Rest

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him... Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him." [Psalm 62: 1, 5]

There has been so much striving in my life. Striving to overcome sin. Striving to resist the devil and take authority over him. Striving to get more blessings from God. Striving to become a better Christian. Striving for more anointing. Striving to grow. Striving to be closer to the Father.

Over the past four years of my life I went through many seasons in the Spirit that exposed me to these areas in my life where I strived instead of finding rest in the Lord. There's always been this part of me that wants to do all I can to accomplish something. "I have to do my part! I must put in my contribution to make things work!" Or so I thought.

In the last two years, the Father has been gradually revealing His love for me -- His unconditional love for me as a son. Through the preaching in my church, reading the Bible, getting myself involved in ministry, and spending time with God, He has shown to me that one can only do so much before getting worn out, burned out and wiped out. There were times before when I'd find myself spiritual dry and weary because I had "done" so many things for the Lord without spending much time with the Lord. Or as others would put it, "Busy in the Kingdom, but not busy with the King."

I guess it boils down to Man always wanting to do something, add something, achieve something, be something that we end up in dire straits just to get the feeling that we have "done something" for the Lord to make ourselves worthy. But God has been gracious enough to show me that this really isn't necessary.

In the last half of 2007, the point that God has been driving home to me was: Relax my son. Take it easy. I've got it all under control. And I got it. As a matter of fact God gave me an acronym for it from always having to look at the big banner (that spelled one Name), which used to hang behind our pulpit: JESUS! This has come to stand for Just Enjoy the Savior's Unwavering Sweetness, often morphing the last two words to either Unfailing Salvation, or Unlimited Supply, or some other variations that come to mind.

Rest. Everybody's looking for it consciously or otherwise. People look for it in so many [wrong] places and never get what they are looking for. I know. I've been there and done that. But true rest -- for the soul and spirit, not just for the body -- can be found in Christ alone. Verses of Psalm 62 goes like this: "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him... Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him."

How cool is it for the children of God to find complete rest in Him? I mean He created us; gave us everything we need for life and godliness; gave us authority over the devil; made a way for us to escape temptation; gave us a ticket into heaven for free; gave His Son to die for us on the cross; sent the Holy Spirit to teach us His ways; gives us strength when we wait on Him; goes before us and fights our battles for us; calls us sons and daughters, and the only thing He wants from us the most is just to be intimately in love with Him. How cool is that?

We have an awesome God. We can find rest in Him. It's the kind of rest that the world could never offer or match up to.

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him... Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him."

And now I can rest.