Memorizing Long Scripture Passages as a Family

Are you ready to dive into more intentional Bible memory and prayer? Praying through and memorizing long Scripture passages can be a wonderful experience for your family. They can actually be easier to memorize (because of the context) than shorter verses!

In this post, you’ll find a running list of all the longer passages we have tackled over the years as a part of the Read, Pray, Love system in the Proverbial Homemaker community.  You’ll even find setup files for making your own Read, Pray Love binder system. Then just choose the individual passages you want to work through with your family.   

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What is Read, Pray, Love?

Read, Pray, Love is a challenge we’ve been doing for years in the Proverbial Homemaker community. The goal is to be intentional in your Bible reading, prayer, and life application. Many of us also take the opportunity to memorize the Scripture we’re praying through. Each year we tweak things for a change of pace. You can find more about Read, Pray, Love here, including all of the monthly printables and the binder setup files.

For a few years, we focused our Read, Pray, Love efforts on longer passages of Scripture. Below you’ll find a list of those! You can work through the list in order or pick and choose which ones you want to do. They are designed to be a month of intense prayer and Scripture memorization, although you can easily spread it out over two months for more practice or to accommodate younger children. 

Long Memory Passage Printable Packs

• Blessed is the Man (Psalm 1)
• Praying for Your Husband Calendar
• God is Love (1 John 4)
• Salt & Light (Matthew 5:13-16)
• Trust and Peace Scripture Calendar
• The Lord is My Shepherd (Psalm 23)
• Be Still and Know (Psalm 46:1-11)
• Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18)
• Jesus is the Way (John 14:1-7)
• Praying for Your Pastor Calendar & More
• Do Not Fear (Proverbs 3:24, Isaiah 41:10, John 14:27)
• Jesse Tree Scripture (Isaiah 11:1-2) 
• The Lord’s Prayer
• Love Scriptures (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)  
• Wonderfully Made (Psalm 139) 
• The Beatitudes
• Thinking of Others (Philippians 2:3-11) 
• Lights of the World (Philippians 2:12-16a) 
• From Glory to Glory (2 Corinthians 3:15-18)
• Precepts (Psalm 119:44-48)
• The Earth is the Lord’s (Psalm 26:1-6)
• Put on Love (Colossians 3:12-17)
• Justified by Grace (Titus 3:3-7) 

Tips for Memorizing Long Scripture Passages With Your Children

Going through these Scriptures, our family learned things about memorizing long Scripture passages. 

• Read through the whole passage every day the first week, and once a week after that. 
• Have the kids help you come up with hand motions for each phase and use them as you practice and recite. This especially helps visual learners.
• Use a gradual progression of memory work.
  • Start by having the kids repeat the first several phrases after you, then read the rest aloud. 
  • As they learn the words, have them repeat more and more of the phrases after you. 
  • When you hear that they are becoming familiar with the phrases, start having them repeat larger portions after you (stringing two or three phrases together)
  • Start reciting the first few lines altogether and see if they have memorized them, then continue with the rest of the passage, having them repeat after you. 
  • Continue this way until you can all recite the entire passage together. 
• Have consistent review. Years ago we set up a memory work review system that has served us well. It helps us keep revisiting the Scriptures and other things we memorize. You can see that setup in this video, starting at the 10-minute mark. 

I hope these tips and resources are helpful! Again, you can learn more about Read, Pray, Love here, including the current year’s challenge, all of the past monthly printables, and a download of the binder setup files.

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