Our 6 Favorite Ways to Memorize Scripture

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful 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. Joshua 1:8

The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip. Psalm 37:31

Throughout Scripture we are reminded of the importance of committing God’s Word to memory. It may seem difficult now, but there are a lot of fun tricks out there to help make memorizing Bible verses a little bit easier! Here are a few of our favorites.

First Letter of Each Word: If you’ve spent any time around our summer staff, you may have seen this one—but it’s possible you didn’t know what you were looking at! This method involves writing the first letter of each word of a Bible verse on your hand, or somewhere else prominent that you’ll see a lot throughout the day. Not only will these ever present letters remind you to be working on your verse, but having just the letters as a clue will help guide you along and give you a few hints about which words come next.

The Bible Memory App: Just ask our Forge students, and they’ll be able to tell you ALL about why the Bible Memory App is such a great tool in the process of memorizing scripture! Download the free app, select the verses you’d like to memorize, and the Bible Memory App will take it from there! From flash cards to audio playback, this app has you covered.

Spiral Note Card Booklets: Sometimes the best thing you can do is to keep the Scripture right in front of you—or close by! Write out a verse on a page of a spiral note card booklet. Work on that one for a few weeks, carrying it with you or keeping it where you do your daily devotion. After two weeks, turn to the next page and write out another verse. As you progress through the year, go back and refresh your memory on the verses you’ve memorized previously. At the end of the year, you’ll have committed 24 verses to memory!

Rubber Band Bracelet: Grab a rubber band big enough to go around your wrist, and wide enough to write on. (It doesn’t have to be gigantic… the ones that come on broccoli or asparagus will work!) Stretch it out and use a pen to write out the text of the verse you want to memorize. When you put it on your wrist, you won’t be able to see the whole thing, but whenever you need a reminder of what words come next, you can stretch the rubber band out and see your writing—it’s like magic!

Put it to Music: Trying to help little ones memorize verses? One of the best ways we can recommend is Christian songs that are steeped in scripture! Check out Seeds Family Worship or Steve Green for songs with lyrics that are straight out of the Bible. Keep the songs playing in the car and your kids will soon learn (and remember!) multiple verses—and you will too!

Erase One Word at a Time: Grab a dry erase marker and write a verse on a whiteboard or a mirror that you see regularly. Say the verse to yourself several times and try to commit it to memory. When you’re familiar with it, erase a word or two. Say the verse again, including the omitted word that you’ve now memorized. Continue doing this until you’ve erased all the words from the full verse and have learned the whole thing. Congratulations, you did it!

We hope these ideas are helpful for you as you seek to hide the word of the Lord in your heart. No matter what method you employ, the important part is just committing those verses to memory—and then living them out!

Do you have another tip for memorizing Bible verses that others may find useful? Let us know in the comments below!