Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #113

Success

Nehemiah 2

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 18) "I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, 'Let us start rebuilding.' So they began this good work." (v. 20) "I answered them by saying, 'The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it."

My Thoughts

Nehemiah led the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, and of course there were those who were against them in it. Nehemiah and his people were determined to complete the work though, because it was important for them to do so. They couldn't live in a city that didn't have walls for protection.

Nehemiah was confident and faithful that God would give them success, and he was absolutely right. God did give them success in rebuilding Jerusalem's walls because they persevered in the work and they stayed faithful to God.

It is the same with us even now. God is not far from us and He will give us success in our endeavors as well. Whatever we do, if it is pleasing to God and our hearts are in the right place and we stay faithful to God, He will make us successful. If you are trying to learn an instrument, you will have success. If you are trying some kind of activity, be it dance, gymnastics, parkour or some kind of sport, you will have success. Let God be the center of whatever it is that you're doing, in fact, make Him the center of it.

God has been great to me in the few activities that I have been doing and learning. I keep God at the center of it all. Before every time I practice, train or do any of it, I pray. I ask God to help to learn, improve and grow in it, and in Him. I ask Him to keep every part of me focused and in tune with Him. God as done exactly that for me, and I have been successful in it. God will do the same for you, all you have to do is ask for and allow Him to.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #111

Resolutions

Nehemiah 10

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 29) "all these now join their brothers and nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given to Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord."

My Thoughts

Okay, now I know that is almost two weeks late, but maybe I can make it pertinent to right now. So hands up, who made any New Year resolutions? Okay, quite a few of you I see. Next question. Who, after the ten days that it has been since, has kept their resolution(s)? I see a few of the hands went down. Now let me ask you why? Are you able to answer that question?

The Israelites had disobeyed God and intermingled with the neighboring nations. The leaders had also done this and in so doing, led the rest astray. When this was all brought to their attention, they all made a resolution, together. They resolved not to do this again, and to follow and obey and love God. They kept their resolutions. All too often, we do not.

To those of you who have so far kept to your resolutions, that is great and I encourage you to continue! For those that have not, I wouldn't really worry about it. I don't make New Year resolutions myself because I never do stick to them. What I do instead comes from one of the pastors at my church. He calls it a New You Revolution. It is different because with this, you resolve to change yourself, rather than just do something.

What he suggested at the time time he spoke about this is to ask God for wisdom every day. That was three years ago now, and I can say that I have continued to do that from until now, minus the few times that I have forgotten. The point is that you want to change yourself, not just something you do. When you change your self from the inside, the outside will follow suit. Your attitude will change and so will your values. Your actions will follow as a result.

I we wish to change ourselves completely and better ourselves, we need to set goals that we can follow and will want to follow. I don't know if you ever heard of SMART goals, but it's something we used to talk about in school. If you're going to set a goal, then it should follow SMART.

Simple- Don't set goals that are contingent on certain things.
Measurable- Make sure that you are able to keep track of your progress towards said goal.
Achievable- Are you actually able to achieve the goal, or is it just something that you want?
Realistic- Be grounded when you set a goal and don't make a goal you know you won't reach.
Timely- You have to factor in the time your goal will possibly take.

This is a simple way to make goals and stick to them until you actually achieve them. Or you can be like me and just say "This is what I (INSERT GOAL HERE) and then do it. I don't know how it works for me, but I guess it just does. That's okay too, you can come up with your own way to set goals and stick to them until you achieve them. Be creative!

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #8

Time Spent in Prayer

Nehemiah 1

(v. 3) " 'Those who survived the exile are... in great trouble and disgrace.' " (v. 4) "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven."

My Thoughts



Nehemiah had a job to do; he was put in charge as governor of Judah and led the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. When Nehemiah was first told of the state of the walls in Jerusalem, he wept. Before doing anything, Nehemiah mourned, fasted and prayed for some days.

This looks a lot like procrastination, doesn't it? Procrastination is putting off doing what needs to be done in favor of more appealing agendas until the last minute. I will tell you that Nehemiah absolutely did not procrastinate. The time he spent in prayer before doing the work that needed to be done was not wasted. It was time well spent. When you spend time prayer with God before doing a task that needs to be done, you are preparing yourself for said task.

A lot of the time, when you have a certain task that is a lot of work, or may take a while, or is daunting for whatever reason, it can be very stressful. Some people put off these important errand until they need to be done in a pinch. Others will spend all day or more working away on them that they burn themselves out and have no time for anything or anyone else. They are of the mindset that it needs to get done before anything else, and that is where they focus all of their resources.

The time you spend in prayer before starting a task is the most important part of that task. All you have to do is ask, and God will make the task seem less daunting or stressful and more achievable. You will find that you can finish the task at hand quicker, better, and without stressing yourself out. Always remember to pray about anything that seems difficult, stressful or daunting. Ask God to help you get the job done, and done well, and to help you stay focused on Him.

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Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do. Thanks for reading, Godbless!