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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Matthew 3:8~ Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance
We are memorizing the same verse! So awesome!
Victoria Harris, Tifton, GA: “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” Romans 15:2 ESV
Amy Goins , Rock Hill, SC. “let everything that has breath praise the Lord. praise the Lord!” ~ psalms 150:6
Hugoton, Kansas 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
Carlee Lacy, Pearland, TX.
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in The Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV
Tonya Devine, Bryant, AR: “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 good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 NIV
Wendy Hyndman, Colorado Springs, CO
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
Matthew 4:4 (NIV)
Ecc.2:10-11
“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for my toil.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
I’m leading a Bible Study on Ecclesiastes. These were the memory verses we are challenged to learn. It reminds me of the study of Daniel…Babylon, where there was so much wealth but without God, meaningless.
Susan Nelson, Bettendorf, Iowa “Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” Psalm 103:2ESV
Katie, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.” Jeremiah‬ â€31‬:â€3-4‬ NIV
Marney Hand, Mize, MS. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
Lauren Wagueapack from New Orleans, LA
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (â€Numbers‬ â€23‬:â€19‬ NIV)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18
Sandi ~ Enid, Oklahoma ~ Isaiah 41:13 (NIV) For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
Marie Woodman, Clarkston, MI
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:24 HCSV
Tanya, Richland, WA
Now choose life so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God and listen to His voice and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life… Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a NKJV
Cheryl, Joplin, MO…For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV
Emily Seeley from Manchester, Tennessee: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” James 1:19 NIV
Sharon, Barrington, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV
Ruth, Providence, RI
Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 RSV
Kali Binkley from Jefferson City, MO – my verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten and everything is made new.
Nicole Gerace-Mungin, Palatka, Florida
“Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears The Lord, she shall be praised.”
New American Standard Bible
Melissa, Scarborough, ME: “Bring forth fruit that is consistent with repentance (let your lives prove your change of heart.)” Matthew 3:8 AMP
Carrie Pandel, Woodstock, VA. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” 2 Corinthians‬ â€1‬:â€20‬ ESV
Dawn Bouchard, Beavercreek, OH
Galatians 5:16 (NLT):
“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.”
Charlotte Pinnow, Hernando, MS. “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 43:19 NKJV
Kathie Bowman, Mapleton IL, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?” James 2:14 NIV
Brandilyn Lowery. Clinton, Mississippi. “Let my prayer be counted as incense before You.” Psalm 141:2 ESV
Becky Bell
Westerville, Ohio
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings,
becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Phil. 3:10-11 NIV
Lynda J., Raleigh, NC “Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much. So if you have not been faithful with the unrighteous money, who will trust you with what is genuine? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what is your own?” Luke 16:10-12 (HCSB)
denise, rosemount, mn
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6 NIV
Pam Barnes, Macon. IL.
I am The Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you. Is 42:6 ESV
Delores, El Cajon, CA. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…” Colossians 3:12 (ESV)
Connie Windham
Trout, LA
Psalm 119:36 ESV
Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you knoe the testing of your faith develops perserverance. James 1:2-3 NIV
Cordova, Tennessee For the Lord your God is living and mind you he is a mighty Savior he will take delight in you with gladness with love he will calm all fears he will rejoice over you with joyful songs Zachariah 3:17 NLT
My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Psalm 62:1,2 NIV
Nancy Turner, Greenville,NC: I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8.
Jenny, Bradenton FL – “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 NIV
Jill, St. Joseph, MO 1 Cor. 6:19-20 “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.” Whole 30 motivation!
Huntersville, NC
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way secure.
Psalm 18:32, NIV
Tammy Nunnally, Lawrenceville, GA. “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV
Yet to all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
Delaine, Capistrano Beach, CA
“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Psalm 119:11 NIV
Christina, Waukee, Iowa. “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Elizabeth Mesa, Gilbert, AZ
He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes. Psalm 112:7-8 NIV
Becky Mendez, Cypress TX
My verse is Ephesians 3:17-18 (NLT)
17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18 NIV
Jennifer Morgan, Van Alstyne, TX. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ” Romans 12:2, ESV