Bible-Reading.comWeekly Bible Memory Plan
Here’s the Bible memory plan that I use. Each week, I memorize two new verses and review certain verses from previous weeks. Each day of the week, I work with the verses until I can recite them from memory.
The verses appear again on the list for review after 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 (and so on) weeks.
One of the problems I’ve always had with other memory programs is that there is either no review or too much review. With no review, I forget the verses. With too much review, I remember the verses, but find myself far too limited in how many verses I can memorize (and still review). This plan takes the best of both worlds. By reviewing verses more in the immediate future but less in the distant future, they are kept fresh long enough and reviewed frequently enough to make them “stick.” But by doubling the time between reviews, the list of review verses grows very slowly:
- Starting with the 2nd week, you review two verses per week.
- Starting with the 4th week, four verses per week.
- Starting with the 8th week, six verses per week.
- 16th week: 8 verses; 32nd week: 10; 64th week: 12; 128th week: 14; 256th week (five years): 16.
Even after 80 years, you’re only up to 24 verses per week of review, in addition to the two new verses each week. I find that the review takes almost no time at all, since the verses are still relatively fresh in my mind.
At two verses per week, you can memorize over 100 verses per year. In only 10 years, that’s 1,000 verses. In a lifetime, that can be as much as 8,000 verses, or a quarter of the Bible! Now that’s a goal!
Choosing the verses
As I’m doing the daily Bible reading, I jot down the reference to each verse that I would like to memorize. I jot down verses from sermons and personal study too. I try to get all verses that have doctrinal significance, are good for soul-winning, or are especially uplifting. Then, usually once a week, I add those references to a list of future verses to memorize.
Each week, take the next two verses from the top of that list as your new verses. For review, number the pairs you’ve learned with this week’s new pair as #1, last week’s as #2, and so on back. Review pairs #2, #4, #8, #16, #32 and so on. Each pair then comes back 1, 2, 4, 8 (and so on) weeks after its last review.
Hide God’s Word in your heart. You’ll be surprised at just how easy it really is!