Hey, Everybody! Drumroll please! Welcome to the 2017 Siesta Scripture Memory Team! The entry of your Verse 1 selection acts as your registration. Please read this brief post before you leave your comment so you’ll know exactly how to do it. We are not legalistic about much around here but I am a drill sergeant about the precise way we accept comments for SSMT verse entries. One perusal through the first several hundred comments and you’ll understand why. It’s such a powerful sight you will almost want to cry. Or shout. Or throw your head back and howl your loudest hallelujah. It just all depends on how you process a fresh glimpse of divine revelation. You’ll have before you a feast spread out lavishly on a huge banqueting table.  Keeping the comments to the bare minimum makes Scripture itself stand out on the page. If we add a lot of other verbiage to the comment, the verse is more likely to get lost in it.
Not only will your soul be fed by the entries of others, you’ll discover verses you didn’t even know existed and get ideas for future selections. Any time you can’t decide what verse to memorize, jump on the comments and see what resonates with you. Any time you feel bone-dry or downcast or distracted or discouraged or just plain directionless, open up the comments on any SSMT post and behold the words of the Lord. It’s so powerful I could slap my desk thinking about it.
OK, this is how the information should appear in your comment:
Name (first is fine), city: verse, reference, Bible translation.
(Don’t forget your translation! People love knowing exactly which translation your selection came from.)
So you’ll have a paradigm for how it looks, here is my entry for Verse 1 and you’ll see at the end of the post where I made a slight little addition to add some soul-deep conviction if you wish:
Beth Moore from Houston Texas: “Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved fellow worker.” Philemon 1 ESV
You get to choose your own verse according to what you need most right now, what resonates with you in your present circumstances or what God just simply seems to land you on. This year I feel like He’s leading me to use my 24 entries to memorize the one-chapter book of Philemon. It contains 25 verses but the last one is easy so I’ll throw it in with my 24th verse as my final entry. I’ve done stacks of spirals full of unrelated Scriptures for my memory work in previous years. Other times I’ve done several different chunks or one solid chapter. There is no wrong way to do it. It just all depends on what the Holy Spirit seems to be energizing us to do. If something about chipping away at one chapter through the course of the year rings your bell, you are so welcome to join me or you can look through the Scriptures and choose a different chapter of similar length. I so loved memorizing Psalm 25 several years ago. I recited it as recently as yesterday. It has 22 verses ready to go if you’d like to consider it. You’d only need to tag on 2 separate verses after you memorized the psalm to fulfill your 24-verse goal. Jude is another one-chapter book I memorized. It contains 25 verses but I will warn you in advance, take that one on only if you like a challenge. It is pretty wordy.
Let’s just add two little words this time to the front of the entry of our first verse: I commit! And go right ahead and add that exclamation mark at the end of it for the sake of some very appropriate enthusiasm. What you’re about to do bears FRUIT. God’s Word does not return empty. He sends it forth with accomplishing power and divine purpose. That’s worth anticipating with excitement. (In fact, Isaiah 55:11 is a fabulous Scripture to memorize if you’re still searching for a great launch verse.) I think we ought to add those two little words because I keep reading how allergic we’re growing culturally to making commitments of almost any kind. I’m sure you’ve read the same thing. But here’s the deal. We will never be mighty servants of Jesus Christ, alive and awake in the Holy Spirit, bringing glory to God the Father all while standing against evil rulers, powers and principalities without commitment.
Ain’t happenin’.
Nothing was tentative to those early New Testament believers about following Jesus. They didn’t fulfill their callings by being scared of commitment. They gave Him their lives. They bore His name. They testified to the death. Let’s do this thing, Sisters. Let’s do it deliberately. We’re not destined to be weak-willed women. We’re called to be stunningly strong willed about God’s will. So, here’s my official entry for verse 1 of the Siesta Scripture Memory Team challenge of 2017!
I commit! Beth Moore from Houston Texas: “Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved fellow worker.” Philemon 1 ESV
Your turn, sisters! Try to make each of your entries within 24-48 hours after the posts go up around the 1st and the 15th of each month. Also remember not to worry if you don’t see your comment posted for a day or so. Wait a while before you post the same verse a second time. We moderate all comments to filter through spam and trash and general nastiness so the process can take a little time. Here we go! I’m beside myself with joy. Thank you for the privilege to store up the very words of God with you. They are life and breath to us. Iron in our blood. Steel in our bones. So much love to you.
“Be strong, take courage, don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you.” Deut 31:6 MSG
“And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Galatians 6:9 KJV
Tori in Elmer, Louisiana
I will instruct you and show you the way to go;
with My eye on you, I will give counsel. Psalm 32:8 HCSB
Mary Ann from Texas
“This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you.” 2 Timothy 1:6 NLT
Bethany Sutherlin- Stillwater, OK
2 Peter 3:9 ESV
“The Lord is not slow to fullfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance.”
Erin in Denver, CO
“And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal body to life through His Spirit who lives in you.”
Romans 8:12 HCSB
Anna, Texas
Prooverbs 10:10 (RSV)
He who winks the eye causes trouble, but he who boldly reproves makes peace.
Sarah Caldwell, North Richland Hills, TX: (NET)
Psalm 84:11
For the LORD GOD is our soveriegn protector. The LORD bestows favor and honor; He withholds no good thing from those who have integrity.
For God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7
Kate
Fort Smith, AR
“A wise heart accepts commands, but foolish lips will be destroyed.”
â€â€Proverbs‬ â€10:8‬ â€HCSB‬‬
Liz
Fort Smith, AR
“The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.”
â€â€Revelation‬ â€22:21‬ â€HCSB
Michaela
Fort Smith, AR
In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.
Psalms 25:1 (NIV)
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16 NIV
Bella
Fort Smith, AR
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.”
Psalm 18:2 NIV
Lydia Thrift, Gadsden, Alabama
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Ephesians 4:2 NIV 1984
Emily Virginia Beach Va
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; His love endures forever
Psalm 107:1 NIV
Jackie,Pensacola, Fl. “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” ESV Job 42:2
Verse 8. “Who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares the rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the mountains.” Psalm 147:8 nkjv
Isaiah 55:8 NKJV “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are My ways your ways, says the Lord.”
We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
Brooklyn, New York: “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” Revelation 3:8 NIV
Now we exhort you brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.
Elizabeth Hernandez-Forrest
Borger, Tx
I Thess 5:12 (NIV)
Psalm 19:12 (NIV)
“Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.”
April 1, 2017
Psalm 91:11
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
I had already posted that verse change it to this one…
April 1, 2017
Deuteronomy 20:4
For the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.
April 15, 2017
Amos 4:13
For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
and declares to man what is his thought,
who makes the morning darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth—
the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!
Tori Elmer, Louisiana
Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. Romans 12:12 HCSB
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you! Isaiah 49:15 NIV
Yakima WA, I Commit: ISAIAH 40:30 NIV 1984 “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;”
Jewelene from Granby, MO
“being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
â€â€Philippians‬ â€1:6‬ â€ASV‬‬
Mary Ann from Texas
“For God has never given you a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7 NLT
Verse #9. “He gives to the beast its food, And to the young ravens that cry.” Psalm 147:9 nkjv
Verse 9 & 10….”Let love be without disimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love;in honor preferring one another.” Romans 12:9&10. Kjv
I commit!
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3 NIV
Alicia Gilbert,
Haysville, Kansas
I tried this before, but I can’t find my post, and I am just now getting my SSMT notebook done, so I am reposting my verse.
John 15:7 NLT
But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want and it will be granted.
May 1
Isaiah 41:10
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.
Yakima WA, I COMMIT to memory: ISAIAH 40:31 “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.”
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 NKJV
Jeremiah 17:7 (NIV)
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.”
So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for Him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. 2 Timothy 1:8 NLT
Tori Elmer, Louisiana
There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18
Greeley, CO
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:16 (NIV)
“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” 1 Jn. 3:9 NIV
Conna Sullivan
Decatur, TX
Natalie, Austin Prov. 13:16 NIV
Wise people Think before they act fools Don’t and even brag about their foolishness.
I commit! Susan Bucher, Fort Worth. For nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37 NIV
There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. 1 John 4:18
Brooklyn, New York: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the LORD Jesus Christ”. Phillipians 3:20 NIV
Verse #7: “Therefore I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.” 2 Peter 1:12, HCSB
Verse #8: “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement.” 2 Peter 2:9, NASB
Verse 9, for May 1: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9, HCSB
Becca Gordon, Glasgow UK.
We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 corinthians 10.5b, NIVUK (forgot to post on 15th)