bible verse fastest; the point is to internalize it over time. And that means you shouldn’t be discouraged if it takes a while for the verse to “stick” - keep at it, and it will take root!
ARTICLE FROM THE BIBLE GATEWAY
MORE RESOURCES
If you’ve never tried memorising a Bible verse before, it’s much easier than you think! Simply follow this practice until it sticks. One thing is certain: you’ll never regret spending more time focusing intently on God’s Word. And there’s nothing quite so wonderful as an encouraging Bible verse springing forth from memory at just the time you need to hear it.
If you prefer an app to help you memorise scripture, you could explore the following site and download the BIBLE MEMORY APP
