How to memorize Scripture Minimize
Memorization takes time, but less time than you might think.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Given the choice I'll choose supernatural learning every time.
  • Learn a passage bit by bit, adding to what you know.
  • Learning means not looking; close your eyes, cover it up. Finding the right balance between giving yourself the hints you need to get it right without giving it away is the hardest part.

Learning a passage goes through these stages; recognize and celebrate the stages: first hearing, comprehension, short-term memory (even for a few seconds), mid-term memory (a few hours), long-term memory (a month), and life-long memory (after review for a few years).

  • Memorize one new thing at a time. Don't start the next one until this one is in mid-term memory.
  • We recall the same way we learn; if I learn by hearing it I'll recall by hearing it in my mind. If I learn by seeing it, I'll recall by seeing it in my imagination. If I learn by typing it, I'll recall by typing it in my imagination. If I learn by singing it, I'll recall by singing it too. How do you recall it? Learn it that way.
  • Don't be discouraged by what you don't yet know, be encouraged by noticing how each time you remember something you didn't the last time.
  • Recognize the things you don't yet know and how they become fewer and fewer.
  • Recognize the bits that are causing you trouble and use a pun or memory device to help. Save the tricks for the hard parts, otherwise they become distracting.

Thank God in awe for how masterfully he designed our brains, that we learn effortlessly from the day we are born to the day we die.

  • Set a review schedule: spread it out; you will benefit much more from reviewing 10 times a day for 1 minute than from 10 minutes of review once a day.
  • Expect that at times when reviewing you will have forgotten something. This is normal. Don't get discouraged. Remind yourself of what you forgot and try to review it more frequently.
  • Prioritize your review so you review the things you know the best the least often and the things you have just learned most often.
  • Try to apply what you have learned to your life and conversations. Speaking it this way anchors the verse to your history, geography, and relationships so it enters life-long memory.

The Navigators offer these excellent suggestions:

As you start to memorize a verse . . .

  • Read in your Bible the context of each verse you memorize.
  • Try to gain a clear understanding of what each verse actually means.
  • Read the verse through several times thoughtfully, aloud or in a whisper. Each time you read it, say the topic, reference, verse, and then the reference again.
  • Discuss the verse with God in prayer, and continue to seek His help for success in Scripture memory.


While you are memorizing the verse . . .

  • Work on saying the verse aloud as much as possible.
  • Learn the topic and reference first.
  • After learning the topic and reference, learn the first phrase of the verse. Once you have learned the topic, reference, and the first phrase and have repeated them several times, continue adding more phrases after you can quote correctly what you have already learned.
  • Think about how the verse applies to you and your daily circumstances.
  • Always include the topic and reference as part of the verse as you learn and review it.
  • After you can quote correctly the topic, reference, verse, and reference again . . .
  • Writing the verse out can be helpful. This deepens the impression in your mind.


Find a friend to check you on the verse. Better yet, memorize together!

  • Review the verse immediately after learning it, and repeat it frequently in the next few days. This is crucial for fixing the verse firmly in your mind because of the tendency to forget something recently learned.

Review! Review! Review! Repetition is the best way to engrave the verses on your memory.
 Print   
Login