Tag: Scripture memorization

Scripture for Heart, Mind, & Soul

On By Mona SabahIn Uncategorized

So many people talk to me about NOT reading their Bibles.

I get many excuses… don’t get me wrong, many are valid reasons. However, there is a saying out there “You would if you wanted to.” That simple saying indicates priorities in our life.

Is the Word of God a priority for you?

Honestly, it has not been a priority for me in the past. I had a full time job, I taught school in the evenings and I had children. Being a wife, a mother, an employee and a professor did not leave much time in the day. I was lucky to read 1 verse and even that did not happen most days!

Then I was introduced to Bible Study and was told that I really needed to be “in the Word.” Bible Study allowed me to be more dedicated because it was built into my schedule. The problem here was that in the Summertime, there was no Bible Study — so again, I filled up my time with other things.

It was not until I found out how to do Scripture or Bible Journaling that I was able to read, think about (meditate), and draw Scripture. I have videos on my YouTube Channel how to Bible Journal – this one is through Psalm 1 — just a beautiful Psalm. This really helped me to set aside my own time to meditate on what the pictures in my head looked like about the different verses and then to draw them. As an unexpected bonus, I found that I had memorized several of those Scriptures!

My time in the Word of God was further helped by my friend who introduced me to reading the Bible in 30 days. This was another way for me to recharge what I did and how I developed a habit (most habits take at least 30 days to form) of reading the Bible for myself. If you are interested in this, here’s my post on how to get started.

Today, I am working with my mentor to memorize 1 Corinthians 15 (see pic above). I am using my fountain pens to write out the verses, to doodle and to make a concerted effort to read the chapter over and over again until the whole this is committed to my heart, mind and soul. These are the things that are eternal work — they ought to be given priority in our day. Again, I am not perfect – I was barely able to read 10 verses yesterday, as I was running from the morning until the evening.

Give God the tithe of your time and give Him your all. He gave us His Son who died for us. Isn’t a few minutes of our time worth it?

Think about it… what’s keeping you?

Ephesians Memory Cards

On By Mona SabahIn Memorization

Week one was tough! I hope you had a chance to see my struggles in the video I uploaded. My daughter who’s been helping me has already memorized several verses and she didn’t even sign on to do this!

I thought I’d share my Memory Cards today and show how my mind works. Last week I posted a few cards. Here they are again.

Ephesians 1:1

On day 4, I realized that I was not saying the verse number or address. Now, it’s a part of the verse.

Ephesians 1:2

The numbers rhyme on verses 2 & 3:

“One-two, Grace to you…” that’s a Hershey kiss for chocolate, which equals grace to me (part of my testimony).

“One-three, Blessed be…” I also circle/box words that are duplicates. I’ve been circling the word “in” because it keeps tripping me up!

Ephesians 1:4

Verse four was more confusing- no rhymes, so I used the first word “even” that has 4 letters & is even. There are also 2 “BEFORE “ in it (reminded me of “four”).

Ephesians 1:5

I had to be more creative with verse 5. The last line for me in pictures is “accordion “ to the “porpoise” (that’s supposed to be a dolphin & not a banana with a tail, per my daughter) of His “will.”

Ephesians 1:6

More of the same… nothing to rhyme with “one-six.”

Ephesians 1:7

Got to use color for this one! Another accordion and not much to rhyme with “one-seven.” Boo hoo!

Ephesians 1:8

Only thing I could come up with today was that the word “lavished” has 8 words…

Hope this helps a bit! I’m finding that reading the verse aloud 10 times and then closing my eyes to repeat it 10 times is working. The pictures help me to get a visual reminder. Also, I’m repeating all verses up to date in the morning before I get out of bed, and at night.

Even when you don’t feel like it, push through and focus on the discipline of doing this! That’s what I’m saying to myself!

Week 1-Memorizing Ephesians

On By Mona SabahIn Bible, Memorization
I have all my stuff in front of me this morning!

So excited to start today on our walk together through memorizing Ephesians. Here’s how it went this morning:

  1. Pray that God will help me to remember and inscribe His words on my heart.
  2. Read aloud the entire book of Ephesians – took me 16 min & 51 seconds.
  3. I took Dr. Andrew Davis’s schedule on p. 23 of his booklet and wrote out the whole schedule in my notebook.
  4. On the next page, I wrote today’s verses (see picture below).
Week One’s Scriptures on one page

Then, I took verse 1:1 and wrote it out on a 3 x 5 card that I hole-punched and put onto a binder ring.

3 x 5 card for Ephesians 1:1

Dr. Davis’s recommendation is to read the verse of the day 10 times and take a mental picture of each word. For me, that’s hard to do without actually drawing something out. So here’s my card with my little notes on it for me to take a mental picture of it. I couldn’t find anything for Paul, so I put a P above it. Christ Jesus is repeated twice, so I put a Cross on top. Saints has a halo above it and Ephesus has 3 Roman Columns.

In today’s verse, Paul is saying who he is (an apostle of Christ Jesus) and who he is writing to (saints who are in Ephesus). So, say that out loud 10 x and then close your eyes and try to remember the picture of the words 10 x.

That’s it for today.

Tomorrow and the next few days, you will do the same – start with verse 1:1, then read (10x) verse 2, close eyes & say verse 1 & 2 together).

What did you do? Anything different for your study today or this week? PLEASE share!

The PLAN – Memorizing Ephesians

On By Mona SabahIn Bible, Uncategorized

Today, I want to share the plan I would like to use for memorizing the book of Ephesians. Our daughter is getting ready to audition for a children’s play. She is feeling a bit intimidated because she will have to memorize lines — why is it that actors can memorize thousands of lines but when it comes to Scripture, people aren’t ready to commit? I mentioned this to a trusted friend the other day and she said I may be on to something. She’s found that some actors take on the persona of their character and thus have an easier time understanding the role and the lines they might speak.

Isn’t that what we are called to do? I don’t mean “act” like a Christian – I mean actually BE a Christian and put on Christ. This is our calling and Paul, in Ephesians 4:1-2 tells us exactly that “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” So, MEMORIZING is not just to babble out lines. It is to actually live the life you are being called to live. The book of Ephesians is a love letter to the church, to remind and encourage them that they belong to Christ and should look like it.

John Piper, on his website Desiring God has several articles on why you should memorize Scripture. There is a guest author who gives Ten Reasons to Memorize Scripture – he is spot on! The Jesus Himself tells us in John 15:7 ” If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” and again in John 8:31-32 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

HOW TO

There are several ways to approach this. The plan I will use is from Dr. Andrew Davis, called Scripture Memory Booklet. It’s a free PDF that’s 28 pages and is also available from Kindle. I recommend reading the whole booklet before you begin. It will help you tremendously and comes highly recommended. He has a plan at the end of the booklet that is 26 weeks (on p.23). Print out the plan and paste it in a notebook. On the page next to each week’s scripture, WRITE OUT the passage for the week.

Then, I will be using 3×5 note cards – not sure if I will use one card per verse, but you can. Punch a hole on the top left corner and grab a binder ring or a ribbon or twine to hold cards together. Now, take the cards wherever you go!

I read on another website that it takes 16 minutes to read Ephesians from start to finish. I didn’t believe it, so I timed myself on New Year’s Day. It took me 18 minutes at a natural pace. So, daily I will be reading ALOUD the entire book of Ephesians while I have my morning breakfast (in between sips of tea) and then I will be grabbing my note cards to read the verse over and over again.

Let’s say we start on Monday, the first thing I will do is to write out Eph 1:1 through 1:6 in my notebook. Then, I will write out the 6 verses on note cards and read the entire passage aloud. On Tuesday, read aloud and repeat verses 1:1 AND 1:2 together all day long. Wednesday – aloud + verses 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3… and so on. This way, you will not forget what you are committing to memory but are adding on.

Even if you don’t remember a single word, just reading the ENTIRE book of Ephesians over 155+ days will be quite incredible. What a wonderful way to spend time in the Bible. The book of Ephesians is about UNITY in Christ, in recognizing our WORTH in Christ, about our ROLE in life and about putting on the full armor of God! Cannot wait to have this be imprinted upon my heart!

WHY Memorize Ephesians?

On By Mona SabahIn Bible9 Comments

When I was around 7-8 years old, I was taught how to pray by my grandmother. In Islam, children are taught at an early age to memorize verses from the Quran for when we go to sleep, awake, eat, wash hands, etc but usually around the age of 7, most families begin to teach children the full prayers for the day. One has to understand that this is not like Christian prayers which can be in any language. Daily prayers in Islam MUST BE done in Arabic. The problem is that about 84% of the Muslim world does not speak Arabic.

Not only is the child learning to memorize prayers, but they must memorize them (usually) in a language that is not their own mother tongue. That was my case. Being a very stubborn girl (still am, for those of you who don’t know me!), I refused to learn how to pray until my mother (who spoke Arabic because my parents worked in Saudi Arabia) translated them for me and put them in writing.

Given this background, I did not necessarily relish memorizing Scripture when I became a Christian. Lo and behold, no one was making me memorize either. When I began to study the Bible, I found the words to be like poetry and they filled my soul. I had a DEEP DESIRE to learn these words so that I may share them with others who were having a bad day or were struggling so I began memorizing snippets of Scripture like many in my Bible studies had done.

Last year, for Valentine’s Day, I wanted to give my husband a different gift. I memorized what is sometimes known as the “Love Chapter” from 1 Corinthians 13 (you know, “love is patient, love is kind…”). I memorized it and recited it to him on Valentines Day, except that I said “Stephen is patient, Stephen is kind…” I stumbled just a tad bit, but overall was able to remember it. I tried recalling the chapter over the summer and SURPRISE! It was still there! 🙂 I still pray the chapter out loud so I can continue to remember.

The reason to memorize is not to play a game to see who wins or to have a race. It is to commit the verses to your memory, to pray them over your family and friends or others God places into your life. It is to be a discipline to bring you closer to our Father, it is to help increase our prayer life and to study God’s living Word.

Will you prayerfully consider joining me? I will post the “plan” that I am going to use (borrow from Dr. Andrew Davis) and also how I modify that plan to fit how I learn.

These are my own reasons… now, what are yours?