How to memorize scripture

I have been memorizing scripture.  I had not done this since I was quite young, and I didn't think I could anymore, but I learned that I can, even after the ripe old age of 50!

I'd like to share the secret with you:

You can memorize scripture when the Lord Himself puts the scripture on your heart.

Don't try to memorize somebody else's list of recommended verses.  I'm sure they are very good Bible verses (of course they are, all scripture is beautiful and beneficial).  In fact, once you come up with your own list, you will almost undoubtedly find that it overlaps with other people's lists.  However, the words will go much more quickly and deeply into your heart if you find them, chew them and internalize them yourself while you commune with God, than if you try to catch a shortcut by using other people's lists.

There are no shortcuts.

I recently listened to a sermon by my favorite Bible teacher, Colin Smith.  Since we have to stay at home while the Coronavirus threatens, and since we had not settled into a church here before the plague descended, I can listen to Colin Smith guilt-free on Sunday mornings.  This past week, he literally preached my life's journey and moved me to tears.  One thing he said, sort of in passing, was that a mentor had taught him always to pray with an open Bible.  Admittedly, I do not always pray with an open Bible.  But when I have a deep need that I am bringing to the Lord, I have both prayed over a (now tear stained) Bible, and also printed out many (now ragged) pages of Bible verses to pray through.

Experiences like these plant scripture deep into one's heart.  As you return to the same verses, reading again and again about who God is and what He promises, the words become lodged in your mind.  You start to talk about them, to share them with others.  You may realize that you stumble a bit as you try to recall, so then you write the words out on a notecard and stack the notecards on your nightstand, handy for you to review and straighten in your memory.  These verses become your verses, the words God has spoken directly and specifically to you, for your needs.

You can memorize when God Himself puts the words into your heart, but the process begins when you go to meet with Him in His word.  For me, I started meeting with Him in His word in earnest when I hit a major crisis.  When I desperately ran to Him for help with a problem, He did not quickly solve the problem.  Instead, He spoke to me and taught me about truth, and hope, and faith.  He planted His word in me, and taught me to memorize when I thought it was far too late for a forgetful old mind like mine to learn new Bible verses.  He has given me gifts that have sustained me in many trials besides the original one that drove me into His arms.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
~James 1:2-4