One Summer we took on the daunting task of memorizing Romans 8. Week by week, however, the task was easy… 3 verses. That makes it sound less daunting, right?
The hard part is quoting the WHOLE chapter at once at the end, but it’s absolutely doable if we’re willing to put in the effort.
I LOVE what one of the parents said on a Sunday night at a Parent Meeting: “No game system till they’ve said their verses!” What a great philosophy! I wish I would have come up with it myself!
Several of the teens really got on board, and some had even worked ahead! What a great spirit we saw as they spent time before and after class memorizing and quoting their verses, incorporating it into their daily devotions, and obeying a biblical principle to hide God’s Word in their hearts! Some of them even worked on their booklets on the trip up to Knott’s.
The first week I went easy on them when they didn’t quote their verses to me, but after that I told them the ONLY reason some haven’t quoted their verses is laziness. I HATE being called lazy. It’s one of the worst insults, in my opinion, and I wouldn’t want it said of me for anything. Frankly, I cannot believe that if someone put in about 6 minutes a day on these verses, in 4 weeks they STILL don’t have 3 verses memorized!
Here’s basically what I encouraged them to do:
- Read the chapter every day. If they were to put 3 minutes into JUST reading the chapter every day, I guarantee that by the end of the summer they’d be able to rattle off the last 9 verses with very little effort at memorizing.
- Work on the 3 verses every day. Just reading the chapter won’t quite be enough to memorize it… it’s going to take some work. But I’m talking about VERY LITTLE effort… 3 more minutes a day on the 3 verses. 6 minutes a day is simple enough, and no matter how busy you might think you are, there’s ALWAYS 6 free minutes in a day.
Lots of other little tips and tricks can be used to memorize, but no matter what, it has to be a choice. Choose to memorize and you will memorize. Choose to “forget” or NOT memorize… and you won’t memorize! It’s that simple. I wanted to be obedient to the Lord, and I’ve been personally neglecting my memorization. May God help us as we work to learn His Word.
GOD’S WORD
Why Should I Memorize?
- To be obedient: Ps. 119:11
- To battle temptation: Eph. 6:17
- To help others: Col. 3:16
- To affect our speech: Mat. 12:34
- To affect our thoughts: Phil. 4:8-9
- To meditate: Ps. 119:97
How Do I Memorize?
WORK DAILY. Start with 5 minutes a day, then increase.
LEARN TRICKS. Some ideas…
- Write out the verses on 3×5 cards.
- Read the chapter daily.
- Write the whole chapter every week.
- Write your verses daily.
- Work out loud.
- Walk while you memorize.
- Use the first-letter method.
REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW. It will take more and more time each day, so read the chapter daily. Carry your cards with you and review them on car trips, before bed, or at commercials. Tape them to your bathroom mirror or bedroom wall and review, review, review!
