You know what the word says but you are just not experiencing it. You have not entered into the rest of God.
In your Christian walk are you finding that you are stressed, thinking about all the issues you are facing? Maybe you are becoming anxious about the future or stuck in your past and cannot see the outcome you are looking for. You know what the word says but you are just not experiencing it. You have not entered into the rest of God.
Before God created man
Before God created the first man, he created everything that man would need. Adam had nothing to do other than name animals and enjoy what God had provided. This was God’s intention for man in the beginning and is the same intention for us who have accepted what Jesus has done on the cross. God never intended for us to be stressed, worried, sick, poor, or lacking any good thing.
After Jesus died on the cross he said, “It is finished”. After providing everything for Adam, God then rested, not because he was tired and worn out but because he had done all that needed to be done, he was pleased with all he had created, it was finished.
“For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief”
We, like Adam are meant to rest in and enjoy the benefits, based on what Jesus achieved by dying on the cross. The word says that we should labour to get to this place of rest. Wait a minute, if I am meant to enter rest then why must I labour to do that? Is labour not the opposite of rest? Surely this is an oxymoron!
Brethren it is not a riddle, God is showing us that to accept fully that ‘rest’ and to enter it, may take the carnal mind some persuading. We must trust God, renew our minds to the truth that God has already done everything for us and live that truth out.
If you are the type of person who feels that you must always use self-effort to get results you will understand that indeed it is a labour to get your mind to bow to this truth and live it out. The very fact that it has taken me real effort to accept that God does not want me to strive, in itself proves that the word of God is true. He knows all things! He knows that it can take effort to put your works down and walk instead into that rest.
So, this all sounds lovely, God has done it all, but you may be asking “sis what does that mean for me on a daily basis?” or as one of my church sisters likes to say, “what does that look like?”.
Entering God's rest
It means taking the word for exactly what it says and not trying to figure things out yourself. For example, the bible says that the answer to lack is to give. A person who has entered into God’s rest will give and trust God’s word. They will speak the truth over themselves, they will say “I have everything I need because God has given me whatever pertains to my life and godliness” they will have peace despite what they are facing in the natural realm.
A letter may come with some kind of issue that seems impossible to overcome; a person in God’s rest will rejoice because what seems impossible with man is possible with God. They will cast the care over to God, knowing that He cares about them and their life.
A person living in that rest will face every issue with the Word of God, enforcing what Jesus has done in peace and not fear, confident in God and not their own efforts.
Entering into God’s rest has not been something easy for me, but it has to be done. I realised that my resistance was based on a need to fix any issues based on my poor choices or decisions. I kept thinking, I need to fix this. However, knowing the true nature of God has helped me to understand that despite my mistakes God still wants me to enter into his rest. In fact if I had entered into his rest earlier I would not have made the bad decisions. Additionally, I have exhausted myself with my own efforts.
You do not have to get exhausted to get there though, You do not need to find yourself with your back against the wall. You can take heed now and commit yourself to entering into that rest. You will have to fight the thoughts that come to tell you that it sounds too good to be true. Maybe you will struggle not to analyse and work things out for yourself. Whatever it is do the work and get yourself into that rest.
This is what I have decided to commit myself to doing. If someone said to me “do a week of hard work so that you never have to work again”, I would take up that offer for sure. How much more then should we put in the time and labour to enter into God’s rest so that we are never ever works-based Christians again. I want that real Christian life, do you?
Your Sis in Christ,
PAULA
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