Jesus said in Matthew 11:30, “Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burdens are light. The Amplified Bible says, “ I will ease, relieve and refresh your soul”
The Webster Dictionary defines rest as , a period of inactivity, relief from anything distressing or tiring, to be at ease or at peace. American Dictionary of the English Language says rest is to cease from action or motion of any kind. To cease from labor, work, or performance. To be quite or still; to be undisturbed.
In this article I want to be honest and open because I believe so many diseases come from people being dis-eased. God’s children are walking time bombs because of the pressures that others have put on them or things they put on themselves. We see a need and we try to fulfill it. God is not moved by needs, if He was there would be no starving children and no homeless people. He moves on faith.
Broken relationships will destroy you if you allow them to. As hard on the flesh that it is, there are situations you can’t fix, so you have to let go and let God take care of it. God has called all of us to a ministry of reconciliation, but there are people who don’t want to be a part of this ministry. It takes both parties to reconcile. Do your part, then trust God to do what only He can do. Cease from your labor. I heard a minister say once and its worth repeating. “Never expect anything out of others and you will never be disappointed. “ Only put your faith in God.
Over the last few months I have asked myself, “Why am I doing what I am doing” You could call it a self examination. A check up on the motives of my heart. Is this the will of God, or is my will? Are the things I am doing for the Lord a burden or a blessing to my life. Do I feel so much pressure to do something for God that I put myself under a burden of weights. Jesus said in John 10:10, Amplified Bible, “ I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, til it overflows.)
The question we should all ask ourselves, “Am I enjoying my life?” Jesus gave His life, so that we could enjoy our life.
I have heard people say,” God showed me that we should be doing this or that”. My answer is: if God showed you and He didn’t show me, then He must be talking to you.
Pressures come from well intended people. But sometimes we take on more responsibilities than we should and then we are running on overload. We can so easily become like Martha, and we are not doing the main thing like Mary chose. That was to sit at the feet of the Lord. A time of refreshing in the presence of the Lord. A time to be eased, relieved and be refreshed in our souls.
Life in general can put pressures on us. Test and trials come to steal your joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Nehemiah 8:10. No joy, no strength. Ministers of the gospel are so weighted down from carrying the cares of the church or just doing ministry that it affects their physical well being. Lots of sick ministers preaching healing and they can’t even fight off a cold. Sad to say we can get caught up doing things that God never said to do and we open the door for the enemy to attack our bodies.
I know from first hand experience that when God calls you to do a particular thing, His anointing is on it. He gives you the grace to walk in it. Because its His ability in you to do what you can’t do for yourself. You flow with it and it is no struggle. You recognize without HIM you could not be doing what you are doing. You are not trying to make it happen, its just happening. You stand in awe of HIM. It is a humbling experience to know the Creator of heaven and earth choose you to do something for Him.
I am not saying there will not be opportunities to confront us, but when God calls us to do a certain thing, He will equip us with whatever we need to finish the task. When God’s hand is on something, no devil in hell can stop it. Remember its all about HIM, not us.
Hebrews 4:9 There remains a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own work, as God did from His. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same examples of unbelief.
When we are not resting in God we are in unbelief. Faith is a rest to the people of God.
Hebrew 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
There is a difference between weights and sins. If it wasn’t, it would have all been grouped together.
Weights are pressures and burdens, something heavy on us. Sin is to know to do good and not do it. Missing of the mark. Jesus never told us to be weighed down and to carry our own burdens. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and sheep are not made to carry heavy loads.
There are things we do that are not bad but we add them to ourselves and they steal our time, our joy and it feels like a heavy burden on our backs. One of those things that we ask ourselves, “how am I going to get all this done? “ Sad thing about this is that God never told us to do certain things, so we end up struggling to get it done.
Life is too short and we only have one life on this earth before we step into eternity. What good are we to anyone if we are broken down and worn out?
I believe the Lord wants us to find our place so we can walk in HIS grace. Take a look at all the things you are trying to accomplish and ask the Lord to show you what His plan is. Too many times we get caught up making the plans and ask HIM to bless it. If its HIS plan, it will be blessed.
Spending time praying in the Spirit will bring to pass God’s perfect will. The enemy will steal that from us so that we continue to be busying ourselves with good deeds of the flesh (works) and we end up in God’s permissive will and miss His perfect will. Romans 12:2
Jesus was sent here to fulfill a mission. He knew the importance of spending time with His Father. He said, “I only do what the Father says to do and I only say what the Father says to say.” John 8:28-38
He received His instructions for each day in a place called REST.
I encourage every reader to take time to visit this place. There you will find peace and joy. And you will find answers waiting in His presence. Your flesh will not want to be still—but make a decision that this is most important thing you could be doing.
And to help you get things finished, HE will give you back the time spent with HIM.