WELCOME, EVERYONE, TO THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE 2015 SIESTA SCRIPTURE MEMORY TEAM!
WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!
Allow me to introduce myself to you as your fellow sojourner for the next 12 months and your official cheerleader. It will be my pleasure to remind you often that, in Christ Jesus, you most certainly CAN be victorious in this adventure of the faith, this challenge of the mind and this discipline of the Spirit.
Nothing we’ve done on this blog since its inception has seemed to attract more outrageous favor from God. We are convinced that He loves it. God never misses a single individual going to the work of memorizing His Word but imagine His delight when a huge community of tremendously diverse women in age, background, and worship tradition band together in a pilgrimage of faith. You don’t have to stop and wonder if it’s God’s will for His words to abide in you. The Word of God alive, active, and abiding in us speaks to us, shields us, warns us, strengthens us, sanctifies us, equips us in our callings, and directs us in our decision making. It sharpens our insight and improves our discernment. It makes us wiser and, let’s be bold enough to say, even smarter. Our brains were hardwired to flourish across the board when nourished by the Scriptures. Above all else, Scripture abiding and thriving in us builds up our faith, for “faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) Â And, Girlfriend, we want to be women of faith. That faith erupts into works that were planned for each of us before the creation of the world. (Ephesians 2:10)
OK. I want to get right to it before I lose some of you so that no one will be unclear about the protocol.
The entry of your first verse is your official registration for SSMT (Siesta Scripture Memory Team). Everybody who joins us needs to start right here in a designated comment to this exact post. Even those who may jump in with us a couple of months late who are willing to work double-time to get it all done will start right here.
For a quick recap of our objective: Remember, we are committing to the memorization of 24 verses in 12 months. Two a month. We each get to select our own verses to align with our personal needs and challenges. Choosing a Scripture that resonates with you is immensely helpful in the memorization process. If you have trouble coming up with one of your own, you can always share mine or look through the other entries for ideas. You’ll find your SSMT posts right here on the blog at 8:00 AM on the 1st and 15th of every month in 2015. [Under the LINKS section listed on the right hand side of our blog home page, you will find all SSMT posts will store together for easy access. See “Scripture Memory Team 2015”.] If you haven’t had a chance to read all the instructions and hear about our end-of-year celebration, please go back and read the informational post then return to this spot. Questions unanswered here are answered there.
One of the most important things for you to know from the top is how to arrange your comment with the verse you’ve selected. We limit each comment to this information:Â
Your name, city, verse (written all the way out), reference, and translation.Â
SO, here goes mine! I’m obsessed with the Book of Ephesians right now so much of my memory work will probably come from those pages.
Beth Moore, Houston, Texas. “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Ephesians 2:19 ESV
We’re fellow citizens with the likes of Peter and John and James and Stephen and Paul and Timothy and Barnabas and Joanna and Susanna and Lydia and Tabitha and just try counting all the Marys. We’re fellow citizens and members of the household of Middle Eastern believers confessing Christ in hostile climates, of Chinese believers meeting in house churches, of Eastern European believers finding hope in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have brothers and sisters in Thessaloniki, in Paris, in Belfast, in Riyadh, in Copenhagen, in Calgary, and Rome. We – right here in this community – are sisters to a household of God that stretches across this globe, saved by the blood of Jesus Christ alone. By grace through faith. “It is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) That’s what makes us family. We, beloved sister, are in gorgeous company. Let’s give our time on this planet as part of this household all we’ve got. Christ is so altogether worthy.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! One last thing before I say Go! Don’t panic or jump the gun and post a second time if you don’t see your verse published soon. I will be moderating all these launch comments by myself because I don’t want my staff to have to work on the holiday so I beg your patience. I’ll be hard at work on it but it will take me a while to get them all posted. As a rule over the next 12 months, only post a second time if it’s been 48 hours since you left the comment and you still don’t see it.
****I noticed that some of you posted verses earlier than this post was published and they came up on the SSMT informational comments.  I should have doubly emphasized what time the posts will go up each round: 8:00 AM, each 1st and 15th. So sorry if I did not make that clear enough! If you submit your verse earlier than that, it unfortunately appears under the wrong post and, the way blog moderating works, there’s no way for us to transfer the comments over. If you left your 1st verse under any other post than this one, please add it here as well. This is the official registration post.  I know it’s a bit complicated at first! Hang with it! So sorry for your extra trouble!
Hey, I am so glad you’re doing this with us. So much love to you.
OK, GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mobile, Al: He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalms 126:6 KJV
Carolyn, Dover, Ohio
“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.” Deut. 8:2 NIV
Judy Coles, Orangeville, ON Canada
Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy. Think about such things. Phil 4:8
Karen Wright, Shelton, WA:
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2 NKJV
Barbara Coutley, Leesburg, FL
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14 ESV
Allison, Jacksonville, North Carolina. “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
Melissa Ens, Fresno, CA
Psalm 116:1-2, 5 NET “I love the LORD because he heard my plea for mercy, and listened to me. As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help.” “The LORD is merciful and fair; our God is compassionate.”
Shelley Copeland, Memphis,TN
” therefore,if anyone is in Christ,he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Cor 5:17, KJV
Carolyn, Williamston, MI. “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” Psalms 143:8 NIV
Reply
I love Living Proof Ministries by Beth Moore
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Hebrews 12:28 NIV
Pink Hill, NC
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. KJV Galatians 5:1
1 Peter 3:15 ESV
“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord has holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”
“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be brought under the control of anything.” I Corinthians 6:12 (HCSB)
Laurie Minton. Fort Dauphin, Madagascar. “I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 NIV
Jill Harrington Osceola, WI
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding “. Proverbs 9:10. NIV
Donna Grubb, Florence, SC
I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Phillipians 3:10-11 NIV
Pam Wolpert, Canadian Lakes,MI
“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)
Leah from Round Rock, TX “And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire better, that is, a Heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:15-16 NKJV
Kylie Oliver, Grand Lake, La.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalms 18:2 niv.
Maggie Petry. St. Louis, MO
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of The Lord Forevet.
Psalms 23:6. NKJV
Mary Jayne, Qulin Mo
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life,and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10: 10, NKJV
Karen Marshall, California, Md
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
1 Corinthians 13:4-5. ESV
Janice, Slidell, Louisiana. Because I need a constant reminder to do this, “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 NIV
Kristine Thompson, Sardis OH
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
Psalm 51:10 KJV
Elizabethton, TN.
“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you eony be honest with greater responsibilities.” Luke 16:10 NLT
Lisa Shirey ~ New Haven, IN
Is. 43:18-19 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. NIV
Melissa, Kandern, Germany, “Create in me a new heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 ESV
Karen, Orem, Utah
“Now may the God of hope fill me with ALL joy and peace as I believe/trust in HIM so that I may overflow with hope BY the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 HCSB
Rebecca, Winston-Salem, NC
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 3:3 NIV
Lorna Pyka, Nashville, Tn. ” You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. isaiah 26:3 ESV
Aurore Leigh Barrett, Las Vegas NV – “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” Roman 8:28 NKLV
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” John 14:1-2 NIV
Melissa B, Mississippi “Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You. Psalms 9:10 (NIV)
Brenda, Bushnell, Florida “Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us” Ephesians 3:20 HCSB
NIV Romans 12:2 Do not conform 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 – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Cohoes, NY
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
Isaiah 43:18-19
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.
Jamie, Spring City, Tennessee
“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.” (â€Isaiah‬ â€41‬:â€10‬ NIV)
Shannon Hoots, Greensboro, NC. “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever- do not abandon the work of your hands.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me “My grace is sufficient for you; for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will most gladly boast all the more about my weakness so that Christ’s power may reside in me.
Rona Howad, Fort Worth, TX
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6(NIV)
Sara Rogers, Murray, Kentucky
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Hebrews 12:1, ESV
“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.”
â€Isaiah‬ â€43‬:â€18-19‬ NIV
Hannah H., Branch, AR
“This is the promise I made to you when you came out of Egypt, and My Spirit is present among you; don’t be afraid.”
-Haggai 2:5 HCSB
Cecilia Williamson, Raleigh North Carolina
“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water”.
Hebrews 10:22(NIV)
Susan from Groveland, NY. “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
Emilie Blount, Purcell,Ok. 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 ESV
Pat Herald, Jackson, Kentucky Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees. Hebrews 12:12 ESV
Rhonda, La Feria, Texas
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” Prov. 3:5-6 NLT