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.
Linda
Townsend, Montana.
Ps 92:1.
NKJV
” It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High;
Sharon Evans in Washington, PA: Rom 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and shalom in trusting, so you may overflow with hope in the power of the Ruach ha-Kodesh. TLV
KariB Nyssa, OR
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1
NKJV
I commit!
Anna, Little Elm, TX
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 3:14-15 (ESV)
I commit!
I commit! Laurie from Bedford, TX. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 (NLT)
Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
I commit! Erin from Littleton, CO: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 KJV
I commit! Jane from Geneseo, IL
Philippians 2:13 (NIV) … for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
I commit. Holly J from L.A.: “O LORD, You have searched me and known me.”, Psalm 139:1, NASB.
I commit! Jeanie Madalon from Baraboo, WI. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
NIV
I commit! Linda Jewell from Tucson, AZ
John 8:12 NKJV
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Katherine in Bowmanville, ON, Canada
“Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 NKJV
I commit! Susan Young from Fairhope, AL: “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.” Psalm 139:1 (NIV)
I commit! Marleeta McAnally from Florence, CO: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for Me wholeheartedly, you will find Me.” Jeremiah 29:11-13, NLT
I commit! Amanda Rayburn from Hardin, Texas
Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you. I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered. Heart-shattered lives ready for love don’t for a moment escape God’s notice. (â€Psalm‬ â€51‬:â€16-17‬ MSG)
I commit – Linda Rowe Trammell – Conyers, GA
1 Peter 3:8 KJV Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
I commit! Ginger from Pasadena, Texas: For the Lord takes delight in His people; He crowns the humble with victory. Psalm 150:4(NIV)
I commit!
Erin from Kennewick, WA:
Teach me Your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in Your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear Your name.
~ Psalm 86:11 (NIV 1984)
I commit. Heather Marsten, Shokan, NY
Hebrews 12:12-13 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
Cheryl Moses – Houston, Tx
I commit! “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message…” John 17:20 NIV
Jeanette Dahm. Lake Oswego, OR. Psalm 46:10 NIV. Be still and know that I am God .; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth .
I commit! Cathy from Hot Springs Village, AR: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 NIV
I commit! Edna Grace C. from Torrance, CA
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB
I committ! “Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming.
Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. ”
Isaiah 43:19 HCSB
I commit! Jeanette Dahm.
I commit!
Darlene Tremblay, Turner Maine
O Lord, thou hast searched me , and known me.
Psalm 139:1 KJV
Georgia from Devine, Texas I commit! “in the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God.’ John 1:1 NASB
I commit! Robin McCartney from Rockwall, Texas
“May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.” Psalm 20:1 (NIV)
Kim Datema Zanesville, IN, 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 NIV
I commit! Mary from Tomball, Texas “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1 ESV)
I commit! Gay from Round Rock, Tx
“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. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 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.”
Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV
I commit! Janet Clark from Bellingham,WA
“Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it will spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the
wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19 NKJV
I commit!! Terri from Mechanicsville, VA
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (1Corinthians 13:1 NIV)
Hey, Terri! You’re the 3rd person I’ve seen from Mechanicsville. Your neighbor from Chester here.
I COMMIT! Chris – Canton, NC
Psalm 25:1 (NIV)
To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God.
I commit!! Leslie from Durham, NC: “And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.” Gen 1:4 (ESV)
“In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.” Psalm 25:1, NIV
Kylee Lee, Las Vegas, NV “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.” Psalm 32:7 NKJV
I commit!
Loretta from Murrayville, GA
” Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Romans 5:3-4 NIV
I commit. SKay Fires, Possum Kingdom Lake,
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;”
Proverbs 3:5, NIV
I committ! Natalie Ellis from Norman, OK.
“Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming.
Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. ”
Isaiah 43:19 HCSB
I love that we have the same verse – and already feel that God has purpose in this x
I commit! Bettie Tolar
Pasadena Tx
Psalm 25:1 “To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.” Amp
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I commit! Pam McDonald Hendersonville, NC
“Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.” Psalm 25:1 KJV
I commit! Lynn Larson, Lebanon, TN
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. Galatians‬ â€5:1‬ â€NLT‬‬
I commit! Debra from Baraboo, WI: “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Colossians 3:4 ESV
I commit!
Laura from Minneapolis, MN
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (â€Hebrews‬ â€4‬:â€16‬ ESV)
I commit! Janet from Midland, TX For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. Isaiah 43:19 NLT
I commit! Pam from Centerville, Texas, Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Psalm 25:1 King James
I commit! Carrie, North Potomac Maryland. “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:1 NIV
I commit! Julia Posel from Munich, Germany:”I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all Your work, and meditate on Your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. […] Your way was through the sea, Your path through the great waters; yet Your footprints were unseen.” (Psalm 77:11-13, 19 ESV)
God bless all my SSMT siestas!! Happy New Year!! 🙂