Daily Bible Reading - Monday - Jan. 4th

It’s it just amazing how our readings started the first few days off with discipline.  Makes me think of if I had started my very first diet off with discipline where I would have gone from there, but we can’t look back can we?  We have to move forward learning from the past.   It’s been amazing to how Genesis, Matthew, Psalms and Proverbs sort of all started off on the same note yet different.  God certainly knew what he was doing when He wrote the word.   Last year God really spoke to me about discipline and this year is no different, He’s just speaking to me in other areas of my life that need discipline. 

 He truly is faithful and just to forgive us and always to start over.  Sometimes I get to thinking “how many times can God forgive me of eating wrong or doing something wrong"  well let me tell ya,  God WILL forgive us and let us start over as many times as it takes,  He said he would forgive us 70 x 7 and over and over again.  Wow,  that in itself gives me comfort that there really is a chance I can finally be what God wants me to be.  In my own life I can’t count how many times I’ve needed forgiveness and deliverance from something, praise God he’s a God of second, third, fourth etc. chances.  I think a lot of us started this journey of wls on the same boat, thinking and possibly knowing this was our last chance.  I know I did.  Makes you really think how important it is to do our best in every area of our lives to be disciplined, not just in our eating but in every area.  I know when I start to lose discipline in one area of my life it affects other areas and it becomes like dominoes. 

I’ve come to see that we aren’t just reading a book or just reading about history but we are reading a story, a true story.  This last year the bible to me has came to life, its almost like I was right there when this all happened, this year is no different, its got me so excited that sometimes I don’t want to put it down, I want to see what’s going to happen next.  God has so much in store for us this year.  I can’t wait to see what He has in store for us next.

Today’s Reading

Genesis 8:1-10:32
Matthew 4:12-25
Psalm 4:1-8
Proverbs 1:20-23

Daily Devotional

Zechariah 10:1 says to "ask for rain even though it's raining"

God desires to overtake us with His love, peace and presence. Just like one becomes saturated when standing under a downpour of rain, God has His abundance of rain ready to saturate our lives, changing, blessing and enriching us in His fullness in every way.

In order to be affected by rain, we have to be in the correct position. In the natural sense, the correct position would be standing under the rain. In the spiritual sense, part of positioning ourselves is asking. Zechariah 10:1 says to "ask for rain even though it's raining". That means that even though we know that God's presence, peace, joy, health, and hope are available, we should ask for it, and by faith, believe that we are going to receive it.

It's important to take what you know a step further and by faith, out loud, acknowledge the manifestations of God's presence, and part of doing that is to praise and worship

It's interesting to think about the components of water. A water molecule is composed of two hydrogen atoms bonded to a single oxygen atom. Likewise, the rain of God is God Himself and everything that comes along with Him. What is that? It's healing, peace, goodness, forgiveness, self-esteem, joy and so much more. When it rains, you experience and have access to it all.

There is transforming power in the declaration of praise. I believe that worship along with our praise, thanksgiving, and confessing the word of God is essential to our Christian life. Worship is our response to God in our lives which only enhances intimacy, obedience and revelation of who He is and who we are. I leave every worship experience in the presence of God more influenced by Him and more like Him than before. That's why I take advantage of every opportunity to praise and worship the Lord. It always brings more strength, wisdom and understanding toward whatever situation I might be going through. As a matter of fact, there have been times when I've entered prayer with concerns and after being in His presence and worshipping Him, it wasn't even worth bringing up because I knew that my needs were already taken care of.

Worshipping the Lord is not only a privilege, but it is life. It's in the life of every believer. The Bible says that even the rocks cry out and give God worship. God is so worthy of our worship and adoration. We all have something in which we are thankful; for one, Jesus saved us and came to give us a full life! We have a reason to live and we have hope in our lives. That's reason enough! Through worship, we activate and release our faith by acknowledging God's lordship in our lives. And according to Psalm 1, when we acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, He directs our steps and gets us into proper alignment; that's an abundance of rain.

And it's through our worship and adoration that we experience and are drawn more and more into all of the manifestations of God's presence. The cloud of God's favor opens up, and begins to pour over our life, equipping, anointing and enriching us.

The presence of the Lord is the safest place that you can be when it seems as if your world is crashing around you. I love the fact that when you are close to Jesus, you will see your life and everything around you from His perspective, which is found in the abundance of His rain.