What's in YOUR Head?

For some years Bible Memory has been heavy on my heart. I  learned hundreds of verses as a grade-schooler, learned books while studying for quiz team, and as a young mom learned, while waiting during ballet or swimming classes to be over I, learned verses I'd printed on 4"x6" cards. At one point I devised a whole memory system that my pastor had me present to the adult Sunday School class. I was disheartened by the lack of enthusiasm I encountered. Don't people know how critical it is? Only one person took my challenge and completed the program I had invented. What  will people do when one day it will be illegal to possess a Bible? How do people ascertain God's will when they must make a decision and don't have a Bible and Concordance to consult? And most importantly, how do they know if the quiet voice in their mind is truly the Voice of God?

I've been memorizing Scripture again.  I just re-learned Ps.34, which I had learned close to 20 years ago while I was stuck  in the hospital during one of my month long stays in  the days before free TV and phone in the hospital (thus I didn't rent either one of them.). And it was also back in those Dark Ages before laptops, tablets, and smart phones. So God pulled the plug on all of my possible diversions--except to read and memorize Scripture. I had read a brief book on the topic of memorizing large portions of Scripture by way of faith.

My decision to memorize all 22 verses in Psalm 34 came from reading a book  by Adam Houge called How to Memorize Scripture Fast and Easy. And truthfully, it worked but ultimately it failed - if my goal was to be able to quote it verbatim 6mos.after learning it. And that failure was my own fault because I did not keep up with reviewing it. That early effort did  help me as I have relearned the chapter. My biggest problem is not learning the words, but learning the sequence. And for this problem I have devised all kinds of mnemonics to help me. Hey, maybe I should write a book on memorizing Scripture!

Recently I stumbled across a man named Tom Meyer, the "Bible Memory Man." (* Please read the note at the end of the  post.)I watched all the videos of his I could find and then ordered his book--(which turned out to be a waste of $20 because it was written using the King James Version--which was  not the translation I wanted to learn.) Anyway. his method did not work for me.  Repeating and repeating and repeating some more might work but for me, it is just boring. Although, to be fair, he also used a form of sentence graphing -- like we learned in school waayy back when we were taught English grammar. Tom doesn't graph nouns,verbs, etc. Rather he draws out a graphic of the verse based on its content. I have a friend/author Julie Coleman who also does this and I had also done it in past years. I'm going to invite her to write a guest post for us here on my blog.

I prefer to find patterns in the verses and to make use of factors such as alphabetization.

For example: there are two verses -Psa.34:4&6- which are similar ideas but which are worded slightly differently (this is a common occurrence in Hebrew poetry). Verse 4 says "I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears." Vs. 6 says "This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles." Three of the key word pairs could easily be forgotten or mixed up between the two verses...the keys are "answered"and "heard"; "delivered" and "saved"; and "fears" and "troubles"...If you look closely you will see that all three of the key words from verse 4  are alphabetical and come from the early part of the alphabet. The words in vs.6 are also alphabetized but come from the latter part of the alphabet. (this is true of the NASB, which is the version of the Bible that I am using. This concept may have to be adapted to fit whatever words your translation uses.)

To me, devices such as this are much more interesting and usable than repeating a hundred times is. You can also make note of echoes and refrains, numbers, the use of proper nouns and pronouns, noting key words for repetition and also rephrasing with synonyms. Make note of the various names used for God. Don't get me wrong....it is important to repeat over and over (not 20x for the whole chapter in one sitting--unless you are way more patient than I!) Another device that you will likely find useful is https://biblememory.com/ 

This website has a variety of methods to learn Scripture that keep it interesting.There is also a ranking system to see how you stack up against the tens of thousands of users on that site and a point  system and badges you can earn. And you earn even more points by reviewing your verses. I use this system for learning side by side with repetition and mnemonics.

I know I have written on this topic before. Please consider taking me up on this challenge. If learning /memorizing is unfamiliar to you, choose one verse. Just one... or a short passage...and learn it. Sometimes I write the passages in my very best penmanship so that I'm concentrating and connecting with the words I write. Even better, say the word out loud and better still?---Make up a tune so you can sing the verse to yourself. In this way, you can praise and bless God as you obey Him. Not only that but memorization is the very best means there is for maintaining the plasticity of the brain and staving off dementia and poor recall. Really? The only reason we have for not memorizing is laziness and the efforts of the evil one who wants nothing more than to keep God's Word out of your head. Don't give into his lies and excuses. Learn warfare Scriptures like 2Cor. 10:3-6. This is war!

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* Please do not misunderstand me. Tom Meyer is my hero....his accomplishments are jaw dropping. His presentation is remarkable also. I also did not mean when I used the word  'boring" to repeat Scripture over and over, that the Bible is boring. My problem when I repeat something over and over, my mind shuts off --I need something more active