Day 1

“I Will Give You Rest”
But How?

You may already know that Jesus provided a way for us to get to heaven.  But, did you
know that He also provided for us in this life?

    "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  
    Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
    and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy, and My burden is
    light."

And yet it seems that our faith is a hard yoke and a heavy burden.  Many of us have
tried so very hard to live up to what God expects of us.

We have tried to love God.
We have tried to love other people.
We have tried to lay down our lives for the Gospel.
We have tried to keep our thoughts and actions pure.

But instead of joy and success, we find misery, pain, failure, and condemnation.  Our
Christian life is not what we know it should be.  The harder we try, the more we fail.  
We become exhausted and discouraged.  We can relate to Paul when he says:

    For what I am doing, I do not understand.  For what I will to do, that I do not
    practice; but what I hate, that I do.  

I Tried And Failed        
When I was a new Christian, I wanted to please God and draw closer to Him.  I came
up with a simple plan.  I decided that every 15 minutes I would simply turn my thoughts
towards Him, and say, "Hello, God."  At work there was a big clock on the wall right in
front of me.  That was the ideal setup for me to fulfill my plan.
Then I would get busy.  I would look up at the clock and realize it had been two hours
since I had last prayed.  I would feel like a failure and renew my determination.  Then I
would fail again, and again, and again. What I was intending to do was so simple, and
yet I couldn't even do that tiny little thing.


We All Struggle
Not only do we ourselves try and fail, when we look around us we find other Christians
struggling similarly.  We may feel like hypocrites.
    What is wrong?
    We can't seem to figure it out.
    God has to reveal it to us.
He has revealed the answer in the Bible, but our understanding has been blocked.  We
have looked at the Word, but have not seen the solution.


How?
The solution through Jesus exists, but you need detailed instructions.
Suppose I want to learn to play golf.  An expert tells me, "You hit this little white ball
with this club until it goes into that hole over there."  This is true information, but it isn't
enough.  I need more detailed instructions.
Those detailed instructions that you need are what I am going to give you in the rest of
the book.
To become a child of God, you first needed to believe, but then you had to act by
speaking:

    That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
    God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one
    believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation
    (Romans 10:9-10).

You need to do the same thing regarding Jesus' provision in this life.  To be healed
inside, you first need to believe, but then you need to act on that belief by speaking
(which is praying).


We Are All In This Together
This book is intended for every Christian, because we all struggle and fall short of what
we know God wants for us.  Jesus did not come to save just a few.  He came for all
who would accept Him.


Let's Turn On The Lights!
Have you ever tried to find something in the dark?  The item is there, but you just
cannot see it. However, if you can turn on a light, you can easily see what you’re
looking for.  So let's start turning on some lights!


Reflection:

Can you identify with feeling like a failure?  If so, give an example of
when you tried to do the right thing, but failed.

What are you hoping God will do for you? (put no limitations on
your answer….dream a little!)






        
Divinely  Designed
Being changed into the image of Jesus

A miracle can happen to you, like the transformation that
happens when a worm is transformed into a butterfly
(2 Corinthians 3:18).
Devotional Version