Beyond the T.M.S. Reclaiming Your Memory Work

MEMORY WORK

By John Crawford

Beyond the T.M.S. Reclaiming Your Memory Work

After having been memorizing or attempting to memorize for a number of years, I’ve found that I had hundreds of verses on cards—maybe two to three thousand or so. Any type of systematic review became extremely time consuming. Also, I found that I had forgotten many of the references as well as parts of the verses.

The purpose of sharing these suggestions is to help you form some ideas of your own to assist in your own reclaiming program.

Things that I found helpful:

1. Assemble all the cards in a book of the Bible. For example, James. Decide which verses you want to be able to use. There may be some in the book you’ve never memorized before that you would like. There may also be some that you have on cards that you no longer want to retain (duplicate thoughts and so on).

2. Remove all new verses and nearly forgotten verses for new memory (see new memory, number 15).

3. Copy all the verses on fresh cards. This enables other (even children) to check you out with ease.

4. Memorize references separately from the verse. In other words, be able to quote in sequence, without prompting, all your references in the chosen book. Then you’ll be able to quote all your references and verses in the book without any prompting from your checker.

Example: Begin reviewing the verses in James 1. Stay with these until they can be quoted with references. Check out with someone until they are word perfect. Then, proceed to James 2. Check out with someone again, then do James 3 and so on, through the book. When the book is completed, check out aloud on all the book.

5. Proceed to another book with the same process.

6. Start on the easiest books first, that is, where you know the most verses the best. This enables you to put back in service many hundreds of tremendous verses that you know but are not using because of a lack of review.

7. Go as fast as you can. Some weeks you’ll only be able to reclaim 5-8 verses; other weeks, 10-15 verses.

8. Work on tough verses just before going to bed. Place them on your night stand. If you wake up during the night, work on them, also first thing in the morning.

9. Keep your standard high: that is, you should be able to quote 50 verses or so in about 8-10 minutes with only 4-5 minor mistakes.

10. Soon you’ll notice you have quantities of back review. Fifty is a good number of back review to keep in mind each day. This will enable you to review 300 in a six day week. You’ll perhaps not run into any serious trouble until you hit about 600 verses in your reclaiming program. You will notice that with 50 a day back review, you are getting over 600 verses each fortnight. By this time, you have been underway perhaps well over a year in this reclamation program.

11. If you find that some of your books are beginning to slip again, take some time out to meditate on the whole book, going over it a couple of times.

12. As you meet man to man, work in your 50 back review in this man to man time. This should take less than 10 minutes and will include a sermonette or two because you are being tremendously blessed. During your hour man to man, 20 minutes will be taken up in reviewing Scripture.

13. Using odd moments can be good in the early days of Scripture memory. However, in the reclamation program, be sure you work during times when you can concentrate without interruption, e.g. 10-20 minutes. You’ll be surprised how you’ll be able to quote 5-10 verses out of one book with a minimum of effort.

The Secret: a. Small periods of time of concentration early in the day.

b. Reviewing your verses flat out

c. Oral check out with your mate

14. After the first year on Reclaiming Your Memory Work, switch to weekly review, for example, 300 back review per week. Monday or Tuesday might be an easy day—Wednesday, tough—so hit it hard until you are through you 300 quota. (Many weeks I’m through by Thursday. If I have a weak book, then I can spend some time meditating on it Friday, Saturday or Sunday. This gets the weak book back in shape plus a great blessing.)

15. New verses can be handled as taught in the M.M.S.. Forgotten verses can be handled as new verses, however, one can proceed as fast as he desires—not necessarily 2 per week.

16. This is a project you will have to give priority in order to get started.

17. Do not change translations on your verses. For example, if you memorized a verse in the Authorized, stay with Authorized on this verse; new verses can be memorized in any translation; just check out with whatever in on your card. For example, although most of my verses in Jeremiah are in Authorized, some of my recent verses are in Living and Amplified.

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