Fun Tricks to Memorize Scripture

If you are one of those who say, “I just can't memorize Scriptures,” this message will encourage and help you.

When I began learning Bible verses, all my brain could handle was one at a time, and I had to repeat it a thousand times to get it to stick. Now I can memorize entire passages of Scripture with less effort than it takes to get on my exercise bike three times a week.

That’s because our brains are like a muscle, so the more we exercise them the stronger they become. I talked about this in my short post on Five Ways Memorizing Scripture Enriches Your Life.

Here are five fun tricks I've learned to help me memorize Scripture:

1.      Write the verse or passage on note cards or a paper in your own handwriting. Writing helps our brains retain better than if we simply read something.

2.      Say the verse or passage aloud when you first arise in the morning and when you go to bed at night. These are the times our brains are most relaxed, so things will sink in deeper and stick longer. And when your ear hears it, you retain it better. 

3.      Carry the cards or pages with you and go over them at odd moments throughout the day—on your lunch break, stopped at a red light, in the elevator, waiting in line at the post office, etc. You don’t have to repeat them aloud—you can mutter them under your breath if you like. 

4.      Use word pictures to help you recall a certain word or phrase. “Your word have I hidden in my heart” from Psalm 119:11 can become a picture of you opening your heart and putting a treasure chest inside it. If you draw little pictures—even stick figures—to accompany each phrase or next to keywords, you'll remember them sooner.

5.      Use word cues to link one word or passage with another. From Romans 12: 9, I linked two words with PRE in them. “Do not let your love be a PREtense, but sincerely PREfer good to evil.” I drew a little arrow from one to the other, and it cued me when the first PRE popped up.

I’m sure there are other tricks that will help you memorize God’s word. The main thing to remember? God loves it when we do this, so he’ll commission his Holy Spirit helps us. And that gives me hope that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Are you memorizing any Scripture? 

Which verse or passage would you like to memorize?