Memorize
John 3:16 and Psalm 23 are proably amoung the most memorized bible verses. They remind people about priorities and comfort them.
Memorizing God’s Word is an important thing for your children and you to do. Memorizing makes God’s Word available to you at any time. In time of confusion or temptation God’s advice comes to mind. Comfort from God himself is available to those who have memorized His Word. The light and anchor for living is in God’s Word.
Another important reason to memorize is that it allows God’s Word to become part of of thinking. It is interesting to think about how often some saying or word uttered by our parents comes into our minds. We ponder it ,or all of a sudden it makes sense or makes sense of a situation. The words that are memorized become a resourse for our meditations and understanding.
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Your Children can Memorize.
Children are capable of memorizing large portions of scripture, even whole books of the Bible. That said do not overwhelm your children at first. Start off with simple verses like Genesis 1:1 , John 11:35, and Proverbs 1:7. At five and 6 your children may be able to memorize whole sections of scripture such as Psalms 1 and Psalms 23.
Memorizing longer sections of scripture can be accomplished by assigning a few verses from the same section of scripture over the course of several memorization assignments.
In order to keep the words meaningful you should have them memorize verses from the same bible version they listen to or read. You may also want to talk about what the verses mean.
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Ways to memorize
There are different ways to do memorization. The most prevelent is through repeating the verse. Have your children attempt to repeat the verse to you over the course of several days. Praise them when they say it correctly. Another way is to set the verse to a tune. If your child can write they can also write it out.
One thing I would suggest that you do is to have your child say the location of the verse(s) memorized at the end of saying the verse or prior to saying it. Doing this helps them to know where things are in the Bible. As they get older they may want to study in depth the setting of the verse they have memorized.
Taking a clue from Deuteronomy 6:4 -9 you can make the quotation of God’s Word a part of your everyday relationship with your child. Give your child God’s advice, comfort, and insight, not in your words but God’s. Quote God in conversations with God.
Some children are visual so having verses around the home will help them to put God’s Word in their heart. (Psalm 119:11). You may even want to have a picture of the books of the Bible in your home, so that your children come to know the books of the bible in order.