The audio for this devotional is not available for now, but you can have your device read it to you.
Reading options
Verse:“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! …Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?” —Isaiah 55:1, 2, NIV
Many mornings I find myself waking up and immediately thinking that I am a weak Christian. I desire that the day be easy, with no complications, no heartache, nothing difficult to solve, and no excessive thinking required.
I just want a peaceful day. Why is living the Christian life so hard sometimes? As I pray, I am reminded by God’s Spirit and His Word that there is much I bring to this mindset. You see, I am an intense person, and I can invite worry, anxiety, and complications. I can create a difficult day with no help from anyone else.
God shows me the self-fulfilling prophecy of my own thinking.
Christ lovingly points out where I might invite complication and confusion; He invites me to order and clarity. Where I might invite worry, He invites me to peace. Where I invite ease and comfort, He invites trust and provision.
God knows us better than we know ourselves.
He is always working for our good.
He does this with an invitation, not demands or control. He invites us to something better. Oh, thank You, Father, for your blessed invitations.
All I have to do is accept them and enter into that something better. From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He extended loving invitations —from the calling of His disciples (Matthew 4) to His words in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (NIV). So, each morning when I wake, I have the freedom and opportunity to respond to Christ’s invitation.
I can keep my eyes focused on my challenges and invite all the negative responses that go with them. Or I can accept the invitation of Christ.
When I choose Christ’s invitation each morning, that is when the abundant life that God so generously desires to give me will be a reality.
It is not a reality of circumstances that is always easy or comfortable, but that choice results in a heart that is abundant with confidence in God.
He is an invitation worth accepting every day.
Lee Lee Dart