Living in God's Rest

 

As afflicted and needy people, we are generously offered rest for our weary soul by the Lord of Hosts. His mercy and grace provide us with His eternal rest at the moment we admit that we are a sinner and surrender our all to God in prayer (Hebrews 4:16). At the same time that we enter the early stages of our Christ-centered life, Christ moves into our spirit (Matthew 11:29). So often, however, we do not take advantage of God’s abiding peace (Isaiah 28:12; 29:19). We fail to completely trust in, rely on and believe in His Word of Truth (Jeremiah 6:16).

We struggle in our meager existence. Our soul – our mind, will and emotions - is tormented with stress, anxiety, temptations, negative emotions, complicated choices and fleshly desires. We are not living from a place of rest in Christ. We are trusting in our self rather than in God. However, as we put our faith in Him, He sanctifies our thoughts, choices and emotions. He bountifully provides us with His rest (Psalm 116:7). He fills us with the fruit of His Spirit, which is the divine nature of God operating in our life (Galatians 5:22-23).

We only escape the rat race of life when we realize that we are dead to sin and alive in Christ (Romans 6:11; Colossians 3:3; Galatians 2:20). Our human understanding is minimal at best; however, our union with Christ gives us His wisdom and spiritual insight (1 Corinthians 2:14-15). Once we learn to live from a place of rest, we can return to His rest instantly, whenever life shakes us from His presence. When we view our trials through the eyes of Christ in us, they are no longer a trial, but a spiritual awakening and a blessing in disguise.

Rest for our soul includes ceasing from our own self-effort to please God or to earn His pleasure. We allow Christ to live through us instead of trying to work for Him (Ephesians 2:8-10; Hebrews 4:1-11). As we progressively enter our rest in the Lord, our thoughts, choices and emotions rest as well. We listen to the Spirit’s prompting and step aside so that the living Lord Jesus can function through us to rescue those still living in this lost and dying world without Him.

Prayer:

Father God, we want to enter Your eternal rest and to live our life from the perspective of Your wisdom and strength. We submit our thoughts, choices and emotions to You on a daily basis and live by Your Spirit’s direction each moment of the day. We want to relinquish our desires and goals to You, so that we will be in the right place at the right time to do Your will. We feed upon Your Word and our sustenance comes from living in Your will.

Thought for the Day:

We cease from our efforts of performing religious activities for God and rest in the sufficiency of His grace, as Jesus Christ within us lives His life through us.

True Spirituality

 

Many in today’s world are obsessed with spirituality. There is a God-sized hole in each life, and we try to fill it with everything but Christ. Our body and soul - our mind, will and emotions – are alive, but our spirit is dead in sin. Our sins grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30; 1 John1:5-8). They erect walls between God and us. People need the Lord. However, Christians over the years have been anything but loving and gracious; and this turns many people away from Christ.

Since its inception, the Christian church continues to fail society. Some church members are dissatisfied, neglected, divided or downright antagonistic. Many choose to leave the church rather than to put up with the carnal politics and cold-hearted or condemning treatment they receive. They still desire a spiritual awakening and nourishment, but they are not finding it in what should be spiritual congregations.

The modern emerging church is incorporating the fallacies of other religions, beliefs and ideologies into their identity to make up for this lack. Evolution is incorporated as part of Creation, in spite of the missing link. They embrace sinful lifestyles as acceptable choices. They compromise Biblical standards and water down God’s Truth. The current church is dying a slow, but eventual and agonizing death because of Satan’s deception. The stage is being set for a one-world religion.

When we fail to warn these people that their sin of unbelief will send them to an eternity in hell, God requires their blood on our hands (Ezekiel 3:18,20; 33:6,8). These issues are not trivial. We have the Good News to share with both the disillusioned and the compromising seeker. God wants us to take every opportunity to share with others what Christ is doing for us. Getting them into a Bible believing, Bible teaching church is of paramount importance as well.

The only solution to this emptiness in a person's life is for their spirit to be Born Again (John 3:7). At this same time, we receive the Holy Spirit who seals us in Christ (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30). This is the first step toward true spirituality. We give the Holy Spirit of God full reign in our life. We refrain from living our life through selfish motives and ambition, and we allow Christ to live His life in and through us instead (Galatians 2:19-20). We are no longer consumed with our personal goals and dreams, but we focus instead on the Spirit’s leadership and God’s will for our life.

We live an authentic Christian life. We confess our sins daily, and He is faithful and just to forgive them (1 John 1:9). We yield our carnal thoughts and desires to Him, so that He can cleanse us from all unrighteousness (Titus 2:14). He fills us with the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Then the Holy Spirit guides and directs our life according to the truth of God's Word, so that we succeed in everything He leads us to do (John 16:13). Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-time event, however.

God fills us with His Spirit at salvation, but then we are to sit daily at Jesus feet (Luke 10:42) and allow Him to fill our spirit with His Spirit. It is only then that we can accomplish all that He calls us to do (Galatians 5:16,25). A spiritual Christian will exhibit Godly behavior, a consistent walk of love and peace, and Biblically based decisions and actions (Micah 6:8). We act, not by our self-effort, but by our total commitment and surrender to God's Spirit. This allows us to enjoy the direction of the Holy Spirit and God’s unbroken fellowship moment by moment throughout the day (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, people today are putting words in Your mouth, perverting Your Truth and making up Your nature as they go along – using humanistic characteristics to describe You and Your teachings. They are perverting the exactness of Your commands and watering down the holiness that You require from each one of us. Help us to live as salt and light in this wicked and perverse generation (Matthew 16:4), and to reach out to everyone You bring into our life with love and grace. Help us to offer to them the new life, which You have given us.

Thought for the Day:
When we allow the Holy Spirit to completely control our life, then we can say that we are walking in true spirituality. - Ephesians 5:18