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!!! Rhonda from SC
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to stand still
Exodus 14:14
I committ! Candy–Whitewright, TX
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1NIV
I commit! Karla B. from Grovetown, GA
18“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19See, 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
Carey, Knoxville, TN. “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)
I commit! Julie~Coppell,TX
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Psalm 25:1 (NIV)
I commit! Becky from Edmonton, Alberta
I love you God- you make me strong.
God is bedrock under my feet,
the castle in which I live,
my rescuing knight.
My God- the high crag where I run for dear life.
Psalm 18:1,2. MSG Bible
Kim, Dallas, TX. ““Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalms‬ â€19:14‬ â€(ESV‬‬)
I commit. Karen, Chester, VA. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12. NIV
I commit! Marella Mylet from Seattle, WA: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1 ESV
I commit! Caroline, Washington, DC.
“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.” Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
Katie, O’Fallon Mo “the Lord your god is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will bring you quietness with His love. He will delight in you with shouts of joy. Zephaniah 3:17
I commit! Rosa from Houston Texas: “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding that I may earn Thy commandments.” Psalms 119:73 KJV
I commit! Mary Megan from Round Rock, Texas: “He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15 NIV
I commit! Barb from Des Moines, IA
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:10–11 ESV
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 timothy 1:7 NKJV
I commit – Shayne Sims, Lubbock, Texas
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Ephesians 6:10
I Commit! Katrina Gagner from Wichita Falls, Texas.
“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” 1 Peter 3:8 (NIV)
Mary Ellen in Laurel, MT
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.” Eph. 1:1
I commit! Cathy from Russellville, AR
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
Jeremiah 33:3 NIV
Lindsey Heath from Ashburn, Virginia. “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him… becoming like him” Philippians 3:8,9,10 NIV
I commit! Trudi, Austin, TX
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
Antoinette, Hoofddorp, the Netherlands
‘..en dat Hij voor allen is gestorven opdat de levenden niet langer voor zichzelf zouden leven, maar voor Hem die voor de levenden is gestorven en opgewekt.’ 2 Korinthiers 5:15 (NBV)
Cheryl Autry from Dunn, NC
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11 ESV
I commit! Cheryl, Aubrey, tx. “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! Paula Huntsville ON Canada
Mark 10:45, NKJV “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
I commit! Mariah, Williamsburg, Virginia:
“As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,” Isaiah 55:10 NIV
Amanda Tucker
Corydon,IN
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:
Jude 1:1
NAS
I commit! Amy from Columbia, SC
“But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, TO HOLD FAST TO HIM, and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul.” Joshua 22:5, NIV
colossians 1:9-10 And so from the day we have heard, we have not stopped praying for you asking that you will be filled withthe knowledge of HIs will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to HIm, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. ESV
“I rejoice in Your word like one who discovers a great treasure.”
Psalms 119:162 NLT
2 Timothy 1:12 HCSB
And that is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in and am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.
I commit! Lori, Columbus GA
Psalm 25:1 ESV
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
I commit. Debra Ellsworth, Florence AZ, “what a stack of blessings you have piled up for those who worship you…… Psalm, 31:19-22 msg
I commit! Shawna, Boise, Idaho
Jude 1:20-21 The Message
“Carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God’s love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ.”
I commit! Charlene Sarver, Cookeville, TN
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Psalm 25:1 (ESV)
Nellie Neufeld Tillsonburg, ON Canada
Jesus answered, “i tell you the truth, unless tiny are born again, you cannot be in God’s kingdom.”
John 3:3 NCV
I commit! Dedra Curtice, Nederland, TX
When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)
Charles siple rockledge FL
“Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth?”
â€â€Isaiah‬ â€23:8‬ â€NIV‬‬
Brandy Trahan Port Neches, Tx
”Oh, Lord, hear me as I pray, pay attention to my groaning.” Psalm 5:1 (NLT)
I commit! “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Isaiah 53:1 NASB
I commit! Kim, San Diego, CA
Philippians 1:1-6 NIV
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I commit! Sandra Kent from Gwinn MI. The LORD Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. Exodus 14:14 NLT
Phoenix,AZ, Lukes 1:37 For with God nothing will be impossible, niv
Susan, Huntsville, TX
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. (John 14:1 NASB)
Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
I commit! Heidi Streed, Bloomington, MN
Understand this my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
James 1:19 NLT
WAYNE,PA
I will praise you,Lord,with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things ypu have done. Psalm 9:1 esv
I commit! Jordin from Albuquerque, New Mexico: “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26, NET
I commit! Krista from Winchester, VA
1 The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives
and freedom to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance;
to comfort all who mourn, 3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees,
planted by the Lord to glorify Him. Isaiah 61:1-3 HCSB
I commit! Monique from Baton Rouge LA
Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually.
Psalm 105:4 NRSV