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.
I commit! And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. Ezekiel 36:26 NLT
But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread Your protection over them, that those who love Your name, may exult in You.
Psalm 5:11 ESV
I commit! Kathy Looper, Visalia California, 1 Peter 1:13 KJV
“Wherefore gird up your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”
I commit! Brenda from Lima, Ohio: Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. NIV
I commit! April Taylor Mill, Kentucky
No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please him commanding officer.
2 Timothy 2:4 NIV
Melissa Emma: Scarborough, Maine
I commit! For from His fullness, we have all received, grace upon grace. John 1:16 ESV
I Commit! NancyLarinda from Aurora Indiana.
Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor.
You will posses a double portion of prosperity in you land, and everlasting joy will be yours.
Isaiah 61:7 NLT
I commit! Jodi Houston, TX. “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” James 4:7-8 NKJV
I commit! Nancy Bradshaw from Melbourne, Florida
His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23
I Commit!!! Dianne Philippians 4:9 (NIV)
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
I commit! Sarah from St. Joseph, MO.
“In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.” Psalm 25:1, NIV
Reply
I commit.deborah Mott, Bradenton, Florida Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the LORD has helped us!” 1 Samuel 7:12 NLT
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I committ. Keely says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Hebrews 12:1 NIV
I Commit!
Trish Patterson from Clover, SC
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Ephesidan 6:10 NASB
I commit! Laura Hancock from Leesburg, GA; 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to seperate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans‬ â€8‬:â€38‬-39 NASB)
I commit! “The counsel of The Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.” Psalm 33:11 HCSB
I commit! Sherri, Mechanicsville, Virginia: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1 NIV
Hey, Sherri! You’re my neighbor. I’m from Chester & I commit to SSMT, too.
I commit! Cindy, Gulfport,MS “Create in me a clean heart,O God and renew a right spirit within in me. Psalm 51:10 NIV
I COMMIT! Connie Worley from Colleyville, Texas. “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.” Psalm 139:1 NIV App
I commit! Dorelle Hogan, Hot Springs, AR, “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27 (NLT)
I commit! Jackie B. from Conway, Arkansas: “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,” Philippians 3:13 NIV
i commit! Gretchen Howard, Cedar Hill TX “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,”
â€â€Ephesians‬ â€4:1‬ â€NASB‬‬
I commit! Linda from Ashland, OH, See I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceiveit? I am making a way in the wilderness, streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19, NIV
I commit! Brenda Lyon from Wagoner, OK: “Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!” Psalm 100:1 NLT
I commit!! Tara, Hartford Iowa
Trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:10 NASB
Gina from Rosamond Ca
I commit! Hebrews 13:8 NASB
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
I Commit! Stacey Williams Deer Park, Tx
For by Grace you have been saved through Faith. And it is not your own doing; it is a gift of God.
Eaphsians 2:8 Esv
I commit!
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverence the race marked out before us.” Hebrews 12:1 NIV
I commit! Tina Thompson Panama City Florida It is the same with my word. I send it out and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper every where I send it. Isaiah 55:11 NLT
I commit!!
Amy from Columbia, SC
Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.
2 Timothy 2:3-4 (NIV)
I commit! Claudia from Deltona, FL
In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. John 1:1 NLT
Americus, Ga
Colossians 3:12-14 NIV
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on LOVE, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
I, Connie Vorwald, from Suffolk, Va, commit!
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”
â€â€Psalms‬ â€25:1‬ â€ESV‬‬
I commit! Becka Campbell Duck, West Virginia
“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:” 2 Timothy 4:1 NIV
I commit!! Dianne – Hartselle, AL
Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
2 Corinthians 3:5-6 ESV
I commit! Diana from Nowata, OK: Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge. Proverbs 23:12 NIV
I commit! Brittany from Port Orange, FL: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 ESV
I commit! Amy from Milwaukee, WI
I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13 NLT
I commit! Patricia Unger, Colorado
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!! Carmie from Roswell, GA
But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15(NLT)
I commit! Joy Thompson, Fort Worth, Texas, O Lord, you have searched me and known me! Psalm 139:1, ESV
I commit! Jennifer Taylor, Waco, Texas.
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.
Isaiah 43:18-19
I commit! Lori Jackson from Upper Marlboro MD: Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, Philippians 3:13 NIV
I commit! Kathy Gerlach from Andover, KS. O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
Ps 139:1 NIV
I commit! Janet from Houston, Texas. Let the favor of the LORD our God be upon us; and confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands. Psalm 90:17 NASB
Psalm 138:3 AMP
“On the day I called, You answered me; and You made me bold and confident with [renewed] strength in my life.”
I commit!!! Sharla Robertson, Granbury, TX. “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews‬ â€10:22‬ â€ESV‬‬
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we do not give up
Galatians 6:9 NLT
I commit!
Mina Rogers from Marina, CA:
“Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.” Proverbs 14:1,KJV
I commit! Annette from Mason City, Iowa. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.