Scripture Memory (2)

Big Idea: What you think about really matters.

Mountain Illustration

God has a way of transforming us:

Romans 12:2 NLT

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Memorize verses so you can meditate on them.

Joshua 1:8 NIV

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; 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.

It will help you know what is right and what is wrong—Psalm 119:9, 11; Matt. 4:1-11

It will help you fight the lies and schemes of the enemy (Eph. 6:12, 17)

It will help you shift from anxiety to peace—Isaiah 26:3

It will determine who you become—Prov. 27:19

It will help you discern things you need to change about yourself—Hebrews 4:12

It will help you to know God more—Prov. 2:1, 5

It will help you minister to others—Col. 3:16

It will help you 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

Perspective: Rather than thinking about working harder, focus on building a habit.

It’s all perspective:

Learning a language in the home vs.

Trying to fit in learning a second language.

Objectives

I have a bad memory:

It’s too hard

I’m not motivated

Secret: Start one more time than you stop.

It’s easy to forget past verses.

My story: Seth Gatchell

Utilize a system.

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 daily 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.