Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale Daily DevotionalSample

Have a heavy heart? Yesterday we saw that God uses His peace to protect people from straying outside of His will for their lives. While this is generally true, there are also times when the Lord uses something besides His peace to direct a person in His path for them. He will place a burden on them. A burden is a heavy weight, and sometimes God will place something that weighs heavily upon a person's heart. Typically, it's associated with a particular need that the Lord wants them to meet. When Nehemiah heard that the wall around Jerusalem was in disarray, it really ate away at him. He couldn't shake the idea of Jerusalem, the Holy City of God, being in such sorry shape. Nehemiah was so affected by this glaring need that he wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed for several days. This heaviness on his heart wasn't going away, because it was a burden the Lord had placed there. And the reason God placed this burden on Nehemiah's heart was because it was His will for Nehemiah to fix the situation, which is exactly what he did. Now, what would have happened if there had been no burden in Nehemiah's life? What if the news about Jerusalem went in one ear and out the other? We'll never know, but we do know that the burden God gave him got him to the place of walking in His perfect will. Ask yourself: Is there a burden on your heart? Is there a particular need weighing on your mind that just won't go away? Does it only get heavier and heavier with the passage of time? If so, it's very likely this is God's way of getting your attention and getting you to identify His will for your life. Yesterday we saw that God uses His peace to protect people from straying outside of His will for their lives. While this is generally true, there are also times when the Lord uses something besides His peace to direct a person in His path for them. He will place a burden on them. Think about it... What does this passage reveal to me about God? What does this passage reveal to me about myself? Based on this, what changes do I need to make? What is my prayer for today?