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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Montgomery, TX
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:26-27 ESV
Psalm 104:1-2 ESV “Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
Covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent.”
Isaiah 40:29-31
“He gives power to the faint, abundant strength to the weak. Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.”
Proverbs 31:26 ESV
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
Melinda-Glenpool, OK
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control…”Galatians 5:22,23 NLT
Isaiah 40:29-31
“He gives power to the faint, abundant strength to the weak. Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar on eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.
jean Salcido, Camarillo , California : Matt 10:14-16 NIV “14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
Sue,Tokoroa New Zealand,
Psalm 16:7&8
I will praise the Lord who counsels me, even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me, therefore I will not be shaken.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; Do not depend on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5
Peggy Solomon Maumelle, Arkansas
Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart; Wait I say, on the Lord! Psalms 27:14. KJV
Margaret Cameron
San Ramon,CA.
Isaiah 43: 15-19 NIV:
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 desert and streams in the wasteland.
Mary, Bozeman, MT
Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2
Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:2
Crissy Wright, Cambodia,
Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. (â€Psalms‬ â€62‬:â€8‬ HCSB)
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
John 45:3 NIV
Darcy Best from Cypress, TX
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24 NIV
Trisha Molina, Tempe, AZ
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
-Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)
Denise Landon. Newnan GA. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:16-17 NKJV
Brightwood, Oregon
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (â€Galatians‬ â€5‬:â€1‬ NIV)
Prove by the way you live,that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Mathew 3:8
Cindy, Wilton, United Kingdom
And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, 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 ESV
Holly Tewell, San Diego CA
“Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.”
Psalm 119:33-34 NIV
Abby Young, Houston, TX (11, joining with her mom!)
For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
John 3:17 NASB
Kamber White- Tulsa, Oklahoma (Jumping on this SSMT train!)
“If any of you lacks wisdom you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
James 1:5 – NIV
The Lord will fight for you, and you can be still.
Exodus 14:14 NET
Gig Harbor Wa
Romans 8:38 NLT
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Romans 8:28 NLT
Grace Kigali Rwanda And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, Ephesians 3:17-18 NIV. (ooops posted to the informational part instead) God bless
Kathy Pascazio, Charleston, South Carolina
Verse: 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 direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
Stasia, Laredo, Texas “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV
Benita, Highlands Ranch, CO, “…For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for diaster, to give you a future and a hope., Jeremiah 29:11 NLT
Courtney Lubbock,Tx
1 John 3:6 esv
No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.
Aurelia Weems, The Woodlands, TX
Watch and pray so that you wil not fall into temptation, the spirit is willing but the body is weak.
Mark 4:38
“The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with
singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 NIV
Kim Huitt, Anchorage, Alaska
Psalm 100 (NET Bible)
100:1 Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!
100:2 Worship the Lord with joy! Enter his presence with joyful singing!
100:3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us and we belong to him; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give him thanks! Praise his name!
100:5 For the Lord is good. His loyal love endures, and he is faithful through all generations.
Beth, Grovetown, GA
For you will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Isaiah 26:3, NLT
Carla van Hemmen, Ede, The Netherlands, Vertrouw op de HEERE en doe het goede; bewoon de aarde en voed u met trouw. psalm 37: 3 (HSV)
Jenny, Tucson,AZ
Luke 12:6-7 “Are there not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet none of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs on your head are numbered. Don’t be afraid you are worth more than many sparrows” NIV
Deborah (Debbie) Burdzy, Calgary, Alberta (Canada).
” The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.”
Lamentations 3:25 (HCSB)
Donna Blloom, Fredericksburg, Va.
“But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” 1 Cor 15:57 NASB
Nancy Schneider, Kissimmee, FL
The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1 NIV
Lauren, Cedar Park, TX
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 ESV
Melissa Stauffer, Centreville, Michigan
“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.
Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV
Anna Elkhart IN
1Cor. 2:9 NKJ
But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man. The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it. Prov. 22:6 NIV
Olivia, Chichester UK, “I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me early and diligently shall find Me”. Proverbs 8:17, Amplified.
Lisa Pogue, Quinlan, TX:
Don’t worry about anything. Instead, tell God about everything. Ask and pray. Give thanks to him. (â€Philippians‬ â€4‬:â€6‬ NIRV)
joy Harty
Atlanta, GA
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 1 John 5:14 (NIV)
Beth Keasler Concord, NC – “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13 NIV