Skip to main content

Obey and Rest!

MARK 6:31 KJV 31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

 One preacher paraphrased this verse by saying "come apart before you come apart." God is our Source, so resting should be a turning to God, not a turning away from Him. It would be unwise to take a "vacation" and ignore God.

 Our bodies need rest, but our minds also need rest from the constant barrage of bad news and entertainment the media tries to sell us. Many fill their days with noise. The news or some other broadcast plays constantly in their background. But we need times of quietness. We need time when we allow God to guide our thinking, instead of the media. We need to make room for the thoughts God desires to share with us. We need times when we shut out all the other voices trying to speak to us and focus on God.

 Everyone wants your attention. Advertisers want to convince you to buy their product. Broadcasters want your attention so they can attract advertisers. But God also wants your attention, not to get something from you, but to provide you with His wisdom and guidance. God wants to communicate with you. But when you surround yourself constantly with other voices, you will miss some of what God wants to say to you. Prayer is a way for us to rest. It is a time when we can cast our load on the Lord, refocus on Him, and quit carrying all the responsibilities ourselves.

 ISAIAH 40:31 NKJ 31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. The Bible also cautions against laziness, so resting should not be our primary focus in life. But with today's hectic pace of life, many are neglecting this part of God's instruction given for our benefit. Remember, God commanded the children of Israel to rest for one day each week. Their Sabbath was not a day full of religious activity either, but a true day of rest. While we are not under Law requiring us to keep the Sabbath in order to be right with God, it is still a principle we need to practice. To be our best, humans need to rest! Rest should be a time when you do something different than your normal daily activity.

 We cannot ignore God's instruction without it costing us. Many today are broken in body and burned out needlessly. We must learn to rest properly, so God can refresh us and strengthen us in order to finish our course.

 SAY THIS: I will obey God and rest in Jesus.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Building Trust When Faith Wavers

  Mark 9:21-24 21 And He asked his father, How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" 23 And Jesus said to him, `If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes." 24 Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, I do believe; help my unbelief." Since faith is the core of our Christian experience, the consequences of wavering faith are far-reaching. Vacillating trust can lead us to make wrong decisions. Sometimes, after praying for direction, we might receive an answer that leads us to think, I can’t do that. So, instead of asking God to strengthen our faith, we make excuses. We may choose to postpone our obedience—even indefinitely—in order...

I Now Believe God Loves Me

 1 JOHN 4:16  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  Although I have endeavored to walk with the Lord for awhile, only in recent times have I started to really believe God loves me. My problem was that I kept focusing on myself, instead of God. I saw myself in my immaturity with all my faults and failures. I was not looking at Jesus the perfect sacrifice, but focused on myself and my shortcomings.  Even though I spread messages on the love of God, I never had confidence that God truly loved me just as I was. Instead I thought more in terms of God tolerating me, but not being too happy with me. I was trying my best to do what I thought God wanted, not really realizing that I could never earn God's love.  Now I am realizing that God's love is not dependent on me, but is entirely dependent on God alone. He does not love me because I am lovable, b...

welcome to my blog

Oh the waterfall of cleansing Grace! Welcome to my Grace blog.  I hope to both share and start a dialogue about Jesus Christ and how his life, relationships and teaching have a practical working value in our everyday lives. To go beyond our belief of Jesus... and into our belief in Jesus. I hope we can learn more about how the finished work of Christ on the cross empowers his work in us in our daily lives. I hope we can grow in His Grace and Wisdom! The name came from a Joseph Prince story in his book  "Destined to Reign"...here's the story: Prince tells the story of a young boy who found a rock out in the woods. Though it looked rough at first, he rinsed it in the small waterfall of a nearby stream. Turns out, the rock was marbly, smooth, and full of color. Not wanting to lose the rock, and afraid someone would take it from him if he took it home, he buried it back in the dirt in a tucked away place before he went home for the night. There, he left it. The ne...