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! Sara, Wiesloch, DE.
 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 everywhere I send it. Isaiah 55:11 NLT
I commit! Annie from Louisville, Kentucky:
“Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;” Psalm 61:1 ESV
I commit! Shelley Seagler from Fort Worth, TX: “With my whole heart I seek you;let me not wander from your commandments!” Psalm 119:10 ESV
I commit! Kathy from Abilene, TX: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Eph. 6:1 ESV
I commit! Debbie Cox from Fort Collins, Colorado: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, for the promise of life in Crist Jesus: To Timothy, my dearly loved son. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Crist Jesus our Lord. HCSB
I commit! Nicall from Toledo. “To thee O LORD, I lift up my soul.” Psalm 25:1 Nasb
I commit to feeding on Scripture. Eph 1:17 NIV – “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.”
I commit! Rachael from Union, Maine “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:13 (NKJV)
I Commit! Susan from Chapin, SC.
“Oh Lord, I give my life to you.” Psalm 25:1 NLT
Connie Willard-Friona ” Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3 nkj
I commit! Chris from Scottsdale. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.” Eph 1:17 NIV
Judy- Huntsville, AL
I commit!
Let us put everything out of our lives that keeps us from doing what we should –
Hebrews 12:1 New Living Translation
I commit! Nicole from Amherstburg, Ontario: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 ESV
Lisa from Billings, MT – Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 NRSV
I commit! Maren from Cedar Park:
“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”Psalm 105:4 NIV
I commit! Lori from Perrysburg, Ohio. “I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame not let my enemies triumph over me. Psalm 25:2 NIV
I commit! Shonda, Porter Oklahoma: Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 118:1 NIV
I commit! “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:16 niv
I commit! Vickie from Rio Rancho,NM:
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm,then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a time of slavery.” Gal 5:1 NIV
I commit! Stacey Houston: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. John 6:63 ESV
I commit! Charlotte from Spartanburg, SC
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1 NIV
I commit! Elaine from Waddell, AZ
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his might power.” Ephesians 6:10 NIV
I COMMIT! Sheila from Wesley Chapel, Florida
“In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. Psalm 25:1 NIV
Charleston, SC
Matthew 4:4 NIV
Jesus answered, It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
I commit! “This fulfilled the word of the Lord through Isaiah, who said, ‘He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.’ ” Matthew 8:17 NLT
I commit! Tami, Denver, CO. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.John 5:15 (NIV)
I COMMIT!! Erica from West Linn, Oregon:
“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11 NASB
I commit! Missie, Marble Falls, Texas
“Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgement.” Exodus 6:6 ESV
I commit! Kelly from Fruit Cove, Fl:
How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 2 Samuel 7:22 NIV
I commit! Peg Suveg, Aurora, IL
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1 (ESV)
I commit! Addie, Marble Falls, Texas
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9 ESV
I COMMIT‼️Le’Ann from Jay, OK. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)
Becky-Cynthiana KY
Proverbs 14:30 NIV
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
By this you know the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 1 John 4:2, ESV
I commit! Rachel from Charlotte, NC: “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” Psalm 25:1 ESV
I commit! Randi from Manassas, VA:
“If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:11 NIV
Lisa in Montgomery, TX
I commit!
Romans 12:1 NLT
And so, dear brothers and sisters,I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you.
Lynn Miller, Flatwoods, Ky. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassion fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentation 3:22-23 KJV
Jackie Brantley
Rockledge, FL
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,”
â€â€Matthew‬ â€6:14‬ â€ESV‬‬
I commit. Laura from Austin TX
Also, let Christ’s peace control you. God has called you into this peace by bringing you into one body. Be thankful. Colossians 3:15 GW translation.
I COMMIT! Jaiyde from Chicago, IL:
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil 3:14 (KJV)
I commit! Imelda from Toledo, Ohio
Matthew 25:21 (KJV)
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
I commit! Vickie in Louisville, Kentucky
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1,2. NASB
I commit! Sarah from Bancroft, Ontario
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! Stacy, Ruston, LA.
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
Romans 8:37 NLT
Hi – Deann Powers from Hawley Texas
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Luke 10:19 KLV
I commit! Jamie Holloway from Raleigh, North Carolina:
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9 NIV
I commit! Jamie from Katy, Texas:
“Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come & see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel,”. Philippians 1:27 NKJV
…and to enable us to serve Him without fear. Luke 1:74b NIV
I commit! St. Petersburg, Florida
I have stored up your word in my
heart, that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:12
ESV