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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Char, Roanoke, VA
James 5:7-8
New International Version (NIV)
Patience in Suffering
7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Angelia Poole, Charlotte, NC “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32 NKJV
Stephanie G from Gulf Shores AL “Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” Galatians 6:17 NIV
Bev, Perrysburg, Ohio
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revaluation 21:4 NIV
Joy, Woodbridge, VA, Heb 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need., NIV
Debbi Daniels, Baytown, TX “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten,
The crawling locust,
The consuming locust,
And the chewing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.” Joel 2:25 NKJ
Melinda Rodriguez, Sugar Land, TX “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.” Hosea 2:14 ESV
“Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand”
Isaiah 41:10 NKJV
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NLT
Brenda Orlow, Jordan, MN “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead…I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 RSV
Sandy Henderson / Powder Springs, GA – “It teaches us to say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” Titus 2:12 NIV
Christy
Fayetteville,AR
Psalm 27:10 NIV
“Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.”
Psalm 27:10 NIV
Michelle Marlowe Hood, Macon, GA.
From my study of the book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World….”You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” – 2 Corinthians 3:3 NIV
Greenville, SC
“Don’t cling to the events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago. Watch for the new thing I (God) am going to do!” Isaiah 43:18-19 (GN)
Sandra Wikcher, Valdosta, Ga Psalm 91:9-11., NIV If you say, “the Lord is my refuge” and you make the Most High your dwelling no harm will over take you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways
Let the music of Thy promises be on my tongue. Psalm 119:172 New English Bible 1961, 1970
Joyce, Pawtucket, RI , [We pray] that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, [to exercise] every kind of endurance and patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy, Colossians 1:11 AMP
Paula Faulkner, Fort Madison, Iowa. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 ESV
Jenny, Wichita, KS
Phil.4:6 NLT
Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.
Nancy Cox, Bakersfield, California. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1: 9-10. ESV.
Kim Cox, Claremore, OK “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 NIV
Ann Latham Seymour, Texas “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34 NIV
Sandy Hartley, Clatskanie Oregon
Remember not 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 rivers in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV (KJV, a few words) 🙂
Stefanie Trulock, Canton, MI “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.” Isaiah 40:28 NIV
Carolyn Valente, Chicago, Illinois “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
Apryl, Atlanta, GA. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 (ESV)
“And this is my prayer that that your [my] love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you [I] may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11 ESV
Margaret Dearing, Harrisonville MO
“If you can?’, said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes” Mark 9:23 NIV
This spoke to me because I have doubts about being able to stick with this for the year.
M. Watson from Pennsylvania says, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;” Ephesians 2:1 KJV
Kayla Roberts, Newark, Ohio: “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” Psalm 13:5 ESV
Katrina Cowen, Nicholasville, KY
“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
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” St. Matthew 4:4.
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with the shelter-when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Isaiah 58:6-8 NIV
I felt that God was telling me to not focus so much on religious practices, but rather to focus on loving and serving people. These verses are calling me to so much more than my comfortable life. I just need to have a willing heart and have no fear because God will go before me and be my guide!
Peggy, Cheyenne, Wyoming,
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk up rightly.” Psalm 84:11 KJV
Jenee Bishop, Mishawaka, IN “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning, I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” Ps. 5:3 NIV
Jayn, San Diego, CA, Luke 10:39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. (NIV)
Beth Horvath, Menominee, MI. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Rom 8:7-8 ESV
Darnell Dronet Sulphur Louisiana “A gentle answer deflects anger but harsh words make tempers flare.” Proverbs 15:1
Christina Potts from Franklin, TN, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” 1 Corinthians 14:33
Amy Burks, Midland, MI. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16 NIV
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
Donna Ray, Conyers, Ga. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3: 16-17 NKJV
Betty Greiner, Port Charlotte, FL
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:1 NIV
Glenda Vance, Wynne, AR, “Now unto him who is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think According to the per at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20, ESV.
Melissa Hite Las Vegas, Nevada
Do not fear, for I am with you’
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 NASB
Misty Keith, Pflugerville, TX “As you come to Him, the Living Stone- rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him- you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5 NIV
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
Genevieve Carlson Temecula Ca
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
Stephanie Webb, Saint George, UT “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Psalm 90:14 ESV
Tammie Rue, Sherman, Il. “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 NIV