Psalm 95:6-7
Oh come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.
To rest means to "Relax into something". It also carries the thought of "being supported by something or someone."
Rest means to stop....
To rest is not only a physical place, but can be a spiritual place or plane that we have been called to by God.
It is a state of being that is offered to us by God when we come into relationship with Him.
A ceasing of doing things in our own strength and ability.....
As we learn to depend on Him for guidance and direction, not to mention the power and strength to carry it out and see it through.
In other words...
To be in the "Rest" of God, means that we turn to Him at every turn to show us what to go.
Sometimes the Bible uses the strangest of terms to get across a truth.
It takes the opposite of what you and I would think is plausible and elevates that to the one thing we are suppose to see.
Take for example the idea of being powerful.
Power is a primary focus of anyone walking in recovery.
We are looking for a Power to restore us to sanity and a new way of doing business with the world. Yet in II Corinthians 12:9, Paul tells us that God's strength is perfected in us (Or is manifested as a reality) when we boast of how weak we are. The weaker I become....or the more I get in touch with exactly how incapable of living I am..I realize my need for God. He empowers me with His Spirit. Or as the big book of A.A. states..."God does for me what I cannot do for myself."
In Luke, we read about how if you want to save your life...you must lose it. Just the opposite of how we would approach the subject. In other words, if I want real life with Him, then I must kill the old nature..the old man...the sin nature by turning it over to Christ. When I lose the old life, I am imparted with a new life.
So really when it comes to "Resting" in God. It is talking about a ceasing of our will to run things. To enter into a new way of approaching each day. We "Rest" from making decisions for ourselves. When I speak of decisions, I'm talking about the decisions that must be made that impact us. Not something like..."Gee..do I use sugar or Splenda?" Resting means we have turned control of our life over to His care. By doing so, I get His life in return. Of course, such a way to live is ongoing thing. You might say, we will always be learning to rest in God.
But hey...
Time is our ally...not our enemy.
Try it today...Tell God you want to enter His rest and not live anymore by your own wits and wisdom.
You might be surprised.
Come joint us tonight at VRC as we "Rest" in God....
Meeting starts at 7 p.m.
God on you...
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