Rest: Overcoming Restlessness Pt. 2

Hi Everyone!!

As you all know, we've been focusing on rest for the past 2 weeks. Pastor did a recap on Sunday and you can review the last blog for those gems. So I'm going to just jump into the new stuff.

Hebrews 4:9-11 NKJV

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest [there's clearly a distinction between what His rest looks like and what ours look like. I just don't believe He took His eyes off of us and the entire world on the 8th day. His "routine labor" had ceased, but He was still responsible for being the manager of what He had just created. I don't know exactly what His rest looked like, but knowing the character of God, I don't believe He abandoned the world and did His thing until He was ready to come back. I think that's what Pastor was alluding to when He mentioned how we have to seek God for what rest looks like for us. I think it's dependent on our roles, positions, what's needed at that moment, etc.].has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Matthew 11:28-30 MSG

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you ["what God called you to will be a good fit for you."]. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Pastor explained how there is a difference between laziness and rest:

Lazy: unwilling to work

Rest: break from work

"We need proper rest in order to do the proper work"

1 Kings 19:12

and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a]a still small voice.

This scripture was highlighted to explain how God doesn't always shout; sometimes, it's that still small voice that comes across that can only be heard when we're still enough to hear it.

Speaking of being in the right position to hear, we were also introduced to the idea of the spiritual static. 

Static: an indication that something is wrong with the connection and the channel needs to be changed.

Likewise, spiritual static is any noise that is not in agreement with God.

There is a difference between noise and sound, and the difference lies in whether what's being heard is wanted or not; noise is an unwanted sound...

"Cut the noise and release the sound"

We learned a bit about the effects of not getting enough sleep/rest from a physical perspective. With a lack of rest, we can experience issues with our vision causing things to be blurry. From a spiritual standpoint, when we're not rested, our vision can also be clouded and we'll have a hard time seeing from His perspective (lack of wisdom).

Genesis 11:1-9

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

The purpose in highlighting this scripture is to explain how succeeding doesn't mean you're in the Will of God. Godly success is success that is in His Will. Don't fall into the trap of confusing simply being good at something and/or strategizing well with actually experiencing godly success.

Rest In Him So You Can Start To See Clearly

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Upcoming Events:

• Sister's of Divine Purpose
• September 13, 2019
• Please let Minister Gerrylyn know if you're planning to attend
• Evangelism Workshop
• September 18, 2019 @ 7:30pm
• Evangelism: Pop-Up Prayer
• September 21, 2019 @ 10am
• In-Person Bible Study Resumes
• September 25, 2019 @ 7:30pm