Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Friday, November 14, Daniel 7-12 Intro, part two

I try never to leave a chapter in the Bible without at least giving it a title. I've learned that adding a little rhyme or some other memory trick to the title helps me link the content to the title. Sometimes they are a bit corny, and I'm always tweaking them to make them more "memorizable".

You saw how I did it with Daniel 1-6. They were very easy because they were so visual, and each chapter contained only one main theme. Others are not so easy, and many, especially in the Gospels contain so many vignettes within a chapter that you just pick one of them as your "anchor" and then "branch" or "link" the others to it, kind of like what I did with subtitles of 1-6. I try to give each subtitle some rhyme or symbol that may link to the title number as well, though sometimes it's not so easy. But each time you try, you are lingering just a little longer in the chapter, and you know it a little better.

On my website, I may suggest "anchor verses" to memorize, so, when I "tell the story" I can recite a passage or two to help enhance my remembrance of the chapter.

I developed a "title" list for chapters 7-12 in the "Memory Helps" below. I'll be working with one chapter at a time, so you may have a day or a few days to remember the titles, depending on how long I dwell on a chapter. I may tweak them as I progress, because I'll come up with a better idea. And, as usual, I'll add subtitles as I move along.

The goal is to memorize the Bible using any and all of the pathways I can. To me, there are no words on earth more vital to our well-being than God's Word: "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

And before I hear the "but Daniel is in the Old Testament", don't forget that the Old Testament was all Christ and His disciples used while the Holy Spirit was formulating the New. We have been very blessed with the revelation of the New Testament, but if we neglect the foundation of the Old Testament, our learning will be weak indeed.

Maybe the regulations of the Mosaic law do not apply to us, but there is far more than that contained in the Old Testament, words that are just as relevant today as they were when first revealed. Especially in the Wisdom and Prophetic sections. And the Torah. And the Histories. Well, I guess that covers all of it!

Something to think about as we progress in Daniel.

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

*ESV used unless noted*

Memory Helps:

Here's my first crack at the second half outlines:

Chapter 7: "First HEAVEN-LY Vision: The Four Beasts, The Ancient of Days: King of HEAVEN, and The Son of Man comes from HEAVEN"    (heaven rhymes with "Seven")

Chapter 8: "The Ram meets its FATE in a FATE-ful battle with the GREAT Goat."   (Fate and great rhyme with eight)

Chapter 9: "The Prophetic TIME-LINE in NINE: Four NINE-ty years."   (Obvious)

Chapter 10: "An Angel AT-TEN-DS to the TREM-bling Daniel after a very TENSE battle with the prince of Persia."   (long, but detailed: You see the "TEN"s, "Trem" rhymes with 10)

Chapter 11: "A '1 on 1' (11) c11ash between the princes of Persia and Greece."    (Being a sports lover, I picture these as "football teams", because in both American and European football, each team has 11 players on the field. So "1" team wears a "Persia" jersey and the "1" a "Greece" jersey. Like I said. I can get corny, but I won't forget what chapter 11 is about! Also, I often replace the L of certain words with 11 and over pronounce the ll's to remind me that this is 11, like in "c11ash)

Chapter 12: "The Last Prophecy of the "Dozen" Chapters is Sealed until the End")   (Of course the "Dozen" stands for chapter 12)