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! With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. Ephesians 3:20 NCV
I commit. Jessi from Rowlett, Texas
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. -Ephesians 3:19 NLT
I commit! Autumn, Deer Park, WA
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Galatians 5:13 NIV
I commit! Kathy Meritt from Nixa, Missouri: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11 ESV
I commit! Claire from Shreveport, Louisiana. “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:2-3
I commit! Jonay from Grand Rapids, Michigan. 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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. NIV
I commit! Jonay from Grand Rapids, Michigan. 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, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV
I commit! The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in his love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Zephaniah 3:17 NASB
I commit! Melanie from Melbourne, Australia
You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you. Isaiah 26:3 GNB
I commit!! Connie from Stromsburg, Nebraska Finally, brethren, what ever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8 NASB
I commit! Ashley T; Lawrenceville, GA
Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us – to Him be the glory. Ephesians 3:20
I commit! Leilani from Smyrna, GA
“As for me, it matters very litttle how I might be evaluated by you or any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgement at this point.”
1 Corinthians 4:3 NLT
I commit! Angie from Wichita Kansas
After these things the word of the lord came to Abram in a vision. “Fear not Abram I am your shield; your reward shall be very great. Genesis 15:1 ESV
I commit! Lourdes Agosto from Tucson, Arizona.
“But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus”. Philippians 3:13b-14 (HCSB)
Judy V, Columbia, SC: “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I \desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11 NIV
I commit! Deb Davis, Loveland, CO. âYour ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,This is the way, walk in it, Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.â Isaiah 30:21 (NKJV)
I commit! Emily Davis, Loveland, CO. âMy flesh and my heart may fail,But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.â Psalm 73:26 (NASB)
Jessica Goney from Nashville, TN: “Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, ‘Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!’ And God granted him what he requested.” I Chronicles 4:10 NASB
April Carson, Fort Worth, Texas”Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted amo g the nations, I will be exalted on the earth.” Psalm 46:10 NLT
I commit! Annette from Melissa, Texas
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.
Ecclesiastes 5:1 (ESV)
I commit! Elizabeth Gittemeier from Overland Park, Kansas
“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” — Ephesians 4:1-2 (NIV)
I commit! Annette , Houston, Texas
” But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. ” Romans 8:25 NKJV
I commit!
“This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to put breath in to you and make you live again!” Ezekiel 37:5 NLT
I commit! Jackie from Marietta, Georgia
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matt 5:16 NIV
I commit! Cindy from McAllen, Tx. “Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3
I am from Fort Wayne, IN!
I commit! Jackie from Marietta, Ga
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matt 5:16 NIV
I commit! Donna Mayfield from Archdale, NC
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 NIV
I commit! Becky Bowman from Placerville, CA: “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 NIV
I commit! Kathy from Denver, Colorado : “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4: 2 NIV
I commit! Carol, Lexington,SC
Proverbs 17:22 ESV
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
I commit!!!!
Jeannette–NJ
1 Samuel 7:12 NIV
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, âThus far the Lord has helped us.â
Debbie from Corpus Christi:
“For âIn him we live and move and have our being,â* as even some of your poets have said, âFor we too are his offspring.â” Acts 17:28 NAB
I commit! Stephanie from La Habra, California, Psalm 25
“To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.”
Psalm 25:1 NIV
I COMMIT!
Stacey Gaines
West Lafayette, IN
God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (2 Timothy 1:7, ESV)
I commit! Karen from Dickson, Tennessee
“But now says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have callled you by name, and you are mine.'” Isaiah 43:1 ESV
Chelsea McNary from Lima, OH “My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism.” James 2:1
I commit! Jeanne Sutton from Sacramento California
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
For the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.
I commit!! Janine – Corona, CA
“James, a servant of God and of the LORD Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:1-4
Inspired by Beth’s choice this year, and feeling called to memorize the book of James.
I commit. Krista from Mildenhall, United Kingdom. 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
“For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
I commit! Leah Del Signore from Houston, Texas:
“Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus,to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” NIV ’84
I commit. Allison from Mildenhall, United Kingdom. 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
“For the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
I commit!!! Amy Flanagan. Santee, California Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord and he answered me, he delivered me from all my fears.
I commit! Kelly from Aliso Viejo, CA “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:18 ESV
Jen, Santa Maria,CA – 2 Tim 2:1 – You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. (NASB)
I commit! (I forgot to put that in my original post)
I commit! Deborah from Nashville, TN
âCreate in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me.â Ps 51:10 ASV
Melanie from Groesbeck, Texas
I commit!
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me, his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”
2 Timothy 1:7-8 (NIV 1984)
I commit! Kanita from Katy, Texas
And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
1 John 5:14-15 NLT
I commit!Mihaela from RIverside,California
“Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”Isaiah 43:5Nlt
I commit! Rosalyn, Jamesburg, NJ
Make me understand your ways oh Lord! Teach me your paths! Psalm 25:4 (NET)
I commit! Renee Adams from Gold Coast, Australia: “Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker -” Philemon 1:1 NIV