Scripture Memory

Joshua 1:8 (NIV)

Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Why should I memorize scripture?

Aids in transforming our character—Rom. 12:2

Helps us deal with temptation—Psalm 119:9, 11; Matt. 4:1-11

It is used to fight the lies and schemes of the enemy (Eph. 6:12, 17)

We are commanded to meditate on God’s word--Joshua 1:8

Helps give us peace—Isaiah 26:3

What controls your mind controls you—Prov. 27:19

Helps give me discernment for growth and difficult situations—Hebrews 4:12

Helps me draw closer to God—Prov. 2:1-5

Helps in ministry to others—Col. 3:16

Helps me get my priorities and values straightened out—Col. 3:1-2

Helps me have the mind of Christ, to be other-centered—Phil. 2:3-5

Gives you “ammo” to deal with your “issues”—2 Tim. 3:16-17

Objections

I have a bad memory:

You’ve made it to college.

You’ve memorized thousands of words in the English language.

If you can memorize the pledge of allegiance, you can memorize Scripture.

Truth:

Start small.

Scripture memory takes some work.

It will improve your ability to memorize.

I don’t want to memorize verses out of context.

Then study the context.

You don’t need to memorize the whole chapter just to understand the context.

I don’t have time.

I’ll help you: Delete IG, Tik Tok and Youtube from all your devices, and you will have plenty of time.

The truth is, we make time for what is important.

And it doesn’t need to take forever.

Show how fast I can review verses.

Why it’s so hard?

It takes 6-8 weeks to really learn a verse.

It takes discipline.

This is why having some accountability in a discipleship group can be so helpful.

People lose motivation.

That’s why it’s important to renew your vision.

Secret: Start one more time than you stop.

It’s easy to forget past verses.

Have a system.

My story: Seth Gatchell

The best System I know for memorizing Scripture for the Long Run

A daily, weekly, monthly system

Daily pack: A pack of up to 8 verses that you will review daily.

You will only ever have one daily pack.

Weekly packs: packs of up to 8 verses that you review weekly.

Eventually you will have 7 of these.

One for each day of the week.

Monthly packs: packs of verses that you review monthly.

Eventually, you will have 30 of these.

They can contain more than 8 verses.

Goal = Each verse goes into your long term memory and can be used in everyday life.

Pick one verse.

Start with one relevant verse! (Let’s do this together)

Get a blank business card.

On the front of the card, write:

The reference

Todays date in the bottom left.

A date two months from now in the bottom right.

On the back of the card, write:

The entire verse

Work on the verse every day.

Day one - Memorize the verse.

Start and end with the reference every time you quote the verse.

The reference is usually the first thing people forget.

Focus on tying in the reference with the first line.

Pro Tip: Utilize a song, chant or rhythm.

It builds stronger memory connections in the brain.

Helps solidify it word perfect.

Aids in long term memory storage.

This is why advertisers use jingles.

Day 2 - Whoops, “I forgot it” day.

Day 3 - 7 - Review

Add a new verse to your pack each week.

This is called your daily verse pack.

Review your entire daily pack every day.

You saw how long it took me to do that… not that long.

Once you fill your daily pack with 8 verses, make your first weekly pack.

Your oldest verse will go into this “pack,” even though it will only be one verse at first.

You will review this verse once a week on Monday - So you may want to label it “Monday”

The following week, take your next oldest verse, and add it to your Monday pack.

Over time, create new weekly packs

Once your Monday pack is filled with 8 verses, take your oldest verse in that pack, and begin a second weekly pack that you label “Tuesday.”

Continue this process over the weeks until eventually you have weekly packs for every day of the week.

Each memory verse will trickle down from your daily pack, down through each of your weekly packs.

It will take about a year for each verse to make it through all of your weekly packs.

By then it should be locked into your long term memory.

Create monthly packs to maintain your verses for a lifetime.

You can have packs for each day of the month, labeled 1-30.

Start by filling them with 8 cards each.

Over the years, you will need to add more than 8 cards in each pack.

In ten years, you could have 560 verses memorized.

Start one more time than you stop.

Have a long term vision rather than a short term vision.

Be encouraged, even if you only do half as good as you hoped, you will still have 280 verses memorized after 10 years.