"Come to me, all who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" - Mathew 11:28 (NIV).
Many people have a favourite time of the day. Perhaps it is siesta time, when the body is languid and heavy with starch, when one finds a soft spot to lay for a quick nap. Sports enthusiasts might look to the end of the day to take part in a game with other lads, like soccer. Food gobblers can't wait for dinner time. A number of imbibers must at the end of the day stop on their way back home at some place for that hard drink.
Looking at the Lord's life he clearly had a favourite part of the day too. "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed" (Mark 1:35). This seems to have been a habit regardless of the past day. Of course there must have been bad days as for any other, but there was that time the Lord looked forward to.
Now none of us would like to wake up to a chore. You don't reserve a special time for a drag. Fact is, that special time or moment should be inspiring, in order for you to look forward to it. It seems clear the Lord's daily habit was because of the power he derived from that special time of prayer. It energised him and gave him clarity of his life's mission. It was time to process and be filled with power to go out there and do God's work.
We all need that special time of the day, one we look forward to being by ourselves, process and then move on, our minds clear with the task ahead. The Lord teaches us that starting a day with prayer could be one good habit, worth adopting.
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray that you help me have and focus on that time when I talk to you and derive power for the mission you have given me, this I pray in Jesus's name.
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
