START RIGHT

It’s the beginning of a new year and everyone is eager to do whatever is necessary to make 2019 a memorable time filled with blessings and good things from God. That is, we all want to be successful in everything we do in 2019.

This brings to mind a verse in the bible that can be said to be the conditions for a prosperous and successful life.

 

Joshua 1 : 8

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and thou shalt have good success.

To explain the verse in simple terms, “the book of law” is the bible. “Shall not depart out of thy mouth” means you should read it every day so you can learn what it says well enough to confess it daily. “  To meditate” according to the Oxford English mini-dictionary  means to think deeply about what the bible says or focus your mind on what it says in silence for religious purposes. Then finally you should do or practice all that it says. If you do all these things you will proper and have good success.

How can we do what this verse says practically?

• You must have our quiet time with the Lord daily.
• We must find time for serious bible study.
• You must pray for God to help us memorize verses in the bible.
• We must confess the word of God as an answer to every situation in our life.
• We must fast and pray for the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives so that obeying the word of God comes naturally.

We must have our quiet time with the Lord daily

The verse for reference is:

Mark 1 : 35

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out,  and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

This is a perfect example from our Lord. He rose up early in the morning to have a “quiet time’ with the Father before starting the day’s activities. We must also do the same thing. Rise up early in the morning and find a quiet place to have fellowship with God.

For your time with God you would need a bible and a devotional guide      book like “Daily Bread”, “Living word”, “Daily Manna”, “Daily Guide” or any other one you prefer. You can find one in any Christian bookstore like, Challenge Bookshop, Methodist or Presbyterian Bookstore etc.

You start by saying a short prayer asking God to open your eyes, your heart and mind to behold mysterious and wondrous things in His word. Then, check the devotional book for the passage for the day. Read it and then read the explanation and exhortation in the devotional book. End the quiet time with prayer and try to memorize the key verse for the day. This would help you meditate on the word and confess it.

We must find time for serious bible study

Apart from having your quiet time daily you must find time, perhaps about two or three hours a week when you study the word. The bible says in:

2 Timothy 2 : 15

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

For the bible study you can have a book study, where you concentrate on of the books of the bible like the book of Esther or the book of John. You can also study a topic like “Sanctification” or “Salvation”. For both types of study you would need a guide or a bible with a concordance. You can find a good bible study guide or bible with a concordance in any of the Christian bookshops mentioned earlier.

A bible study would help you appreciate and understand the bible better. It would also help you memorize portions of the bible you can fall on in times of need. It will also give you passages you can meditate on to help you obey it naturally.

We must pray for God to help us memorize verses in the bible

The key verse is  :

James 1 : 5

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

You need wisdom to know which verses to memorize and wisdom to know how to memorize the verses. God says if you need wisdom ask him (pray) and He will give you the wisdom you need. The bible also tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5 : 17:

“Pray without ceasing.”

We should be praying always as we perform our daily chores, work schedules or whilst listening to lectures in school. You do not always have to kneel down and close your eyes before praying.You could pray with your eyes open in your head whilst driving, writing or doing any other thing.

We must confess the word of God as an answer to every situation in our life

To be able to confess the word of God for every situation in our life we need to study the word of God thoroughly.

For example if we need healing we can confess Isaiah 53 : 5

——-by his stripes we are healed.

If we need peace we can  confess or speak out

Isaiah 26:3

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

When you need wisdom to write your examinations you can quote:

James 1 : 5

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God………

I believe there is a verse for every situation that comes our way. All we need is a bible concordance to find the right verse to memorize. However, you may not have a bible concordance close always, so memorize as many bible verses as you can.

We must fast and pray for the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives        such that obeying the word of God comes naturally

Lets consider Isaiah 58:6-9

This passage gives us or tells us how to fast in the way that is pleasing to God in order to receive expected results from our Father. When we keep away from food and do the things mentioned in the passage like setting free the oppressed, giving our bread to the hungry and clothing those without clothes, then when we cry unto God He will answer us.

After going through the first four practical steps:

• Having our Quiet time daily.
• Having bible studies frequently.
• Confessing the word of God.

We can fast and pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to do all the bible says so we can be prosperous and have good success.

Conclusion

If we want 2019 to be a good year, let us meditate on Joshua 1 : 8 and go through the practical steps discussed. We can “start right” in January and all the other things needed in the course of the year would follow.

 

By Evangeline Unity Esaaba Folson

References:

1. Internet Bible
2. King James Bible
3. Oxford English Mini-dictionary.