How To Enter The Promised Rest

How do we labor to enter His rest?

The word tells us that the kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. They seize it. Have you ever noticed that the people who received miracles from Jesus were very desperate? They pushed through crowds, threw off their cloaks, risked humiliation, and many cried out above the din of voices literally stopping Jesus in his tracks. Oh, he loves desperate sick folks.

God's love is all-consuming. His love is compared to a mighty rushing river and unquenchable fire. He have given everything for love, and He seeks the same love in return. Many false teachings are perverting the truth that Jesus has done it all, (He has) and won it all, (He has) to cause us to sit back in a spiritual stupor while Satan makes off with all of our inheritance. Jesus purchased our rest, but we must labor to enter into it.

Jesus said that we have to eat his body and drink his blood in order to experience eternal life. As we do when celebrating communion, we have to pick it up and chew it. The way that we chew is to meditate and study his word with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. We seek Him with 100% of our focus, a focus that is only born our of desperation.

It's hard to feed someone who is full. Too often we pursue God and His promises with half-full spiritual bellies; we want Him, but not badly enough to seek with all of our hearts. We are too distracted by other things, then we wonder why God does not come through for us. After all, we "believed" him didn't we?

Jesus is the lamb, and He is precious. His flesh, he said, is our life. Just as the Israelites were commanded to eat the entire Passover lamb-leaving nothing behind, so too we are not to waste any benefits. His life, and death, were so costly. (I hate giving a costly gift only to see the person that I give it to just toss it in the trash can.) I want the gift to be cherished and enjoyed, not disregarded.

God gave us many benefits in Christ. The benefits include healing of all disease, forgiveness of sin, and deliverance from the pit. (See Psalm 103). But we have to consume the Passover lamb.

Hebrews 4:1,2

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”

The word must be mixed with faith, and faith also comes as we hear the word. The word “mix” is the same word used to indicate mixing food with saliva so that it can be digested. The key is to chew until the word is digested by our spirit man. When that happens, faith comes alive. Jesus said that His words bring forth life!

Unbelief will cause us to miss the promised rest. For we have been given great and precious promises by which we become partakers of the divine nature (1 Peter 3).

Why on the Sabbath?

Jesus typically ministered on the sabbath as an illustration that His work is our rest. When the Pharisees criticized Jesus for healing on the sabbath, he said, "My father is always working, and I too am working." What a contrast! On the day when we are commanded to cease all work, Jesus is working. The sabbath day was the holiest day unto the Lord because it foreshadowed God's redemptive work in Christ in which he broke the stranglehold of the sin nature and defeated the curse! God alone gets the glory!

I hear the Lord saying to His people as He said to the Israelites in the book of Joshua, "How long with you wait to take what God has given you? Go up and take it!" Can you believe my people? Will you grieve the Lord as Jesus was grieved by his disciples unbelief?

Dare we defend our faith before God? Dare we justify ourselves? We don't have to. I lack faith, and I am not ashamed to say it because it's not about me. I lack everything for Pete's sake, and He still adores me!

Apart from Him, I have nothing. This is nothing new. Yesterdays faith will not carry me today, and I am in need of a living faith.

Those Who Are With Us Are More Than Those Who Are With Them

In 2 Kings 5:21, the King of Aram sends his army to surround the Israelites who were camped in the town of Dortham. Elisha the prophet was also there with his servant who awoke to discover that they were surrounded by a mighty army of horses and chariots intent on capturing them. “Oh my lord, what shall we do?” he said to Elisha. “Don’t be afraid.” The prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Oh, we need the vision that Elisha had! Paul prays that the eyes of our hearts would be open to see the things that God has for us in Christ. In every trial, temptation, and tribulation facing us, we can say with Elisha, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” This is true for every child of God, in all circumstances. Howev...

Growing in Revelation

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." John 14:26 It is so important that we approach scripture as children, expecting the Holy Spirit to open our minds to Truth. As “churched” believers, (I so dislike that term, it sounds like something that is pickled), we are in danger of approaching the word as if we fully understand it. This attitude shuts off revelation, dulling our spiritual vision and curbing our knowledge of God. We are called to be spiritually quickened, not to pickle in the stagnant pools of familiar church doctrine. This is not to say that church doctrine is a not good and helpful. No, the problem comes when doctrine becomes a wall that shuts us out from Spirit led revelation. But when viewed as a door, doctrine can serve as an invitation, beckoning the hungry heart to come in and explore. It is interesting to note...

Searching for Simeons; be still and know

Be Still, and Know. This word came to me after I quieted my heart this morning and felt that it was the Lord speaking a word of caution and encouragement. "Practice solitude often. Solitude increases your spiritual perception. The spirit knows and perceives while the natural mind ponders, divides, considers, reasons. Guard your mind from distraction. Knowing in the realm of the spirit is much like a man who looks into a calm pond and sees his reflection in the stillness of the water. He can see his image until a pebble is cast into the water and he loses the image just as it is taking shape. In the same way, silence is the calm water that allows you to hear my voice, for I speak to you in the silence. Emails, T.V., talk shows, intrusive cell phones are the little pebbles that disturb the water just as knowledge is forming in the depths of the spirit man. You may guard yourself against the "giants in the land" but miss me in the distractions of life. It is death by 1,00...

How Faith Grows: Labor to Rest (and Tear Down Those Beliefs that Steal the Word!)

Your word is my shield and buckler. No matter what enemy David was facing, he consistently fled into the refuge of God's word. He meditated on it day and night until He saw God move. “As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.” (John 6:57) How do we eat Jesus? “Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat that which is good , and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” Isaiah 55:2 We hear him, and we keep hearing him until faith is born. When faith is born, we enter into the substance of the unseen. When faith has been born, some work or experience will follow. Until then, it is dead. Like a tiny seed, the promise yields its peaceable fruit in due season; new fruit of the Spirit, or freedom from some opression. But first, we have to chew, and chew, and chew. This is actually the biblical metaphor for how we are to labor to enter into the rest of God. “Let us therefore fear, lest, a PROMISE being left us ...

The Crowned Virus

The entire globe is held in the iron-clad grip of a global pandemic. This life altering virus has brought the world to a screeching halt as the earth reels under its cold, dark shadow. Recently, I began to really wonder about the name, Coronavirus. Where did it originate? Who named it? What I found was interesting. There may be more to the name of this virus than first meets the eye. Just like everything else about 2020 and beyond, one must look beneath the surface to understand. The word corona is of Latin origin meaning “crown.” It was coined by a Spanish astronomer, Jose Joaguin de Ferrer y Cafranga (1763-1818) who journeyed to New York to observe a total solar eclipse in 1806. Due to its crown-like appearance, Jose named the spikes of light appearing around the eclipsed sun, “corona.” The first coronavirus was identified and named in 1968 by a team of 8 researchers at the Common Cold Clinic in Wiltshire, England. The researchers named the ...

Seeing God

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.” In his book, Prayer, Richard Foster points out that God waits and longs to be loved. He goes on to make the bold claim that God is more tender hearted than anyone, though we do not often see him this way. And yet, how could he be less tender than the most tender human heart? Foster emphasizes how easily moved is this Tender-Hearted One, moved by our tears, and moved by our loving gestures towards him, weak as they may be. He surrounds us with tender mercies. Foster’s reflections on the character of God caused me to consider, once again, the consequences of that fateful day in the garden, when we chose to eat from the wrong tree. I am familiar with the idea that our shame and sense of condemnation caused us to hide from God. However, this morning, I saw that there is more involved in the reason why our ancestral parents hid from God, and why we still dive for the nearest thorn bush when have missed the...

Elon's Fire Dragon From Heaven and Revelation 13

The Christian world, what I will call "Churchianity", has chosen to overlook things that are inconvenient to see. We all do it, when we want something badly, or believe something, we rationalize, overlook, and dismiss information to the contrary. We are doing it again, and I believe we will see very grave consequences. However, scripture tells us it will happen, mass deception in the church, that is, and my hope is that God will work it all for our good. He orders all things according to the counsel of His will. He is training us for eternity, so maybe it's one last divine lesson that we will never, ever forget. This will be a longer post as I will talk about Elon's dark sentences, Elon's fire from heaven, and Trump and Elon teaming up from Revelation 13, so buckle your seat belts! And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. Daniel 8:23 Elon a...

All That Matters

I saw it with perfect clarity right after Steve died suddenly in a car accident, the very week that we were setting our wedding date. While I was tossing around wedding ideas with my sister on the phone one clear, fall morning, unbeknownst to me, Steve had already died in a wreck. In a few hours I would get the call. But through the violent tears of grief for the greatest love I have ever known, God kindly gave me a glimpse of eternity. I could see, not with my natural eyes, but with those unseen eyes of the heart. Those eyes are the only eyes that really matter. Satan opened the eyes of Adam and Eve to his selfish version of reality, his narrative. This is the dark sight that Jesus came to strike with blindness so that we can see the light of truth. He said he came to give sight to the blind, and to blind those who see. For a brief time after Steve's death, it was as if a veil was lifted and I could peer into eternity itself. Everything becam...

Come, Drink of His Grace

We have been issued a divine invitation to partake of heavenly things. In 2 Peter we are told that we have "great and precious promises, by which we become partakers of the divine nature." (KJV). Scripture also speaks of the overflowing riches and overabundant grace in Christ Jesus our Lord. Many accept the truth that our salvation is by faith in Christ Jesus. We ask Jesus into our hearts and believe that we have experienced the fullness of this truth. But nothing could be further from the truth, for we have only just begun to understand what it means to have "this treasure in earthen vessels." What is this treasure? As a young believer I was very much in love with the Lord. I had a deep desire to please Him. Not having an understanding of the nature and power of grace, I struggled within myself to please Him. For a few years my own strength was enough, and my private sense of righteousness went untouched. But in time, I was pulled away from my relation...

Going Forth To Conquer: The First Horse and Rider

Before I start this, I want to say that I believe strongly that we are in the midst of Revelation 6 where we read about the four horses riding forth into the earth. Consider these things by way of a tyranny refresher, lest we become numb to it all: (If you feel totally “woke” regarding the tyranny, feel free to jump down to the First Horse heading.) 1. Global house arrest. 2. Most or all international travel stopped and many places saw total restrictions on local travel. 3. Global arrests for working, or keeping your business open. 4. Global rules keeping people from gathering in groups. 5. Global rules keeping humanity from sick, elderly, and dying loved ones. 6. Global rules preventing humanity from holding weddings and funerals. 7. Global rules dictating the wearing of masks. 8. ...

Newness of Life

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