How do you remember scriptures

Vanessa - posted on 04/07/2009

I have never been any good with my memory either however, one thing I have found that has helped me some, is I go to the local Christian book store(for us its Berean) and I get a book about something I want to know more about or I may find interesting that is in the form of a Bible study! ( 3 good ones: Becoming a woman of faith; Desperate House lies; Becoming a woman of Prayer) I take a chapter and read it at the beginning of the week and take notes in a special notebook just for this type of study. Then I highlight verses that touch my heart and write them down. Every day I look them over and study them. Sometimes I make them a song, other times I just rehearse them. That has helped me a lot. Another thing I have done to help to hold myself more accountable is to volunteer as a guide helper in our churches "caravan group (its a christian form of boy scouts and girl scouts) Because we expect those kids to learn the verI feel I better learn them as well) It has really helped me! I don't know if this helps but I hope so.

Marly - posted on 04/06/2009

As long as you are in the word, and prayer, God will bring those scriptures to mind as you need them.  When I first was a christian I would beat myself up for not remembering, but then I realized that I would be able to site scripture when somone would ask a question or in a converstaion...then I realized that since I had been obedient in tkaing time to stufy the word of God, God could meet me where my strengths stopped and bring it to mind as needed.  The more I read and study, the more He does this.  Don't stress, just be obedient and take time to be in the word, God will make up for all your weaknesses, and then HE will get the Glory...if we were all bible wizes then we might take the Glory for ourselves.

Jennifer - posted on 03/31/2009

Kristi, Thank you so much for your input! I know for me I have to spread things out over time. Even when I was in high school, you could ask me a question and 9 out 10 times, I would get it write, but you put it on paper and then me answer it, wrong. I freak out on test and I honestly feel like the bible is a test for me and I am so scared that I am going ot lead someone the wrong direction or tell them the wrong verse to look at. Our kids amaze us all the time. I guess where I don't have good memory I want my children to. My 5 year old can fully cite 6 of the 10 commandments due to our Wednesday night class, and just about every single scripture we have went over. Our 4 year old can cite 4 out of 10.



Heather, I hope you get moved safely and everything goes as planned for you hun and thank you so much for the scripture once again...lol!



Rebekah, you know just about a month ago, I was looking to see about a MOPS in my area but with no luck I haven't found one nor in my surronding areas. But one of two things is going to happen because I am determined to have some sort of bible study even if we have to come to my house each week. But I had thought about talking to my pastor about starting a MOPS group at our church but am unsure about it due to the fact I don't know that moms would want to come and then try to figure out the whole issue of who would be watching our children. But if that does not work out then I think I might start asking a few ladies/moms about doing a book club of sorts but only on Christian books so that will lead me to looking and remembering the verses a tad better.



Erika, thank you so much, I had never thought about that. But I will start doing that as I have umpteen dry erase markers laying around my house. My kids are 5 and 4 and I also help teach our Wednesday night toddlers church 3-5 yr olds.



Main reason I want to remember the scriptures is because I do not want to mislead anyone, especially when it comes to them walking with the Lord. Then secondly, my kids are getting older and again I do not want to mislead them where to look in the bible. Something just hit me, with my daughter, she knows all the books in the Old Testment, but the only way she can say them is if she does what I taught her to do, sing it. I came up with singing them to her because this child loves to sing. Maybe I need to sing the verses to myself...lol!



Thanks again!



Oh Rebekah, I have looked online to see what the MOPS do as far as meals and so forth, but what do you or would you do if you was the host or the leader for that week???

Erika - posted on 03/31/2009

I use a dry erase marker and write my scriptures on my mirrors...even in my car. I also put them on index cards in my car for when I'm stuck in the line at school or stuck in traffic. I'm not sure how old your kids are, but I memorize with my 7 and 2 year olds....repeating the verses daily to them help me to learn them as well.

Rebekah - posted on 03/31/2009

Jenn, have you tried joining a MOPS group? They do Bible studies and you can take your babies/kids with you.  I'm still looking for one in my area, but looks like I'll end up starting something similar at my church.

Heather - posted on 03/31/2009

Quoting Jennifer:

Thank you gals! I guess I just am no good at remembering things. I think starting this Monday I am going to start looking for scriptures that relate to our Wednesday Night Toddler class. For the month of April because of the whole April Showers we are teaching about the rain and why God sent the rains along with teaching them about Noah because of the flood. There are two scriptures that our lessons go over for the 4 weeks but I am going to dig further and I am going to pray that God does help me.

Rebekah, see I have heard that scripture and have heard people say the verse but couldn't think of where it was. I am going to write that down, right now. I actually got a journal today at Wal-Mart just so I could write scriptures down when I read them or hear them.

Heather, I will have to find that book for sure. I know that every since I have been in church I haven't been able to really get involved such as Bible Study or anything like that mainly because I have been a single mom of sorts...lol! My husband went to Iraq when our daughter was 10 months old and I was pregnant with our son. After he got back of course I didn't want to get involved with anything because I wanted to spend time with him and so forth. But I haven't been able to get any family to watch my children mainly because they own their own business and such and I haven't been able to attend the one they have on Tuesday's.

However, I have actually thought about doing something such as an online bible study, but that is still a work in progress...haha!

But thank you ladies and if you have any other idea to help me please do let me know!

Jenn

Hey Jenn,

You mentioned looking for scriptures about rain for the month of April, so I wanted to suggest Job 37. It is one of my favorite chapters and I read it almost every time it rains or snows.

I really recommend finding a Bible study, I know it can be hard, I looked for one for almost 2 years before I found one. Do you know other Christian moms near you? Maybe you could start one that allows kids to come. You could have an activity for them and a chance to study scriptures with other moms. I have been thinking of starting one like this in my new community. We move in two weeks, but as soon as we get settled I am definently going to talk to my neighbors! I have not found a successful online Bible study. I have tried different ones, but nothing ever worked for me. I would recommend reviveourhearts.com though. They send out their brodcasts in written form and you can either read them or listen to them online. They also have another e-mail they send out that is called seeking him. Nancy Leigh DeMoss is a very sound teacher to godly women. The site also has 30 day challenges that are biblically based and I love them. They have and continue to change my life.

Heather

Kristi - posted on 03/31/2009

My grandmother and I were just talk about memory verses the other day.  My little boy does a memory verse at church.  They do the same verse for 4 weeks in a row, and the same bible story/character for 4 weeks, they just do a different approach each week b/c all children learn differently. (they call it a rotatation model b/c they rotate to different stations each week.) My little boy was saying memory verses and I couldn't believe how many he remembered and with the book/chpt./verse also!  He just turned 4 in January!  He actually cited the very first verse he learned at our church, which was over a year ago!  My grandmother's church puts a 'memory verse' in their bulletin each week, but it also remains the same for a few weeks in a row.  So maybe it is best to spread it out and take it slow.  However, most of the memory verses I know, I learned growing up in Sunday school.  I can still hear all the kids saying them nice and slow and loud!

I agree with Heather.  The Bible Promise books are great.  They usually have categories like 'when you are sad' or 'marriage', 'love', 'giving' or 'faith'.  A few years ago, I started reading the New Testament all the way through.  I have attempted to do this many times, but this time I actually made it all the way!  I picked out a different Bible that I normally take with me to church and make notes in.  This Bible had large print and I had hardly ever made any notes in it.  I used colored markers.  I went through Matthew and underlined in a purple marker everything that I thought was imperitive to tell the story of Matthew Chapter 1.  If I came across a verse which I thought was a verse I would like to memorize or at least have on hand easily, I made a star beside it, wrote it at the top of the page in the Bible, then in the back of a journal.  After each chapter I would write a summary in my journal, using the purple marker to highlight the 'good stuff'.  So now, I have a summary of every chapter in the NT of the Bible w/special verses highlighted and listed in the back.  It is especially helpful b/c reading and writing the verses over and over helps to memorize them.  and b/c there are often times when I can't remember the exact location of the verse.  Say for example, I know there is a really good verse on faith in Romans somewhere....I can go to the back of my journal and somewhere down the list I'll see Rom.10:17,  "Faith comes by hearing ,and hearing by the word of God."  It's just a really easy reference to all my personal faves! 

The only other thing that i would say helps is actually teaching the verse to your children.  Teaching helps me to remember and saying it out load does also!  Hope we have helped!

Jennifer - posted on 03/30/2009

Thank you gals! I guess I just am no good at remembering things. I think starting this Monday I am going to start looking for scriptures that relate to our Wednesday Night Toddler class. For the month of April because of the whole April Showers we are teaching about the rain and why God sent the rains along with teaching them about Noah because of the flood. There are two scriptures that our lessons go over for the 4 weeks but I am going to dig further and I am going to pray that God does help me.



Rebekah, see I have heard that scripture and have heard people say the verse but couldn't think of where it was. I am going to write that down, right now. I actually got a journal today at Wal-Mart just so I could write scriptures down when I read them or hear them.



Heather, I will have to find that book for sure. I know that every since I have been in church I haven't been able to really get involved such as Bible Study or anything like that mainly because I have been a single mom of sorts...lol! My husband went to Iraq when our daughter was 10 months old and I was pregnant with our son. After he got back of course I didn't want to get involved with anything because I wanted to spend time with him and so forth. But I haven't been able to get any family to watch my children mainly because they own their own business and such and I haven't been able to attend the one they have on Tuesday's.



However, I have actually thought about doing something such as an online bible study, but that is still a work in progress...haha!



But thank you ladies and if you have any other idea to help me please do let me know!



Jenn

Heather - posted on 03/30/2009

I also have a horrible time remembering scriptures. It has helped me to post multiple ones around my house, van and phone, but those are there to remind me of God's promises when I need them. Then when I want to referense them I know that there is a verse about trusting the Lord when you are really freaking out on the door to my one year old twin girls room, and after walking there about a dozen times to read it I now know that it is Matthew 8:26 "He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

For when I am not home I have done a few things. I got a book at walmart called The Bible Promise Book. It has a table of contense that tells you where to look and it just has KJV Scriptures in it relating to certain topics. I have also written in others that I like that it didn't mention, then if I'm talking to someone in regaurds for loving one another I can go to the section on brotherly love and read 1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. I also have a small Bible that I carry with me where I have highlighted many of God's promises that I want to remember. I also have all of the highlighted verses written in a seperate notebook. Just recopying them and highlighting them in the first place helps me to remember them, but knowing that I don't have to read the entire Bible to find a verse is very helpful. Also If you go to LivingWaters.com they have a quick reference guide that you can print off for free that has some scriptures that you can reference when witnessing to people. I have printed that off as well and have it in the front of my Bible.

I guess that it is just surrounding yourself in the word, and access to it. Make it easy to find the verses you need, and then the more you use them the more you remember them. If you ask me to quote a scripture 9 times out of 10 I can't, but I know where to find it, and I don't mean, oh yeah thats in Peter either, I can get out my tools and find it. Or I have a group of friends that knows almost every Bible verse and can all say oh yeah thats in 1 Corinthians....I think it's verses 1:18-19.

I feel it is important to remain humble, it's okay not to know all of the answers, just keep seeking them. Make them available to yourself at all times. Pray that God will help write them on your heart, and for him to give you the words when you need them.

April - posted on 03/30/2009

When I see a verse of scripture that really helps me in tough, happy, or tempting times, I write it in a journal that I keep with me. I also note the bible study lesson verses in there, and refer to the notebook every day. the collection keeps growing-when someone asks me a question that I need to look up, I write the answer in there. it takes time and practice to use my bible comfortably. None of us are experts, though, and even pastors need to refer back to their bibles sometimes, there is always something new to learn!!!! so dont feel bad about having to refer back to it- it is also a good tool in reminding ourselves what the bible is really saying instead of how we interpret the words. hope that helps- one more thing, we have daily bible devotions with the kids, so that helps with repetition for all of us!

Rebekah - posted on 03/30/2009

Personally, I remember Scriptures by meditating on them as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:8-9, "Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right.  Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable.  Think about things that are excellent and worhty of praise.  Keep putting into practice all your learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you."

I do many of the things that you have done, put Scriptures up everywhere around my house, but usually I take one Scripture for every 3 days, set out to memorize it and let it sink into my heart.  I constantly read it throughout the day and practice trying to remember it without looking at it.  By the third day I usually have them memorized.  Many of the Scriptures I do know have been in engrained in me since I was a kid.  But I set out to memorize many more because one day the Bible will be banned and I must have it in my heart like it says in Deuteronomy.  But take heart, just because you "think" you haven't memorized it, I have times where I think "man, I can't seem to remember that passage" and when the time comes that I ACTUALLY need it, God brings it to my remembrance. :)