FinishYear 2012 - Scripture Memory Facts

Some of my goals for the year was to memorize a great deal of Scripture. Well, it isn't going quite like I had hoped, but that doesn't mean that I am not learning Scripture. I use a program called Memverse.com to help me study and memorize the verses.

Here are a few facts about my memorization so far this year.

• I have currently memorized 117 verses.
  
• Of those 117 verses, 45 verses are from the Old Testament and 72 verses are from the New Testament.
  
• I am currently working on memorizing 6 complete Psalms (Psalms 1, 23, 91, 100, 103, and 121).
  
• I am also working on memorizing Romans 5 and 6, Philippians 1, 1 Corinthians 13, and 1 John 1 and 2.
  
• There are 31,103 verses in the Bible. I have memorized 0.3% of the Bible.
  
• There are 23,145 verses in the Old Testament. I have memorized 0.2% of the Old Testament.
  
• There are 7,958 verses in the New Testament. I have memorized 1% of the New Testament.
  

Now, in full disclosure, the word "memorized" is a very loose term. I am working to be able to recall the verse if someone gives me the reference, but I am not quite there yet. I can, however, recall most of my memorized verses when provided with the first letter of each word in the verse. Some may call this cheating, but I am attempting to hide God's Word in my heart. That can't be said for a lot of other individuals.

I'll touch base in a few weeks or so and we'll see how much these percentages have changed.

FinishYear 2012 - Putting My Memorization into Practice

I had the opportunity to put some of my memorization into practice on Sunday evening. Using Psalm 119:9-16, as our text, we looked at the absolute necessity that Scripture memory is in our Christian walk. My points were based of a sermon I had read by John Piper on John 15.

At the end of the sermon (which I will post the video from at some point, as well as the points I used), I had the opportunity to share some of the passages that I have memorized. I was a bit nervous, so I took notes with me. Here are some of the notes that I used to recite the passages.

1 John 1:1
T w w f t b, w w h h, w w h s w o e, w w l u a h t w o h, c t w o l –

1 John 1:2
t l w m m, a w h s i, a t t i a p t y t e l, w w w t F a w m m t u –

1 John 1:3
t w w h s a h w p a t y, s t y t m h f w u; a i o f i w t F a w H S J C.

Looks a bit undecipherable? Well, this is a tip that I've learned about memorizing: using the first letter of each word until you have the passage down cold. While some make think of this as cheating, you have to know the verse in order to understand the "code."

Best of luck. What passages are you going to memorize using the code?

FinishYear 2012 - Memorizing Not Going So Well

So, at the beginning of 2012, I had these grand plans to memorize 1 John and James. I designed a great memory book with 1 John all broken up into 5 or 6 verse sections. It was supposed to take me 19 weeks to memorize it.

Things started well, but I have to be honest, it is not going well right now. For whatever reason, I simply cannot get the verses to stick in my head. I have not used my book like I had planned to do. I do review the verses, but not as often as I would like and I am falling behind.

I say all this to let you know that memorizing James might get pushed to next year. I want to make sure that I am giving 1 John the attention that it deserves and that I have it firmly embedded in both my mind and my heart before I move on. Additionally, I am using Memverse.com to learn a number of other verses. Hopefully things will get better, but that is where I am on this project right now. I would ask that you would pray for me to continue to study and memorize. Studying Scripture is definitely something that requires the Lord's help.

FinishYear 2012 - Memorizing 1 John and James

I've already written about my project to memorize Romans 5-8. This project is something else entirely. Rather than memorizing a few chapters (no small feat), I'm planning to memorize two complete books of the Bible. I will be working on memorizing 1 John and James. According to the schedule that I've worked out, it should take me about 19 weeks to memorize 1 John and 20 weeks to learn James. This is at a pace of about 6 verses per week.

I was very blessed to receive this notebook from one of my students as a Christmas present. I was quite pleased to see it because I was actually planning to go to Target that afternoon and purchase one. Receiving this little notebook/journal was actually an answer to prayer.

I typed up the verses to 1 John in a Word document with text boxes set to be about the size of a 4x6 index card. After typing them up and printing them out, I cut them out and pasted them into my journal, one card on every other page, leaving a blank page to write on.

On the blank page, I have listed out the days of the week and left some space below to give me a place to write my thoughts and reflections over that week's passage that I am memorizing. Next to each day of the week, I will keep track of how many times I have reviewed the passage that particular day. My goal is to read through/recite the passage at least 10 times each day. I actually think it will be more beneficial to review the verses several times throughout the day instead of trying to do all 10 recitations at the same time.

As I advance week to week through memorizing the book of 1 John, I will actually spend more time each day reviewing the old verses. I mean, what good is memorizing verses if you aren't going to use them? I'll say my new verses, then recite the old verses in order to have the context of the whole passage. After memorizing 1 John, I am going to spend a few weeks reviewing the whole book each day before beginning the book of James.

The reflection area on each page is for me to record what God is teaching me through the verses that I am learning that week. I can record how many times a phrase is used, how God allowed me to recall that passage, or how it is helping me to grow in my faith.


Here is a link to another blog where I got this idea. I hope that you will consider joining me, even if you don't take the time to put together a memory journal of your own.