Personal Scripture Memory System

Ken Dady (edited and revised by Steve Nicholes)

Psalm 119:11

In the past days we have been telling you why Scripture Memory and meditating on God’s word is important. But today is not really a sermon. Today we are going to give you a very practical easy-to-use Scripture memory system to help you develop the habit of memorizing and remembering Scripture. By spending just five or ten minutes a day, you can learn and remember hundreds of Bible verses. To help you do this we recommend you ...

STEP ONE: GET AN INDEX BOX AND 41 TABBED DIVIDERS that fit inside it.

It doesn’t matter if the dividers have letters on them; you can flip them over and use the other side for labeling. This will hold 3 by 5 cards (that means 3 inches high and 5 inches wide or 76 by 127 mm). (It is good if the speaker can show a sample of this or use PowerPoint).

STEP TWO: LABEL THE TABS AND ORGANIZE THEM this WAY.

* 1 tab — DAILY* 1 tab — ODD* 1 tab — EVEN

* 7 tabs — Days of the Week (SUNDAY, MONDAY, etc.)

* 31 tabs — Numbered 131 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14, etc.)

STEP THREE: COPY VERSES YOU KNOW ON INDEX CARDS

Write (or print) the reference (book name, chapter and verse) on one side of the card and the verse on the other side. . If you don’t know any verses yet, don’t worry, you will very soon. Put the verses you already know behind the numbered dividers (1,2,3,4,5 etc), distributing them evenly.

STEP FOUR: COPY VERSES YOU DON’T KNOW TO CARDS

These are verses you want to memorize. Again write the reference of the verse(s) on one side of the card and the verse itself on the other side. Put one verse card behind the DAILY divider. This will be the one you will try to memorize first. Then stack the rest of the verses to be learned in front of the DAILY divider to learn at a later time. At the beginning, you won’t have any verses in the ODD and EVEN or DAYS OF THE WEEK slots. Don’t worry, they will come; see the next two steps.

STEP FIVE: EACH DAY SAY YOUR VERSES OUT LOUD.

You are to say the verses that are behind these four dividers: So if today is Tuesday, the 3rd, you will say the verses behind DAILY, ODD (because 3 is an odd number), TUESDAY, and 3. The next day (Wednesday, the 4th), you will say the verses behind DAILY, EVEN, WEDNESDAY, and 4. Keep in mind that only the verse behind DAILY is a new one that you are memorizing; all the others are just review.

STEP SIX: MOVE AHEAD THE CARDS YOU KNOW BY HEART

(1) The DAILY tab

Put a ‘D’ on the back of each card for daily. Read each card in your DAILY section 5 times every day. If you can say it correctly without looking the first time put ‘1' on the back of the card. If the next day you do NOT say it perfectly the first time put a ‘0' on the back of the back of the card and read it 5 times again. Continue this every day until you can say it perfectly without looking 5 days in a row. Then put this card behind the ODD or EVEN tabs.

(2) The ODD or EVEN tab

Put a ‘OE’ on the back of each card (under the D) for odd/even. If today is an odd-numbered day (1,3,5,7,9, etc) then put it behind the tab marked “ODD’. Two days later you will review this card. If it is an even numbered day (2,4,6,8,2,10, etc) put it behind the tab marked ‘EVEN.’ Now on an odd numbered day get the cards from the ‘ODD’ tab (on an even numbered day get the cards from the ‘EVEN’ tab). If you can say it correctly without looking put ‘1' on the back of the card. If the next time you do NOT say it perfectly the first time put an ‘0' on the back of the back of the card and read it 5 times again. Continue this until you can say it perfectly without looking 5 times in a row. Then put this card behind the DAY OF THE WEEK tab for today (Sunday, Monday, etc.). If you get three 0s in a row put this card back behind the DAILY tab and repeat the instructions under DAILY tab.

(3) The DAY OF THE WEEK tab

Put a ‘W’ on the back of each card (under the ‘OE’) for weekly. Every day take out the cards behind the tab for that day of the week (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc ...) If you can say it correctly without looking the first time put ‘1' on the back of the card. If the next day you do NOT say it perfectly the first time put a ‘0' on the back of the back of the card and read it 5 times again. Continue this every day until you can say it perfectly without looking, 5 weeks in a row. Then put this card behind the DAY OF THE MONTH tab for today (1,2,3,4,5,6, etc.). If you get three 0s in a row put this card back behind the ODD or EVEN tab (If today is an odd-numbered day (1,3,5,7,9, etc) put it behind the ODD tab. If it is an even numbered day (2,4,6,8,2,10, etc) then put it behind the EVEN tab) and repeat the instructions under this tab.

(4) The DAY OF THE MONTH tab

Our last section but it has two parts. At first you will actually be memorizing verses twice a month. Here is how. First put a ‘BM’ on the back of the card (under the ‘W’) for bi-monthly. Then every day take out the cards behind the tab for that day of the month (1,2,3,4,5,6, etc.). If you can say it correctly without looking the first time put ‘1' on the back of the card. If the next day you do NOT say it perfectly the first time put a ‘0' on the back of the back of the card and read it 5 times again. After you do this put that card behind the tab that comes 15 days later (for example if today is January 6 you would put it behind January 21 which is 15 days later). Continue this twice a month until you can say it perfectly without looking, 5 times in a row.

After you have done this then put a ‘M’ on the back of the card (under the ‘BM’) for monthly and start again. If you can say it correctly without looking put a ‘1' on the back of the card. If the next day you do NOT say it perfectly the first time put a ‘0' on the back of the back of the card and read it 5 times again. Continue this every month. If you get three 0s in a row put this card back behind the DAY OF THE WEEK tab (Sunday, Monday, etc ...) and repeat the instructions under this tab.

Of course, not all months have 31 days; the verses behind 31 will only be reviewed seven months out of the year. So put verses you know quite well behind that number since it gets reviewed less frequently.

Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Let me encourage you to go to the stationary store or the dollar (100 yen, 1000 won) store and buy an index box with tabs and index cards today. It’s a great and easy way to memorize Scripture in any language.