Your engine is revving up, and you’re ready to take off on a journey of Scripture memorization. As the excitement builds inside you, you start to make grander and grander plans for what you would like to memorize. Does that sound like you right now? I have some guidance to help you get off to a great start in memorizing Scripture and to continue memorizing. So often when someone’s engine is revving up to go, they blast into Scripture memory and burn out quickly. But that doesn’t have to be you! Read on for an excerpt from my book, “Speaking Scripture: How to Memorize and Recite with Purpose and Delight.”
First, pray about the decision for your first passage. Ask the Holy Spirit where you should start as you hunt around in the Bible for a good candidate in a passage. Take time to read through sections that come to mind and see if there are any that would be a good fit. Follow the Holy Spirit’s leading, and consider the following:
- Look for a goal you know you can achieve. This does not mean simply picking the easiest passage you can find. Rather, consider starting with something smaller than the entire book of Hebrews for your first try. Pick something challenging but achievable, so you can be encouraged by the success to continue. This might be a passage of 10-30 verses in length. I usually recommend starting with a Psalm.
- Look for content that is not especially difficult. Look over at Romans 5 and see how often the sentences start with a similar-but-not-quite-the-same phrase. This passage is difficult to memorize because of the repetition. You must work so hard to keep the order of the verses straight, it can be very frustrating. We want to avoid frustration when you’re first starting out. Challenge is good, but frustration is not (I personally need to review Romans 5 every few months almost as if it were a new passage because of its difficulty). Look for a passage with a flow of thought that’s easy to follow, doesn’t have a lot of repetition, and the language is more familiar to you. It can be wonderful to wrestle with a hard-to-understand passage through Scripture memorization, but it can make it harder to find the delight when you’re first starting out. (Romans 5 is awesome for later).
- Look for something that speaks to you personally. You can memorize passages without a personal connection at the start, it’s still wonderfully beneficial and rewarding. But it’s a lot easier to dwell and meditate when the Holy Spirit seems to be speaking through a passage specifically for you in your life right now. This could be a passage that you’ve been familiar with for a long time or just something that moves you when you come across it while looking for passages.
May God bless you as you get started!
If you’ve already been memorizing Scripture, how would you encourage someone who is just getting started?
Blessings,
Rachel Eernisse