Rest For Our Soul

The presence of God in our life is a wondrous gift that trumps any other blessing we could ever receive. God calls us to seek His Kingdom before, as well as more than we seek the distractions of the world, the flesh and the devil (Matthew 6:24).

God requires total dedication and surrender (Luke 14:26).  This does not negate the fact that we have a family, job, church and hobbies to participate in; but we do it all through the direction of God’s Spirit and for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).

We follow the leading of God’s Spirit through the ear-splitting noise and hectic pace of our life. He brings order from the chaos and peace in the confusion.

He replaces our stress with His rest, if we will only surrender every facet of our life to Him. The first step in entering God’s rest is to spend uninterrupted, quality time with Him (Mark 12:30).

Confusion drowns out the voice of God and causes us to feel frustrated, angry and to experience other negative emotions. However, walking in His presence moment by moment through the duties of our day, brings contentment and peace.

God helps us to prioritize our time and activities. Everyone needs “down” time for our soul – our mind, will and emotions - to catch up, to chill out and to recover from the trauma of life. We need time for our spirit to center into Christ’s life within us (Psalm 46:10).

We do not have to be afraid of not measuring up, or of not getting all of our required work done, or meeting all of the needs of all of the people who depend on us.

If we live one moment at a time, Christ within us directs us to do what pleases Him. Like Mary, we can make the best choice for our day, and sit at Jesus feet within us, no matter where we are or what we are doing (Luke 10:42).

As we praise Him and follow His Spirit, He will allow us to excel in our efforts, to finish what is required of us and to meet the needs of all the people to whom He wants us to minister.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, when You see our agitation rising inside, prompt us to discover the source of the negative emotions and to seek Your wisdom on how to deal with it. Nothing and no one can come against us to overpower us, because You live within us. Remind us to be still and to acknowledge that You are Lord over our life.

Exhort us to rest in You while You work out the issues, which are distracting us from living in Your peace and rest. We trust You with our whole life, because we have faith in Your faithfulness. My soul finds rest in You and my hope comes from You (Psalm 62:5).

Thought for the Day:

We still have hectic activities swirling all around us; however, as we walk in the Spirit, God gives us a quiet refuge, supernatural strength and His constant help in any difficulty we experience.

Unity with God's Trinity

God already knows when the world as we know it will end, and our time is in His hands (Is 46:10; Ps 31:15). He is eternal with no beginning or end. As Believers and followers of Christ, we start to see life from an eternal rather than an earthly perspective. We do not regret the past or fear the future. We live in the here and now in the precious arms of God (John 5:25).

We walk in His light, just as He is in the light (1 John 1:7). There is no lack in our life, because He supplies all of our needs according to His glorious riches (Philippians 4:19). Our old nature molts away, layer after layer with each new season of Biblical revelation. We walk in the truth that it is no longer I, but Jesus Christ who lives in and through us (Galatians 2:20).

As the hectic pace of life increases, we need more alone (all-one) times with our Lord and Christ. We schedule times of the week as a priority to spend with God. We may not have an entire day, but we can find several hours where we rest and breathe in His presence (Psalm 46:10). The Spirit will open up opportunities for us if we will watch for them.

After hearing from God in our quiet place, there is no need to strive to walk in the Spirit. We are used to hearing His voice and He loves to commune with us. As we delight in the Lord, He puts His desires in our heart (Psalm 37:4). He works out His will in us for His glory. God's Spirit controls our thoughts, words and deeds more and more often.

Intimate communication with God will nurture peace in our soul. If we make the time and effort to be still before the Lord, His strength infuses our spirit (Psalm 46:10). We have no need to fear, even if our whole world turns upside down (Habakkuk 3:17-19). Jesus Christ becomes for us our refuge and our tower of strength to help in any time of trouble (Psalm 46:1-3).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us to allow You to crucify our flesh so that we can walk in unity with Your Trinity. You commune with us, not in a loud oppressive voice, but in Your still, small voice that confidently tells us which way to go. As we follow Your directives, we end up walking in Your Spirit to accomplish Your will on the earth, rather than living to fulfill the lust of the old, dying fleshly human nature (Galatians 5:16-25).

Thought for the Day:

Even while playing Scrabble I learn to discern the voice of God as I obey that still, small nudge to form letters into words that I do not even know; and this carries over into every day life as I read His Word and follow His direction throughout the day.