Daily Bible Reading - Monday - January 11th

It really seems God is setting us all up for victory.  Reading His word daily where it started out teaching us discipline and has taken us through faithfulness, perfection all the way through to wisdom and so forth, it has all built us up and preparing us for victory in our lives.  I sit here this morning thinking what do all of these do for us in our daily lives and it hit me while I was reading one of the daily devotions that God is setting us up to lead victorious lives.  You know I think it would please God to no end if we all could live in victory 24/7.  That’s what He wants for us anyway, sometimes we feel that’s harder to obtain then it really is but I am finding it easier for me to jump into victory every day as I read and study His word.  It’s just so amazing how each day read His word and He will speak to us then when we sit down and reflect on the past week of what we have read there is always more, we put everything we’ve read for the week together and get another message.  How wonderful is that? How wonderful is our Lord that He knows exactly what we need when we need it.  Like a lot of you I have struggled with things in my life for many years, not just my weight but things that I seem to not be able to let go.  I seem to give it over to God and then a few days later I find myself picking that problem back up and carrying it on my shoulders.  Why is it when we give something over to God we sometimes end up picking it back up?  That’s been such a struggle of mine in the past.  God doesn’t want us to pick it back up, He wants us to let Him have it and let Him take control. He wants us to have suck victory in our lives on a daily basis.  Like the devotional said yesterday, He wants us to constantly prepare for our victory party, how awesome!!

In reading today’s word the passages in Matthew stuck out at me.  It first starts out talking about following Jesus at any cost.  Then in Matthew 8:23-27 the word goes on about how Jesus and His disciples were out on the lake, Jesus was sleeping and a fierce storm came up and frightened the disciples that they were really afraid and they were yelling at Jesus saying “Lord save us we are going down" and what did He tell them? “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!"  I can just see Jesus shaking his head at them as he calmed the storms and probably went back to sleep as if it was nothing for Him to do that.  If we could only just give our storms over to Him like that He will calm them just as He did the lake.  That really hit me this morning.  He wants us all to live in such victory and it’s out there for us we just have to grab it.

Today’s Reading

Genesis 24:52-26:16
Matthew 8:18-34
Psalm 10:1-15
Proverbs 3:7-8

Daily Devotional

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline"
(2 Timothy 1:7, NLT)

So many people today are living with less than God's best because they've allowed fear to stop them from pursuing their dreams. We have to remember that fear is not from God. It's a lie from the enemy to paralyze us and steal our power.

Today's verse tells what God has given us: power, love, and self-discipline or self-control. When you are confident in God's promises, there's nothing that can stop you. But when fear creeps in, you hesitate. You're not as strong as you were before. You feel powerless. Not only that, but it affects your love. Love prompts us to give, and when we are afraid, we tend to clench our fists and act selfishly. Fear also affects our self-discipline or self-control. It makes us panic and do things without thinking.

If you've allowed fear to steal from you in any area of life, today you can be free—you can be finished with fear. Conquering fear starts with a choice to believe God's promises and then taking a step of faith to act on them. As you step out, God will be with you. He'll give you power, love, and self-discipline so that you can confidently move forward into the abundant life He has for you!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

"Father God, I come to You today declaring that I am finished with fear. Thank You for giving me power, love, and a sound mind. I choose to stand on Your promises. Fill me with Your peace and joy today as I move forward in victory with You. In Jesus' Name. Amen."