0:07

Welcome back to the Coffee and Bible

0:09

Time podcast . For those that

0:11

may be listening for the first time , our podcast

0:13

is an offshoot from our main platform

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, Youtube . Our channel is called Coffee

0:18

and Bible Time , where our goal is

0:20

to help people delight in God's

0:22

Word and thrive in Christian

0:24

living . We also have a website

0:27

and storefront with Bible studies , prayer

0:29

journals , courses, and more . Hey

0:33

, Coffee and Bible Time community

0:35

. I am Mentor Mama , and today

0:38

we are going to be talking about the

0:40

power of Scripture memorization

0:43

and the benefits

0:45

of meditating on God's Word

0:47

. You know , memorizing

0:49

Scripture seems to be a

0:52

bit of a lost art today

0:55

. I know many of us can recite

0:58

our favorite verse or maybe even

1:00

a few , but really storing

1:02

Scriptures into memory

1:04

can be tough and

1:07

also with the convenience of having

1:09

the Bible at our fingertips on our

1:12

phones , people may not

1:14

even feel that it's necessary

1:16

to put Scripture to memory any

1:18

longer . Well , our guest

1:20

today , Glenna Marshall

1:22

, author of the book Memorizing

1:25

Scripture the Basics , Blessings

1:27

and Benefits of Meditating

1:29

on God's Word , is here

1:31

to discuss the importance of

1:33

knowing God's Word and storing

1:36

it not only in our

1:38

memory but deep in our

1:40

hearts . She will also share

1:42

with us tools to help bolster

1:45

our ability to memorize Scripture

1:47

. Yay , we need that . So

1:50

that applies to everyone

1:52

, whether you feel you are

1:55

good at that or not

1:57

. Glenna Marshall

1:59

is a pastor's wife and

2:01

mother of two very

2:03

energetic sons . She

2:06

is the author of the

2:08

Promise is His Presence

2:10

and Everyday Faithfulness

2:13

. She writes regularly

2:15

at glennamarshall . com

2:17

on biblical literacy

2:19

, suffering and the faithfulness

2:22

of God . She is a member

2:24

of Grace Bible Fellowship

2:27

in Missouri . Please welcome

2:29

Glenna .

2:32

Thank you , I'm so happy to be here .

2:34

Glenna, I'm so excited

2:36

to have you here today because

2:39

you know Bible

2:41

memorization . I think a lot of

2:43

people actually do really strive

2:45

and want to do it , but

2:48

it can feel very elusive

2:50

, I think , for many people

2:52

. So you actually describe

2:55

in your book Bible memorization

2:58

as a bridge between

3:00

reading and living

3:02

. Tell us what you mean

3:05

by that and what led you

3:07

personally to start a Scripture

3:09

memorization plan .

3:12

So I am a big , big believer

3:15

in daily Bible study . I would say maybe

3:17

15 years ago the Lord just really grabbed

3:20

my heart about getting

3:22

into His word and studying book by book

3:24

and since then it's just a discipline

3:26

. I will never give up because the

3:28

Bible has transformed my life and my

3:31

understanding of who God is and the Gospel

3:33

, and I love it . I'll never let go of it . However

3:35

, there are days where you read

3:38

your Bible and for me that's early in the morning and

3:40

then you close your Bible and then you get on with your

3:42

day and you may not think about what you

3:44

studied or read or meditated on for

3:46

the rest of the day . And sometimes

3:48

I feel like I'm sort

3:51

of separating my life into the

3:53

time I'm spending in God's word and then like

3:55

just getting on with my work , and

3:57

I think a lot of people can probably relate to that . You

3:59

have like your sacred hour and then

4:01

you have your secular hours , and

4:04

so I remember several years ago

4:06

really just as a mom honestly

4:08

struggling with anger , a lot , just dealing with

4:10

disobedience of having young kids and

4:13

really just childish things

4:15

that my kids were doing , and I was just reacting

4:17

the wrong way all the time . I just

4:19

felt like I was taking everything personally

4:22

and that made me feel like a failure as

4:24

a mom , and I just

4:26

had this sort of I guess I would call it a besetting

4:29

sin of anger . I would confess daily

4:31

, pray about it , ask the Lord to help me with

4:33

it . It felt like , though I

4:36

studied the word regularly and spent time

4:38

in prayer regularly , I just could not

4:40

find victory over this area of sin

4:42

. And one day I was praying and confessing

4:44

again and the Lord brought

4:46

to mind a verse that I had memorized as a child

4:49

when I was in a Bible drill program at

4:51

my church that I grew up in , and

4:53

it was Psalm 119:11 , I will

4:56

hide your word in my heart so that I will not sin

4:58

against you . And everything sort

5:00

of crystallized for me in that moment

5:02

that one of the ways

5:04

that we really fight sin or put

5:06

it to death or stay away from it

5:08

is to store God's word in our hearts

5:11

, to meditate on it , to remember

5:13

it , to think about it , to memorize it . And

5:16

I thought , okay , I feel like

5:18

this is a very simple thing

5:20

that I have missed for most of my life

5:22

and I have absolutely nothing to

5:24

lose . And so I started with I believe

5:26

it was Psalm 46 at the time I

5:29

started memorizing it once I memorized that

5:31

and moved on to another Psalm I think that was Psalm

5:33

1 , moved on to some other Psalms , then

5:35

moved on and took on the book of James

5:37

. It took me about a year , so I

5:39

memorized the book of James . And then I moved on

5:41

to Colossians , which took almost two

5:43

years . And then for the last

5:46

year I've been in the book of 1 Peter

5:48

, and I'm not fast , I don't move

5:50

very quickly through the memorization

5:52

, but I noticed , maybe

5:55

for the first time in my life , that there was major

5:58

victory in this area of sin that I had

6:00

been struggling with for so long , and

6:02

it really was , that God's word always proves true

6:04

, his word is always right and he

6:07

is wise to give us the instructions that we

6:09

need , and so I felt

6:11

like memorization sort of bridged

6:13

that gap between my study of the

6:15

word and my practice of the word

6:18

. So , instead of just closing my Bible

6:20

and being done with the word for the day

6:22

, then I would have these touch points

6:24

throughout my day where I was meditating on Scripture

6:26

and coming back to it because I was trying to memorize

6:28

it . I was very simply trying to memorize it , coming

6:30

to it at different points during the day , and

6:33

so when you're returning to Scripture over and over

6:36

, it just transforms the way that you think

6:38

, which then transforms the way that

6:40

you live , and it was such a life-changing

6:42

process that I just could not

6:44

stop talking about it . And so , like

6:47

most writers , if there's something you can't

6:49

stop talking about , then you end up writing a book

6:51

about it .

6:55

That's a great story and

6:57

just a very practical encouragement

7:01

, I think , for all of us . That shows

7:03

that if you can devote

7:05

your time to this , it really can draw you

7:08

closer in your relationship

7:10

with the Lord . Do you find , Glenna

7:13

, that when you're working

7:15

whatever you're working on currently like

7:18

you can still remember

7:20

all of the things that you memorized

7:22

in the past , or does it kind of just

7:25

sit with you during that time

7:27

that you're doing it ?

7:29

I would say it's a little bit of both . Most

7:32

of the transforming work is done

7:35

in the process of memorization

7:37

, and I always say that the goal is not to

7:39

be able to stand up and recite it , though that certainly

7:41

is a neat thing that you can do , that can be

7:43

encouraging to people that you recite it . For

7:46

I think that the

7:48

good work , memorization , happens in

7:50

that daily rehearsing of

7:52

phrases and sentences and paragraphs

7:54

, these verses that we're storing up in our memory , because

7:57

as you're working on it , you're thinking

7:59

deeply about it . You're

8:02

thinking why this verb , why that adjective

8:04

, why this character

8:07

trait of God ? Why is it worded like this

8:09

? I mean , at least for me , when I'm trying to memorize

8:11

, thinking about the order of the words in the

8:13

sentence helps me to sort of wrap

8:15

my mind around it , and as you do that , I

8:18

mean these are God's holy and inspired

8:20

and inerrant words , and so this

8:23

is what he uses to sanctify us . I mean

8:25

Jesus talked in John 17 that he

8:27

prayed actually for all believers

8:30

to be sanctified by truth

8:32

, and that God's word is truth , and

8:34

so this is one of the primary means by

8:36

which God will make us like Jesus , and

8:39

so there's real power in meditating

8:41

on God's word . So really think it's the practice

8:44

, that daily work , where a lot of that transformation

8:46

is happening . But I

8:48

mean , you know , maybe a couple of years removed

8:50

from the book of James , there are still big

8:52

portions that are embedded

8:55

in my memory for life . If you give me the first

8:57

couple of words , I can start to go with it . One

9:01

of the real benefits of that is like

9:04

I understand the flow of the book of James

9:06

. Spending a year memorizing it , I can

9:08

think three . Well , chapter one talks about

9:10

this and then in chapter two he moves to this argument

9:12

and you can sort of give

9:14

yourself a good holistic overview

9:17

of a particular book of the Bible

9:19

. And so while I probably , you know , three

9:21

or four years removed from memorizing James

9:23

, I probably

9:25

could not sit and recite the whole book for you right now

9:28

, most of it is still , you

9:30

know , in my memory , in my heart , and I refer

9:32

to it , comes up to mind all

9:35

of the time in conversations

9:37

, when I'm studying , when I'm writing . And

9:40

I think that when you do that , when you give

9:42

yourself long portions of time

9:44

to think on particular passages of scripture

9:46

, you're just , you're giving yourself

9:49

like , think of , like a bank vault

9:51

of God's word that

9:54

then the Holy Spirit can bring to mind

9:56

really for the rest of your life . It's

9:58

just a gift you're giving yourself that the Lord is

10:00

pleased to use . I love that so much

10:02

. Yes absolutely .

10:04

You know . I think that that kind of takes

10:06

maybe a heavy weight off of people's

10:09

shoulders because maybe they feel like they

10:11

have the expectation that

10:13

you know , oh , something that I

10:15

, you know , memorized three years ago

10:18

I can't remember now what's wrong with me , so

10:22

but I love that conceptually

10:24

. It's within your

10:26

heart now and , like you said , the

10:29

Holy Spirit will refer you

10:31

back to it right when you need it . Well

10:35

, let's talk about some

10:37

obstacles that people have

10:39

about Bible memorization

10:42

. What would you say are

10:45

some of those and what are the keys

10:47

to unlocking their

10:49

potential ?

10:52

Well , I would say most people when you

10:54

talk to them about memorizing Scripture . I think most

10:56

Christians believe it's something

10:59

that they should do and maybe even

11:01

want to , but are so intimidated

11:03

by the thought of memorizing

11:06

that the first response I always

11:08

get when I'm talking about this is oh , I have

11:10

a terrible memory . I just I can't do

11:12

that . I mean , but really that's what literally

11:14

everyone says . So it's not

11:16

that we're all very exceptional

11:19

with our poor memories . I think we all feel

11:21

sort of the limitations of our memories

11:23

. But I did a little bit

11:25

of brain science research while I was writing

11:27

my book and because I wanted to understand

11:30

the brain's capacity to memorize

11:32

and I cannot

11:35

go very deep into the weeds of the brain science

11:37

portion because I'm not a scientist or

11:39

a doctor or anyone in that

11:42

field . I was fascinated

11:44

by what I learned because God

11:46

has designed our brains in

11:49

an amazing way . I

11:51

mean , aside from the way that our brains control

11:53

everything that our bodies do , our

11:55

brains are designed to both remember

11:58

and forget information . There's

12:00

a portion of our brain , the hippocampus , that

12:02

is there for us to hold on to information

12:05

for very short periods of time , like if

12:07

you're trying to remember a passcode to get

12:09

into an online account , you know they send you a

12:11

passcode . You need to type it in . You don't need

12:13

that number forever , you know like there's

12:16

just stuff you don't need to remember . So

12:18

your hippocampus can let things go , but it can also

12:20

begin to encode memories and

12:23

move them to multiple locations

12:25

in your brain for long-term storage . And

12:27

what I discovered in my research

12:30

was that the more details

12:32

that you attach to a

12:34

memory or the memorizing process

12:37

, the easier it is to retrieve

12:39

that memory . And it's not like going into your

12:41

brain and finding a file it's not

12:43

exactly how it works . It's more like reliving

12:46

the memory . That's what your brain does . It's

12:48

like you know , if you think about a childhood

12:51

memory , you can remember certain components

12:53

, like what you wore , what you ate on

12:55

a day at the beach . There are

12:57

sort of keystones that you remember

12:59

because and maybe that's an

13:01

experience you had with the sibling , who remembers

13:03

the same trip to the beach , but with completely

13:06

different details because what you

13:08

pay attention to is what you remember

13:10

. And so , thinking

13:12

through the process of how to memorize scripture

13:14

, if we add details to our

13:17

memorization process , it is

13:19

easier for us to sort of retrieve

13:21

those memories . So what that

13:23

means for memorization is not just

13:25

standing over and over and trying to say

13:27

a verse just wrote . It means

13:30

pulling in other learning styles

13:32

, like audio bibles , like

13:34

using mnemonic devices , like

13:37

employing the first letter method

13:39

, writing the text , saying

13:41

it aloud . And then one of the things that

13:43

was so crucial for me was

13:46

to attach Bible

13:48

memorization to a task

13:50

where my hands

13:52

were maybe busy but my mind wasn't

13:54

. And there are lots of times during our day where

13:56

you're doing things like washing dishes or folding laundry

13:59

or taking a walk or working out at the

14:01

gym , or if you have a commute to work

14:03

, where you're

14:05

sort of engaged in what you're doing but your

14:07

mind is kind of free to wander . If you

14:09

will take a task and

14:12

notice I'm not saying create new time , I'm

14:14

saying redeem time that you already have

14:17

and use memorization then

14:19

you're sort of giving your brain

14:21

a way to default to memorization

14:24

. So what that looks like for me is

14:26

I get up every morning , I do my Bible study

14:28

in prayer time , I go to the gym

14:30

with my husband , we come home , get

14:32

kids off to school and then I get in the shower and in

14:34

my shower , taped to my shower wall

14:36

, are my scripture passages and they're in ziploc

14:38

bags so they don't get wet . And

14:41

every day I step into the shower and my brain

14:43

immediately goes to memorization

14:45

, because I've been doing it for years and so I'm

14:48

taking that five , 10 minutes every day , working

14:50

on reviewing what I've already learned

14:52

and adding new phrases every few days

14:54

, and that process of just

14:57

adding details to memorization

14:59

has really helped me understand

15:01

that your brain is designed to

15:03

memorize . You just have to tap into some of

15:05

those ways to sort of unlock

15:07

that , and so it feels like a hurdle

15:10

. But I mean , god made your brain

15:12

and it's amazing what he has done in creating

15:14

your brain and I

15:16

believe that he is pleased to help

15:18

us in the practice of memorizing his word

15:21

.

15:23

That is such a cool idea . I

15:26

never thought of that . Yeah

15:29

, some of the places that I

15:31

do it , I think , like you said , maybe on a walk

15:34

or at the gym or

15:36

something like that , but that's just

15:38

such a fun idea Because , you're right

15:40

, we can definitely multitask

15:43

when we're in the shower . Oh

15:45

my goodness . Okay . Well

15:47

, you know , one of the things , Glenna , that I really

15:49

loved about your book was your

15:51

chapter that talks

15:54

about knowing his voice , and

15:57

you sort of describe this chain

15:59

reaction the longer

16:02

we walk with Christ , the

16:04

more we recognize his voice and

16:06

the more we listen to his voice , the more we trust

16:09

it . And as we trust

16:11

it , you said , we become more

16:13

confident to stand firm

16:15

on what we know to be true

16:18

, and that just really resonated

16:20

with me . Tell us more about

16:23

this and how Bible memorization

16:25

can play a role in discerning God's voice

16:28

.

16:30

Well , I think about you

16:32

most people have heard that analogy that when

16:35

you work in a bank as a bank

16:37

teller , they teach you

16:39

how to identify counterfeit

16:41

money by teaching

16:44

you what real money looks like . They

16:46

don't have time to show you every kind of

16:48

counterfeit bill that exists

16:50

, because there's all kinds , and so

16:52

what you do is you learn the genuine

16:54

artifact . And when you know the genuine

16:57

artifact then you can distinguish it from the

16:59

counterfeits . And that

17:01

is so true for talking

17:03

about what is true and what God's word

17:06

actually says , there's

17:08

so much , even within Christian culture

17:10

. That is , you know , maybe the

17:14

fringe side of biblical truth

17:16

, or it's just close enough to biblical

17:18

truth , but it maybe sounds good . I

17:21

recently was watching a video

17:23

on social media where I

17:25

think it was Christianity Today had gone to

17:27

a Christian college and they interviewed

17:30

students and tried to see if they could

17:32

tell the difference between Bible

17:34

verses and AI , generated

17:37

quote-unquote scripture , and

17:40

let me tell you some

17:42

of them were difficult to know for sure . It

17:45

sounded like scripture , but maybe

17:47

the slant was just a little bit off and

17:49

sometimes the students weren't sure

17:51

and they chose the AI version as

17:54

the biblical truth . And I just I think that's so

17:56

interesting , because even something

17:59

that's kind of adjacent

18:01

to Christianity can sound

18:03

true and right , but if you don't know

18:05

what God's word actually says , you

18:07

may not know for sure . And

18:10

so I think that the way that

18:12

we know who got

18:14

it . Well , he has revealed himself in scripture . That's

18:16

how he has revealed himself to us in Christ

18:18

and through his word , and so

18:22

for us to know him

18:24

intimately , we have to submit

18:26

ourselves to this means

18:28

of grace that he has given us to know

18:30

him , which is through scripture . And

18:32

the longer that we do that , the

18:34

more time that we spend in his word

18:36

, then I would say

18:38

, the more deeply we understand who he

18:40

is , the more readily we can

18:43

see and distinguish a truth from a lie . And

18:46

so I like to think

18:48

of that passage in John 10 where Jesus

18:50

talks about the

18:52

sheep know the voice of the shepherd

18:55

and they won't go off with a stranger because

18:57

they don't recognize his voice . And

18:59

I think that it's a beautiful picture of

19:01

, and really the sheet being safe in the

19:03

father's hand . I just I love that picture because , truly

19:07

, the longer and the more time we give to

19:10

his word , thinking about it , meditating

19:12

on it , then , like we

19:14

do know what's true , we know who we're following

19:16

, we know who our shepherd

19:18

is and we're not so easily swayed by

19:20

the lies of our culture , even the ones that sound okay

19:23

. And there's

19:25

safety in knowing the voice of your shepherd

19:28

.

19:29

Yes , absolutely

19:31

. You know that's incredible

19:34

, that that

19:36

we can hear and know God's

19:38

voice . And

19:41

if we take this time

19:44

, like you've suggested , in

19:46

really memorizing

19:48

scripture and how

19:53

the bible says , you know , we need to train

19:56

under it , we need to obey

19:59

it , and all of these things are what

20:01

draws closer and closer to

20:03

the Lord , and if

20:05

we can recognize his voice , we

20:07

stand firm on what we know to be true

20:10

. And and in this day

20:12

and age , we really really

20:14

need to be doing that , because I hadn't

20:17

even thought of

20:19

an AI generated scripture verse

20:21

like that just blows my mind

20:23

, really and so

20:25

we do need to be very

20:29

grounded in God's word . Well

20:31

, is there a actually a biblical precedent

20:34

for memorizing God's word , or

20:36

is it just enough to read

20:38

our bibles ?

20:41

Well , it's definitely not less than reading

20:43

your bibles . I definitely don't

20:45

want to say , hey , memorize and don't read . No

20:47

, I think we need both study reading

20:50

, repetitive reading , and memorization . I

20:52

mean , the more of God's word that we get into our life

20:54

, the better . But there's

20:56

not like a command . You know

20:58

you must memorize Scripture

21:00

. That command is not there , but there

21:03

are many biblical precedents for

21:05

Scripture memorization . There

21:07

is a passage in , I believe , Deuteronomy

21:10

11 . I want to say where

21:13

God has given his people

21:15

the law and he

21:17

tells them what

22:12

I want you to do with my word that I've given

22:14

you is to talk

22:17

about it when you wake up in the morning , talk about it

22:19

with your children , talk about it , think about it as

22:21

you're walking by the way , as you rise

22:23

in the morning , go to bed in the evening . I

22:25

want you to write it on the doorposts of your home . And

22:29

basically , what he wanted them

22:31

to do was to talk about his word

22:33

over and over , so that they wouldn't forget

22:35

who he is . And that really is

22:38

such a beautiful example

22:41

of what the purpose of meditating on

22:43

God's word and reading it and coming back to

22:45

it over and over is , so that we remember who God

22:48

is Because the minute we forget

22:50

who he is , that's when we question him and

22:53

we're suddenly like Adam and Eve in the garden

22:55

saying , did God really say , you know ? But

22:58

if we are anchored in his word , remembering

23:01

it all throughout our days , then

23:03

we know what he said and we know who he is

23:05

and we know how much he has left us and sending Jesus to us . And

23:09

so there's that passage there . And then Psalm

23:11

one is just this beautiful analogy , kind

23:14

of a word picture of a man who

23:16

avoids sin . He stays

23:19

far from sin by the lighting in God's word and

23:22

meditating on it day and night . And

23:25

the Hebrew word there for meditate

23:27

, literally translated , means to

23:30

mumble aloud to oneself , which

23:32

is what we are doing when we are memorizing . We're just saying it out

23:36

loud , over and over , because repetition

23:38

is one of the keys for memorization . And

23:41

because of his commitment

23:44

to God's word , to meditating on it , he

23:46

flourishes like a tree planted by a river , bearing

23:49

fruit and

23:51

flourishing in faithfulness instead

23:53

of giving himself to sin . So you have that

23:56

passage that's also really helpful in

23:58

just sort of extolling the virtue of memorizing

24:00

and meditating on scripture

24:02

. You have Psalm 119 , which

24:05

is an entire book devoted to

24:07

celebrating God's word

24:09

. Just what is it ? 176

24:12

versus something like that . And it's

24:14

written in an acrostic pattern which

24:16

would have been done for the purposes

24:18

of memorization for the original audience . And

24:22

so I think of , I believe

24:24

, Colossians 3 , where Paul talks about

24:26

letting God's word dwell richly in

24:30

you . And I think about that Colossian

24:32

church which was planted

24:34

by a paphras who had heard

24:36

the gospel in Ephesus . When Paul preached it , he took the

24:39

gospel home to Colossae . People

24:42

came to faith in Christ , planted a church

24:44

. Their knowledge

24:46

of scripture would have been so limited because this

24:49

was mostly a Gentile church , so they didn't even have

24:51

like the history of the Torah

24:54

and Psalms and the wisdom literature that

24:56

the Jewish Christians would have had . And so when

24:58

Paul is saying

25:00

to them , let the word of God or the

25:02

word of Christ dwell in you richly , I mean , whatever

25:05

they're getting , they have got to internalize

25:07

it . It is all that they had and probably internalize

25:12

it in that group corporate setting as a church . What

25:14

they're hearing preached and taught

25:17

, they are memorizing and holding on to because that's all

25:19

that they had . And I think that

25:21

is such a great example to us that when

25:24

I mean especially us who have so much access to God's

25:27

word . Hold on to it with all of you , with all that

25:29

you have and all that you are . Let it live in

25:32

your heart . And so , while you won't see

25:34

a command that says , ellen , you have to memorize scripture

25:37

, you will see biblical precedence

25:39

for that , and I also think of Jesus who could recite it

25:42

, you know , and it met him right

25:44

there in the desert , when Satan was

25:46

tempting him to sin . Jesus

25:48

fought back with God's word and he knew how

25:50

to wield it well , because they're his words

25:53

.

25:54

Yes , I think too of

25:56

Mary , the mother of Jesus , and how you

25:58

knew that she had God's word treasured

26:01

in

26:05

her heart . Yes , those are really excellent

26:09

precedents for not only

26:11

reading but memorizing , meditating

26:14

on God's word . Let's

26:16

get real practical here . What

26:19

are the tips that our

26:21

listeners can actually do

26:24

to aid them in this memorizing

26:26

process ?

26:29

Well , I mentioned repetition , which is absolutely

26:31

key . That is one of the things your brain

26:33

likes and needs the most to

26:35

hang on to new information . We

26:38

all learned to do that in school . You know , maybe

26:40

just a cram for a test , but memorization

26:43

is absolutely crucial . However

26:45

, there are a lot of different ways to employ repetition

26:48

for the sake of memorization , and

26:51

the first thing you're going to have to do , no

26:53

matter your learning style , is you're going to have

26:56

to choose your passage . I always

26:58

recommend choose a passage

27:00

you're somewhat familiar with , especially if this is

27:03

your first foray into memorization

27:05

, because we want to set you up for success from

27:07

the beginning . So maybe

27:09

don't choose an entire chapter out of Leviticus

27:11

. Maybe don't do that . Go to a Psalm

27:14

that you love , and I mean I recommend

27:16

Psalm 1 . It's six verses , it's very strong

27:18

on word pictures , and so it's

27:21

a little easier to memorize because it

27:23

has a flow and a progression and you can

27:25

sort of see it in your head

27:27

when you're memorizing it . And so what

27:30

you're going to do ? Choose your passage . You need to write

27:32

it out because you need to put it somewhere where you're

27:34

going to see it regularly . For me , that's in the shower

27:36

. I also have a version above

27:39

my kitchen sink where I wash dishes that

27:41

maybe you know take to your bathroom mirror

27:43

or at your desk at work , something like that

27:45

. And then you're just going to have to start

27:47

, and this is where you know people get tripped up . I

27:49

don't know how to start . This

27:52

is you want to take the very first phrase , and

27:54

so let the commas , the semicolons

27:57

, the periods , let the punctuation sort

27:59

of be a guide as phrase , like

28:01

a starting and stopping point , and just

28:03

take that first phrase

28:06

and say it . I

28:08

want you to read it out loud 10 times . Then

28:10

I want you to close your eyes and say it out loud 10

28:12

times and you do that for a couple

28:15

of days until you can say it without

28:17

any prompting , without looking at your paper

28:19

. That may take you a day , it may take you a week

28:21

, and that does not matter . You go at

28:23

your own pace . This is absolutely not a race . Then

28:27

, when you feel like you have that phrase , you move on

28:29

to the next phrase and you do the same thing

28:31

, read it out loud 10 times . And I really do encourage

28:33

out loud because remember Psalm 1 , that

28:35

meditate means to mumble aloud to

28:37

yourself . Again , vocalizing

28:39

it will help your brain hold on to it longer

28:42

. So say it out loud 10

28:44

times and try to recite it and then go back and

28:46

add it to what you've already learned . That 10

28:48

times rule is just so good for repetition

28:51

and you're going to do that until

28:53

you get to the end of your passage . This

28:55

is just a very kind of slow plotting

28:58

process , but the slow

29:00

plotting part is that's where the

29:03

Holy Spirit does his good work , as you're thinking

29:05

about those words and thinking about

29:07

what they mean and maybe praying

29:09

them to the Lord . So that's

29:11

like your very basic . But for

29:13

kind of using different learning styles

29:16

. For some people they may need to turn on their

29:18

audio Bible and listen to it and

29:20

say it with the narrator 10

29:22

, 15 times . I

29:24

use Dwell Bible Audio

29:26

app . I love it . It's a fantastic

29:28

resource for memorization because you can

29:30

put things on repeat . You can also choose

29:33

your narrator as well . Some

29:35

other things that I really love , especially

29:37

for like a long review . Like , let's say

29:39

, you've been memorizing Psalm 1 and you want to sit down

29:42

and review the whole thing because you think you've got

29:44

it . You can say it out loud or

29:46

you can get a piece of paper and

29:48

a pen and you can just go through

29:50

and write out the Psalm using the first letter

29:53

of each word . What's

29:55

good about that is that it's fast . You don't

29:57

have to write the entire Psalm , which

29:59

could be pretty time consuming . I do recommend

30:01

doing that once in a while , just because it's good for your heart

30:03

to slowly write out God's word

30:05

. But the first letter method allows

30:08

your brain to move at the pace that it likes , because

30:10

your brain actually doesn't need

30:12

every letter of the word . I mean , you've

30:14

probably seen those memes on social media

30:17

where it's like a printed text upside

30:19

down and the words are all scrambled

30:22

. But it gives you like the first letter and the last letter

30:24

of each word and you know what it says , because

30:26

your brain can fill in the blanks . Similarly

30:29

, for that with a passage you memorized

30:31

, just use that first letter method , write it

30:33

out , the first letter of each word , and you

30:35

can do reviews that way . That's one of my favorite

30:37

methods for review . I actually use that one a lot , something

30:42

I do that's helpful for a list

30:44

. You see lots of lists in the

30:46

Bible , especially in , like Paul's letters

30:48

, lots of lists of you know , maybe a list

30:51

of sins and then a list of fruit

30:53

of the spirit or something like that . This

30:55

is where I recommend using a mnemonic

30:57

device . I was memorizing a

31:00

year or two ago , in the first

31:02

part of First Peter , where Peter

31:04

talks . He's identifying himself

31:07

as the author of this letter and then

31:09

he talks about his audience

31:11

. This is who he's writing to and he says to

31:13

the elect exiles of the dispersion

31:15

and Poccus Galatia , capetosha , asia

31:18

and the India . So these are ancient cities

31:20

and I don't know where they are or who they

31:22

are , so I don't have like this way

31:25

to order them . So I just created

31:27

a sentence where you

31:29

know I have a corresponding

31:32

word for each of those first letters

31:34

of those ancient cities . That

31:37

sentence would not make sense to anyone else in

31:39

the world , but it made sense to me and

31:42

that's what helped me memorize it and I can say them in

31:44

order to this day without looking because of a simple

31:46

mnemonic device . And so I just you know whatever

31:48

works for you . This is what I really want

31:51

people to be encouraged to do Try

31:53

lots of methods , find

31:56

what works for you and use it regularly

31:58

, and your methods might look very different from

32:00

mine . That is okay . God has created us

32:02

with , you know , individual personalities

32:05

and different kinds of brains , and so try a

32:07

lot of different ways and then settle in on

32:09

what works for you and just go

32:11

at it every day . Give yourself a few minutes

32:14

to work on it .

32:16

Those are great tips . You

32:19

know one of the tips you had in your book

32:21

too , and you've kind of touched on it

32:23

a little bit . But like to

32:25

memorize what your

32:27

pastor is preaching on and I know like

32:29

our pastor preaches through a whole

32:31

book of the Bible . So I know

32:34

that . You know he's going to be

32:36

there a while because he's only preaching

32:38

on maybe you know up to 10

32:41

verses or something like that , and

32:44

when I read that it's one

32:46

of your suggestions , it

32:48

really made me

32:50

excited because , like

32:52

you said , like it's

32:54

not only me memorizing the words

32:56

, but it's also me internalizing

32:59

what he's also teaching

33:01

and preaching on . So awesome

33:05

tips .

33:07

I can say too , I mean as a wife of

33:09

a pastor . If you were to tell

33:11

your pastor , hey , you're preaching through

33:14

this book and I'm memorizing this passage

33:16

, it will mean so much to

33:18

him . Just to know

33:20

that the congregation is engaged

33:23

with , is engaging with the text on a regular

33:25

basis would be so

33:27

encouraging to him . And then

33:29

I mean just exactly what you said , as

33:32

, as he's preaching each week , like , my

33:34

pastors are going through the book of Hebrews and

33:36

I have some portions of Hebrews memorized

33:39

, and so when they get to that text

33:41

, I mean I will be on the edge of my seat and

33:44

so so you know , so ready

33:46

to listen to what they have labored

33:48

over in their study and in prayer and what

33:50

I have labored over in my memorization

33:53

and prayer . I just think that's a way for us

33:55

to be mutually encouraging to one another in the

33:57

church .

33:58

Yeah , yeah , definitely . Well , it Tell

34:02

us about what this memorization process

34:04

looks like for you . I know you talked about

34:06

your sheets in the

34:08

shower , so do you

34:10

have a process . You

34:14

mentioned a few things . Put it all together

34:16

for us .

34:19

Yeah . So for me it's just very uncomplicated

34:21

, honestly . Not necessarily easy , but not

34:23

complicated . I

34:26

do most of my memorizing in the shower . That's where

34:28

I've memorized all of James and all of Colossians

34:30

and that's where I'm working on First Peter . And

34:32

then sometimes , if I'm in the

34:34

car or taking a walk , or sometimes

34:37

even at the gym , I use my Dwell

34:39

Bible Audio app and I'll just listen to

34:41

the text over and over , and that can be

34:43

really good for , like , let's say , I'm in

34:45

the middle of First Peter 3

34:47

, I'll listen to the whole book so

34:49

that I can think about First Peter 3

34:52

in the context of the whole book . Just kind

34:54

of puts it all in perspective . Some

34:57

other things that we do in our house is

34:59

we memorize with our kids . I

35:01

have an eight-year-old and a 15-year-old

35:03

, both boys , and so we

35:05

have memorized together and

35:08

we do that at the dinner table and it doesn't

35:10

take much time , and we try to make it into

35:12

a game . And kids , their

35:15

brains are just sponges , and so they

35:17

memorize so quickly , and I

35:19

remember my youngest is a new

35:21

reader and most of

35:23

what he's memorized , though , he memorized

35:25

before he knew how to read , and so all

35:29

of his memorization work has just been

35:31

based upon what he hears , which

35:34

is just using that auditory

35:36

type of learning . And so we sit

35:38

at the table , we eat dinner . My husband usually

35:40

reads either from the

35:42

Bible or from the family devotional that we're

35:44

working through . We have a time of

35:46

prayer . I mean the whole thing takes about five

35:49

, 10 minutes and then we pick up where we left

35:51

off in our memorization . So we've been working through Romans

35:53

8 for a long time and we do things

35:55

like just reciting that 10

35:57

times over and over again . Or sometimes

36:00

we'll make it into a game , like I'll start

36:02

with the first word and my husband will take

36:04

the second word and then we'll just go around the table

36:06

and then we'll reverse the order or somebody

36:08

else starts , so that you get different words . And what's good

36:11

about that is that you sort of have to be thinking

36:13

ahead of what word comes next , what word's going

36:15

to land on you . My kids really like that , and

36:18

memorizing with your family is a sweet

36:21

thing to do . I remember earlier

36:23

this year , back in March , my grandmother

36:25

passed away and when

36:28

we had her funeral I remember we were

36:30

at her gravesite , at the burial

36:32

, and my husband was . He

36:35

had preached the funeral service and then he was

36:37

going to pray and read some scripture at the gravesite

36:40

and he read that passage from Romans

36:42

8 about

36:44

what shall separate us from the love of

36:46

Christ . And I had looked over

36:48

in my son , my young son

36:50

, who's seven at the time , was sitting next to

36:53

my dad and he is just

36:55

reciting Romans 8 with my

36:57

husband as he read it aloud , and I

36:59

just thought , man , we're

37:02

just giving our kids

37:04

a storehouse of God's word so

37:06

that when they're old enough to

37:09

think through life situations

37:11

or to ask questions or

37:13

work out their faith with fear and jumbling

37:15

, the answers are there

37:17

in their hearts . And so

37:19

we just pray that the Lord will do the good work of

37:21

future discipleship with what we're

37:23

giving them now . And so , anyway

37:26

, so that I

38:05

mean really just my little touch

38:07

points of memorization . Sometimes I work on it while

38:09

I'm folding like a laundry mountain , working

38:11

my way through just reciting out loud

38:14

Another time that I

38:16

memorize . Frequently I have a lot

38:18

of trouble sleeping . I have

38:20

a lot of issues with chronic pain from

38:22

an autoimmune disease . I am not a great

38:24

sleeper and also deal with some anxiety

38:27

because of that , and so I do a lot

38:29

of scripture review in the middle

38:31

of the night , and I figure

38:34

, if I'm awake I can think about God's

38:36

word , and so that's what I do .

38:39

What a great , great suggestion

38:42

. I know for me

38:44

too . I love to if I wake up in

38:46

the middle of the night to

38:48

recite over and over

38:50

in my head I

38:53

usually talking about Psalm 23

38:55

as I'm going over and

38:57

over and over and over , and over , and over and over Same

38:59

. I'm not hoping I'm going to fall back to sleep

39:01

, but it is encouraging

39:03

to bring those

39:07

well-worn

39:09

, so to speak , memorized

39:11

verses to your mind right when you

39:14

need them . And that's

39:16

another good example of why having

39:18

them memorized and you don't have to break

39:20

out your Bible and turn on the light , that's

39:23

right , it's right there . Well

39:27

, as we start to kind of wrap things up

39:29

here , Glenna tell

39:32

us you said that recitation

39:34

is not the goal of memorization . For

39:37

those listening here , we

39:39

just want to make sure they understand

39:41

what would you say is the goal

39:43

.

39:46

Transformation is the goal . I

39:48

think about Paul's exhortation

39:50

in Romans 12 to not be conformed

39:52

to the patterns of this world , but to be transformed

39:55

by renewing your mind

39:57

. We can renew

39:59

our minds with all kinds of things , with

40:01

the entertainment that we watch

40:03

, the books that we read , the news that we watch

40:06

, the social media that we scroll . I mean , you're

40:08

going to renew your mind with something . But

40:10

when you renew your mind with God's word

40:13

, you're sort of rewiring the way that you

40:15

think , because you are thinking the way

40:17

that God thinks . You are thinking , reading

40:19

, meditating on His thoughts , His words

40:21

. Invariably that is

40:23

going to change who you

40:25

are . It's

40:28

that Jesus talked about . What goes

40:31

into the heart is what comes out of the

40:33

mouth . It's the overflow of the heart that the mouth

40:35

speaks . And so if

40:37

what you're pouring into your mind

40:39

is just worldliness

40:42

, cultural things , then

40:44

that's what's going to come out in your actions

40:46

, your responses . But when

40:49

you fill your mind with God's word , through

40:51

the help of the Holy Spirit , he changes

40:53

you . And so this is the

40:55

goal of memorization is to renew

40:58

your mind , to think like

41:00

Jesus , to act

41:02

like Jesus , to respond to

41:04

temptation or suffering

41:06

like Jesus . We're not going to

41:08

be able to do that apart from Scripture

41:11

. And God has given us Scripture , as

41:13

Peter tells us , for

41:15

everything we need for life and Godliness

41:18

. God has given it to us , and so memorizing

41:21

Scripture is one of the ways that

41:23

we become more like Christ , we're

41:25

thinking like Him , and that will

41:27

change the way that we act and the words

41:29

that come out of our mouth , and equips

41:32

us for gospel conversations

41:34

, for encouraging fellow believers

41:36

, Helps us know how to fight

41:39

sin and say no to sin by saying

41:41

yes to God's word , Helps us know how

41:43

to endure and remain steadfast

41:46

when life is really hard . And so

41:48

it is a neat thing

41:50

to be able to recite

41:53

God's word . My mom was in town last

41:55

weekend and she said guess

41:57

what ? I've just finished

41:59

memorizing 1 Corinthians 13 . So let me recite

42:01

it to you . And it was so sweet to

42:03

hear my mom recite Scripture that she's been

42:05

memorizing . I love that . There is a

42:07

beautiful blessing and I think recitation

42:10

can be really powerful . It is

42:12

God's word . But our goal

42:14

in any spiritual discipline is not to stand up

42:16

and say , hey , look at me , Look what I did , which is not

42:18

what my mom was doing . She was like let me bless you

42:20

with the Scripture . That's different , but

42:23

the thought of standing up and reciting for some people

42:25

is enough to turn them off to Scripture , because

42:27

the thought is paralyzing with

42:29

fear . But if you think

42:32

the goal here is for

42:34

me to become more like Jesus

42:36

, that sort of changes

42:39

your motivation . We're not here

42:41

to be legalistic and say look how much I've memorized

42:43

. What we're here to say is word

42:45

. Your word is a treasure . Help

42:47

me pile it up like a treasure in

42:50

my heart so that I can

42:52

be like you , because that's the goal of

42:54

sanctification , and we know that sanctification

42:56

is God's will for our life . We know that from

42:58

Paul and for Sasslanians , and so we

43:01

can trust that this isn't one of the means by which

43:03

God will make us like Christ . And so I think reframing

43:06

our understanding of the why

43:08

behind memorization can

43:11

protect us from legalism , but also can really

43:13

motivate us in the best way we

43:16

memorize , to remember who God is and

43:18

to be transformed more and more into the

43:20

image of Jesus , amen .

43:22

Well , let the transformation begin

43:25

. I hope , if you're listening today , just

43:27

really take this to heart

43:29

and pick something small . Get

43:32

started today . Get

43:34

a Ziploc bag and put your

43:36

memory verse in there . I

43:39

really want to try this . That's right . How

43:42

can people find

43:44

out more information about you

43:46

and your book ?

43:50

Well , my book is available wherever

43:52

you buy books , especially online

43:54

these days . You can find me

43:56

just at my website , glennamarshall . com ,

43:58

and I am out there on the

44:00

internet , so it's easy to find me

44:02

.

44:03

Excellent , and we will also have those links

44:06

in our show notes , all right

44:08

, so before we go , I want to ask you some

44:10

of our favorite Bible study tool questions

44:13

. What Bible is your go-to

44:15

Bible and which translation is it

44:17

?

44:19

Okay , so I have a very big

44:22

, thick ESV

44:24

study Bible and the reason

44:26

I use an ESV is because that's what my pastors

44:29

preach out of , and so I , just for

44:31

the sake of continuity , that's what I study

44:33

from and that's what I memorize from as

44:35

well . I'm also a big fan

44:38

of an ESV as well , but

44:40

my main one is the ESV and I love it because the

44:42

study notes , particularly at the beginning

44:45

of each book of the Bible , are so thorough

44:47

and are so helpful

44:49

for context . You don't necessarily

44:52

have to go out and buy a commentary

44:54

for every book of the Bible . I feel like the notes

44:56

are very thorough for

44:58

historical context .

45:00

Okay , and that's a great great

45:02

tip . You know , and I think maybe

45:05

some people don't realize it , but when you

45:07

are reading a new book of the Bible , don't

45:10

skip over that stuff at the beginning , right

45:12

?

45:12

That's right .

45:13

It's really so important for understanding the

45:15

context of the passage . Okay

45:18

, how about do you have any favorite

45:20

journaling supplies or anything

45:22

that you like to use to enhance your Bible

45:25

study experience ?

45:28

So I am very I guess

45:30

you would say analog . When it comes to Bible

45:32

study tools , I don't use anything fancy

45:34

. Here's what I do . I

45:38

use a set of study questions that

45:40

I developed years ago . I

45:45

have a weekly study group that

45:47

meets in my house on Tuesdays

45:49

and we just read straight through

45:52

books of the Bible . We

45:55

use these study questions and we just work through the text every

45:57

single week and a

46:00

lot of repetitive reading and answering questions

46:03

, and for me it's a spiral notebook and

46:07

a pen , although I will say I'm 42 . I

46:09

feel like I've been looking for the

46:11

perfect pen for 42 years and

46:14

I haven't found it yet .

46:17

Oh gee . Well , let me know when you do

46:19

, Okay . Last question what is your favorite app

46:22

or website for Bible study tools

46:24

? My

46:27

mom turned me on to this one .

46:32

I have really enjoyed the last couple

46:34

of years the Blue Letter Bible app . I

46:37

have it on my phone and my iPad

46:40

. Even though I really try not to use electronics

46:42

during my Bible study time Occasionally , I'll make an

46:44

exception . Mostly because

46:46

you can go to a verse . You can look at it in

46:48

several different translations without

46:50

having to have 10 Bibles out in front of you , but also you

46:53

can go to phrases , that go to phrases or

46:55

words and look at the

46:58

Hebrew or the Greek word and see

47:00

where else that word was used throughout

47:02

scripture . You can listen to it pronounced

47:04

from strong's concordance in Hebrew

47:07

, and sometimes that can just be helpful

47:10

to know what type of noun

47:12

or verb am I looking at and is

47:14

this ? Because not everything comes across

47:16

in English exactly the way that it does in

47:18

Hebrew or Greek , and so I'm not

47:20

a student of Hebrew or Greek and don't anticipate

47:23

becoming one , but that can be

47:25

helpful once in a while just to sort of deepen

47:27

your understanding . So , blue Letter Bible app

47:29

and it's a free app .

47:49

Did you say you had one more or just

47:51

another idea after the Blue Letter Bible ?

47:56

Oh no , it's just a free app , which is

47:58

why I like to recommend it .

48:03

So Blue Letter Bible is an excellent app and we will have

48:05

the link for that as well in our show notes . Glenna

48:08

, thank you so much for being here

48:10

with us today and truly reminding

48:13

us of why memorizing Scripture

48:15

is so important , so helpful

48:18

and really just encouraging

48:21

those of us to believe

48:23

in ourselves that , yes , we can

48:25

do this . So I really appreciate

48:27

you coming so much .

48:30

Well thank you so much .

48:31

It was a joy and for our listeners . Be

48:33

sure to pick up a copy of Glenna's

48:35

book called Memorizing

48:37

Scripture . You will find

48:39

the link in our show notes . Thank

48:42

you for joining us today . We appreciate

48:44

you all so very much . Have a blessed

48:47

day .