The Believers’ Rest

On May 24, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Hebrews 4: 1

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.

I find this language interesting. Why should there be any fear related to God’s rest? Verse 3 reveals that God was angry and in His anger He swore that “they” would not enter into His rest. Look at verse three from the Passion Translation, “For those of us who believe, faith activates the promise and we experience the realm of confident rest! For he has said, ‘I was grieved with them and made a solemn oath, ‘They will never enter into the calming rest of my Spirit.’”

Rest comes by faith. God was angry at the disobedient ones (Hebrews 3: 18). The Tree of Life version of Hebrews 4: 1 illuminates the disobedience. It says, “For we who have trusted are entering into that rest.” Their disobedience, then, was that they did not trust God and that is what angered Him. Selah – pause and consider that.

Rest is a matter of faith and trust. People who believe, enter into the promise of rest that the Father gave, and they do so with confident trust. They are persuaded that God will not let them down. Failing or refusing to enter into God’s rest is a slap in His face. It says that we do not trust Him. Instead, we trust our own abilities. We are focused on all we need to do and thus, abandon the idea of a partnership with the Divine.

The Holy Spirit was sent to be our “go along.” His intent is to walk with us, side by side, go along with us everywhere we go, assisting us in all we do. Actually, he is supposed to be our guide. He wants to stand shoulder to shoulder but lead us from that position. That is why I call it a partnership. He wants to intertwine with us in every activity rather than run over us or dominate us. And he will gently step aside if we do not choose to partner with him. However, we cannot enter God’s rest if we do not receive the aid of the Spirit. God grieves when we fail to enter into “the calming rest of my [His]Spirit.” His anger is kindled when we try to do everything in our might. “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience,” (Hebrews 4: 11). Our job is to enter into His rest. Our task is to seek His face. He has people for all of the “work” but there is only one person who can spend time with God for you. Guess who!

Let this sink in today. Ponder these verses and ideas. Can you find the way to let God do the heavy lifting for you at your job? What about all those tasks on your list, can He somehow help those to get done more efficiently? I think you will find the time you spend with Him, seeking His advice and guidance, will more than pay for itself. Find your place of rest. I will give you a hint. It’s in Him.

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Rest, Relax

On August 29, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 37: 7

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Here is faith and trust in action. Patience is not supposed to be a nail-biting period of endurance. It is supposed to be easy for us because of our faith in God. We should be able to rest during the time of patience rather than being in a barely contained frenzy. Patience is the product of absolute faith that God is well able to carry out all of his good promises. When you have that kind of trust in Him, you are able to relax. Rest and await His deliverance. Do not be anxious. He has your every need in mind and is already moving resources to their proper place so that at the appointed time, all will be in readiness. Rest. Relax. He has it all well in hand.

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Rest and Comfort

On January 10, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 3: 32

For the crooked man is an abomination to the Lord; but He is intimate with the upright.

I cannot think of anything more wonderful nor anything more satisfying than an intimate relationship with God the Father, His son and His Spirit. No matter what else goes right or wrong in life, a close, personal relationship with them, where you know them and have time with them, really anchors all of life. Your brokenness, or other people’s, is no longer the master of your life when you have your Dad to turn to and to talk to. Just being in His presence is joy itself, and life abundant. It is better than the best day at Disney World or even raising the championship trophy over your head. And when you are broken and defeated, He will breathe air into your lungs. He is everything and knowing Him as your friend and as your Father is all things. So many things become easy when He is your constant companion. I am not saying that there are not still challenges in the world. As long as there is a devil he is going to try to find some way to upset you but when you have God as a Father and Jesus as a big brother, believe me, they can do some real damage to your enemies. Just keep your eyes and attention on them and allow the Holy Spirit to completely fill you up. You will find the rest and comfort you need.

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Relieved

On April 13, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 81: 6 & 10

I relieved his shoulder of the burden, his hands were freed from the basket. I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

I am always amused by people who say that the Old Testament does not speak to us today. Today’s verse is modern day theology. It is Jesus’ message about the Holy Spirit. This is the place, spiritually speaking, where we are all supposed to live.

God has relieved us from the labor of work. Am I saying that we no longer set our hands to the plow? No. What God is revealing is that He is the labor behind the work. He supplies the wisdom and the power. We are to abide in Him and rest in Him while He provides for us. Hebrews 4: 11 says, “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.” The King James version says that our labor is in entering into this rest. In other words, our job is to enter into the rest of God. We are to be diligent in our pursuit of a Sabbath relationship with the Father and Sabbath, by the way, is every day. Our labor, our task is to abide in Jesus every moment of every day. That is sometimes a challenge and that is why it requires diligence. It is quite easy for us to become stimulated by some “emergency” or even some “to do” and begin to operate in our own strength and wisdom. The calling upon our lives is to learn to let go of our ways and our strength and embrace Jesus’ ways and the strength of God. Our challenge is to live in His abiding grace where He does all the heavy lifting. This is the challenge of the New Covenant. Endeavor, labor even, to live in Jesus’ peace while the Holy Spirit provides the power.

Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things” (John 14: 26). He also promised us that the Holy Spirit will guide us in all truth (John 16: 13). So, the strength, power and wisdom are in the Divine Trinity. God has taken the kneading bowl from our hands and put it into the hands of the Holy Spirit. Our part is to abide in Him and allow Him to abide in us. We take the time to quiet ourselves down and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and follow him. It is harder than it sounds because we learned to do everything in our power: by our education, personality, charm, hard-work and all of the other worldly methods. God is trying to redeem us from all of that though. Just like a relief pitcher in the 9th inning, God has sent the Holy Spirit to win all of your games for you. Let’s be diligent to enter God’s rest and the peace Jesus left for us while the Holy Spirit does his job.

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Rest

On September 8, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 11: 28 – 30 

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.

You’ve heard the song and now read the book. Come unto me for I give you rest. Are you tired, weary? Jesus gives restoration and healing. He is not arrogant, demanding or boastful. He is gentle and nurturing. He will not lay on you a burden. He will not charge a high cost for his rest and reassurance. The price is already been paid.

Do you know anyone who is worn out? Who has spent their energy striving only to fall on their faces or find that the prize was not worth the effort? Send them this word of encouragement. I just cannot think of a better word of encouragement. Jesus, himself, offers that which so many people are desperate for. Send this to someone today and spread this great news. We don’t have to strive any more. Jesus already paid the cost for our rest. We have only to go to him and receive that which he is warehousing for us. What do you want? What do you need? Jesus has it in abundance for you today.

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Reboot Your Mainframe

On April 25, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 6: 31

And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while.”
I am sure you have noticed that every once in a while your computer needs to be rebooted. Sometimes I use my laptop for several days without turning it off. I just put it to sleep and wake it up when it is time for it to work again. I am not letting it really shut down. Eventually it will complain and start failing in its tasks. So, I have to reboot it. I have to let it completely reset itself.

We need the same thing, a complete reboot. Many of us allow ourselves a little sleep but few hours of deep rest. We are like our laptops. We close our eyes like we close the laptop and sleep but we never really turn all of the machinery off and allow ourselves a deep rest. Jesus knew this was neither healthy nor ultimately productive.

One would think that if you worked with Jesus that there would be a great impetus to work day and night. Wouldn’t that have become even more pressing as the apostles learned that their time with Jesus was limited. More importantly, wouldn’t you expect Jesus to work day and night knowing that his time was short? There was so much to be done and such a short amount of time to accomplish it all. Why stop to rest? People are going to hell in a hand basket. Surely, of all the jobs any of us have Jesus’ was the most important ever. With all that weighing on their shoulders Jesus took himself and his apostles away to a quiet and lonely place to get some deep rest. They didn’t just go somewhere and take a power nap and then go right back to work, they actually “went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves” (v. 32).

We need to do the same thing. None of us has a job that is so important that we shouldn’t take some time away. We need that away time to reset and refresh. It is so hard to hear God even speaking to us when we are busy and harried. When you slow down a bit you find music and poetry and God’s thoughts rising up out of your spirit. There has to be time when you “shut down” everything and just commune with God in your spirit. God actually does want you to take a vacation but He does not want you to turn it into another busyness ritual. Slow down and be still. Just sit in the lounge chair and listen to the birds. You are going to be surprised how much Dad has to say to you and you will get the refreshing you need. Shut down your own system. Reboot your hardware and your software. You are going to feel better and even work much better.

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