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! Tami from Titusville, FL
“I love the LORD because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.”
Psalms 116:1 NIV
*He heard my cry for mercy. (Proper wording)
I commit! Robin from Snohomish Washington
“O Lord, I give my life to you.” Psalm 25:1 NLT
I commit! Mrs. Helen McPherson Gillette from Saginaw, Michigan: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
John 15:5 KJV
I. COMMMIT! Christi from Sheridan, Arkansas. You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord , the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 26:3-4 NIV
http://bible.com/111/isa.26.3-4.NIV
Debbie LeBlanc, Rockledge, Fl:
“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”
Psalms 42:1 ESV
I commit! Cindy from Gold Canyon, Arizona
As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. John 9:4 NIV
I commit! Christi Bruecher from Houston, TX. “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” 1 Chronicles 16:11 ESV
I commit! Judy Libby, Cleveland Ohio.
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.
Psalm 119:97 NIV
I commit! Amy in St. Cloud, FL
“For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.”
2 Timothy 1:7 (HCSB)
I Commit! Jennifer from Lancaster, PA
O Lord, I give my life to you. Psalm 25:1 NLT
I Commit!! Leah, Ozark, MO
They were to be present every morning to thank and to praise the LORD, and to do the same every evening. ! Chronicles 23:30CEB
I commit! Beth from Laguna Hills, CA
I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world. John 16:33, ESV
I commit! Pam from Cary, NC. “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” John 1:4 NIV
I commit! Tammy from Wichita, Kansas
” It is God who arms me with Strength and keeps my way secure.”
Psalms 18:32 NIV
I commit!!! Casey from Charlotte, NC “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
-Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
I commit! Catherine from Centreville, VA
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Matthew 5:14 (NIV)
I commit!! 🙂 Trish Burton in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11
I commit! Cam from Albuquerque, NM, “In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. Psalm 25:1. NIV
I commit (and so do three of my daughters ages 9, 11, and 13)! Jen from Parker, Colorado. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…” Ephesians 1:3 ESV
I commit! Christy from Austin, TX
“One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” RSV-CE 2nd ed
Proverbs 11:24
Jami Senter, Ashburn, VA – Psalm 121:1 “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?” ESV
I commit! Katie – Charlottesville, VA
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. Jer 29:11
I commit! April from Vermilion, Ohio
You crown the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with abundance. ~Psalm 65:11 (NKJV)
I commit! Cathi Allebe, Austin, TX
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.” NIV Isaiah 12:2
I commit! Cherie Dearth from Joseph Oregon: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 NIV
I commit! Jessica from Richmond, Texas
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Philippians 2:3
I commit!
Nanette Ryan, Nashville, TN
“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!”
Psalm 84:1, ESV
I commit! Mariposa, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Create for me a pure heart, O God!
Renew a resolute spirit within me!
Do not reject me!
Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me!
Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!
Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey!
Psalms 51:10-12 NET
I Commit! Lindsey F. from Myrtle Beach, SC
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, for the promise of life in Christ Jesus:” 2 Timothy 1:1
This year I want to focus on growing my faith and trust that God is in control. Too many times I want to do it on my own and not rely on God for the answer. My verse is Hebrews 11:1 NLT Faith is the confidence that we hoped for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
I COMMITT! Kimyetta from Jonesboro, Georgia
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 NIV
I COMMIT!!! Jessica, New York, NY
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
I COMMITT! Kimyetta from Jonesboro, Georgia
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
Psalm 130:5 NIV
I commit! Missy Langford from Beaumont, Tx: “She is clothed with strength and dignity and laughs without fear of her future.” Pr. 31:25 NIV
I commit! Katie in Chicago.
“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh, is anything too hard for me?”
Jeremiah 32:37 (NASB)
I commit! Heidi from Chattanooga, Tennessee. “Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy.” Is. 4:5, NIV
I Commit! Margie Grant from White Salmon, WA: Is. 40:29 “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” NIV
I Commit! “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own.” 1 Cor 6:19 ESV
I commit! Carol from small town, USA. “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ. Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.” Jude 1 & 2, NIV
I commit! Linda Riddle from Austin, TX
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Proverbs 3:3 NIV
Jean Claire Monroe, Purvis, MS: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV)
I Commit! Kitty – Kingwood,TX “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29 NIV
Chrissie-Las Vegas-many claim to have unfailing love, but a faithful person who can find? The righteous lead blameless lives, blessed are their children after them. Proverbs 20:6-7 (NIV)
I commit!
I commit
Michelle Carlson Katy, TX
John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
I commit! Stacey Cochran from Centreville, AL: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Ps. 91:1 ESV
I commit! Dalene – Scottsdale “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7 NLT
I COMMIT! Patrice in ABQ
“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul & healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24 (NIV)
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. James 1:1-3 NIV
Committing! January, Houston TX “Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker.” Philemon 1 ESV
I commit! emi from white house,tn “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. ” Luke 1:45 ESV