Are you ready to receive in 2008?
"Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you-The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month.
The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.
You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame."
We are instructed to rejoice in the Lord our God. Joy is one of the most powerful weapons that God has given us to interrupt Satan's plan. The enemy knows that if we have no joy, then we have no strength, and if we have no strength, he can attack us from every angle. But when you have joy, you can receive strength to do things that would otherwise be impossible.
The second part of verse 23 talks about the former rain and latter rain coming down in the first month. This is a rain of refreshing. It is the rain of the Spirit of God, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is the rain that produces unimaginable abundance. This is the rain that God is going to release upon your life in January 2008, because it is the first month.
Has Satan robbed you of anything? Then rejoice in the Lord and be glad, because you are about to receive a heavy outpouring of rain in your life.
God is a God of restoration. In verse 25, He promises to restore the years and everything else that the devil has stolen from you. So rejoice and be glad, because you are about to receive a seven fold return.
God promises that you will eat in plenty and be satisfied. You will praise the name of the Lord and you will never be put to shame.
It is a new year and God wants to do something new in your life! If you are a Believer, you have a right to receive the manifestation of every word God has spoken over your life. As you lay hold of it by faith, it will come to pass. It is easy to become discouraged when you don't see things happening quickly enough, but as you seek His face through praise, prayer and worship, He will begin to reveal more of who He is to you. The more you know about Him, the more confident you will become in His ability to do exactly what He said He would do.
You may have been going through some troubling circumstance or struggling with a certain situation for some time now. But the good news is that your days of struggling are over! If you want to experience the power of God in your life, it is critical that you find out what God promises in His Word. He doesn't want you to stay in your current situation; He wants to take you to new levels of glory every day! All it takes is your unwavering belief in what He says in His Word.
Expectation is key to receiving the new things God desires to do in your life. Whether it is healing, deliverance, financial breakthrough or restoration of a relationship, God will come through for you if you expect Him to. He is a loving Father Who wants to bless you.
As you expect to see the goodness of God manifest in your life in 2008, you must lay hold of it by faith. Nothing in the Kingdom of God works without it.
I challenge you to begin thinking differently about your life. It's time to get rid of the old attitudes, habits and lifestyle that you have been living and holding onto and usher in the new! God is ready to reveal His glory to you in a new way; the question is, are you ready to receive it?
