Memorizing - And Doing it Well

Time Posted on October 12, 2010 User Dakota Lynch

Some time ago, during one of my memorization sessions, I came to the realization that many of the verses I’d “memorized” weren’t sticking in my mind as well as I wanted them to. I would forget key words or phrases and, in some cases, even the entire verse. Since then, I’ve stopped adding quite so many verses per week and have instead focused on re-solidifying some of my past verses in memory. Over time I have noticed that I am now being able to recall most verses accurately and with little to no hesitation just like I had been able to before. Now I plan to pick up the pace and learn more verses per week than I’ve been recently, because I don’t feel like I’d be leaving behind previous verses in the process.

 You see, I say this because I believe it is important to not only memorize Scripture, but to memorize it well. Whether that means memorizing every “thee” and “thou” exactly as it appears in context, or scrutinizing whether you say “Jesus Christ” or “Christ Jesus”…well, those are all choices you’ll have to make yourself based on your purpose for memorizing and on how God leads you as an individual. But once you set your bar, don’t lower it! Don’t start compromising how well you memorize Scripture simply because you want to push your state to the top of the Leaderboard, but instead memorize in order to deepen your spiritual walk and – most importantly – bring glory to God.
 
Thanks to Andy’s clever designing, memverse makes it easy for us to get a feel for how well we truly know our memory verses. Tools such as the Accuracy Test and Reference Recall both help tremendously. Even if you are somebody who doesn’t care too much about being able to cite the correct reference, Reference Recall is also very useful in giving you a variety of verses you might not otherwise see too often in your normal testing. So if you don’t utilize these tools often, let me encourage you to! They impart many more benefits than their name implies!

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8 responses to Memorizing - And Doing it Well

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Phil Walker

Dakota, thanks for asking. I am overwhelmed with work and don't get much time these days for personal memverse. However, the commitment and passion for the Scripture has not gone down as I long for the day to have much more time to devote to Scripture and memverse. Thanks for your honestly and openess in sharing about your Scripture memory experience. I can relate, going through many stages with my Scripture memory routines and habits. May God continue to burn a passion deep into you to know Him better and better through His Word and to spread a love for the Scriptures to all you minister to.

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Dakota Lynch

Thanks, Phil. I know how frustrating it can be when time and circumstances get in the way of being able to devote as much time as you'd like to Scripture memory, as I have faced that to a larger degree since school started. But the Lord knows our heart, and I believe He honors those desires - even if we can't fulfil them as well as we'd like to. I'll be praying for the Lord to once again give you time enough to memorize Scripture to your heart's content! Thank you for continuing to be an inspiration to me and many others through your commitment to the Word of God!

God bless,
Dakota

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Andy

Great post, Dakota! And yes, I see a ton of people taking a pause in adding verses to make sure that they're actually cementing the verse in their memory. It usually happens after about 6-12 months when the verses you started with start coming around again and people realize that they had accelerated them too quickly.

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Alex Watt

I'm not sure if it is recommended, but I changed my profile settings so that I have to go through all my verses at least every month. Good post.

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Daniel DeGraaf

I like this post :)

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Talia "StoryMaker"

Thanks for writing this! I was inspired for the first time in a long time to do Reference Recall. I had ceased doing it for a long time becuase I kept getting questions wrong, but you are right; it helps familiarize you with verses you have not reviewed in a while, which is a blessing in itself. I think you have a good point: memorizing verses WELL is critical, and if doing so requires you to rate your verses lower than you used to, then so be it.

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Rebecca King

I too think this is an essential point in scripture memory... otherwise what we are really doing is meditating on scripture and not really memorizing it (for more than a short term, perhaps). While scripture meditation is also very key to spiritual growth, it is a separate thing altogether from scripture memory. Memory work, as you all know, requires more effort at recalling that particular verse over and over again. For myself I have found that even reviewing verses once a month isn't enough for my old brain to retain them. I have to review almost all the passages I have memorized every 2 weeks using my 3 x 5 cards. This is in addition to memverse. The reason I like memverse so much is that it requires me to check myself and make sure I am remembering my verses word perfect. Small errors cannot creep in with memverse - the computer is so literal :-) For myself, I review all my verses either weekly or bi-weekly for at least 7 to 10 years. Good thing I like to take long walks! God bless you all through His word!

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2 Corinthians 5:17

Great post Dakota! good idea :) but when yo are in the Bible Bee you can't help adding new verses every week or so ;)


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