This scripture comes into importance when the cares of the world creep in and begin to occupy all your thought and time.  Years ago when I put my father into an assisted living facility and cared for him for three years, it was then that I had to put into practice this scripture.  Not wanting the word choked I made it a point to get on my knees every day for at least half an hour or more and pray.  I made sure I began by thanking God for all his good to me.  Then I would spend time in praise.  Then I would intercede not only for my father and me but for all the people that God had placed in my life.  Then I would enter into silence and wait for a word from the Lord.  Finally I would speak the word God had placed in my spirit, pray in tongues if led, and just see where the Spirit would lead.  I did this every day so that the burden for caring for my father did not occupy all my thought and time.  I can really say that it worked.  Too often the immediate burden in our lives consumes us and we think of little else than what our personal needs and wants are.  By putting this devotion into practice I was able to provide for my father, be there in prayer and intercession for others and not choke the word.

            Then of course this scripture can apply to the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things.  Being overly concerned about money, sexual needs and desires, power, fame, and control can so fill our lives that the word is made ineffectual.  We can think of those who obsess about these things to the point that nothing else can enter their thought process.  This will choke the word every time.  Unless we take this scripture seriously and deliberately focus on others, praise and thanksgiving to God, and heartfelt worship, the word will be rendered useless.  Too many people get caught up in their own particular predicament and lose their spiritual edge by only thinking of themselves.

            If you are going through a hard time and it is in hard times that we grow or fall back, or if the lust of riches and other things is filling your life, deliberately make an attempt to let go and enter your closet for others and God.  It is an act of faith and a means to answered prayer.   

  

Amen.