How to Memorize 100 Verses

Can you quote John 3.16?

I bet you can.

When did you sit down and intentionally memorize John 3.16? When did you write the verse on one side of a 3 X 5 card and the reference on the other? When did you enter it into your Scripture Memory app?

I bet you never did.

How did you memorize it?

I’d suggest you can memorize 100 verses in the same way you memorized John 3.16—slowly through continual repetition. Let’s get specific.

What if there were an app that would allow you to listen to a few verses every day as you drive, walk, or get ready in the morning? What if it kept up with which verses need to be reviewed? What if the basic version was free? I have good news.

Download the Scripture Typer app. (There are likely others that will work, but I am most familiar with this one.) Download the group, “100 Top verses.” Look through the list and find the verses that are most interesting, or most familiar to you. Memorize those first.

Use the app’s record feature. (You have to pay for the premium version of the app to get this feature. It is $10. Well worth it.) Record a few verses. Type them out, typing the first letter of each word. This will enter the verse into the review system. (This may feel like cheating. Don’t worry, we are taking the slow plan.) Keep recording a few verses each day until you have all 100 memorized. Feel free to add verses of your own choosing.

Now, you will be able to review the verses each day. If you get a verse right today, it will bring it up for review tomorrow. If you get it right tomorrow, it will stretch the review to two days. If you get it right in two days, it will bring it up for review in three days, and so forth.

I generally let a verse work its way out to about six days between reviews, then I move it back to one day and repeat the process again.

I work on Scripture Memory two times a day. Once in the morning during my Quiet Time. Then, I listen to verses that need review during my walk. I don’t worry if I can’t say them with the recording—although, that is the goal. I just keep listening. I allow each verse to repeat twice each day. Every day, I listen to a few verses.

I plan to memorize these verses the same way I memorized John 3.16—by listeing and try to repeat over and over and over again. It may take a year—that is OK—I just keep working the system.

I have long believed that nothing will drive steel into your soul like Scripture Memory. I did a lot of it when I was in my twenties, but have let it go. The last six months I have become obsesses with Scripture memory. I want you to get obsessed too. It is a good obsession.

What are you waiting for? Download the Scripture Typer app today and get started with the life-transforming practice of memorizing God’s Word.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11 (NIV2011)