Tag: peace with GOD

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GOD'S STORY

GOD’S STORY: part 27 What is Rest?

Genesis 2 begins thus:

“Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” (v 1-2)

What is Rest?

Preparing the Bride for GOD’s Story

How do we prepare as the Bride of Christ? One aspect is to learn GOD’S STORY. He created us in His image…. Piece by piece, and peace by peace, we learn to walk as He has walked. And we learn His perspective. 

Why did GOD Rest?

We know that GOD worked six days to create the earth, everything in it and all that surrounds it. That’s what Genesis 1 tells us. Then He rested. But why? If GOD is GOD, surely He doesn’t sleep. Psalm 121:4 says, “Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Since Israel is GOD’s chosen people, it is He who “keeps Israel” — protects, watches over, counts the nation as His children.

So, what does Rest mean?

Firstly, note that Genesis 2:1-2 emphasises the completion of Creation by GOD. The work finished, He stopped working, creating. Instead, on the seventh day, He rested.

Rest is not working. Rest assumes stopping from work. But rest is so much more than relaxing, taking a vacation, ceasing from work.

It was the seventh day and it was the day of rest. It would become the Sabbath, the final day of the week, the day to keep holy. The seventh day, the first day after all of Creation was completed, marked the end of one week leading to the beginning of another. This would come to give structure to Mankind’s time.

Still Rest means even more

Leviticus 22:3 is one of many scriptures that refers to the Sabbath, “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.”

It is a holy day, it is GOD’s day, it is a day of ‘solemn rest’. GOD takes this rest day very seriously.

In Psalm 95, the Creator is quoted,

“For forty years I was grieved with that generation, 

And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,

And they do not know My ways.’

So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

This suggests GOD is ensuring the Hebrews suffer consequences for their disobedience.

Hebrews 3 reiterates this same consequence of rebellion, “So I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

What is the rest these rebels do not receive or enter?

Further study reveals What is Rest

Rest is intimacy with GOD. It is peace of mind. It is living in the anointing and covering of the Holy Spirit. Rest is freedom from anxiety, stress, fear or worry. It is a rest in the heart of Man as well as in the body. It is contentment, closeness with GOD. It is peace.

GOD’s offer

GOD supplies all our needs. He also offers us relationship. We can work to satisfy our need for productivity. And we can rest to enjoy the consequence of that productivity. And in that rest, we can commune with GOD. And that is the ultimate in rest. Hallelujah!

All this first expressed on Day 7 of His marvellous Creation!

Categories
Preparing the Bride of Jesus Christ

Stillness with GOD

Doing v Being

Too often we are pulled here and there as to what to “do” but Jesus has taught us that we are to “be”.

The more we try to do, the less there is of us to simply be. Are we like Martha, who strives to organise and prepare and do all that is needed? Or like Mary, who took the better place as Jesus’ feet.

Yes, as James has written, “Faith without works is dead”; but yet we must be still, because running around in our own strength is pretty much fruitless.

Why stillness

Out of the stillness we discover ourselves and in the discovery, our being will allow our doing to flow.

Allow GOD to wrap you in His arms, hold you in His grasp, keep you under His protection. Then, eventually, our being will flow toward our doing and we shall express our Call.

More of GOD means less of me. But that takes time: to empty and to only then to fill; to be and only then to do; to rest and only then to move.

More of GOD means we rest, then discover, and finally we express our rebirth through word and action.

I believe much of our destiny is wrapped in how we deal with stillness and our developing of a habit to listen with the LORD. Recently I was encouraging someone to listen to their heart before making a decision. I suggested they not pay attention to what they wanted (their will), nor how they felt (their emotions), nor what they thought they might do (their mind), but rather to be still, to listen and to seek to hear their heart…. it is here that we can find GOD’s voice.

GOD’s rest

“…. They shall (not) enter my rest” GOD has said (Hebrews 4:3). There are so many levels and much to dig to understand that phrase, but at a simple level, what does the LORD mean? What is His rest, and how do we enter into it?

GOD’s rest is…

Obedience, surrender, communion, peace with the LORD — these are aspects of GOD’s rest. There is much about the Sabbath entwined in this phrase, but that is for another time to discuss.

For now, simply let us extend our time and our

Doing v Being

Too often we are pulled here and there as to what to “do” but Jesus has taught us that we are to “be”.

The more we try to do, the less there is of us to simply be. Are we like Martha, who strives to organise and prepare and do all that is needed? Or like Mary, who took the better place as Jesus’ feet.

Yes, as James has written, “Faith without works is dead”; but yet we must be still, because running around in our own strength is pretty much fruitless.

Why stillness

Out of the stillness we discover ourselves and in the discovery, our being will allow our doing to flow.

Allow GOD to wrap you in His arms, hold you in His grasp, keep you under His protection. Then, eventually, our being will flow toward our doing and we shall express our Call.

More of GOD means less of me. But that takes time: to empty and to only then to fill; to be and only then to do; to rest and only then to move.

More of GOD means we rest, then discover, and finally we express our rebirth through word and action.

I believe much of our destiny is wrapped in how we deal with stillness and our developing of a habit to listen with the LORD. Recently I was encouraging someone to listen to their heart before making a decision. I suggested they not pay attention to what they wanted (their will), nor how they felt (their emotions), nor what they thought they might do (their mind), but rather to be still, to listen and to seek to hear their heart…. it is here that we can find GOD’s voice.

GOD’s rest

“…. They shall (not) enter my rest” GOD has said (Hebrews 4:3). There are so many levels and much to dig to understand that phrase, but at a simple level, what does the LORD mean? What is His rest, and how do we enter into it?

GOD’s rest is…

Obedience, surrender, communion, peace with the LORD — these are aspects of GOD’s rest. There is much about the Sabbath entwined in this phrase, but that is for another time to discuss.

For now, simply let us extend our time and our stillness with GOD, to ponder any scripture, to develop our submission, our following of Him: our rest in Him. Then, from that place of rest in GOD we can fulfil His will, our destiny in this world.

with GOD, to ponder any scripture, to develop our submission, our following of Him: our rest in Him. Then, from that place of rest in GOD we can fulfil His will, our destiny in this world.