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!!! Teresa Mazzoni, Louisville, KY
Christ has truly set us free. Galatians 5:1 NLT
I commit! KK Wheaton
“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Thy consolations delight my soul.” Psalm 94:19 (NAS)
I commit! Carol Weston MO
Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have. A different plant grows from each kind of seed.
1 Corinthians 15:38 NLT
I commit! Beverly Reeder from Columbus,Ms.
For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV
Syneva Mullins, Topeka, KS, Psalm 139:1 “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!” ESV
I commit! Bethany Mabin from Lehigh Acres, FL. 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! Michelle Moultrie from Jacksonville, FL: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV
I commit! Lisa from Slidell, Louisiana: “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” Proverbs 31:26 (ESV)
I commit! Judy from Virginia
The unfolding of your words gives light.”
Psalm 119:130a NIV
I commit!!
Beth Reid from London, Ontario: “So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.” 2 Peter 1:5-8 MSG
I commit! Nicole Conway from Lyons, Nebraska:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 NIV
I COMMIT!
Rachel Walmsley from Columbia, SC: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!” Psalms 139:1 ESV
I commit!!
Lisa, Sussex, WI
You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. Psalm 139:1 (NIV)
I COMMIT!! Sallie, Greenwood, SC “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, for the promise of life in Christ Jesus: To Timothy, my dearly loved son. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” 2 Timothy 1:1-2
I commit! Carol Kreuser of Waconia, MN: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14:1 (NIV)
I commit, Daniela E., Abingdon, M.D.
I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.
Job 42:2 NLT
I commit! Gwyn Tidwell of Haslet, Tx “Do not be mislead. Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV84)
I COMMIT!
I Commit!
Tracy from Houston, TX:
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Isaiah 26:3 NLT
I COMMIT! LuAnn, Winfield, IA
Deep calls to Deep at the sound of your waterfalls; All your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me. Psalm 42:7 NASB
Karen: Souderton
I commit!
Colossians 2:6 New Revised Standard Version
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him , rooted an built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in Thanksgiving.
I Commit!
Alia Braxton
Irving, Texas
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins goods morals.”
1 Corinthians 15:33(ESV)
I commit! Betsy, Columbia SC. “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27 NIV
I commit!
Wanda Byrd from Laurel, MS
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;” Psalm 1:1 (ESV)
I commit! Beverly, Lexington, Ky
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. Ps 32:8 NKJ
I commit! Abbey Towles, Greenwood, SC “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, for the promise of life in Christ Jesus: To Timothy, my dearly loved son. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” 2 Timothy 1:1-2 HCSB
Abby Mitchell from Dunmor Ky
I commit!
Proverbs 3: 5 (ESV)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
I commit! Regena from Roswell, NM. “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
I commit!
Tera Lewis from Colorado springs, co:
Romans 8:37-39New King James Version (NKJV)
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I commit! Kay, Belfast
Serve the Lord with gladness
Come before Him with joyful singing
Psalm 100:2 NAS
I commit! Kelly, Florence KY
In You, Lord my God, I put my trust. Psalm 25:1 (NIV)
I commit – Linda Atlanta, Ga.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Psalm 25:1 ESV
I commit!! Linda from Chester, VA. “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.” Psalm 139:1 (NIV)
Ally: Souderton
I commit!
Psalms 143.8 NIV
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing Love, for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my Soul.
Sharon, Little Rock AR It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. —Deuteronomy 31:8 (ESV)
I commit!!!! Amanda from Elizabethville, PA:
“And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord” Luke 1:46 ESV
I commit. Donna Reaves from Burleson 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
http://bible.com/116/isa.43.19.NLT
I commit!! April, Rock Hill, SC, USA
“Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
I commit! Carolyn from Denton, TX: [5] For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; [6] and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; [7] and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. [8] For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ … 2 Peter 1:5-8 NIV
I commit! Whitney Locke from Pensacola, FL.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins” Ephesians 2:1 ESV
I commit! Kelli T, Southeastern Colorado
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Proverbs 13:20 ESV
I commit!
Rachel Wanzer Owasso, OK
You are my refuge and my shield;
I have put my hope in your word.
Psalms 119:114 NIV
I commit!
“The heavens declare the glory God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.” Psalm 19:1
I commit! Christa, Roseville, CA USA, ‘Commit your way to the Lord; trust him, and he will act.’ Psalm 37:5 ESV
Mallory, from Houston, TX:
He alone is my rock and my salvation, My fortress where I will never be shaken. Psalm 62:6 NLT
I commit!
I COMMIT!!!!! Carley Codner from Ellaville, GA.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (NIV)
Cheryl, Seven Springs, North Carolina. I commit
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38â€-‬39 KJV
I commit! Teri from Gadsden, Alabama. I will give you hidden treasures, riches in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. Isaish 45:3 NIV
I commit! Kathi Nitzsche. Lexington, OH
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy. Phil. 1:3-4. NIV
I commit! Myiesha: Columbus, Ohio
6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen.
1 Peter 5:6-11 New Living Translation (NLT)