I could never do it!
Do what?
Memorize Scripture!
Yes you could.
Many people think they could never manage to memorize one verse of the Bible let alone 4 verses or a whole Psalm.
But it can be done if you really want to do it.
I'm going to Teach you how you can memorize any verse you want to.
When someone asks me which is my favourite Psalm I normally have not trouble in replying because I have always loved Psalm 34 since I was a teenager.
But no I have never tried to memorize the whole Psalm, that would be 22 verses and I'm not sure I would ever have the will power to learn all 22.
There are verses within the Psalm that I have memorized simply because I have liked them and read them so often that I do know them off by heart.
That is my first words of advice to anyone wishing to know how they can memorize any bible verses
1. Read the verse often, every day, multiple times in the day.
Let's take verse 1 of Psalm 34 as an example.
I'm going to Teach you how you can memorize any verse you want to.
When someone asks me which is my favourite Psalm I normally have not trouble in replying because I have always loved Psalm 34 since I was a teenager.
But no I have never tried to memorize the whole Psalm, that would be 22 verses and I'm not sure I would ever have the will power to learn all 22.
There are verses within the Psalm that I have memorized simply because I have liked them and read them so often that I do know them off by heart.
That is my first words of advice to anyone wishing to know how they can memorize any bible verses
1. Read the verse often, every day, multiple times in the day.
Let's take verse 1 of Psalm 34 as an example.
This verse is easier to memorize than other verses because it is not a long verse and the two parts of the one sentence flow easily together.
Just read it out loud to yourself right now and you will see what I mean.
Yes?
Leave your bible open at the verse and come back often to lift up your bible and simply read the verse a few times.
Come back to it tomorrow and do the same thing throughout the day.
I am sure that you will have memorized that verse in a few days and will be saying it to yourself even as you are reaching for your Bible.
2. Write out the verse.
It is well-known that writing something out helps us to remember better so use that now to help you memorize the scriptures.
Look at Psalm 34 v 2
My soul shall make her boast in the Lord:
the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
Get a notebook and turn to a new page.
Write the verse on two lines - it easily falls into 2 sections so one section to each line.
As you write it read it out loud.
Leave a line and repeat and repeat until you are at the bottom of the page in your notebook.
By now you will have seen the flow of that verse (this is one of the reasons that the Psalms are easier to learn than other passages because it feels like they have a flow to the words, remember they have a rhythm because they were originally songs) and this rhythm or beat will help you as you speak it out.
Think of that verse doesn't it make you feel glad because when others hear of our trust in the Lord they will be glad too - in other words we will have encouraged others.
3. Feel the excitement of a verse that is an exaltation to praise the Lord.
Psalm 34 v 3 is a good example of this.
The Psalmist David was urging united praise to God in this verse, what better than having the sense of others praising God with you.
If you and I are both praising His Name we are united.
4. Personal Testimony - Action from you and Result from God.
Psalm 34 v 4 is a great verse to know when sharing your testimony because it is so much a part of our testimonies.
Haven't we all been in this position of being fearful of something and when we take it to God we have proved that He has answered our prayer.
It certainly was part of David's testimony because he wrote this at a time when he had been very afraid for his life.
This is an example of a verse where once you have learned the first part of the verse the second is natural follow-on.
So always think of the meaning of the first part of a verse and in a lot of instances it will help you to remember the second part.
5. Instruction and the reason why it is good advice.
This time we are going to look at Psalm 34 v 8
When we instruct or teach or tell someone the way to do something or what is good for someone we normally then give them the explanation of why this is a good instruction or teaching or the result that has been seen in the past.
The instruction or recommendation here is to taste and see that the Lord is good.
The explanation is that we know people have been blessed when they do this.
So if a verse has an instruction mostly it will also have that reason why it is a good instruction and they go hand in hand so we have another help to memorize.
6. Question and Answer within a verse.
If you ask a question you expect an answer to that question and in some verses we see that pattern so use it to your advantage when memorizing.
When the first part of the verse poses a question check if the second part answers it and if so then learn it as a question and an answer - it really will help.
I'm going to go to another Psalm here to use 2 very well-known verses to help you see my point.
Psalm 121 v 1 & 2
Psalm 121 v 1 & 2
In verse 1 we have the question
From whence does my help come?
and
in verse 2 we have the answer.
My help comes from the Lord who made
Heaven and earth.
Logical to have an answer follow a question and hence verse 1 is not complete without verse 2.
Listen to anyone quoting from the start of this Psalm and they never quote verse 1 on it's own.
7. Understand the meaning of the verse.
Let's Look at Psalm 34 v 1 again
A verse like this one has only one sentence which is in two parts.
Things are always easier to learn if they are logical or make sense to the learner.
The first part of the verse is a statement
I will bless the Lord at all times:
You say this to yourself even 3 times and you almost have it learnt off by heart.
I say almost here because for the rest of the next hour you will remember it and maybe for the rest of today you will remember it but perhaps you might not be so fluent in it by tomorrow.
But you are on your way to memorizing this verse.
The second part of the verse is another similar statement which is a logical follow-on from the first part
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
it's a natural follow-on statement because if we want to bless God all the time then we will have to have words of Praise and Adoration and Love for Him coming to our thoughts throughout our waking hours and hence we will be speaking out words that represent that.
By now you know the meaning of the verse and it is always easier to learn a verse when you understand it.
That is not to say that if we do not understand a verse fully we cannot memorize the verse and hopefully we will try to learn verses we don't understand and pray that through the memorizing of the verse God will give us understandng of it.
Also when a verse has the words AND or BUT in it then we will have two parts of the verse in accordance with each other or in opposition to each other.
So a follow-on coming naturally from the first part, or two parts in agreement using the AND, or two parts in opposition using the BUT give you clear definition and meaning in a verse and make it easier to learn.
8. Make it easy to see the verse clearly & regularly each day.
We cannot have our Bible at hand every moment of the day so if you feel you need frequent readings of the verse like pop-up reminders then do the following:
Get a post-it pad and write the verse out clearly on it then tear off the post-it and stick it on
- the mirror you will use first thing each morning and last thing each night
- the front cover of your Bible
- the front cover of the book you are currently reading
- the door of the fridge
- the door of the cupboard where you go to get your favourite mug for that cup of coffee
Psalm 34 v 1 and 3 (see pics above) are great ones for the mirror.
9. Make or Use Bible Verse Graphics
A. The verses you have seen above are all graphics that I have made and I can tell you that in making the graphics I learn the verses.
In making and working with something we spend (a good deal of) time thinking about the words and especially with the shorter verses we tend to end up learning them.
So if you want to try your hand at making a graphic or writing the verse and illustrating it then this can help you learn it and you can put it in all the places you could put a post-it note.
I post a bible verse graphic every morning on my Facebook Page for Sandra's Ark so if you want to be encouraged by a verse each day or have a graphic you can Save in Facebook then click through to my Facebook Page and be sure to like and follow the page to see those graphics in your feed each day.
B. Another way to use a graphic is to set it as wallpaper or lock screen pic on your phone - then you always have it on hand.
For this you will need it to be a suitable portrait shape and size so most of the normal verse graphics you see will not suit.
I have a few verses made out for screen savers & you can download them from
And now for the last Way to learn your Bible Verse and I have to say it is my favourite way.
10. Sing It.
For years we have known that singing is one of the easiest ways to learn and memorize.
When we were teenagers my husband Fred and I learnt a song and loved it and it is one of the ways I have always remembered the start of Psalm 34.
Many others have benefited in memorization from putting words of scripture to music so
if you can find a song based very closely to the scripture passage then use it.
If you want to learn the song I used to memorize the first 4 verses of Psalm 34
you can hear it in the video below.
