When Paul writes a sentence like, "We do not want you to be ignorant" (1 Thess. 4:13), he's using a figure of speech called litotes. A litotes expresses an affirmation by denying its opposite. Paul really means, "We really want you to know!" Remember that the next time you see a litotes when reading the Bible.
Also, in the ancient world, reading was done aloud. Today we read silently unless we're reading to children. Studies have shown that we're able to recall about 30% of words we read aloud but only 10% of words we read silently, partly because reading aloud is relatively slow due to the extra step of producing sounds. Try reading the Bible out loud and see if that makes any difference in your understanding of the passage or its retention in your brain. And, of course, if you're studying Greek vocabulary, you will always want to say the words out loud in addition to writing them down.