Hope For Today

Dear Friends, Jesus Invites You To Rest Today's devotional first appeared in the Advent/Christmas 2018 'COME (Christians Overcoming ME) Together' Newsletter. I want to share it with you all here too as there are valuable truths for each one of us. The word “REST” has been on my mind a great deal lately. Probably because at the time of writing this I really am not feeling at all well and need more rest than usual. But rest is something we all need, whether we’re in poor health or not.  For too long, society has encouraged us to be busy, keep doing more, keep adding to an already full diary, keep taking on more responsibilities. In the past, in many churches, particularly in the ones I grew up in, works and serving others was emphasized as being vitally important, as was attending all the church meetings, not just on a Sunday morning but during the week too. This was the way I used to live, and my relationship with God was put in second place, although I was ...

Dear Friends,   I often find that when God wants me to pay attention to what he is saying, he will reinforce it several times.   It was certainly so a few weeks ago.   I had already decided to write about resting in God, based on my meditations on Psalm 23:2-3 “ He makes me to lie down in green pastures…He restores my soul;” (NKJV).   The verses that also came to mind were from Matthew 11:28-30 ‘Then Jesus said, “Come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.   Take my yoke upon you.   Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.   For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.”’ It was these verses that God kept bringing to my attention through a variety of means.   So I’m writing this as much for myself as I am for you, dear friends. The Message paraphrases it as “The words of Jesus: ‘Are you tired?   Worn ou...