Lost Bible Memorization Method

[Hallelujah Joan]

Hi!  I'm hoping someone can help me recall the title of a book about Bible verse memorization.

It was written a long time ago, I'm thinking probably the 70's or the 80's - possibly even the 60's - by an evangelist who was well-known at the time.  He had a wonderful systematic method for memorizing Bible verses.  I remember that it involved copying verses onto file cards and then reviewing them according to a schedule, so that you'd always be memorizing new ones and reviewing the old.  Unfortunately, I've forgotten all the details about how to organize them.  I've searched online but have been unable to find the method, the book, or the evangelist's name. 

Twenty-something years ago I memorized Isaiah 55:6-13, and was completely healed of severe depression that had shadowed me for most of my life.  I have worked on memorizing other verses, especially in recent months, but I'd get farther faster with better organization.  I'll be eternally grateful if anyone can give me a clue about this book!

[johnthebaptist]

48 minutes ago, Hallelujah Joan said:

Hi!  I'm hoping someone can help me recall the title of a book about Bible verse memorization.

It was written a long time ago, I'm thinking probably the 70's or the 80's - possibly even the 60's - by an evangelist who was well-known at the time.  He had a wonderful systematic method for memorizing Bible verses.  I remember that it involved copying verses onto file cards and then reviewing them according to a schedule, so that you'd always be memorizing new ones and reviewing the old.  Unfortunately, I've forgotten all the details about how to organize them.  I've searched online but have been unable to find the method, the book, or the evangelist's name. 

Twenty-something years ago I memorized Isaiah 55:6-13, and was completely healed of severe depression that had shadowed me for most of my life.  I have worked on memorizing other verses, especially in recent months, but I'd get farther faster with better organization.  I'll be eternally grateful if anyone can give me a clue about this book!

Memorizing sections of the Bible is nice, if that's what you want to do. First, though, it would be good to read the entire Bible and understand  what the Lord is telling us, I believe.

[Neighbor]

2 hours ago, Hallelujah Joan said:

I'll be eternally grateful if anyone can give me a clue about this book!

Hi, Don't know of the book, but do know of AWANA and the steps they use with children to teach them how to memorize whole books of verses each semester:

 

1. Check what verses you need to learn for the next week.
2. Write the verses on index cards.
3. Read the first verse out loud. Do you know how to pronounce all the words?
4. Do you know the definitions of all the words? If not, look them up in the dictionary or in your handbook.
5. Divide the verse into phrases.
6. Read the first phrase, then recite the phrase over and over, concentrating on the meaning and the words.
7. Figure out a way to remember any words that mess you up. For instance, let’s say the verse reads: “in as much as.” You are having difficulty remembering how the order of the words go. Think of a sentence that you can remember – “I am Melinda Anderson” that will help you recall the words.
8. Add a phrase – once you memorize the first one. When you memorize the first two phrases, add the third, etc.
9. Say the completed verse to a parent (or whoever is available).
10. Learn the second verse.
11. Practice the first and second verse together after you’ve learned them both.
12. Say the memorized verses to another person. 

See: https://www.awana.org/2015/05/24/how-tos-of-verse-memorization/

 

[Coliseum]

2 hours ago, Hallelujah Joan said:

Hi!  I'm hoping someone can help me recall the title of a book about Bible verse memorization.

It was written a long time ago, I'm thinking probably the 70's or the 80's - possibly even the 60's - by an evangelist who was well-known at the time.  He had a wonderful systematic method for memorizing Bible verses.  I remember that it involved copying verses onto file cards and then reviewing them according to a schedule, so that you'd always be memorizing new ones and reviewing the old.  Unfortunately, I've forgotten all the details about how to organize them.  I've searched online but have been unable to find the method, the book, or the evangelist's name. 

Twenty-something years ago I memorized Isaiah 55:6-13, and was completely healed of severe depression that had shadowed me for most of my life.  I have worked on memorizing other verses, especially in recent months, but I'd get farther faster with better organization.  I'll be eternally grateful if anyone can give me a clue about this book!

While memorization techniques can certainly be a help, I have discarded them, and initially began memorizing verses that applied to me. Some have been lengthy passages such as the one regarding the Centurion wanting Jesus to heal his servant. Others are only two words, but weighty ("Jesus wept.") I believe God has designed us to practice something over and over again. We pass by a tree one morning and acknowledge its height. The next day we pass by the same tree and see a small flower growing by the trunk. The third day we are mesmerized by the bees pollinating the flower, and so on. Each time we go back to the same thing, we see something more. It is the same idea memorizing verses.  So I spend about an hour each mid day reciting my verses in the sunshine. In fact, there are so many, I have broken them in half---half one day, and the half the next. I memorize one new verse a week, give or take. 

God tells us to store his word in our hearts: Deuteronomy 6:6-9. So this passage is certainly one to memorize. Start with one line at a time. Repeat it until you know it. Then begin the next line, always repeating the first one. Then memorize the third one, always repeating the first two, and so on. 

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NIV)
6  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
7  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
8  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
9  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Don't let it overwhelm you. Enjoy doing it and you will soon find that even the references to the passages you memorize you will also want to keep near to your heart. Sometimes, as I am repeating my verses aloud, I forget a line---and you know what? I ask God to bring it to my lips---and every time He has. It really is amazing. I have absolute confidence you can do this because God would not give us a command He would not help us fulfill. 

Blessings to you.

[Hallelujah Joan]

I couldn't agree with you more, John. I finished my sixth reading of the whole Bible at the end of December (and have read it extensively in addition to those times straight through).  Not that I'm bragging!  Okay, I kind of am.  But a friend of mine read the entire Bible every year for her first 20 years as a Christian, and I know there are many like her, with whom I will never catch up.  To what you said about understanding what the Lord is telling us, I agree that that's what we're here for. 

Have to say, though, that memorization is more than just nice - my experience has been that it's truly amazing.  I've heard teaching saying that by memorizing Scripture, you "rewire" areas of yourself that are out of harmony with the Lord and His Word, and I believe I've experienced that.  I need to do a lot more of it, seeing as I still have miles and miles of faulty wiring.

Thank you, Neighbor, for the Awana outline.  I do some of those things already, but I don't usually repeat the verses I'm memorizing to someone else, and that could be helpful.

[Jostler]

39 minutes ago, Hallelujah Joan said:

I couldn't agree with you more, John. I finished my sixth reading of the whole Bible at the end of December (and have read it extensively in addition to those times straight through).  Not that I'm bragging!  Okay, I kind of am.  But a friend of mine read the entire Bible every year for her first 20 years as a Christian, and I know there are many like her, with whom I will never catch up.  To what you said about understanding what the Lord is telling us, I agree that that's what we're here for. 

Have to say, though, that memorization is more than just nice - my experience has been that it's truly amazing.  I've heard teaching saying that by memorizing Scripture, you "rewire" areas of yourself that are out of harmony with the Lord and His Word, and I believe I've experienced that.  I need to do a lot more of it, seeing as I still have miles and miles of faulty wiring.

Thank you, Neighbor, for the Awana outline.  I do some of those things already, but I don't usually repeat the verses I'm memorizing to someone else, and that could be helpful.

 

You have discovered, and made yourself obedient to a powerful spiritual dynamic outlined in Scripture:

 

Quote

Jos 1:8

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

 

Instructions to kings...

Quote

Deu 17:18-19

¶

“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites.

 

“And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes,

 

David's testimony:

Quote

Psa 119:10-16

With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!

 

 

Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.

 

 

Blessed are You, O LORD!
Teach me Your statutes.

 

 

With my lips I have declared
All the judgments of Your mouth.

 

 

I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.

 

 

I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.

 

 

I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.

 

Repeating, meditating on, writing out word for word - making a personal copy by your own hand, memorizing....all very good ways to hide His Word in our hearts.   And the fuller our hearts get with His Word, the less room there is for sin to enter in or take hold.

 

You already know all that I'm sure   But there's the Scriptural backing (and only a portion of what's available) just in case others might be inspired to follow your example  

Edited March 2, 2020 by Jostler

[Hallelujah Joan]

Thanks, Coliseum, for the benefit of your experience with memorization.  I do mainly follow the habit you outlined, of memorizing one line until I know it, adding a line and repeating both, and onward. 

However, memory has never been a strong point for me.  Even in everyday life, memory tasks that come easily to most people tend to be difficult- right down to remembering my address and phone number.  I love to memorize verses, but it takes me forever. and I start forgetting the old ones while I'm working on the new.  The book I mentioned had a wonderfully simple way of organizing your verses so that you'd be going over them at progressively longer intervals, but would continue to review all of them periodically.

But my tendency is to try and rely on systems and structures, which is okay to a point, except when it leads me to lean on them rather than on the Holy Spirit.  Another unfortunate tendency I have is to think that a good system will totally make up for failing to spend enough time on things that are important to me but that can be put off from day to day, like Bible memorization.  I very much admire that you spend an hour a day on memorizing Scripture (and it must be great to have sunshine every afternoon! )  Sometimes I do better with this, but lately I'm averaging about seventeen seconds a day. 

Jostler, thank you for all the wonderful Scriptures, some of which I'd never thought of in terms of their application to memorizing Scripture today. 

And thanks everyone for all the encouragement, it's much appreciated!

 

[Daniel Marsh]

On 3/1/2020 at 6:19 PM, Hallelujah Joan said:

Hi!  I'm hoping someone can help me recall the title of a book about Bible verse memorization.

It was written a long time ago, I'm thinking probably the 70's or the 80's - possibly even the 60's - by an evangelist who was well-known at the time.  He had a wonderful systematic method for memorizing Bible verses.  I remember that it involved copying verses onto file cards and then reviewing them according to a schedule, so that you'd always be memorizing new ones and reviewing the old.  Unfortunately, I've forgotten all the details about how to organize them.  I've searched online but have been unable to find the method, the book, or the evangelist's name. 

Twenty-something years ago I memorized Isaiah 55:6-13, and was completely healed of severe depression that had shadowed me for most of my life.  I have worked on memorizing other verses, especially in recent months, but I'd get farther faster with better organization.  I'll be eternally grateful if anyone can give me a clue about this book!

https://www.navigators.org/resource/topical-memory-system/

[Daniel Marsh]

When I was in the Airforce,  someone got the dumb idea of coming into one of our Sunday School Classes with guns to take our Bibles.    Within seconds we were feeding them their guns.    As it turns out they got the idea from some ministry to challenge people to quote Scripture or fail to do so.    As a Challenge to memorize Scripture.   We did not find out that was their purpose until the Police was taking them away.   And, yes we let the Police have them.   We started by throwing everything in the room at them.   We also choked them into submission. 

[Hallelujah Joan]

Oh my goodness - somebody should write that into a movie.

Just goes to show, I guess, that you never know where the conversation will take you when you start a thread on Worthy Christian.  Thanks for the story, I'm going to be imagining that scene for days!