December 10


For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11:30


This claim of Jesus is amazing. He had been involved in an extremely busy time of ministry – praying for thousands day after day, casting out demons and even raising the dead. We might think that He was under enormous pressure to keep on satisfying the multitudes that flocked to Him. But then, if a touch can heal the sick, where is the pressure? Isn’t it a delight to exercise that power? Ministering to others only becomes stressful to us if we are trying to be something we are not. If we feel we have to make a miracle happen, then praying for the sick becomes the most intolerable burden we can ever imagine. If deliverance depends on us, then praying for the relief of oppressed people becomes a burden that will crush the faith out of our wearied minds. But all these things do not depend on us – they work by the sheer grace and gift of God. It is a delight to pray for people and minister to them because we cannot make it happen, either by becoming intense and serious as we pray, or by raising our voices. It is a delightful wonder that God heals and works through us, and all we have to do is to keep our hearts under His yoke – free and dependent on Him. The worst thing we can do is to pretend we are something we are not. Be yourself, and delight in His grace and goodness to you and through you.