How to Get Your Children to Memorize More Scripture than You Thought Possible

I’ve been praying lately that God would help us focus on what’s important in our home.  I was noticing a shift away from what’s truly important.  Yes, our days were still filled with useful, worthwhile pursuits (for the most part), but I was wanting more for our home.  I was feeling like the good was replacing what is truly excellent.

God chose to answer my prayer in an unusual way.  My youngest son qualified for the National Bible Bee.  We’ve taken part in the Bible Bee for three years now, but this is the first year one of our boys qualified.

What is the National Bible Bee?

The Bible Bee is a summer Bible study that focuses on studying the Bible, memorizing scripture, and getting the whole family involved.  At the end of the summer, the students take an online test and the top 120 in each age division qualify to compete at a national level. (The national level has some pretty neat awards.)

We’ve always thought the summer study was a fair amount of studying, but when we saw the material for Nationals, the summer study paled in comparison.  This year the Primary age division (the division my youngest son is in) has over 600 verses to memorize plus a lot of other studying to do.  And all this is in about a three month time period.

Our days are filled now with memory work, memory work, and more memory work.  If you know our family at all, you know that we try to place a high priority on scripture memory, so we’re excited about this direction in our home.

My oldest son has a small chance of being invited, as well, (if enough other contestants drop out) so he’s already memorized half of the thousand plus verses the Senior division has to memorize.  We’re all praying that he qualifies, but even if he doesn’t we know that all the memory work will have eternal rewards.

I made the following thermometer* to help keep track of my younger son’s progress.

 

DOWNLOAD GOAL THERMOMETER PDF HERE

I also made a thermometer with scripture verses (KJV) and images.  You can download it at the link below.

DOWNLOAD GOAL THERMOMETER WITH IMAGES HERE

I really encourage anyone with children to check out the National Bible Bee.  It’s a great way to use some of the extra time that children often have during the summer. What better way to spend our time than memorizing and meditating on God’s word?

There is quite a bit of competition involved, and some parents might balk at that, but I can’t think of anything better to be competing on.  I love this quote I heard from one of the Bible Bee contestants,

Competition is God’s way of tricking us into doing our best.

I’m so glad that God has ways of answering our prayers that we don’t even think of.  It encourages me to pray more boldly and with more confidence that God has great things in store for us.

*Note for fellow Bible Bee-ers:  We use the thermometer to track verses memorized.  The blue numbers next to the progress are the number of passages memorized (in no particular order).  The PDF contains a thermometer labeled up to 620 and an additional blank sheet should you wish to go higher.  You may also use fewer sheets and just track passages memorized.  I apologize if the parts of the thermometer don’t all line up, but that is easily fixed with a pair of scissors.  (This is mostly fixed now.)

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