UNDERSTANDING BIBLICAL REST

We have been told a lie that it is lazy people who rest and that rich men don’t rest. Today we want to let you understand that rest as described by the Word of God is spiritual.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11: 28 – 29 KJV)

In the Kingdom of God the number principle is that we rest in work. We don’t rest outside rest for that is the lazy man’s rest. We also work in rest. There is rest given and rest that is found. Rest is given and rest is also found. Jesus said that he will give us rest but he also said that we should take up his yoke! This is really interesting. In the Kingdom of God when you rest, peace must follow.

And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.(Genesis 1: 31 KJV)

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (Genesis 2: 1 – 3 KJV)

Until God finished what he had purposed to do and had revisited all that he had done and found it in order or good, he would not have rested. This is very key for us to know. Rest is only found when work is completed. The rest God has given us is found in the completing of the task that he has assigned to us all. God rests when he has been able to hit or achieve his goal. When God picks up another work, he comes out of rest and does not rest until work is finished.

You see the sweetest part of this is that Jesus in Matthew 11: 30 said that his yoke is not difficult but easier. God’s work is not as difficult as many have been made to think. Why am I saying so? For God has given us the Holy Spirit who makes the work of God easier than any other work! We do not have to be stressed in the work of God. We just have to follow the leading of the spirit who teams up with us to complete the work that God assigned to us. Thus we rest in work not outside work. The work denotes the purpose which God has set in front of us. Until you find God’s purpose for your life and appropriate the necessary grace which he has so freely given you, you will be exasperated in life and you will never find peace

Even when many have found the purpose of God for their lives they insist on using their own natural strength to complete their course. They seem to have forgotten that it is God who is in them both to will and to do according to his own good pleasure or purpose (Philippians 2: 13). They end up getting fed up and tired.

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (Hebrews 4: 9 – 11 KJV)

People of God before you can rest, you must work. Until work is done there is no peace in rest. God could not have rested on the seventh day if he was not satisfied with his work. Rest must be a part of our thoughts but we must only rest after work is completed. We must make sure that the work is done and done well for us to rest.

When we come to Jesus we come into the rest of salvation. But that is not the end. For by salvation the dream of God has just began. Salvation is for us. Now that we have become born again we must consider what is for God. God got many sons through salvation not for these sons to come and sit around and sleep. There is a work that needs to be completed and that is why we have been made sons of God. There is a rest which still remains for us who have entered into the rest of salvation. Let us labour to enter into that rest and let no man fall away from the work.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.(Revelation 14: 13 KJV)

Works will still follow us even in rest. Rest means work has been completed. Don’t think that once you die all is finished. Unfinished work must be done and it will follow us even in death if not completed.

Rest means work has been completed and that we are ushering ourselves into another work with a different forcefulness and resolve. Rest brings multiplication, strength and forcefulness for another work that is ahead. Shalom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!