The Upper Room Devotional 20th November 2023
The Upper Room Devotional 20th November 2023, Monday Message by H. S. Radebe (South Africa)
TOPIC: A Letter to God
TODAY’S READING
Psalm 20:1-9
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. – Philippians 4:6 (NRSVUE)
The Upper Room Devotional 20th November 2023 Message:
When I was a teenager my father died, my university admission was unsuccessful, and I barely had enough food to eat. I was overwhelmed and struggled to pray. So I wrote a letter to God, asking my heavenly Father to please take over. I read it a couple of times, tucked it into an envelope, and forgot about it. It seemed naïve and silly to me, and I wasn’t sure God would listen.
Years later, I found the letter, and I knew God had been aware of the sorrow in my heart all along. And as I looked back, I could see all the ways God had been present in my life.
Sometimes we feel so beaten down by our circumstances that we struggle to tell God how we feel. It doesn’t matter whether we write, mumble, or cry in God’s presence — God hears! All we need to do is give our burdens to God and leave them in God’s hands. When we worry continuously after handing our troubles over to God, we take back our burdens. It is important to trust God to handle our situation in God’s time and way.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Heavenly Father, hear the heart cry of those of us who are weary and in need of help and comfort. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
In what ways can I pour out my heart to God?
PRAYER FOCUS
People applying to university
The Upper Room is a daily devotional magazine published in more than 30 languages and 100 countries around the world. The daily meditations are written by readers of the magazine and others interested in sharing their faith experiences through writing—both laity and clergy, published authors and new writers. The meditations are stories of real people working to live faithfully with the Bible as their touchstone. Every day, readers of The Upper Room around the world read the same story in many different languages and pray the same prayer together.
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