Bible Memory Verses for Kids and Children

photo by ibm4381

I was watching a movie the other day with my family and I had a somewhat negative epiphany occur to me. I realized that movies, music and entertainment have more face time with my kids than Bible verses. This truly scared me because it is important for me as a parent to help instill a strong faith and moral compass in my children that I do not think that they can get in mainstream media.

Now I don’t want to come across as someone who is anti-Hollywood or someone who allows my children to watch anything on television. I try to steer away from either of these extremes as I believe good wholesome movies and entertainment can add a lot to a family dynamic and child development, but they are no substitute for a strong Christian Faith and Bible knowledge.

So after the movie was over and I put the boys to bed, I started to think and pray about what I should do as a strong Christian parent. I didn’t want to go the route of banishing all forms of entertainment from my house and become Amish, but I also knew that a couple of hours at church on Sunday and Wednesday were not enough.

Therefore, I decided to implement a weekly memory Bible verse that they will be encouraged to learn.

I sat down and paraphrased several popular Bible verses in a way that my young 4 and 5 year old sons will be able to understand and remember. I was hoping that they would be able to learn verses that could be applied to their lives as they grow up. After writing a few down, I thought that other parents might find them useful. So I decided I would share them here at your source for Christian inspirational thoughts on life.

5 Bible Verses for Kids and Children to Memorize

Jesus says to love God with all my heart, soul and mind. – Matthew 22:37

Jesus says to love everyone as I love myself. – Matthew 22:39

Do to others as you would have them do to you – Luke 6:31

Trust in the Lord with all your heart – Proverbs 3:5

I will work hard in everything for God – Colossians 3:23

Power of Memorizing Bible Verses for Kids

Like many people, I grew up memorizing Bible verses. I also forgot many of them like many people. I do wish that I took more time to remember them so that I could be one of those people that can spout verse after verse, but this easier said after childhood. The truth is that your children will not remember many Bible verses years or even months after memorization, but this doesn’t mean that a parent should overlook the habit of Bible memory.

Bible Memory Verses for Children Helps Them Make Better Choices

The purpose for our children to memorize Bible verses has less to do with being able to spout Scripture at a moment’s notice and more with having a solid foothold on how to live a strong Christian life. It should be important as parents for our children to have a good understanding of how to live the path that Jesus taught and Bible memorization is simply one of the best routes for this.

The reality is that our children are constantly being fed messages on how to make decisions both consciously and unconsciously. Every time a child sees a positive reward for a particular action then he or she is going to take notice. After the child hears the same advice and thought process several times without any risk for punishment then there is a good chance that the child will apply it to their own decision-making ability. There is nothing evil about this way of learning as it is the way God has programmed us so we can succeed..

But the question becomes what is my child learning about decision-making?

Increase Christian Influence with Bible Memory Verses

Like previously said, there is no way to censor and limit all the outside influences on our children. We can and should pay attention to all media outlets that come into our children’s lives. We also need to proactively consider the type of people that our children hang around, but at the end of the day..

Our kids will hear and see something from this world that completely goes against what we believe as Christians.

This is why Scripture memory for our children is extremely important. We cannot control every outside variable and influence on our children, but we can make sure that the first and last things that they hear in their day is something from Scripture. In a world where our minds are constantly being bombarded with information and advice from every different direction, Bible memorization uses the art of repetition to make sure that Scripture is still in the forefront of our children’s thought processes.

In our busy world, everything is competing for face time and acknowledgement. Many messages will only have a total of 15 seconds to catch our children’s eye in their entire lives. The successful messages, on the other hand, know that the key is repetition. They can make the most impact if they can have an influence on our thoughts if they can repeat their message consistently over a period of time.

Honestly, we all know the power of repetition and memorization from our own education. We had to memorize the alphabet and the times table before we could understand how to use it. We had to use repetition for many vocab words in elementary school all the way through college. There is no denying the power of memorization.

So shouldn’t we make sure to use the power of memorization in developing our children’s decision-making ability?

Yes, I know that I am probably preaching to the choir when it comes to Bible memorization. We all know that our kids are already being fed barrels of propaganda from the media and that we need to make sure that our children are learning scripture. You probably already thought a lot about a Bible memorization program for your children or even tried it on several occasions, but it just couldn’t stick. I know that I’ve tried to personally memorize more scripture, but there is definitely one truth about it.

Bible Memorization isn’t easy nor is it fun.

Well that is the stereotype and the truth from many of my own experiences, but I think we can make it easier and more fun for our children. Will your children ever turn down Disney World to memorize Bible verses? I seriously doubt it and you probably should check your child for a fever if he or she ever does, but I do believe that we can make Bible memorization an enjoyable, comfortable and effective experience for our children.

Effective Bible Memory Verses for Children

An effective Bible memorization program that is both bearable and pleasant for our children truly begins with ourselves as parents. It isn’t something that we can take lightly or haphazardly. We must commit ourselves to the program just as much as our children. If we show excitement and dedication to the process as parents then there is a good chance that our children will follow suit.

I have compiled a list of 5 easy tips that we can use as parents to help our children and even ourselves to really be successful in a Bible memorization program. I believe that we can can really make an impact on our children simply by implementing a good program where our children can memorize Bible verses and I know that these tips will definitely help us along the way.

5 Tips to Help Kids Memorize Bible Verses and Scripture

1. Create a Concrete Goal as a Family. It is easy to say that the family is going to start a Bible memorization program and be on the high horse as the implementer of the program, but is that fair? You will find much less resistance and more support if you include the entire family in creating the program in terms of personal goals and rewards. Let everyone take ownership of it.
2. Spend 10 Minutes Every Day. Bible memorization for the family shouldn’t be some time-consuming ordeal. All you need is 10 minutes during dinner, before bedtime or on the way to school. If you spend 10 minutes everyday, then you can believe your children no matter the age will learn the Bible verse. The only catch is that you must do it EVERYDAY.
3. Create a Reward System. It is extremely important to create a reward system for memorizing Bible verses. It doesn’t have to be elaborate with extravagant rewards. All the reward needs to do is tell your children that you are proud of them in a concrete and visual way. Your younger children might be able to get an ice cream cone at the end of the week and the older might be able to download an extra song on iTunes. These aren’t huge deals but it should be enough to encourage your children and let them feel appreciated.
4. Show Usefulness of Bible Memorization. One of the biggest reasons why Bible memorization programs fail is because we forget the reason why we are doing it. We should make it a routine to use the Bible verses to show their usefulness when our children discuss a situation with a classmate, friend or sibling that applies to the verse. You don’t want to use the verses as guilt trips but as honest reminders to help your children find clarity in decision-making.
5. Show Enthusiasm and Confidence. I saved this last tip for last but I think it is the most important. Our children will model the same attitudes toward the program as us. In other words, if you are laizze-faire and boring about Bible memorization then your children will be the same way. On the other hand, your children will feel confident and enthusiastic if you as a parent show the confidence and enthusiasm in that this habit will make your lives better.

If you do these tips and use the Bible verses that I paraphrased, will it turn your kids into human Bibles? I don’t think so and I think it misses the point if you expect your children to be able to recite huge lists of scripture. Is the purpose to show superiority in Bible memorization or is the purpose to have scriptural references that help guide your children throughout their life? If it is the latter then I believe that this article will be extremely useful for your family.

It is my prayer that you are able to find some practical use inside this article. I believe that our world is becoming a smaller box where everyone has a megaphone to express their opinion and many of these opinions are not Biblical. Our responsibility as Christian parents is to find a way to influence our children before the noise of the world and I know that an effective Bible memorization program for our kids can make a difference in your family.

I Found an Superior Bible Memory Verse Program

Over the past couple of weeks after writing this article, I have been researching to find a high quality Bible memory verse program. Sadly, I had a hard time finding one I could promote. I just didn’t believe that what I was finding would actually make an impact.

I didn’t trust the thoroughness of the memory verse programs.

Until now.

I happened to be browsing the Christian Book Distributor website for various ministry books that I was daydreaming about when i came across the Adventures with God kit. I didn’t think much about it at first, but the program kept on coming back to me so I went and did a little research.

and the results blew me away.