Daily Devotional for Monday October 26, 2009

Many of You are Just Trying to Make it Through the End of the Week

( 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 )

Many of you today are just trying to make it through until the end of the week. You are burdened by many troubles. You have mountains in your life that are so large, you are just waiting for them to crush you. You woke up this morning with little hope, clinging to that small measure of faith that today, maybe today, you might get that breakthrough you are looking for. You are tired, weary, almost without enough energy to go on much longer. Right now, as much as anything, you are hoping and praying for a bit of comfort in the midst of the trials, a little rest from carrying the burdens weighing you down. My friend, put your burdens down, quit thinking for a few minutes about the circumstances you are facing, and let God our creator, comfort you today.

As you know, nobody can think clearly and make wise decision when they are tired. Many times, we compound the problems in our life by making hasty, nonrayerful decisions in the heat of the moment without thinking. Today, go to God. Ask Him to do nothing more than comfort you and give you rest. Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

I sense in my spirit today that many of you simply need to go to God today and find that rest. Listen, the problems you have didn't happen overnight, and unless God decided to miraculously work in a situation, won't go away overnight. The problems happened over a period of time, and God usually uses a period of time to work them out.

This is hard for me to write because I am a very motivated, action-oriented person that likes to work until the problems are solved, then rest. But that isn't always practical, and many times God tests us through different problems, and he may not work things out on our time schedule. One of the hardest lessons for me to learn was that there are days and there are times when I just need to stop, relax, let God comfort me for a time, and let the Lord carry my burdens.

What this really is starting to boil down to, my friend, is an issue of faith. We are so worried, work so hard, and get ourselves in such difficult problems out of a lack of faith. Faith is simply believing God can and will do exactly what He says in His Word. The reason it is hard for me to take that time of comfort is because of lack of faith. I just don't trust God to work things out, so I stay busy trying to do it myself. I am not saying we shouldn't work hard, be concerned about the issues in our life, and try to work things out . . . but are we doing it our way, in our strength, or God's way in His strength?

My prayer for you today is to take a day of rest. Go to school, go to work, do the things you do in a normal day, but rest from the worry and concerns of your problems and circumstances. Let God give you rest today from your burdens. Let Him comfort you in the midst of your trials. Let Him simply love you today.

In addition, exercise that measure of faith He has given each one of us and start to trust Him more. Tomorrow, you will be fresh, rested, and have a renewed confidence in God, and then sit down with God and let Him start to give you His plan for handling your problems. He promised to and He will . . . you just need to trust Him.

I love you and am praying for you. Never lose sight that no matter what, God is still on the throne and still in control. One of the interesting parts of the scripture reference I gave you today is that God comforts you so that you in turn can comfort others. Your prayers and support of this ministry give hope and comfort to tens of thousands worldwide every single day. We never close and are always here to answer the call for help from anyone who needs a special touch in their life. We are able to do that because you care, you pray, and you help support what we are doing here at www.liveprayer.com.

All I can say is thank you for being obedient to God and standing with me. May this day of rest and comfort enrich you, and revive your body and spirit to go out and be a living testimony of God's love, mercy, and grace.

In His love and service. Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller