Rest and Receive God’s Best!
Are you “standing on the promises” of God as you await a breakthrough? That’s what I used to do. But as it is with standing physically, I discovered the manner in which I was “standing” on the promises could be exhausting. Standing for long periods of time wears you out! But I’ve found a better way.
Instead of standing on the promises, I have learned it’s much easier and far more effective to rest in them. And in fact that is what God wants us to do. I found that “standing” on the promises tend to keep the focus on me, but “resting” in them keeps the focus on the One who matters, Jesus!
“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:9-11 NKJV)
In the passage above, God invites us to be diligent to enter His rest. That is, hasten to do so. Why? Because that’s what it takes to enjoy Him fully. When we rest, we receive God’s best!
“I can’t afford to rest,” you say. “There’s just too much to do. Too many devils to fight. Too many temptations to resist. Too much to accomplish for Jesus.” You’re right, there’s too much to do. That’s why you need to rest. You see, when you rest, God works. And He actually works through you!
What are we to rest from? Rest from depending on our own works and self-efforts to be righteous in God’s sight and accepted by Him. Rest from trying to be good enough to earn His favor. Rest from trying to impress Him with our religious activities. We are to cease from our own works!
Now, do not misunderstand. The rest God is speaking about is not to stay in bed all day, refusing to have a job, being irresponsible. The rest spoken of is the rest that occurs when you take your eyes off of yourself altogether and stop trying to merit God’s blessings. It is the rest you experience when you believe He Himself is doing His work in you and through you. It is a rest given to you, even while you are doing all that is required of you. It is the rest of faith.
You see, there’s only one thing God requires of us. And that is for us to hasten to enter His rest. It is for us to be quick to take our eyes off ourselves. Be quick to cast our burdens upon Him. Be quick to come to the throne of grace and mercy and cast the responsibility of all our cares upon Him and refuse to pick them up again. All He requires is for us to rest confidently in His finished work and then boldly confess our faith in who He is, what He’s already done, and what He’s doing now.
Child of God, instead of trying to earn salvation and blessings, learn to rest in the promises of God, already finished and completed by Christ. Learn to rest in His gift of righteousness and stop trying to establish your own. Learn to rest in His gift of love and power, not only to save you, but to keep you. Instead of trying to live victoriously in your own strength, realize your victory does not depend on how strong you are, but how strong Jesus is. Instead of trying to be good enough, realize God blesses you not because you are good, but because He is.
Try resting for a change.
A Moment of Grace 
Great message Bishop. We are always trying to please him by our works so that men will see us, forgetting to know that the work is finished. All we need to do is to enter in to his rest…
Amen! Thanks Bishop for the WORD!
Bishop am grateful to the almighty God for you,because the past two topics “What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do” and “standing on the promises” they have done me well.may God bless you continuously.
Amen! Thanks Bishop. I will continue to rest in my promises because this does keep my focus on the One who matters – JESUS! Thanks.
Oh I so needed this Bishop. May God bless you continuously!