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) 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:
Your name, city, verse (written all the way out), reference, and translation.
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Charlotte Hrdlicka, Claremore,Ok. “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul, in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.”
Psalm 25:1-2, NIV
Tammy, Cuyahoga Falls , Ohio
“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.”
Phil 3:13 NLT
Sally, Sugar Land, Tx
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV
Pam WhiteOak, MO “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5. HCSB
Lori, Colorado Springs “Behold, I am doing a new thing; Now it springs forth. Do you not see it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” RSV
Anne Shepard, Winchester,VA – “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
Cheryl Tyler, Magnolia Texas
“But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; You are Mine.”
Isaiah 43:1 KNJV
And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” (Mark 5:34 NLT)
Johnnie, Wake Forest, NC – “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” Proverbs 27:17 NLT
Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Cor. 5:17 KJV
Ruth Schrock, Vancouver, WA “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraide nor dismayed before the king of Assyria (the enemy), nor before all the multitude (spiritual forces) that is with him. With him is an army of flesh, but with us is The Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” 2 Chronicles 32:7-8a NKJV
The paranthesis are mine, My husband and I are headed into new territory that the enemy has his grip on and I believe this is the verse we are to use to claim victory over what the enemy wants control of.
Julie Stalvey, Georgetown, South 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
Rachelle Koehnke Van Buren, OH “Come to me, all of you who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest! Put on my yoke and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 11: 28-30
Lori, Renton, WA
Godliness with contentment is great gain.
1 Timothy 6:6 NIV
Susan, Portland OR, “For I hold you by your right hand— I, the LORD your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.” Isaiah 41:13 NLT
Caroline, Key Largo, Florida “O Lord, I will honor and praise Your name, for You are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them.” Isaiah 25:1 NLT
Heather Olson
Hutchinson, KS
“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (Titus 2:3-5 ESV)
Gayla, Perkinston, MS.
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 KJV
Hannah Osborne, Arkadelphia, AR
“be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. -Ephesians 4:23-24 (ESV)
connie, Tyler TX. “The Lord is my portion says my soul,” Therefore I hope in Him” Lamentations 3:24 NKJ
Mikaya, Glenallen, Missouri.
Rejoice evermore. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (KJV)
Clovis, NM
James 1:17 “Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.” [IISB-Precept study Bible]
Pamela Lay, Knoxville, TN
Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 ESV
Heather Hiple, Andrews, Indiana. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21 NIV.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
Frances, Orange, TX, “The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make his face to shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV
Stephanie, Richardson, TX
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength” Mark 12:30 NASB
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (ESV) Col. 3:17
He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 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: 29-31 NIV
Edmonton, Alberta
Colossians 1:13 The Message (MSG)
God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.
Janice Stumpff Topeka, KS
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you , O God.
Psalm 42:1 NIV
Julie Adams, Auckland, New Zealand ‘He brought me out into a spacious place;he rescued me because he delighted in me’ 2 Samuel 22:20 NIV
Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, saith the Lord, plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Mary Lyne, Amarillo Tx”The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” Isaiah 40:8 NIV
Sara From Missouri City, TX : Isaiah 48:10-11 NLT I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. I will reputation you for my sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols!
Ronda, Fitchburg, WI
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous;be strong. Do everything in love. 1Corinthians 16:13-14 NIV
Kelly Lynes, Lancaster, PA
” 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 NIV
Excited to learn
Michelle from Eagan, Minnesota
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ~John 15:9 NIV
Amy Warren, LaGrange, GA
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 ESV
Rhonda; Plantation, FL
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 NKJV
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-to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 HCSB
Summer Brunty, Bristol, Tennessee, “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
Amy Toney, Houston TX: “The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV
Elaina from Heber Springs, Arkansas
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-18
Salem,IN
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness
is on her tongue. Proverbs 31:26 ESV
“However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’ but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 2:9
Ellen Dark, Sarnia, ON “For physical training is of some value,but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” 1Timothy 4:8 NIV
Lynda, Chattanooga, TN. “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;”
Joel 2:12 kjv
Melissa, Lebanon MO
1 Samuel 16:7 (CEB) “…God doesn’t look at things like humans do. Humans see only what is visible to the eyes, but the LORD sees into the heart.”