Hey Siestas! We’re two weeks out from our big launch and, based on the number of people who got Siesta spirals -not to mention those grabbing their own – we should have one titanic team! May God get much glory! (If you’re interested in a spiral and have yet to purchase one, click here for the details.) Numbers are nothing if they don’t translate into fruit displayed in our lives but if we truly decide to live out the words that are going to live in us, remarkable things are in store for the Kingdom of Christ among us.
Here is everything you need to know about how to participate in the 2013 Siesta Scripture Memory Team!
First, a few things up front since many people joining us have no previous interaction here:
*For you new comers, “Siesta” is just an endearment for “Sister.” There’s no club to join and no person you need to become. If you’ve trusted Jesus as your personal Savior, you’re a sister in Christ. If you don’t know Him, we’d love for you to stick around and get to know us and see if anything around here draws you. Everyone is welcome. Here’s a bit of our back-story on the weird name: When we first began the blog, it never occurred to any of us how much we’d come to love each other. As the community grew closer and closer and the participants more and more familiar with one another, one of you asked what name we should call each another. I tried to say, “I’ll tell you what we are: We’re sistahs!” but spell-check switched it to “siestas.” It stuck and that’s been us ever since. We even liked the thought that its actual meaning is to take a nap. We’ll know we’ve been a place of divine intervention if we’re a respite from the female competition and clatter out there. Only Jesus can give us that kind of relief in this exhausting culture.
*We call this a Scripture memory “team” because that’s exactly what we are. We’re a really long line of women standing shoulder to shoulder with our swords drawn. (For you newcomers, Ephesians 6 calls the Word of God the “Sword of the Spirit.”) And we don’t draw our swords to wound people, to convict our family members (God’s job) or to cut off the ears of our hearers. We draw our swords to fight the good fight of faith. While I was saw stacks and stacks of Siesta Scripture Memory Spirals being stuffed into envelopes for shipping, it hit me with fresh impact. What if thousands of women really did memorize 24 Scriptures in 2013?? What are the implications of that? What kind of repercussions might that have in our personal lives and our homes? That’s worth getting riled up over. SO, you bet this is a team. Don’t be too cool for it. Remember, God’s Spirit is a fire. If we’re too cool, we can’t help but quench it. If cheesy works around here, we’re not ashamed. Just throw in a can of jalapenos and grab a tortilla chip.
*Very often you will see me refer to SSMT. Just so nobody’s confused from the start, that is an abbreviation for “Siesta Scripture Memory Team.” If you’re not participating in SSMT, please know that we don’t limit the entire blog to our Scripture memory participants. It has a big presence on here because it’s twice a month but we still do lots of other things. Please don’t feel left out or forgotten.
OK, NOW FOR THE INSTRUCTIONS. You can cut and paste these somewhere if necessary. Here’s how it will go:
1. On the 1st and 15th of every month of 2013, you will find a post by 8:00 in the morning where I will ask for your memory verse and give you mine. This will begin New Year’s Day 2013. You are committing to 24 Scriptures in 12 months. In previous years, I’ve found this to be a very doable pace. If you do much more, you’ll tend to fall behind and not retain. If you do much less, the impact is negligible. You really can do this. So many of you will surprise yourselves with what you’re capable of doing in the power of the Spirit. Yes, it takes work but it’s tremendously fulfilling and the results are nearly immeasurable. Look at it this way: you’re going to be meditating on something: unforgiveness, toxic memories, misery, lust, greed, dissatisfaction, jealousy, competition. Choose Scripture! Christ Himself said as a man thinks, so is he. He also said His words are spirit and life. This is work worth doing, Sweet Thing. Never – NOT ONCE – have I ever known anyone to get to the end of a Scripture memory commitment and say that it didn’t make any real difference. Not a single time.
2.You are to enter the verse you’ve chosen to memorize for that two-week period within twenty-four hours of the post going up. I’ve been asked many times if it’s okay if you’re late supplying your verse and, yes, of course it is, but try to avoid doing it often. The people who make it to the very end of the year are overwhelmingly those who stay up with it month to month. Please know up front that one of the important parts of this process is the exercise of self discipline. This culture is mass producing wimpy narcissists. Year-long commitments like these that require punctuality and focused energy push back on that degenerating trend. All that to say, please don’t drop out if you get behind. I just want you to know that this will be much more successful if you treat it as a real, live commitment you are willing to work hard to keep.
3. When you clock in with your verse those two times a month, keep your comments limited to your name, city, verse and translation. Long comments on SSMT days are no-no’s. It won’t take you long to figure out why we maintain that rule. Wait till you see the powerful sight of hundreds if not thousands of verses flowing down the comment stream. It is a gorgeous sight. When you’re having a bad day, all you have to do is scroll down a few hundred of your sisters’ Scripture selections and I promise you, you’ll get a word. It’s a very powerful thing. Here is a sample comment:
Beth from Houston, Texas: “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3 ESV
Always add your translation because so many of your sisters will want to know where you found the wording for your entry. One of the great impacts of this process is how much we reap from each other’s selections. Often you’ll see a sister say, “I’m doing the one so-and-so did last time!” (Yes, you can make a comment that brief. Those can be fun. Occasionally you’ll even see someone write, “For the sake of my marriage, I’ve chosen to memorize…” That’s okay, too, but try to keep it very succinct.)
4. THIS ONE IS KEY! As often as possible, choose a verse that means something to you in your present season or circumstance. This is the reason why we don’t all memorize the same Scripture. We’re not all going through the same things. The more you let God lead you to verses that direct you or edify your soul in your present circumstances, the more He will renew your mind toward your challenges. This is a huge part of 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 where we’re told to demolish strongholds and take our thoughts captive to Christ. If you don’t have a verse on your mind or you’re drawing a blank when the 1st or 15th rolls around, you are welcome to share mine. I will always include it in the post. You might also look at a few of the comments and see if one of theirs resonates with you. I say this next part with a grin: try to refrain from memorizing Scriptures that you think your spouse or your children need to learn. Memorize what you need to learn. That means do your best to avoid jotting your verse on a stick note and planting it on your bathroom mirror where your man can see it and repent of his sins. He probably won’t because he’s got your game. I bet you can guess how I know that.
5. I strongly recommend that you stick with only one verse to memorize each time. (This is just a recommendation and not a rule. You’re free to do whatever works for you.) Keep it simple and meaningful. (If I were addressing you live, I’d have you repeat that sentence back to me so just go ahead and say it out loud in order to nail it down. That sentence could be your best friend through this process.) If you do too many verses or get too complicated, you will soon be overwhelmed and want to drop out. Better to do 24 simpler verses over a 12 month period of time than a chapter over the first month then quit. We want this to be a discipline we practice for the rest of our lives. Think marathon. Not sprint.
6. Either shortly before or after making your entry each 1st and 15th in the blog comment, write the verse by hand in your own spiral. (Again, that’s a recommendation and not a rule. I’ve discovered that there’s something about writing it with your own hand and picturing it later in your own handwriting that helps it sink into your memory bank. I’m not entirely sure why.) Take that spiral with you everywhere you go. Read it and read it and read it and read it. Do mental gymnastics with it. Flip that baby over and over. Many women have told me along the way that they’re not good at memorization and I truly understand that. I also beg to offer two responses: First, that may change. Give the Holy Spirit a chance to do something brand new with you. Second, even if you don’t get your verses down word for word, you are still meditating on them as you read and reread them. You still, thereby, accomplish one of the most important goals: captivating the mind to Christ. You just can’t lose on this one. Either way, it has a powerful effect.
OK, I think that’s enough to get us prepared for January 1st. Now, let me tell you well in advance how to qualify for our Siesta Scripture Memory Team Celebration on January 17-18, 2014 which is the biggest blast ever. I’m telling you about it now so that you can have it for a little extra incentive. Our main incentive is the will and good pleasure of God, of course, but He Himself authored great celebrations in His Name so feel free to be excited at the thought. Also, I want you to have plenty of time to start saving your money for your transportation and hotel. We do not charge for the event. Your entrance fee is your well-used spiral. By the way, we hope to have Travis back again to lead us in worship and Amanda, Melissa, my whole LPM staff and volunteer team will be there to serve you. Here’s how you qualify throughout the year:
*Clock in by first name and city at least 21 out of 24 times. (But please make your goal 24 out of 24!) Let me reiterate that you can be late with your entry on a 1st or 15th of any month but, by the end of the year, there has to be a record in the comment sections of you signing in at least 21 out of 24 times on a SSMT post. Make sense? Please give us 24 hours to post your comment before you assume it got lost. We still moderate all comments and the amount we get on SSMT days necessitates a slower pace. Thank you for your cooperation!
*Bring your spiral to the celebration. Again, that’s your ticket in.
*Be prepared to say any 12 of your 24 memory verses to another Siesta (of your choice) during the designated time at the celebration. (We get in pairs.) Some of you will be tempted to let this be a deal breaker but don’t back out! Siestas are really sweet and patient with each other and we are notorious for giving each other hints. We can even act out charades if necessary. If you’re one of those who genuinely struggles with memorization, just tell your memory buddy up front and she’ll give you all the grace you need. Tell her the gist of the verse as accurately as you possibly can. She’ll be able to tell that you are well acquainted with it and that the goal was accomplished even if you can’t say the verse word-for-word.
*Register for the event when the time comes. (December 1, 2013)
Whew! Have I exhausted you?? I’ve worn myself to a pulp. Sorry this is so wordy! We just want to answer as many of your questions up front as possible.
I want to tell you something before I sign off. I may sound like a broken record but you have to let me say it again as we embark on this wild journey together. You have impacted my walk with Christ. This community has given me encouragement when I was nearly down for the count. I am more disciplined because you are here. You make a difference in my life. You make me think, and laugh, and study. You offer me company when I am lonely. You stir me up to love and good works. You are used of God in my life to make this hard world a better place.
That’s what Siestaville is for. Women walking alongside women on our way Home, stirring up excitement toward that great day. SSMT is just one way we do that. AND IT’S A WHOPPER. Let’s do it, Sisters, starting this coming January 1st! I’ll talk to you again about other things before then but I don’t want the New Year to take you by surprise.
Your blog mama loves you.
Joany Haws
Salem
I thess 5:16-18
NIV
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
This scripture really means a lot to me at this time because I have been having a lot of bad headaches and I have been standing on God’s promises in his word for healing. i came across this scripture one morning while I was having my devotion in a book called Jesus Calling by Sarah Young.It was totally meant for me and such awesome timing. God is so faithful. But thou, O lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter of my head.Psalm 3:3{NKJSB] Twyla McAmis, Cleveland,Tennessee.
Amie from Seymour, TN
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”
Romans 12:9
NIV
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
John 14:21 NIV
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
“The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure.”
Deuteronomy 28:12
“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 wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”
Is 43:18-19 NIV
A friend talked me into starting late:
Lynn from Colorado Springs, CO “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight,O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” Psalms 19:14 NAS
Luke 2:34-35 ” Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Paula,Oklahoma City; “I am the bread of life.” John 6:48(NIV)
Kathy from Huntsville, Alabama “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.” Nehemiah 6:3 NRSV
Anna from (currently) Brooklyn, NYC
Psalm 27:8 AMP
“You have said, Seek My Face (inquire for and require my presence as your vital need). My heart says to you, Your face (your presence), Lord, will I seek, (inquire for, and require of necessity and on the authority of your word).
“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” Isaiah 40:11 NIV
Marcy from New Berlin, WI
Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You.
Dina from Hurst, TX
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
2 Timothy 1:7 NLT
Valorie from Greenville, TX “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22,23 NIV
So do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)
Allison from Jersey Village, TX
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Sherry – Carrollton, TX
Matthew 22:37 NIV
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths smooth. Proverbs 3:6 GW
Isaiah 64:4
“Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.”
Cynthia – Lubbock, Texas
The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” Lamentations 3:22-24(NASB)
Leigha, White Oak, TX, Proverbs 1:8-9 NKJV
“My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother; For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck.”
Let me hear of Your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting You.Show me where to walk, for I give myself to You. (Psalm 143:8) NLT
Lydia, Warman,Canada
Kayla Siler from Edmond, OK
“You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.” Psalm 16:11 HCSB
Caroline from Baton Rouge, LA
“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17 NIV
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 (ESV)
Kelly, Vineland, NJ
A prayer with my sister for our children.
For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies ever come to an end.
Lamentations 3:22 ESV
Summer from Clearwater, FL
Sara Shannon, Leoganne, Haiti. I lost my mother to cancer 8 months ago…
“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted.” Is. 53:4 NIV
“I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you and the riches of his glorious in heritance in the saints…” Ephesians 1:18
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2 NIV
Sheri
Naples, Italy
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2 NIV
Diane from Brunswick, GA. “You hem me in–behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.” Psalms 139:5 NIV (Hope I’m not too late, just found out about it)
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
NIV
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” NIV Phillipians 1:6
He who plants in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. NLT
Ephesians 4:2 NIV
‘Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
Ruth from Hamilton, Ohio: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV
the lord is my sheppard i shall not want Psalm23 NIV
…to whom He said, “This is the resting place, let the weary rest” and “This is the place of repose” – but they would not listen. So then the word of the Lord to them will become: do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there – so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.
Isaiah 28:12-13 NIV
Psalm 143:8 NKJV
“Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for in You do I trust; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.”
Angie Cobb, Odenville, Alabama. Trust in the Lord and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! Psalm 37:3 New English Translation
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. James 1:22
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6
And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Colossians 3:14 NASB
But since they have no root, they last only a short
Time. When trouble or persacution comes because
Of the word the quickly fall away.
Matthew 13:21
Kiersten Sinko from Chicago, IL
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7
Amy from Caddo Mills, TX Proverbs 22:4 The reward of humility and the fear of The Lord are riches, honor and life. NASB
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7 (NRSV)