Daily Devotional: 1/1/2019 - START RIGHT

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19

To you, what is more important the start or the finish?

For me it is the finish, but today I am going to talk about the importance of a good start.

A good start is where everything is set. The start sets your foundation. It "gets the ball rolling".

To go off of that phrase, think of it like a ball. If you go to push a ball and want it to go for distance you are going to have to give it a good push (good start) in order for it to go far. If you do not give it a good push it is not going to go anywhere.

• The same is with anything in life and could be the same with the new year. If you go into anything without a good mind or go in firing you might not be able to finish. The ball is not going to roll to far and it will not make it to the finish line.
• It is not going to have the momentum. It does not have the momentum to go through and over the bumps and obstacles of everyday life on the path.

"New Year's Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery. Today carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in which you dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change." - Sarah Ban Breathnach

Life is full of change and opportunity for it. We just have to take hold. There is the cliché saying that everyone says on New Year's Day, "new year means a new me". This saying can be true, but only if you grab a hold of the reigns and go through with it. A new year means a brand new collection of 365 days to change your life around. One day can make or break anything. I have seen people change in minutes. I have seen God change people in circumstances that as humans we cannot do anything with.

• So imagine what you can do with a brand new collection of 365 days. You can do so much if you put your mind to it and trust and give everything to God in the process.

Whether 2018 was your year or not, 2019 can be filled with so much. It can be filled with so much prosperity and growth, if you let it. We just have to trust God and give him everything. Forget the past, but learn from it. Do not let past mistakes come back to haunt you. Learn from the mistakes so that you do not do the same thing in the upcoming year. Pick up on the signs and the things that caused you to fall the last time. The past repeats itself and it will continue to repeat itself, especially if you let it and do not learn from it.

Like yesterday, lets us Paul as an example. Paul was one of the biggest Christian persecutors of all time, he even enjoyed it. He thought of it as a sport and found great joy in the suffering and the death of Christians (Acts 8:1). However, God intervened and made Paul one of the greatest Apostles to ever live and spread the message. If you look at your Bible most of the New Testament is his writing, he went on missions, and continually spread the Word and Love of Jesus. This all started with the foundation that he set for himself and kept the momentum going. Once he accepted Christ as he Lord and Savior he did not waste any time and went right into the field with the other disciples and Apostles (Acts 9:18-19). He went right into the missions field, and became one of the first missionaries (Acts 11:22-26). He went on to find and start so many churches and he helped to save so many lives, this all was founded on the start he had.

Sometimes the start that leads to the finish. If there is no start, how can you finish?

Here are my New Year's Resolutions:

• Better shape
• Pursue a godly relationship (God willing) - but mainly not fall for worldly relationships
• Pursue a better relationship with God
• Go the whole year without falling for masturbation and the flesh
• Be better with my purity
• Study something out every month
• Be better with my prayer life
• Have a better relationship with my brothers
• Continue my pursue for an art school and/or job
• Baptize someone (God willing)
• Study the Bible with people
• Spread the Word on a daily basis
• Live the Word on a daily basis
• Put God and the Kingdom first on a daily basis
• Set a foundation and finish strong

A new year means that there is so much time to do so many things. Do waste time to start. Life is a race and we are training and competing for the same prize, that is the crown of righteousness. The gun is shot and the race has already started, pick up the momentum and stick with it. Run the race and start like you are halfway done with it. Be ready to cross the finish line with the same momentum you started with.

Lord, I pray and thank you for all that you do. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to make it to another year. You truly are so amazing. I pray for the grace, wisdom and strength to start the race at a 100 and allow us to finish at 100. We all set out goals and resolutions for the new year, I pray you are with us as we try to complete them all. Be our right hand man and allow your will to be done. It is your will and not ours. I pray that 2019 is full of prosperity and growth, not only for me but for the church. Allow the campus to flourish and allow us to reach out to people of all ages and minds. Allow the branches to be fruitful. I pray all this in your son's glorious awesome name, Amen.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and put them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on a rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash" (Matthew 7:24-27)

#LetsBeAMovement