Breaking The Chains Biblical Recovery Ministry

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

(Matthew 11:28-30)

Many times when we go through our struggles and problems, no matter how hard we try to keep going, there comes a time when we become tired and weary. Sometimes we sit and wonder "will it ever get better?". The answer is YES! One thing we must realize though is that it's ok to get tired and bring that weariness to Christ. Any Soldier in a battle gets tired after a while and deserves a well needed rest. As we can see from the verse in Matthew above, even Christ knew we would get tired and He called for us to come to Him and He would give us rest. He knew our shoulders were not wide enough to carry our burdens but His were!

We serve a mighty God who understands weariness and fatigue in the midst of battles and turmoils in our life. In Isaiah 40:1, it starts out by saying:

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God"

Those are comforting words in the midst of a storm. More comforting is the following:

Isaiah 40:28-31

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,they will walk and not be faint.

In order to receive this renewed strength, we must go to God and ask Him for strength. Sometimes we tend to play the martyr and think we can get through things ourselves or that other peoples problems are more important but the problem with doing this is that on the inside of ourselves we are slowly breaking down, becoming tired, irritable and weaker. The storm around us seems to intensify and we become even more distracted from God. Where we use to make time for Him during the day we now barely make time for Him during the week. Soon, our feet seem to sink into the ground and we are unable to move forward, past our problems and instead we continue to sink deeper into our problems.

The above is a situation you want to avoid. The enemy loves to hold us in one place through our thoughts, actions and habits. By doing this we are unable to recovery fully. If we have recovered, rest assured he will always try to draw you back by overwhelming you with thoughts and problems. This is why when we become weary during a storm, recovery, or whatever the situation may be, it's important that we take time out to go to God and seek that well deserved rest. There have been times I've had to get on my knees and ask for this rest because the storms around me were too intense. Sometimes it felt like no matter which way I turned I was hit on all sides. I didn't doubt but I did become weary. I can tell you this...God is a faithful God and takes care of His children because when I asked for a rest, He gave it to me. It may have been for only a day or two, but it was enough to renew my strength, think more clearly and head back into the battle again until the battle was finished.

Recently during my most difficult moments, I found great comfort in Psalms. As you can read in Psalms, King David definitely would have been diagnosed with Depression! It's not hard to see why. In 2 Samuel 11 and 12, although David was a great King and God loved him dearly, he sinned against God. He committed adultery with another man's wife, she became pregnant, and then he had her husband sent to the frontlines of battle so he would be killed, therefore committing murder. When he was confronted about this by the messenger God had sent to him, he did not deny it but confessed that he had committed these sins. After hearing his confession, the Lord spoke through the messenger and the messenger responded "The Lord has forgiven your sin". Even so, the sin had its consequences and David suffered through them until the Lord restored Him. It was during this time that David wrote much of the Psalms. In them we can see both joy and despair. Sometimes in one breath he would cry out in agony and in the very next breath he would shout praises to God. During some of my own difficulty, I found great comfort in Psalm 91:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
       will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

 I will sa of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
       my God, in whom I trust."

 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
       and from the deadly pestilence.

 He will cover you with his feathers,
       and under his wings you will find refuge;
       his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

 You will not fear the terror of night,
       nor the arrow that flies by day,

 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
       nor the plague that destroys at midday.

 A thousand may fall at your side,
       ten thousand at your right hand,
       but it will not come near you.

 You will only observe with your eyes
       and see the punishment of the wicked.

 If you make the Most High your dwelling—
       even the LORD, who is my refuge-

 then no harm will befall you,
       no disaster will come near your tent.

 For he will command his angels concerning you
       to guard you in all your ways;

 they will lift you up in their hands,
       so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
       you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
       I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
       I will be with him in trouble,
       I will deliver him and honor him.

 With long life will I satisfy him
       and show him my salvation."

In Psalms, we see a perfect example of a man who was in the midst of a storm, became fearful, tired, ill and was in despair, but he never doubted that God would help him. He often asked where God was and begged God not to turn away from him in anger, but he always knew that God would be there to help him, bringing comfort and peace.

We must always praise God through the storms in our life because praise brings strength. And when we ask God for a bit of rest because we are tired, we can know, without a shadow of a doubt, that He will give us the rest we need to renew our strength.

"I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint."

(Jeremiah 31:25)

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