Leaders in ministry always astound me with their knowledge of the Bible. The people who can recall Bible stories at the drop of a hat are incredible. I mean have you seen how thick that book is?! It intimidates me to the point of making myself believe that it’s not worth my time to memorize Scripture.
You’ll never know as much as the people that could use Scripture against you, don’t bother even memorizing it, I think to myself. So, I don’t. For a long time I haven’t made the effort to memorize Scripture. I have been terrified that I would memorize it wrong or that the verses I chose weren’t ever going to help me.
The thoughts that are in my mind are attacks on myself. You know what? The Bible, this book as a guide to life, was created for you and for me. It was created for us to use on our best days and our worst days. More importantly, it was created to memorize the Lord’s words to us.
He created it as a love story, capturing many stories and ethnographies and parables and much, much more! What I’ve realized recently, is that it doesn’t matter what Scriptures I choose to memorize now. Through seasons, my memorized Scriptures will change. It’s the living Word, the Bible, and it was written to speak to each of us on different levels of our lives.
Now, I am challenging myself to silence the voice in my head that says I’ll never be smart enough to memorize Scripture. I am embracing the fact that the words were written for life. They are intended to be used daily for comfort, guidance, love, and support.
Because I haven’t made an effort to memorize Scripture before, it proves to be a daunting task. I have to push through my intimidation and find ways to memorize Scripture that work for me.
One thing I like to do is write it down. I have a journal and every time I find a new Scripture that speaks to me, I write it. I have fun writing it. I practice it multiple times, writing it in my regular handwriting, then again in cursive, and again in my fake calligraphy. Hand-writing is one of my favorite hobbies, so this way I get to incorporate my love of pens with memorizing Scripture.
Another thing I do to memorize scripture is to write the verse(s) on index cards. Once I have it written, I post it somewhere I’ll see everyday. I currently have Bible verses on my mirror in my room, in my bathroom, beside my light switch, on the wall behind my desk, and even sometimes I’ll put it in my car. Not only does it serve to remind me what the Scripture says, but reading it over and over again helps it to stick in my mind.
One more thing that I like to do is move a bookmark to it in my Bible and highlight it pink (my favorite color and also a color I don’t use when I highlight other things in my Bible). I try every day to look at the Scripture and read it out loud to myself. Researchers have stated that it takes 3-17 times to hear something before it catches in our brains. Picking up the same Scripture every day for a month may seem tedious, but by the end of the month, you should have a pretty good idea of what the verse says without looking at it again.
Changing your phone’s wallpaper or your computer desktop picture to a Bible verse can also help! Not only are they fun and can be found on Pinterest or the She Reads Truth app or more, but they can actually help you to retain these verses!
These are just a few things that have helped me, things I try to incorporate into my daily routine. What has been keeping you from memorizing Scripture? Kick that little voice out of your head. Remember that God has created these things for us to use! Have fun with it.
