2 Cents

One of the best ways to study a smaller book of the Bible is to read it over and over and over again.
 For instance, if you want to know the book of Galatians better you could spend the next couple weeks or even a month reading it through 5-10 times.  Undoubtedly you will notice things the 2nd, 4th, 8th time that you didn't see the first.

Another way to study the Bible in much the same way is to memorize extended passages of Scripture.

I would feel comfortable in giving you a 100% guarantee that if you memorize an extended portion of the Bible you will learn more about it than you currently know.

For example, when I was in college a friend of mine and I memorized Jesus' Sermon on the Mount - Matthew chs. 5-7.  Before memorizing it I knew bits and pieces of a verse here and a verse there.  But after memorizing it the purpose and meaning of the sermon as a whole sunk in.  I saw intentional patterns Jesus was using and phrases he repeated over and over.  I saw how the Beatitudes relate to the portion of ch. 6 on worrying.  It was a great way to study Matt. 5-7 without actually "studying."

The same is proving true in memorizing the book of Philippians - only a day after starting the process!  I've already learned one or two things about Philippians 1:1-6 that I didn't know before I started memorizing.  It's amazing how well this works.

You CAN Do This...

Most people are a bit apprehensive about memorizing large portions of Scripture because it seems so daunting.  But the thing about it is, you're already memorizing so many things day-in and day-out and you don't even realize it.

How many songs can you sing every word to by memory?  How many sports statistics can you rattle off?  How many things do you know about your best friend or your spouse or your children?

On top of all that, did you know Scripture memory was required of virtually every Jew in Jesus' day?  The Pharisees were known to memorize the first five books of the Bible in their entirety!  Surely you can memorize 10 verses.

A Goal and A Process

So if you'd like to start memorizing an extended portion of Scripture make sure you have a goal.  Which passage do you want to memorize and why.  The WHY is extremely important as there will be many times you are tempted to give up.  Choose a passage that can help you in your daily life, but also a passage you want to know more about.

You also need a process.  I would suggest finding a partner to do it with you.  This keeps you accountable to reaching goals and persevering to the end.

Also you need to figure out the best way for you to actually memorize.  Are you going to use a notebook?  A verse-pack?  A smart-phone app?  These are all ways that have been helpful to me in the past.

I would also suggest that you use multiple learning techniques to memorize.  Repeating a verse over and over again in your head is good.  I try to also do these things along with that:  Read it multiple times right in a row silently and out loud.  Write it down over and over again.  Record my voice on my phone and play it back to myself.  Type it on the computer.  These things increase the chances of you retaining it and memorizing a verse faster.

Finally you need a consistent time each day to sit down and work on getting the verses in your head and reviewing old ones.  If you don't do this, it's not going to work.