- Attempt no more than two verses per week. At the beginning, you will be tempted to do more than that, but resist that temptation! You need to remember that in the weeks ahead, you will still be memorizing two passages per week, plus reviewing all the previous weeks of verses. That will be easy at first, but as time goes on...
- One of the reasons for studying only two verses is because you should be involved in more than just memorizing them. You should also read the verse in it's context. What precedes the verse and what follows it? Who is saying it? To whom are they saying it? Why are they saying it? These are questions that you need to ask. Besides, it will help you to better understand the passage. You only need to do this once, but you should plan on doing it.
- While you are memorizing, you should also reflect upon what you are reading. To reflect on a passage, you should ask yourself: What does this passage say to me? What does God want me to learn from this? What does He want me to do? This stresses the importance of taking your verse with you to prayer. Ask the Lord what he wants you to do. Your focus should be on what this passage says to you and about you, and NOT on what it says to Christians or humankind as a whole. During reflection you keep it personal. If you are into journaling perhaps you would want to write your thoughts down, but if not, as long as you do this in your head, or in prayer, that will be sufficient.
- To memorize the verses, you should write them down on cards -- something that you can easily slip into a shirt pocket. Perhaps you can even put it on some type of electronic device that you carry with you and can easily access. Regardless, you should carry the verse with you. Then when you have the time, you can slip it out and go over it. Perhaps God will provide a traffic jam just so you can learn the verses for the week!
- Be sure memorize the verse, the scripture reference, and the headings. For example, the first verse to be memorized is 2 Corinthians 5:17. That is the scripture reference. The verse begins, Therefore, if any man is in Christ... that is is the verse. The heading is The Wheel: Christ the Center. Obviously, the heading is man-made and somewhat subjective, but it does help in memorization. The heading becomes something like a hook from which to hang a verse. Thus making it much easier to mentally find a specific verse when you need it.
So that's it. The Reader's Digest Condensed version of all of this is this: memorizes one or two passages a week, carry the verse with you, read the verse in it's context, and meditate upon while you memorize it.
