Remember how I said I was going to write this post just a few days after the first one? Yeah...it's been a week. Oh well. It was an intense week. Here's what I've learned personally works for me on memorizing larger portions of Scripture.
Tips for Memorizing Large Portions of Scripture
Choose wisely. A lot of the things I said for small portions of Scripture can be applied to larger Scriptures. I think choosing wisely is especially important for memorizing chapters or even books of the Bible. Chapters are so difficult to commit to memory, they should be packed full of truths that will help you. For instance, I chose to memorize 1 Corinthians 1, and hopefully the entire book eventually, because I am so encouraged by that book. The first chapter speaks of God using weakness instead of strength, and oh how I need to remember that! So choose something that you'll be able to draw from often and that will be useful to you.
Read it every day. I've never been able to memorize chapters by memorizing a verse at a time. I usually commit to read the chapter every day for about a month. If I'm busy in the mornings and don't have time to do my normal devotions, I'll just read this chapter. It can be done so quickly, I can't make any excuses to not do it. If I don't have it in a month, I'll keep going until it's set.
Go over it every day. After I have the chapter in my brain, I go over it every day. Once it's a bit more set, I might take another day to go over another chapter I've memorized, but I can't stray too long from the most recent chapter or it'll be gone.
Chill. Memorizing a chapter of the Bible is a huge undertaking. It's hard to commit something that long to memory. So don't rush yourself. You have the rest of your life to memorize this, and I'm sure you'll have plenty of time! It's not a race.
Enjoy. Scripture is God's Word to us. I find I most enjoy memorization when I focus on what God's saying to me--encouraging me, convicting me, reminding me of His love. His Word is beautiful, and we shouldn't ever forget to view it that way!
What this looks like for me. I do my devotions in the morning when I'm eating breakfast. That's when I'll read the chapter I'm in the process of memorizing. Afterwards, when I'm brushing my teeth, I'll go over the chapter I memorized most recently. If I feel like I've got it down, I might recite a different chapter the next day, but the day after that I'll be back to the most recent chapter. Repeat constantly, or it'll be gone!
Leave me a comment below and let me know what you're working on currently! If you're not in the middle of something, I'd encourage you to just take up a verse. A little something is better than nothing at all!
O give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God! I have it. Here is knowledge enough for me.
-- John Wesley
1 comment:
Thanks for the tips & your encouragement Sarah! I'm going to try this! I usually try just a couple of verses a day. I'm trying to memorize Psalm 138 with Chloe righ now.
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