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!
Carolyn Stutz from Dover, Ohio: “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD.”
Psalm 119:1 NIV
Jill Sullivan from Ashburn, VA: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NIV
I COMMIT! Jennifer from Richmond, Va
Psalm 143:10 Living Bible (TLB)
10 Help me to do your will, for you are my God. Lead me in good paths, for your Spirit is good.
I commit! Kelley Guza from Bad Axe, MI. “that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3: 17-19 NAM
I commit! Suzanne from Philadelphia, Mississippi: “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 KJV
I commit! Wendy, Richmond, Virginia: “As I have observed,those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.” Job 4:8 (NIV)
I commit! Amy from Albemarle, NC
“The law of the Lord is perfect,reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;”-Psalm 19:7, ESV
I commit!Joy from Lawrenceville, GA. My verse is “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.
Trisha O, San Jose, CA: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2-4 ESV
Sara Turner, Shelby, NC
“He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.”
Isaiah 40:29 NLT
I commit!!
Sara Rogers from New Orleans, Louisiana
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
1 Peter 1:3, ESV
And, YES, I commit!
Patrina from Clearwater KS
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you O Jacob, he who formed you O Israel, “Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1 ESV
Susan Turner, Shelby, NC
I commit!! ““You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Matthew 5:14 NIV (previously submitted under the instruction post)
I commit, Tina in Springdale AR
Cause me to hear YOUR loving kindness in the morning for in YOU
Do I trust; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift
Up my soul to YOU! Psalms 143:8 nkjv
I Commit! Beth from Dyersburg, Tennessee ” For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come wisdom and understanding;” Proverbs 2:6 ESV
I commit! Rebekah, Green Bay, WI: “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.” Psalm 24:1, NKJV
I Commit! Joanne from Carver, Massachusetts. “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.” Psalm139:1 NIV
I commit! “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9 ESV
Victoria Simpson-Rausch, Austin, TX
“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
“Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!”
Psalm 103:1 (NKJV)
I commit! Sue from Marysville, MI
Jeremiah 29:11 (NAS) ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and hope’.
I commit!!! Michelle from Katy, TX “I know thy works, that though art neither cold nor hot : I would though wert cold or hot. So then because though art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spur thee out of my mouth.” Rev 3:15-16 KJV
I commit! Peggy Willmon, Midland, TX –
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! Lottie from Lynch Station,VA
Teach me, Lord, the meaning of your statutes, and I will always keep them.
Psalms 119:33 HCSB
I commit! Carrie Moehrke from Cary, NC
Romans 12:2-4English Standard Version (ESV)
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Gay Beck,
Plain City, Ohio
24 The LORD bless you and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)
Jan 2nd 2017 3:12 pm
Felisa Sipe, Bear Creek, N.C
He also taught me,and said to me:Let your heart retain my words;keep my commands,and live.
Janel from Kalamazoo,MI. “Rather, clothe yourselves with the lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” Romans 13:14 NIV
Jackie siple Rockledge FL
“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.
Psalm 25:4 NIV
Missy S, Charlotte, NC
I commit!
I have been working on memorizing Psalm 119, so I am just going to pick up with the next verse I need to work on:
“The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep your words.” ~ Psalm 119:57 (ESV)
I commit! Tiffany Bell of Gulfport, MS.
“But unto you who revere and worshipfully fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings and His beams, and you shall go forth and gambol like calves released from the stall and leap for joy.” MALACHI 4:2 AMP
I commit!! Cindy from Austin, TX God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the Crown of Life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12 NLT
Proverbs 4:4 NKJV
I commit! Stacey Mills from Bossier City, LA
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” Psalm 105:4 NIV
I commit! Karessa H., Peoria IL:
Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV
I commit! Brenda K. Orlow from Jordan, MN “I now place you in God’s care. Remember the message about his great kindness! This message can help you and give you what belongs to you as God’s people.” Acts 20:32 CEV
Jackie Siple rockledge FL
“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.”
Psalm 25:4 NIV
I commit! Pam Marshall from Mason, Ohio:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)
I commit! Brooklyn from Arvada, CO.
“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”
2 Corinthians 4:17 (NLT).
I commit! Dani, Cypress, Tx
“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV)
Jess from Valparaiso, IN
“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.””
Luke 22:19 NKJV
I Commit! Donna Ross, Spring Branch, TX Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 NIV
Kay Tucker, Elyria, OH
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
Prover 29:18 (KJV)
I committ! Donna , Oklahoma City Ok.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
I commit! Wanda
Osborn, MO
As for God, His way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him.
Psalm 18:30 NIV
I commit! Ericka from Orlando, FL:
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under Godʼs mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
1 Peter 5:6 NIV
Isaiah 43:18 NRSV: I COMMIT !!
“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.”
Forget the past hurts, unfulfilled expectations, and any negative occurrences. Move forward in God’s Love and pass that on to all you meet.
Thank you so much for posting this scripture. I really needed it for this new year. It is a blessing.
I commit!
Rose Marie
Pflugerville TX
Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV)
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Stacy from Hiram, GA
I commit! “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life-”
1 John 1:1 NASB
“Peace I leave with you my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27. NIV