Scripture Memory 101

This episode contains portions from the following programs:

"What is the Easiest Way to Memorize Scripture?"

"Saturate Your Mind with Scripture"

"Quote and Float"

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Dannah Gresh: Whatcha gonna do in the coming year to grow spiritually? Have you thought about Scripture memory? 

Today I want to try to convince you that you . . . and yes, I’m talking about you! . . .  can and should memorize passages from the Bible. 

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I’m your host, Dannah Gresh. We’re calling this episode of Revive Our Hearts Weekend “Scripture Memory 101.” Together we’ll discover:

• The power of Scripture memory to calm your mind and heart.
• How to find the time and technique to finally succeed at it.
• And the importance of a Scripture memory partner.

Kids can do it. In fact, they do it so naturally. We took a microphone to a Sunday school class in Little Rock, Arkansas, and let me tell you what: they’ve hidden God’s Word in their hearts!

Aaron: “Be ye kind one to another.”

Everett: “Give thanks to the Lord that made great lights—sun by day, moon and stars by night.”

Emma: “But God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for our sins.”

Aaron: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart.”

Everett: “The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”

Dannah: Thanks and good job, Emma and Aaron and Everett. So if you’re thinking, Yeah, but they’re young. Memorizing is easy for little kids, that may be true, but it doesn’t let us adults off the hook.

I know it’s harder for us grown-ups. But lots of hard things are good things. This is one of them. Recently I’ve been working on memorizing Psalm 92. Rebekah, look up Psalm 92 for me in the ESV. Let’s see how I do. Now, I haven't looked at this for a while.

The point is this: kids can do it, a grandma like me can do it, and you can, too! In fact, did you know young adults who read the Bible regularly report far less anxiety and actually feel more hopeful about life? It’s true. A 2024 study found that Scripture-engaged young adults are flourishing compared to their Bible-disengaged peers. What if we packed that with the power that comes from meditating on Scripture as we memorize it?

Here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth with more on that:

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: When I talk with someone who’s discouraged or depressed, I often ask them, “Are you memorizing Scripture?” Now, that’s not a magic formula to make our problems go away, but memorizing God’s Word has power to change our perspective about whatever issues we’re facing. 

Now, you may be thinking, “I just can’t memorize!”

Author Don Whitney says that when it comes to memorization, our motivation is more important than our ability. 

Donald Whitney: Really, where there’s a will, there’s a way. The real secret is the desire and the commitment, and for all of us, it’s just repetition over time. There’s no magic way that will instantly put it in your mind and keep it there. That’s the way it is for just about everybody.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: If you’ve never memorized Scripture before, I suggest starting small and learn just a couple of verses a week. I’m confident that you’ll find that God’s Word will start to influence all of your thinking.

Dannah: Thanks for that encouragement, Nancy and Don Whitney. And by the way, that clip from Don came from a video produced by Southern Seminary, where he answered the question: “What is the easiest way to memorize Scripture?” You can find a link to that video when you go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend, and click on this episode.

Okay, so can you and I agree that memorizing God’s Word is important? Yes! And can we agree that it’s a good thing to put in place as the new year starts up? I think I heard a yes. But . . . how do we do it? 

Well, as Don Whitney just mentioned, there’s no secret formula to follow. But I do want to give you some ideas. I really want to shamelessly confront the excuse, “I’m too busy!” Here’s Glenna Marshall with some ways around that lie. Yes, I just called it a lie. 

Glenna Marshall: What I do want to encourage you to do is to redeem the time that you already have. I want you to utilize what I like to call “mental down times.” These are times during your day when your brain does not have to be engaged.

I mean, I’m folding laundry—twice a week there’s a laundry mountain on my bed. And, you know, it does not require my brain to be present. Now, my husband would argue because he got a gray sock and a black sock matched up the other day. (laughter) I think he’d like my brain to be a little more engaged. (laughter)

But you don’t have to really give all your brain power to folding laundry or maybe commuting to work or taking a walk, washing dishes, these times in your day where maybe your hands are active, but your mind isn’t.

Now, our temptation then is to turn on a show or a podcast or an audio book or the TV, just one of those things to fill the gap of time with our brains. Utilize a mental down time for memorizing Scripture because that’s time you have. You don’t have to find a new time. It’s already your time. We’re just going to use it for something else.

And, what that also does, if you pair Scripture memorization with a task, you are creating more neural pathways in your brain to retrieve memories.

Now, I am not a brain scientist. That’s not even the term . . . neuroscientist? Neuro somebody. (laughter) Somebody smarter than me. So, I am not one of those people. However, I did a little research.

I just turned in a book on memorizing Scripture, and I did some brain research, some brain science (about the most I will nerd out about anything), and I was fascinated by the way that the brain can hold onto memories. Like, why you remember certain experiences better than others. The more senses that are involved in an experience, the more likely you are to remember those details.

So, if you are memorizing Scripture while doing something that you always do, you are more likely to have success in recalling those passages.

So, what does this like for me? I will give you an example:

I memorized the entire book of James in the shower—in the shower. And I’m going to tell you, this is my number one tip for Scripture memorization: Print off your text. Put it in a zip-lock bag upside down, with the seal on the bottom. (laughter) Tape that thing to the shower wall.

Now, here’s the thing: If you decide to memorize a whole book of the Bible, you do not have to wash that shower wall because it’s covered in Scripture. (laughter) It’s a win-win! (laughter) What could be better than not having to scrub the shower wall? (laughter)

All right. So, you’re going to memorize Scripture in the shower. Here’s what this looks like. I should say, to get started, choose a chapter or a book—don’t be scared. Choose a book you’ve recently studied. Like, if in the summer you studied 1 John, choose 1 John.

• Print out 1 John 1.
• Type it out, write it out.
• Put it in a zip-lock bag.
• Tape it to the shower.

You’re familiar with the flow of the book because you’ve studied it recently.

Or a psalm that you’re familiar with.

Put it in the shower. And every time you get in the shower, you’re going to read the first phrase aloud ten times. Let the commas and the punctuation—the semicolons, periods—let those be a guide for phrases. Okay? So, pick a phrase, and say it out loud ten times.

Then, while you’re rinsing the shampoo out of your hair, you’re going to close your eyes, and you’re going to recite that line ten times. You can always check to see.

Now, do it out loud because mumbling aloud is far more effective than saying it in your head. If you’re just saying it in your head, you’re going to get distracted. You’re going to make your grocery list. You’re going to have an argument with someone in your head. (laughter) It’s just what’s going to happen. So, mumble it aloud to yourself like Psalm 1 tells us.

And then the next day you get in the shower—hopefully you’re not skipping too many showers (laughter)—and you’re going to review that first phrase. If you need to look at it, fine.

• Look at it once.
• Say it out loud once.
• Review it—say it ten times aloud.
• Go to the next phrase.
• And you’re going to do the exact same thing:
• Read it out loud ten times.
• Close your eyes; mumble it out loud ten times.

And it may take you a week to get through two phrases. It may take you two weeks. There is no race. This is not a race. The blessing of memorization is the journey. And I know that sounds cliché to say. It just is. Some things are clichés for a reason. The journey here is the blessing because it is the work of rehearsing those words over and over that will bless you the most.

I was memorizing the book of Colossians. I think I started at the end of 2020—I can’t really remember. But I was standing in the shower, washing my hair. I’m working on Colossians, and I am on this phrase in the very first chapter, and I noticed, just in pausing on this little phrase, noticing how Paul calls God Jesus’ Father, and he calls God our Father.

And as I’m standing there rehearsing these words, it’s hitting me. It’s like the Lord is preaching a sermon in one phrase. I’m thinking, God, our Father. Jesus our Father. I’m trying to get the words down, and it dawns on me: “This is spiritual adoption. You have been grafted into the family of God. Jesus is your Brother.”

And I’m like, “This is such good news!” and I’m washing my hair! (laughter) It’s great news! So, I’m just meditating on this one phrase, and it is giving my heart so much joy. That’s the beauty.

Memorization is slow. It is such a slow process, and I am so glad that it is because, when I’m reading my Bible (which is a habit I will never give up—I love studying deeply and reading whole books), when I pause to memorize, it forces me to slow down. It forces me to think through every word. “Why was this word placed in this order? Why did Paul use this qualifier? Why did David say it like this? Why did he use this word picture?”

And when you think about it while you’re mumbling it, the Lord is just burying that Word in your heart. In the crevices and folds of your brain, it is there. It slowly just changes the way you think, which will change the way you live and change the way you speak and change the way you respond.

So, shower Scripture memorization. I really do recommend it.

If that’s not your jam, print out the text somewhere else and put it where you will see it regularly. (I also keep a copy on the windowsill of my kitchen where I’m standing at the sink washing dishes multiple times a day.) So it’s there, somewhere that you’re going to see it regularly. Maybe that’s the bathroom mirror.

Or, I don’t know, if you take a train to work. (I live very rurally, so that’s a weird idea to me.) But if you’re a city person, and you ride a bus . . . I mean, I don’t know if I’d recommend doing this while you’re driving. Your brain should be engaged while you’re driving. But if you have a specific mental down time, where it’s regular—whatever is regular for you—pair Scripture memorization with that task and do it every day.

So, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

And I want you to keep in mind that reciting it is not the goal. Recitation, standing up before a group of people and reciting God’s Word is not the goal here. Saturation is the goal. Soaking your heart with God’s Word is the goal because you can be the little six-year-old Glenna, Pharisee that she was, and you can stand and recite verses and say, “Look how good my memory is.” Or you can day in and day out, quietly and slowly, meditate on Scripture and watch the Lord change your life because that’s the goal. Right?

We meditate on God’s Word to delight in it. To delight in Him. To love Him more deeply. To stay far from sin. That’s our goal in Scripture meditation.

Dannah: Shower Scripture memorization . . . I love it! That’s Glenna Marshall, speaking not too long ago in a breakout session at True Woman. Speaking of True Woman, have you registered for True Woman '25 in Indianapolis in October? There’s more information at ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend. Click on today’s program, "Scripture Memory 101." We’ll put a link to True Woman '25 registration there.

Again, there’s no formula to follow when it comes to hiding God’s Word in your heart. You just have to figure out what works best for you.

And, you probably shouldn’t do it alone. We need to talk about the importance of a Scripture memory partner. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth covered this topic, and a few other creative tips, with Nancy Epperson. Here she is. 

Nancy: Do you find it’s easier to do the new memorizing in the morning or in the evening?

Nancy Epperson: I'll tell you what I love to do. I love to swim, and I take my Bible right into that pool. I do that a couple of hours every day in the pool.

Nancy: Is this like a laminated version of the Bible?

Nancy Epperson: No. I’ve never gotten one wet.Now what I do also is I don’t bring my Bible. I just tread water, and what I do is I quote and float.

Nancy: (laughing) That’s great.

Nancy Epperson: I’m telling you something. My children grew up in the pool quoting and floating with mother, and all four of my kids can quote hundreds of verses, books of the Bible.

Nancy: So they were doing this with you?

Nancy Epperson: They were doing it with me. Much of the Scripture they know they never even looked at in the Bible. They heard it over and over and over and over—repetition.

Nancy: So this wasn’t just for you.

Nancy Epperson: Oh no.

Nancy: This was discipling them, too.

Nancy Epperson: Yes, and it was also because I had limited time. I wanted to review all my Scripture and meditate on it, and I wanted to be with my kids. So we just combined it.

Nancy: This is great because I’m thinking of listeners, Revive Our Hearts listeners, who are busy moms, a lot of little kids. They’re saying, “There’s no way I have time to memorize Scripture.” But you’re saying you found a way because it was so important.

Nancy Epperson: Yes, and I’ll tell you one of my favorite stories. When my fourth baby was born, the oldest was four.

Nancy: So you had four children age four and under.

Nancy Epperson: Yes, and I was so busy.

Nancy: That sounds like my mother.

Nancy Epperson: It was really wild.

Nancy: Were you memorizing Scripture in that season?

Nancy Epperson: Oh yes; oh yes; oh yes. That’s what got me through.

Nancy: So really from the time you were fourteen, have you been memorizing Scripture ever since?

Nancy Epperson: I've never stopped, ever since, yes. So what happened was one day I was in my kitchen. My son, Stuart, was about eighteen months old. I’ll never forget this because every day I would say, “This is the day the Lord hath made, [I] will rejoice and be glad in it," Psalm 118:24.

I would just quote that verse, honestly, probably twenty-five times a day. I would quote it with great conviction. “This is the day the Lord hath made, [I] will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Nancy: You needed that verse.

Nancy Epperson: I needed it. I would quote it over and over, and it was amazing how that did really help me come to a point of rejoicing.

Anyway, when Stuart was eighteen months old, I was in the kitchen. It was a very gloomy, rainy day, and I thought, Oh boy, I need to quote my verse. So I started. I said, “This is the day . . .” and I’ll never forget this, hearing a little eighteen-month-old boy say, “the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

I was stunned. I looked down on that shiny bald head—they were all bald—and I said, “How did he know that? I never taught him that. Oh, wait a minute, had I?” Then it dawned on me. Every day those kids had heard that verse, and do you know what? They could all quote it. Then I discovered many verses my little children could quote.

Let me tell you what I would do: As a young mother, I would write verses on the countertop with a pen.

Nancy: On the countertop?

Nancy Epperson: On top of it—just write it right on the counter, and I would read it over. We’d be in there. I’d go over and over it. This is how I would memorize, and this is how they would learn it. We’d go over and over and over the verse. Then toward the end of the week, it would start fading, and it usually faded pretty much . . .

Nancy: This is like Deuteronomy—write it everywhere.

Nancy Epperson: Exactly. I’m a believer in Deuteronomy 6. Permeate your home with God’s Word.

So by the end of the week, they would learn it, and then we would put a new one up. If a little of it was still there, I’d wash it off with some Comet, and then I’d put a new one. So I’d write it on the counter tops, even on mirrors, and I discovered that the kids were just picking up all these Scriptures.

Then I would apply Scripture. For example, if we were in the car and it was a glorious day, I might quote Psalm 19:

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. (vv. 1–3)

I would quote that whole chapter to them.

I’ll never forget when my little nephew came to live with us when he was thirteen. We were going to meet my other kids and my husband at this park course where you walk a mile course. It was the end of the day, and there was this fabulous sunset.

My husband and son were way on the other end of the park course, at the far end of the mile, and we were just approaching. I saw this sunset, and my little thirteen-year-old nephew was with me. I said, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.”

Well, I quoted that whole chapter to my nephew as I saw this beautiful sunset. Then Stuart got closer and closer, my son, and then as he almost got to us, he burst forth with Psalm 19. I’ll never forget. My little nephew got the most shocked expression on his face, like, “How did he know?”

Nancy: It was in his heart, too.

Nancy Epperson: I just had to laugh because he knew when his mother saw that sunset, he knew exactly what she would be quoting.

Nancy: Isn’t that great? So your children were really raised in the atmosphere of the Word.

Nancy Epperson: Absolutely, every day of their lives, and you know what? Each one of them loves the Lord and is living for the Lord and is teaching their children God’s Word.

Getting back now to my method.

• You find your partner.
• You pick your passage.
• You agree on the number of verses.
• You agree on the version.
• You agree on when you’re going to meet.
• Then you meet and you quote to each other.

Now the key is, during the week go over your verses, over and over and over. I’d say fifteen, twenty times a day, over and over—thoughtfully—every single day. Repetition is what makes it work, and I guarantee there is not a human being who cannot memorize Scripture.

Dannah: Not a single one! That includes me . . . and you. What great practical advice from Nancy Epperson, speaking with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. 

I want to stress the importance of finding a Scripture memory partner. I have . . . oh, literally a few thousand of them! You heard me right. I do a Scripture memory challenge twice a year with my True Girl followers. That’s why I was memorizing Psalm 92. True Girl is a ministry I lead for tween girls and their moms. This past year, we memorized Psalm 91 to calm anxious thoughts and Psalm 92 to learn the secret of a flourishing life. Can I tell you something? Having those sweet girls following me, well, it was the accountability I needed to lock myself into the habit. And . . . the reward . . . it comes when these girls send me their videos. Listen to this one:

Aria: Hi Dannah. I’m going to quote some of Psalm 92. “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to the LORD O Most High, to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night.”

Hmm. That good right there. It gets me excited to memorize Scripture this year, too! Because, one reason we need to memorize is to model it for the next generation! 

I hope you’re inspired to start working on memorizing a passage of God’s Word. Well, before the new year is here, I hope you’ll consider something else . . . giving a gift to Revive Our Hearts. We’re in the final days of our year-end campaign. We’re asking God to provide just the amount He wants us to have to get off to a strong start in 2025. 

Don’t forget! Your donation will have twice the impact right now because of our matching challenge. Every December donation to Revive Our Hearts will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to a total of two million dollars. But we need to hear from you before December is over. You can help us continue bringing the message of freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ to women everywhere. But we need to hear from you in the next few days.

To give, just go to ReviveOurHearts.com/donate.

I hope you have a safe and happy new year, my friend. Thanks for listening today. I’m Dannah Gresh. 

We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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