Study to Remember

While meditation and memorization are foundational, a disciplined study of Scripture will enrich your Scripture memory. This can be accomplished by using devotional time and spare time during each 8-day session to read commentaries, research historical and cultural contexts, and listen to sermons preached on the current chapter. Let us suggest some ways to study and some resources to help you meditate, memorize, and study Scripture.

First, if you are not currently in the practice of having a personal daily Bible study, we encourage you to begin straight away. To incorporate The Figure 8 System into your daily devotional time, you could use a Scripture commentary or devotional to learn more about the passages you are memorizing. Usually, you can find commentaries and devotionals at your local library, Christian bookstore, or on the internet. To help you find trustworthy commentaries, we have provided access to Building Your Theological Library by Dr. Danny Akin, President of Southeastern Seminary. Dr. Akin’s booklet contains the titles of countless resources for every book of the Bible.

Second, since The Figure 8 System assigns a block of Scripture to each 8-day session, you may want to focus your quiet-time on a few verses of the block you are currently memorizing. Simply break up the block across the 8-day session. If you are beginning to memorize Philippians 1 tomorrow, use tomorrow’s devotional time to study and pray through the first 3 or 4 verses of the chapter. The next day, study the next 3 or 4 verses and so on. You will be amazed at how much a strategic quiet-time will assist your meditation upon and memorization of Scripture.

Third, another helpful practice is listening to and reading sermons. Thanks to the internet, literally millions of resources are only a mouse-click away. Audio sermons are especially easy to come by. You should consider sites such as www.sermonaudio.com. Names like Charles Haddon Spurgeon, J.C. Ryle, and Jonathan Edwards should inspire you to find written sermons based upon the passages you will be memorizing. Many of these sermons are available online.

You’ve almost got it. The fourth discipline is Testing Out.