Sandi Hester

I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.  Psalm 119:11

Memorizing scripture has been part of my daily quiet time for years, but I have always struggled with retaining those scriptures long term.  For those of you who know my brain is the size of a pea I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you :).  I’ve had people tell me that you have to go back and review the scriptures you’ve memorized, but that always seemed so daunting and quite overwhelming.  A friend of mine shared a GREAT scripture memory method that I’ve been doing for several months now that I LOVE and it works!!!  For the last several months I’ve just had this written down on a sticky note in my bible (so don’t think you have to have a nice organized colorful card like mine – I’ve been using a sticky note for quite some time) and have been going back through old scriptures I’d memorized and adding some new ones.  It’s a really easy method so I hope I don’t complicate it or make it sound hard or confusing.

As you can see on the card at the top I have what’s labeled my “daily” scripture.  Let me share with you what I do with that daily scripture before I explain the review part of this method.  On the first day of my new verse(s) I read it out loud 10 times.  If I have more than one verse in that chunk of scripture I just work on one verse at a time in the chunk – sometimes I even break-up the verse if it’s really long.  So after I read it out loud 10 times I cover it up and try to say it out loud 10 times with out looking at it – of course you’ll most likely have to cheat a few times and look at it but that’s part of the process.  After I’ve read it 10 times and said it 10 times without looking at it I’m done for the day – it’s that easy.

The next day I try to say it 10 times without looking at it.  I do this for a couple of days until I have it pretty good and then I move on to the next verse of the chunk of scripture and read it 10 times and say it 10 times.  Each day you say out loud without looking the part you have completely memorized before you go on to your new part.

Once you’re completely done with that chunk or single verse and you know you know it well, you move it down to reviewing it three times a week.  If you’re using a sticky note just erase it from your “daily” slot and move it under your three times a week slot.  So once I have 1 Cor. 1:18-31 memorized I’ll move it down to the section marked “M W F” so I can review it three times a week.  Once I have a new chunk of scripture to go there I move the “M W F” verse to two times a week “T H” (that stands for Tuesday and Thursday) or “Sat/Sun”.  Then you move those verses to reviewing them one day a week and then to three times a month and so on.

It may sound like a lot but it really only takes me a few minutes each morning.  You will be surprised how quick it is.  So let me give you an example of what I worked on this morning.  I worked on my daily scripture (I Cor 1:18-31), then I reviewed  my scripture under “T H” since it is Thursday (Proverbs 10:19), and then I reviewed my scripture under “Thursday” (Romans 1:18-35), and lastly if I had something under the 19th for the month (which I don’t at the moment) I would have reviewed that.  I have been amazed at how well this method works.  I encourage you to try it – or at least some scripture memory method.  It’s one of the most important things we can do in the day – hide His Word in our hearts.  We live in a day that our Bibles are at our finger tips, but I don’t think it will always be like that in our country.  However, our Bible can easily be at our finger tips but never make it into our hearts where it needs to be.

If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.  Proverbs 21:13

Recently I have been memorizing scripture on the poor.  I was inspired to paint this picture from one of the verses I was memorizing.  I just got back from a mission trip to Brazil and saw poverty around every corner.  I am so thankful for the blessing of seeing the nations and having my eyes opened over and over to what life is like around the world.  Where we worked in Brazil, fresh sewage ran freely down the streets and between houses.  Kids jumped in streams of raw sewage like they were jumping in a fresh puddle of rain.  Life is simple there.  I wonder how much bigger God is to you when you depend on Him for literally everything.  I saw His provision all over the place.  Fresh fruit drips from just about every tree.  Natural resources are abundant there.  God shines His face on the poor – He is faithful to provide.

Here are the other verses concerning the poor that I’ve been memorizing:

He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the poor honors God.  Proverbs 14:31

He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done.  Proverbs 19:17

If there is a poor man among your brothers…do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.  Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.  Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.  There will always be poor people in the land.  Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.  Deuteronomy 15:7-11

But if I go to the east, He is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find Him.  When He is at work in the north, I do not see Him; when He turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of Him.  BUT He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.  My feet have closely followed His steps; I have kept to His way without turning aside.  I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.  Job 23:8-12

This is a chunk of scripture I memorized a while back and a painting I did to go with it.  I love how scripture uses little words to make big statements.  Notice that the passage tells me that I may not see God, hear God, or feel God – there may be absulutely no evidence of Him around me at all.  Ever felt like that?  I have.  Then He uses a little bitty word that negates, or makes small, everything before it.  He uses the little word ‘but’… “But He knows the way that I take…”.  God wants me to know His eye is on the sparrow, therefore His eye is on me.  He knows every step, every eye lash, every tear – He knows me intimately.  He is my Creator.  He knit me together with His own two hands in my mother’s womb and then with those same two hands, was nailed to a cross for my sins.  Man alive, I serve a marvelous God!

According to Job, a hummingbird may have a lot to teach you about God…

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.  Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?  In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”  ~ Job 12:7-10

The Word of God tells us over and over that we can learn about our Creator by looking at what His hand has made.  Remember what Jesus said in Luke 12:22-31?  Jesus told the disciples to ask the ravens how much they worry about food.  Jesus tells us we have a lot to learn from the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields.  All of creation points to a magnificent God, and we can learn from what they are saying about our faithful God!

I memorized Job 12:7-10 several months ago and then painted it to help aid in my memory.