SSMT 2017: Verse 1!

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.

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5,413 Responses to “SSMT 2017: Verse 1!”

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Comments:

  1. 5151
    April says:

    SHE IS CLOTHED WITH STRENGTH AND DIGNITY
    SHE CAN LAUGH AT THE DAYS TO COME
    PROVERBS 31:25 NIV

  2. 5152
    Jen Redcay says:

    Verse # 17…” He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold?”Psalm 147:17 nkjv

  3. 5153
    Tammy says:

    For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV

  4. 5154
    Mary Ann says:

    Mary Ann from Magnolia, TX

    “Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.” 2 Timothy 1:14 NLT

  5. 5155
    Janet Waid says:

    Psalm 19:4. NIV

    “Their voice goes out into all the earth; their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun,”

  6. 5156
    Diane Linger says:

    Col.2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in Him, Col 2:6 NASB

    This is a make up verse which should make me back on track.

    Col. 2:7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude. Col. 2:7 NASB

  7. 5157
    Karen Russell says:

    YAKIMA WA I COMMIT JOHN 16:33 NIV84 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

  8. 5158
    Lois Lorentzen says:

    Psalm 17:8 (NIV)
    “Keep me as rhe apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”

  9. 5159
    Sarai says:

    Brooklyn, New York: “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” Isaish 66:2 (NIV)

  10. 5160
    Tori says:

    Tori in Elmer Louisiana
    That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand. Matthew 13: 13 NLT

  11. 5161
    Jen Redcay says:

    Verse 18. “He sends out His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.” Psalm 147:18. NKJV

  12. 5162
    Jaycee Redcay says:

    Roman’s 12:17-18
    Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

    If it be possible as much as liath in you live peacearly with all men.

  13. 5163
    April says:

    Finally, brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things. Philippians 4:8

  14. 5164
    Karen Russell says:

    YAKIMA WA, I COMMIT ROMANS 8:6 NIV 1984: “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace”

  15. 5165
    Sarai says:

    Brooklyn, New York: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”John 14:3 (NIV)

  16. 5166
    Janet Waid says:

    Psalm 19:6 “It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.” NIV

  17. 5167
    Lois Lorentzen says:

    Psalm 146:2 (NIV)
    “I will praise the Lord all my life. I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.”

  18. 5168
    Tori says:

    Tori in Elmer Louisiana
    Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. 2 Corinthians 12:9b HCSB

  19. 5169
    Jen Redcay says:

    Verse 19…”He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgements to Israel.” Psalm 147:19 nkjv

  20. 5170
    Jaycee Redcay says:

    Roman’s 12:18
    If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. KJV

  21. 5171
    Jaycee Redcay says:

    Roman’s 12:19
    Dearly Beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,saith the Lord. KJV

  22. 5172
    Tammy says:

    Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

    Greeley, CO

  23. 5173
    Christein says:

    I really like your bible studies I listen to them every night I go to .

  24. 5174
    Jami Johnson says:

    Jami Johnson. Tomball,TX. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me! Psalm 139:1 ESV

  25. 5175
    Janet Waid says:

    Psalm 19:7. NIV
    The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

  26. 5176
    Lois Lorentzen says:

    Luke 1:37 (NIV)
    “For nothing is impossible with God.”

  27. 5177
    diane linger says:

    Colossians 2:8
    See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ. NASB

  28. 5178
    Sarai says:

    Brooklyn, New York: “Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord”. Romans 8:39 (NIV)

  29. 5179
    Lisa says:

    Alto, Tx. Never to late to commit! Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. nkjv

  30. 5180
    Jen Redcay says:

    Verse #19 “He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His judgements, they have not known them. Praise the Lord!” Psalm 147:20 nkjv

  31. 5181
    Tori says:

    Tori in Elmer, La “Oil and incense bring joy to the heart,
    and the sweetness of a friend is better than self-counsel.” Proverbs 27:9 HCSB

  32. 5182
    Janet Waid says:

    Psalm 19:8 NIV
    The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

  33. 5183
    Sarai says:

    Brooklyn, New York: “This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, walk in it, and you will find rest for your soul”. Jeremiah 6:16 (NIV)

  34. 5184
    Tammy Skogen says:

    The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
    Romans 8:15 NIV

  35. 5185
    KAREN J RUSSELL says:

    YAKIMA WA, I COMMIT: ROMANS 12:18 NIV84 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

  36. 5186
    Lois Lorentzen says:

    Luke 12:12 (NIV)
    “For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

  37. 5187
    Jaycee Redcay says:

    Roman’s 12:20-21.
    Therefore IF THINE ENEMY HUNGER, FEED HIM; IF HE THIRST, GIVE HIM DRINK: FOR IN SO DOING THOU SHALT REAP COALS OF FIRE ON HIS HEAD.

    Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

  38. 5188
    Jen Redcay says:

    Verse 21…”Be angry and do not sin;do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Ephesians 4:26. Nkjv

  39. 5189
    Lois Lorentzen says:

    Romans 11:36
    “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen”

  40. 5190
    Tori says:

    Tori in Elmer, La Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful. John 14:27

  41. 5191
    Janet Waid says:

    Psalm 19:9 and NIV

    The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and all together righteous.

  42. 5192
    Sarai says:

    Brooklyn, New York: “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful”. Joshua 1:8 (NIV)

  43. 5193
    Karen Russell says:

    YAKIMA WA I COMMIT: JOHN 14:6 NIV84 “Jesus answered, ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

  44. 5194
    Tammy Skogen says:

    Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 2 Cor : NIV

  45. 5195
    Jen Redcay says:

    Verse 22 ” But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 NKJV

  46. 5196
    diane linger says:

    Colossians 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form. NASB

    (Make up verse for Nov.) Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it,afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. NASB

  47. 5197
    Tammy Skogen says:

    The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 1 Peter 4:7 NIV

  48. 5198
    Janet Waid says:

    Psalm 119:10 “they are more precious than gold, they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.”

  49. 5199
    Karen Russell says:

    YAKIMA WA I COMMIT: PSALM 9:9-10 ESV 9 “The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

    PRAISE THE LORD for healing my brother from colon cancer!

  50. 5200
    Lois Lorentzen says:

    Matthew 10:30 (NIV)
    “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered”

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