READY? AIM! FIRE!
Happy New Year, my dear sisters in Jesus! Last night I wrote a letter to the Lord Jesus right before I went to sleep and recalled His faithfulness through a tumultuous year. Right before I turned out the light, I opened up Daily Light for the last Scripture reading for the year and it offered this verse:
The Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way you went until you came to this place. Deut. 1:31
I could have cried. Yes, He surely did. And He carried you, too. Tightly in His faithful arms.
Only God knows what this particular year has in store for us. He alone sees how the path will wind, and climb, and fall, and rise again. We do not have control over the future as we glance ahead to 2011 but make no mistake. He does and we, His lavishly loved daughters, can indeed prepare to live what He thoughtfully brings our way victoriously. On this first day of the new year, we are not victims. We are called to live as victors, holding up the Shield of Faith in one hand and the Sword of the Spirit in the other.We need BOTH.
It’s finally time to post your first memory verse of 24 in 2011! If you haven’t already read the instructions thoroughly, please look at the post on December 26th titled “Siesta Scripture Memory Instructions.” It will tell you everything you need to know. Just a quick refresher: Your comments will almost entirely consist of these entries:
First name, city, verse, reference, and version.
Please keep it limited to these facts so that the verses stand out prominently for us to behold. You can occasionally say something as brief as “I’m excited!” Or “I need prayer!” but nothing longer than that please. Let’s let the Scriptures themselves rise like we’re looking at them with our 3-D glasses on.
Here’s my first Scripture entry of 24 in 2011:
Beth, Houston: All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. James 1:17 The NET Bible
Be sure and hand write your verse in your spiral to help engrave it on your sweet mind. Also consider writing your contact information on the inside cover in case you leave it somewhere and God causes someone gracious to find it.
I love to claim Psalm 65:11 on the first day of the new year:
You crown the year with Your good blessings, and You leave abundance in Your wake. The NET Bible
Lord, I want an abundance of Your Holy Spirit! (See Luke 11:13!) Abba, go before us this year and leave the fragrance of Your very presence in Your wake!
OK, Siestas! Hit it! I’ve prayed for you and can’t wait to pursue the Lord Jesus Christ with you this year. If some of you don’t know which verse to use this time around, consider Psalm 65:11. It’s a great first round.
Remember to wait 24 hours from the time you post your comment until you assume it got lost and enter it again. So many comments come in at once on these Scripture memory posts that the server bogs down, causing it to take extra time.
I love you, Sisters! Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do this! Remember, KEEP IT SIMPLE AND MEANINGFUL!
Emily Topeka, Kansas
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
Michelle, Waukesha, WI
Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah:43:18-19 NIV
susan, washington, nc
He is our peace. Eph. 2:14 NIV
Raylene- Lee’s Summit, MO (Kansas City)
Psalm 3:3 “But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” ESV
Vicki, Chapel Hill, NC: for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and of love and of self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” NASB
Mary Kay
Fulshear
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Romans 12:1 NASB
Mary, Westfield, NJ “Praise the LORD, O my soul. I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” Psalm 146:1 -2 (NIV)
 Michelle, Lutz: Psalm 19:14 “May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
   be pleasing in your sight,
   LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Pam ~~ Rome, GA
“You are my refuge and my shield;
your word is my source of hope.”
Psalm 119:114 (NLT)
Ashley, Brandon, MS
‘Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert! Be present! I’m about to do something BRAND NEW! It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, & rivers in the badlands!” Isaiah 43:18&19 The Message
Katelyn: Atlanta,GA
1 Samuel 2:8 MSG
…he rekindles burned-out lives with fresh hope,
Restoring dignity and respect to their lives—
a place in the sun!
For the very structures of earth are God’s;
he has laid out his operations on a firm foundation.
Kate-Overland Park, KS
By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea.
Ps 65:5
Lisa V, Washington, NJ: But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20-21 (NKJV)
It has long been a desire of mine to memorize Isaiah 40. This is the year I do it!
Melana
Sheridan Wyoming
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
Isaiah 40:1-2
NIV
Becky, Fort Wayne: Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him rooted and built up in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7 (NET Bible)
Julie, Hurst, TX
And then take on an entirely new way of life – a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside.
Ephesians 4:22b-23 The Message
1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” NLT
Jesus, Give me your eyes!
Abiding Still,
Chel
Rebecca, South Carolina,
Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Colossians 4:6 NIV
Alece, Lawton OK, Isaiah 61:3 (NAS) “To grant to those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteouness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.”
Melanie – San Antonio, TX
“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ – that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.” Colossians 3:1-2
Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. Isaiah 1:17 ESV
Verna, Berea KY
You crown the year with Your good blessings, and You leave abundance in Your wake. Psalm 65:11 NET
Catherine, Lake Jackson. “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” Romans 8:24-25 NIV
Cary from Forney, TX For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 NLT
Barb Ontario Canada
This is what the Soverign LORD, the Holy One of Isreal, says “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength…” Isaiah 30:15 NIV.
Three Rivers
You crown the year with Your good blessings, and You leave abundance in Your wake.
Psalm 65:11 NET
Lindsey, Birmingham, AL:
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 ESV
Kim, Atlanta; But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Cor 9 NIV
mercy Tampa, FL
For I know the plans I have for you, “declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
Kerry, Nederland Texas
“Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures”
Luke 24:45, New American Standard
Marjie Scheib, Genoa City, Wisconsin
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 2 Peter 1:3
forgot my version!! 2 Peter 1:3 ESV!
Kara, Lafayette, IN
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6, New Living Translation
Natalie,Piedmont: Jesus replied: “Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Mathew 22:37 NIV
Megan, Connecticut
“ Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19 (NKJV)
Phyllis
Gilmer, Tx
1 Corinthians 2:5 NIV
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God
Sandy, Maryland, Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. (KJV)
Ann-Cripple Creek, VA
Be gracious to me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:1,2
Hannah, Perry, MI: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 (NIV)
Judith, West Columbia, TX
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 NIV
Betsy, Casper, WY
Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from Him. Psalm 127:3
Mary, Alabama
For in him we live and move and exist. As one of your own poets says, `We are his offspring.’ Acts 17:28 NLT
Julie, Carthage MO, James 1:22, NIV
‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.’
Cherry, Conway, AR
Rejoice evermore, Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 KJV
Alegra Bishop – Datil New Mexico
James 4:13-15
“Now listen you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will we will live and do this or that.'”
Ephesians 1:11 (The Message)
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, (12) part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
Marilyn, Florence, AL
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
II Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV
Tiffany, Clay Center, KS
You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:11
Vicki
Murfreesboro,TN
Philippians 2:5,14 (NIV)
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Do everything without complaining or arguing.”
Bethany, Fisherville, Ky “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV