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Rest
in the Lord
It is easy to get distracted in our world. Busyness is a modern illness
from which many of us suffer. Rest is its opposite and of the things the
Lord came to offer. In Matthew 11:28-30 He said:
Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to Me all who labor and are heavy laden AND I WILL GIVE YOU
REST. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I’m gently and
lowly in heart, AND YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is
easy and My burden is light"
Jesus Christ is the only one that can give rest to our souls. If your
soul is in turmoil, if your soul is tired, exhausted and heavy laden,
then you are reading the right passage. JESUS came to give you rest!
You will not get rest when your kids grow. Or when you get married. Or
when your bank account becomes positive. YOU WILL GET REST ONLY IF YOU
MEET JESUS. ONLY IF YOU PUT YOUR BURDENS IN HIS HANDS AND TAKE UPON YOU
HIS EASY AND LIGHT YOKE, ONLY THEN YOU WILL FIND REST. As
the Word says in Philippians:
Philippians 4:6-7
"BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING, BUT IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER AND
SUPPLICATION WITH THANKSGIVING, LET YOUR REQUESTS BE MADE KNOWN TO GOD;
and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus"
Be anxious for nothing!! YES for nothing!!! Your kids, your job, your
health, your wounds, your finances, your other concerns are all here.
There is NOTHING excluded from this statement. There is nothing
that should make us anxious. And the verse goes one step further to tell
us what to do instead of being anxious: "but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will
guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." PEACE!!! To get
peace you don’t have to finish the so and so project or to receive the
so and so blessing but to be anxious for nothing and cast everything to
the Lord through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving! It is HIS
job to CARE for you, while you rest in Him. And in resting in Him you
have power! See what it says in Isaiah 30:15-18
Isaiah 30:15
"For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: IN
RETURNING AND REST YOU SHALL BE SAVED; IN QUIETNESS AND CONFIDENCE SHALL
BE YOUR STRENGTH."
Our strength is in RESTING in the Lord. In quietness and confidence! I
call this the RRQC club: Return, Rest, be Quite and Confident to God.
Taking quietness, for example we can see its importance in Jesus’
life: He would get up very early in the morning and go to the wilderness
alone to pray (Mark 1:35)! He needed quite times with the Father. We
need them too! We don’t need to fill our schedule with a hundred of
activities to keep us going. We will not find strength in activities but
only in quietness and confidence to God. It is at the times that our
heart is quite and confident that the Lord can be heard by it.
Returning to Isaiah verse 16 gives us the
answer of the people to the plea of God for return, rest, quietness and
confidence, and the respective reply of the Lord:
Isaiah 30:16
"And you said,
"No, for we will flee on horses" – Therefore you shall flee!
And, "We will ride on swift horses" – Therefore those who
pursue you shall be swift! One thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
At the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left as a pole on top
of a mountain and as a banner on a hill"
Those people had their plans on how to do it. You may have your own. You
too may say "No, for….". You may try hard and care all the
day. Do you know the price? Weakness, fear, anxiety, defeat. The more
you trust in your "horsepower", the more weaker and dry you
will get. The only way for strength and life and rest is to rest in
the Lord. To be quite and confident in Him. To be anxious for nothing
and cast all your cares upon Him. This is the ONLY way!
Jeremiah 6:16-17
Moving further on our subject, let’s go
now to Jeremiah 6:16-17. In a similar tone with Isaiah, Jeremiah 6:16-17
tells us:
Jeremiah 6:16-17
"Thus says the Lord: Stand in the ways and see and ask for the old
paths, where the good way is and walk in it; then you will find
rest for your souls. But they said, "We will not walk in
it." Also I set watchmen over you saying, "Listen to the sound
of the trumpet!" But they said, "We will not listen"
"The old paths. Return to the OLD PATHS. Walk in the old straight
paths and you will find rest, our God says. Return, Rest, Be quite and
Confident in God. Get today into the RRQC club. Jesus is the leader and
He will give you REST and peace. To register costs nothing except your
cares! You have to cast them all upon God and peace will be given to
you. What do you prefer: Busyness and distraction, or rest and peace?
Dryness and weakness or fruitfulness and strength? Death or life? Really
it is that critical. The matter of the rest in the Lord is indeed a
spiritual fight! A battle between fruitfulness and unfruitfulness. As
Psalms 37:7 again tell us:
Psalms 37:7
"REST IN THE LORD AND WAIT PATIENTLY FOR HIM"
Let’s wait patiently in the Lord and rest in Him! Let’s NEVER leave
any foreign seed to spring in our garden and make our tree barren.
Tassos Kioulachoglou
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