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! Jamie Raborn from Ooltewah, TN
James 1:2-3 NKJV
[2] My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, [3] knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
I commit! Annmarie, Livermore, CA
“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! O Lord, I give my life to you. Psalm 25:1, NLT
I commit! Tonya Hardy, Istanbul Turkey
“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.” Isiah 43:19
I commit! Stacie from Amberg, Germany. You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. Psalm 139:1 NIV
I commit! SharonAnne from Redwood City, CA. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6 NIV
I commit! Kelly from Sparks, NV
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 40:31 NIV)
I commit! Amy Hawk from Hood River Oregon, “My heart is stirred by a noble theme
as I recite my verses for the king;
my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.” Psalm 45:1, NIV
I commit! Bobbie Warren from Camas, WA. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;” Psalm 1:1 ESV
Holly from Scammon Bay, Alaska
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched–this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.” 1 John 1:1-2 (NIV)
Praying for protection for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.
Psalm 5:11
But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
I commit! Mary Grogan Alpena AR
Being confident of this, that he who hath began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:6 KEV
I Commit! Cindy (Salisbury, United Kingdom)
“And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” 2 Corinthians 3:3 ESV
I commit! Entire chapter of Psalm 91 NKJV. 91:1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I Commit! Katherine Devall from Lafayette, LA
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”
Psalm 32:8, NKJV
I commit! Jennifer M mommiejennm from Greensburg, Louisiana
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” II Corinthians 5:17 KJV
I commit! Shannon from Shelby, MT
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 ESV
I commit! Brenttia from Little Rock, Arkansas
“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Psalm 37:5 ESV
I commit! Beverly from Bartlett, TN
Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
Psalm 90:10 (NIV)
I commit!!! Wendy, Tupelo, MS– ““The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.”
Psalms 145:18-19 KJV
I Commit! Lorraine Figueroa from Tolleson, Arizona
My son do not let go wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgement and discretion; Proverbs 3:21, NIV
I commit! Lisa, Wenatchee, Washington
“In you, Lord , I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness.”
Psalm 31:1 NIV
I commit! Annette Sweigart from Melbourne, Florida:
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 NASB
Jeanette (Pendleton, Oregon) …I commit!
“Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received with all humility and gentleness with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.” [Ephesians 4:1-3]
I commit!!! Kelli from Washington State. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. Romans 7:15-17 NLT
Deb from Aledo, IL
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2 Corinthians 10: 3-5 KJV
I commit! Gina Elder from Lubbock, TX: “So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.” I Cor. 9:26
I commit! Judith from Saudi Arabia (soon to be home in Auchterarder Scotland). “In everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6.
I COMMIT!!!
Deanna – Perry Georgia
To you O Lord, I lift up my soul Psalm 25:1 NASB
O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Psalm 8:1
Corinne from Chehalis, Washington
I commit! Candace-Rae from St. Louis, Missouri “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.” 2 Timothy 1:1-2 ESV
I commit! Shelly from Whittier, CA.
I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. – Leviticus 26:9-12 ESV
I commit! KC Harrington from Hickory, NC – “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” Psalms 13:5 ESV
I commit! Vancouver, Wa
“Then you will say on that day ‘I will give thanks to You o Lord, for although You were angry with me Your anger is turned away and You comfort me. Behold God is my salvation I will trust and not be afraid. Isaiah 12:1-2a NASB
I commit! Julie G Abilene, Texas ““Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”
Isaiah 43:18 NIV
Sue from Orillia, Ontario.
I commit! “Lord, I turn to You” Psalm 25:1 HCSB
I commit! Sarah from Arkansas.
“If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.” James 1:26. NLT
I commit! Stephanie Teahn, Lafayette, Oregon. “Anyone who gets so progressive in his thinking that he walks out on the teaching of Christ, walks out on God. But whoever stays with the teaching, stays faithful to both the Father and the Son.” 2 John 1:9 MSG
I commit! Julie from Granbury, TX
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:1 NIV
I commit! Brittany from Huntsville, AL: “by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:14, ESV
I commit! Shelby from Snohomish, Washington “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
Matthew 6:25 ESV
I Commit! Linda Parker, Syracuse, NY: “I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalm 34:1 ESV
I commit!
Anne from Bracknell, UK
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Titus 2:11, NIV
I Commit!! Charné Secunda South-Africa, I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice an my supplications. Psm 116:1 KJV
I commit! Tiffany Hunsberger from Osceola, Indiana: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, & on His law he meditates day & night.” Psalm 1:2 ESV
I Commit! Beckie P., Florence SC: But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my savior; my God will hear me. Micah 7:7 NIV
I commit! Jolene, Edmond OK
“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 43:19 NIV
I committ, Anastasia Mahairas Pothoven, from Dublin, OH… There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 (NAS)
Beth; Rome, GA
2 Timothy 2:1-2 NIV
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, 2 To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I commit! Anna G., Mobile, AL: My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Ps 73:26, NIV