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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sarah Hunsberger, Muncie, IL. “But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” (James 1:25 NIV)
Diana Mitchell, Keswick, Ontario, Canada
Psalm 141:3 “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.
Meagan Andes, Hope Mills, NC
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
Ina from Lancaster, PA
Ah, Lord God. It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Jeremiah 32:17
Xiomara Beltre. Valley stream, NY
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 … For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9,10b (NIV)
Charity Rodgers, Danville, IN.
“Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.” Ecclesiastes 7:9 (NIV)
Amanda Edmonds from Manhattan, New York: “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” Habakkuk 2:1 NIV
Valerie Wray
Buffalo, OH
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.-Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV)
Deuteronomy 33:12
Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders. Hayden, Alabama
Leslie Jordan from Rochester, MN
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7 NIV
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. No other commandment is greater than these. Mark 12:30-31
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17 New King James
Amy-St. Pete, FL
John 14:5-6 (NRSV) “Thomas said to Him,’Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to Him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”
Sue H. Chicago. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…. Colossians 3:12 (NET) God opened the doors to place me in ministry to His children who are homeless and dealing with addiction and mental illness. Last year I felt that He spoke the word ‘meek’ to me. He still hasn’t lifted it. So my scriptures reflect this journey. Bless you all, siestas.
Lori Gonzalez, Bakersfield, CA
Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:7
NLT
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 13:13-14
Veronica Leguire, Findlay, OH “Behold, the former things have come to pass,and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”-Isaiah 42:9 ESV
John 3:3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again NIV
Lebanon, TN
Isaiah 43:1 – Now this is what the Lord says,the One who created you, Jacob, and the One who formed you, Israel, DO NOT FEAR FOR I HAVE REDEEMED YOU, I HAVE
CALLED YOU BY YOUR NAME, YOU ARE MINE.
(HCSB)
1 Corinthians 6:19 “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;”
Dana Meade, Oxford, PA:
“His divine power has given us everything required for life and Godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3
Judy from Prairie Grove, AR “He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me.” Psalm 55:18 NAS
Alton, IA
But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge, I will tell of all your deeds. Psalm 73:23 (NIV)
Terri, Springdale AR
I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Ephesians 3:16. NLT
Mary Keith, Westminster, Colorado
Jeremiah 29:11New Century Version (NCV)
” I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.”
I LOVE this translation!
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1 NIV
Just joining today
Marie, Harrison, Arkansas; “May you be strengthened wth all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.” Col. 1:11 ESV
Kelly P
Tomball, Texas
Isaiah 30:21 NIV
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.”
Carrie Olsen Nairobi Kenya “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, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG
Judi G, Red Deer, AB, Canada
“Hear my cry, O God; Give heed to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61: 1,2 (NAS)
Jennifer Fairmont, WV. He must become greater, I must become less. John 3:30
Leslie from Encinitas, CA.
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 NIV
Turn my heart to Your decrees and not to material gain. Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in Your ways. Psalm 119:36-37 HCV
Natalie, Houston
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.Psalm119:05 ESV
ι νουν λύχνος τοῖς ποσίν μου ὁ λόγος σου καὶ φῶς ταῖς τρίβοις μου
Start with God- the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning. Proverbs 1:7 MSG
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Phil 4:6 NIV
Lori, Michigan
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
Psalm 105:4
(trans unknown – from Jesus Calling devotional)
Kim LaValley, Elk City, OK
Colossians 3:17 NIV …and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name if The Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him
Ellen,Houston,TX For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (NAS)
Sue H. Chicago. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…. Colossians 3:12 (NET)
Kelley Mann, Chino, Ca. Psalms 119:15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. ESV
Noelle Bass- Raleigh, NC
John 15:14-17
14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Sybil from Newnan, Georgia
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,as for working for the Lord,not for human masters
Colossians 3:23. NIV
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105 NKJ
Noelle Bass- Raleigh, NC
John 15:14-17 (NIV)
14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)
Chelle Brown, Longview, Tx
Julie Sexton, Atsugi, Japan, “He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; when he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive. Prov 17: 27-28 NIV
Brittany, LA, CA
Hebrews 6:19 (first half): We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. (NIV)
From Ruskin,FL.
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation,and uphold me with a willing Spirit.” Psalms 51:12 ESV