Daily Encouragement Net Header
The on line Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation.
Home   About Us  Archives   Free email subscription   ListenListen to these messages
Contact Us
  Print Text only for printing
  Bookmark and Share  

Make A Donation
 See here for more info.

<Previous Message                           Next Message>

Friday, January 10, 2014

Snowing morning in Lancaster County PA with 2 Corinthians 5:7
A sunrise view from our home.

ListenListen to this message on your audio player. Please note: Due to time contraints a podcaat was not prepared today.

"Dealing With Delays"

"How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe" (Daniel 10:17).

Breathright nasal strip

I often identify with Daniel's statement, "I can hardly breathe", but for a very different reason. For many years, since my teens I have dealt with severe nasal congestion. The normal unobstructed breathing through my nose I take for granted now has my full attention. In my younger years I used nasal spray but have found that nasal strips are quite helpful in opening up my nose when the congestion is severe. Ester is demonstrating a nasal strip in the photo to the left along with What would Jesus Do acrostic for fun! However the nasal strips don't replace the blessing of natural, unobstructed breathing through the nasal cavity – God's original design!

In the rather obscure daily text Daniel is describing a situation based on his vision of a heavenly messenger rather than mere weakness and nasal congestion. However I am intrigued by the phrase, "My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe." Specifically he is describing his physical and emotional response during a visit from an angelic being. When this vision came to Daniel he had been in mourning for three weeks. All that time he had eaten no rich food or meat. God finally responded to his prayers by sending a heavenly messenger to address the "delay" on God's part. Delays are still hard to deal with aren't they?

Daniel was weak and unable to communicate with God. I've experienced this as well, although likely not for the same reasons as Daniel, yet we deal with the same emotions.  I recall times in my life when the burdens were so intense and just seemed too great to bear. This has been due to a number of reasons; some brought on by myself (such as failure to practice the spiritual disciplines), others by outside forces beyond my control.

Brooksyne spent considerable time on the phone yesterday talking and sharing Scripture with a woman who has walked under a cloud of doubt and fear for a few weeks due to some serious health matters. She described her troubles as though the matter were taking her breath away.

But I find great comfort in the next couple of verses. Daniel is having a heavenly vision and records, "Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, 'O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.' And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me” (10:18,19).

The angel had earlier reassured Daniel, "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words" (10:12).

The immutable God of the universe still touches the weak today. His character has not changed. Do you need His supernatural strength today? Continue to call on His All-powerful Name. There may seem to be a delay on God's part but be assured He hears your humble, heartfelt prayer. God will most certainly answer your prayer, in His timing and according to His sovereign will.


Be encouraged today,


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Thankful manDaily prayer: Father, when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of Your garment she was made whole.  When Daniel came in contact with the heavenly being he was greatly strengthened.  As we experience Your touch we too are strengthened as we receive godly knowledge and spiritual understanding. Help us in tarrying as we await Your answers to our prayers.  Amen.



Chris Bert 1/9/14

Plumbing update: We shared Wednesday about our plumbing problem (burst water pipes in a section of our house due to the subzero temps and wind). Chris, a friend, came over last night and lent his expertise in troubleshooting the problem (photo above). We found more cracks and breaks in the existing plastic pipe and I have decided to replumb that whole section of the house. Today Ken, a business owner who had read about our problem, lent me a a pex pipe crimper. It's a type of connector I have never worked with but Mike, another friend gave me a lesson on using it. Later today I expect to purchase the additional materials I need for the job. But before that George, still another friend is coming over to take a look! But before that he will be going in to the Pennsylvania Farm Show. (Something Brooksyne didn't care to do again this year.) What a blessing to have these friends offering advice and assistance!



Today's Suggested Music
and Supplemental Resources

"You Are My Hiding Place"  Video  Selah



Contact Us
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne

To receive the "Daily Encouragement" each Monday-Friday through email see this page to subscribe to our email list. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or through a Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.)


Make A DonationAre our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? We ask you to consider making a donation to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support of its readers and podcast listeners. See here for more information on supporting this ministry. Gifts are tax deductible.

Permissions: Please feel free to pass on, reproduce and distribute any material on Daily Encouragement Net, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this material, not protect or restrict it. I do request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription information intact.

Text only version for printing: To make a text only version for printing (without photos or any of the supplemental materials)
1) Open the basic text editor that comes with all computers (known as wordpad, textpad, etc.) You can also use a program like Word and select paste text only.
2) Select and copy the text from the portion of the message you want to print.
3) Paste into the text pad. (The photos won't show up but you will have a brief text description of the photo which you can delete or just ignore.)
4) Format if you desire (change font, increase or decrease size, etc.)
5) Print!

Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.

Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."

© Copyright 2014 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved

Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552  USA



This device counts unique visitors by nation and state. I installed the international version in mid April 2010 and the state version later. They thus register unique visitors to since then.
free counters



Free counters!


"Living securely today anchored in God's solid foundation"