“I’m not lost.” — Frank Churchill
“The very familiarity of blessings sometimes makes us insensible to their value."— J. C. Ryle
“People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do.” — Thomas Sowell
“Drag and Drop for Windows users: DRAG your peecee off your desk, and DROP it in the trash.” — some forum member’s tagline
“Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow.” — Elias Boudinot
“People fall in private, long before they fall in public. The tree falls with a great crash, but the secret decay which accounts for it, is often not discovered until it is down on the ground.” — J. C. Ryle
"When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy." — Corrie ten Boom
“A ship in the harbor is safe—but that is not what ships are built for.” — John Shedd
“Paul’s life was a prophetic book for Jews to read and see how to be saved, so our lives should be an easy to read book for the lost on how they can easily be saved.” — Ken Ham
“The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.” — La Rochefoucauld
“[N]ot one particle remains to man as a ground of boasting. The whole is of God.” — John Calvin (Institutes 2.3.6)
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” — Sir Richard Steele
“The cold water of persecution is often thrown on the church’s face to fetch her to herself when she is in a swoon of indolence or pride.” — C. H. Spurgeon
“TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they’ll have with twenty-six. Open your child’s imagination. Open a book.” — Unknown
“Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country.” — George Washington
“Man does not need to know exhaustively in order to know truly and certainly.” — Cornelius Van Til
“True education is not giving in the answer, it’s in showing them how to find it.” — Kelly Crawford
“Even if you are on the right track, but just sit there, you will still get run over.” — Will Rogers
“I will keep the ground that God has given me and perhaps in his grace, he will ignite me again. But ignite me or not, in his grace, in his power, I will hold the ground.” — John Knox
“Thanks, modest girls. Appreciated by a male whose time studying the ground is proportional to each degree of rising temperature.” — Unknown
“Question everything but Scripture.” — Geoff Botkin
“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” — Martin Luther
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page.” — St. Augustine
“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they simply make the best of everything they have.” — Unknown
“Self-righteousness is being more aware of and irritated by the sins of others than you are conscious of and grieved by your own.” — Paul Tripp
“[T]he ministry of Satan is employed to instigate the reprobate, whenever the Lord, in the course of his providence, has any purpose to accomplish in them...” — John Calvin (Institutes 2.4.5)
“We should never do what we cannot pray God to bless.” — James Smith
“People will not look forward to posterity who will not look backward to their ancestors.” — Edmund Burke
“Be as careful of the books you read as of the company you keep, for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as by the latter.” — Paxton Hood
“I find television very educational. Every time someone turns it on, I go in the other room and read a book.” — Groucho Marx
“I began my education at a very early age—in fact, right after I left college.” — Winston Churchill
“Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your own living room by people you wouldn’t have in your house.” — David Frost
“One proud, surly, lordly word, one needless contention, one covetous action, may cut the throat of many a sermon. Take heed to yourselves, lest your example contradict your doctrine.” — Richard Baxter
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." — Edmund Burke
“I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.” — Jackie Mason
“Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.” — Martin Luther
“Some people get an education without going to college; the rest get it after they get out.” — Mark Twain
“The measure of a great teacher isn’t what he or she knows; it’s what the students know.” — John C. Maxwell
“If you don’t fear God, you’ll fear everything.” — Dan Horn
“Luther once said, ‘The devil hates goose quills,’ and, doubtless, he has good reason, for ready writers, by the Holy Spirit’s blessing, have done his kingdom much damage.” — C. H. Spurgeon
“When she married you, she gave you her life to spend. Are you spending your life wisely?” — Dan Horn
“Heaven is eternity in the presence of God through a Mediator. Hell is eternity in the presence of God with no Mediator.” — Tony Reinke
“Dreams don’t work unless you do.” — John C. Maxwell
“You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” — C. S. Lewis
“My dear friend, when grief presses you to the dust, worship there.” — C. H. Spurgeon
“A lot of men have a wishbone where they ought to have a backbone.” — Unknown
“Non-Christian investigators of nature are as successful as they are because they work with stolen capital.” — Cornelius Van Til
“What is the best safeguard against false doctrine? The Bible regularly read, regularly prayed over, regularly studied.” — J. C. Ryle
— February 10th, 2012 —
On the Memorization of Scripture
David hid the Lord’s Word in his heart, that he might not sin; we’re instructed to guard our ways according to His Word; the blessed man meditates on the Law day and night; the Israelites were to lay up the words of the law in their hearts; and we’re to study the Scriptures to show ourselves approved unto God. By these and many, many other examples, we know we’re to memorize Scripture and impress its words on our hearts.
But what is the most efficient and effective method of memorization? Mnemonics? Repetition? And how do you memorize long passages of Scripture and keep the verse references straight?
Enter Dr. Andy Davis and his booklet, An Approach to the Extended Memorization of Scripture.
I know certain methods of memorization work for some people better than they do for others; but for me, regular ol’ repetition is the way to go—and that’s the way Dr. Davis recommends as well.
His booklet isn’t very long, but it contains a truly solid method for the memorization of long passages. Dr. Davis suggests one verse a day, to start with; but once you get the hang of it, he suggests advancing to six verses a day. Some may believe that the “advanced” method he provides is much too fast (and I have to admit, six verses per day is extremely fast), but the same principles can still be applied regardless of the number of verses you work on each day. Regarding references, he recommends keeping the chapter and verse numbers as part of the verse. As an example, Genesis 1:1–2 would be, “One-one: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. One-two: And the earth was without form, and void….” Dr. Davis recommends the memorization of entire books: this, he argues, helps prevent the inadvertent removal of a verse from its context and also gives an overall feel for the book.
Here’s the link to Dr. Davis’s little booklet. John Piper says, “I wish I could persuade everyone to do this.” I agree.
What are you memorizing right now?
© 2012 Kyle Shepherd | All Rights Reserved | All images property of their respective owners
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