Bible Memory Tip: App and Initial Letters
After you've looked at your verse you can try using the gapped word quiz. You just type the first letter of each word on your desktop version or app version (or just tap on your watch) and it will move to the next word. Honestly, this isn't that helpful for me. I prefer making my own exercise as a ramp from just touching the verse to 90% recall.
I actually prefer writing down the first letter of each word with punctuation on a piece of paper (For God so loved the world = F G s l t w) and practice saying the verse with those cues and then going quickly to the unaided third phase. You can do this on one notecard with a line for each of the verses in the book you are working on. Here is an example of how I do it:
Ps 7 B t a e t v o t w a m t r s, y, t r G w p m a h (7:9 Bring)
This is Psalm 7:9 with the first letter of each word including punctuation and capitals. On the far right side I’ve put the verse numbers and the first word in case the letter B isn’t enough to trigger my memory. I can do all the verses from Ephesians on one note card and have it with me to trigger memorization and meditation until I don’t need it anymore. I suggest doing this along side using the app. Here is a picture of 2 Cor 5:15-17 I had next to my coffee as I drove to Waco yesterday memorizing and meditating (you can also use a tool like this to automatically make your verses into first letter mnemonics).
Remember we do memorization to get to meditation. Memorization is more of a means and meditation more of the end. If you ever feel like you are pushing too hard feel free to change your mindset for a day or two and just focus on meditation…meditation does result in memorization and lead to transformation for those who delight and obey.
One of the hardest parts of memorizing in this system is remembering which passage goes with which chapter. I highly recommend you add a silly picture to each verse as a mnemonic device. This makes it much easier to walk through each chapter of the book you are doing. A lot of value comes from being able to mentally walk through each book with each picture triggering a key verse and this also makes it a lot of fun. There is an option in the Bible Memory App to draw your picture into your flashcard as a memory trigger. In the picture on the left next to my cues for 1 Thessalonians 4:11 "Make it your ambition to live a quiet life" has a picture of stick figure at a desk with a laptop. Clearly, I'm not artist but as long as I can recognize something silly and memorable to help my brain out a little.
