Daily Devotional

Word of the Day

The Secret of Divine Rest

The rest of God is the ability to lean back into the arms of a loving heavenly Father. The rest of God is the ability to know that God cares, that God is good, and that God wants to order your steps. He wants to bless you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. He wants to be your present help in trouble. He wants to be your shield, your buckler and your high tower. He wants you to experience His shepherding as He brings you beside the still waters to be refreshed and to eat the green pastures.

As we go through life, we get weary from the warfare and forget that God has made provision to refresh us and bring us to rest. We so often look to the natural for that time of refreshing. The Scripture says there's a rest for the people of God (Heb. 4:9). We become weary and weighted down when we take on the responsibility of providing for ourselves instead of the providential care of God. We work at the things that we should be resting in.

Jesus says to take His yoke upon you and learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly (Matt. 11:29). When you take that yoke of dying to self, He will give you rest. Do you have the rest of God? Are you refreshed in your spirit? You might be weary in your body from laboring or experiencing adversity, trials or persecutions. All that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). People ought to be upset by our separate living, by our reliance on His lordship, and by our uncompromised presentation of the Word of God.

If you want to rest, then you will have to get rid of your agenda, because your agenda will keep you uptight. You're goals, ambitions, methodology and ideology will wear you out and everybody around you. Jesus didn't come to do His will; He had no agenda but to daily speak the Father's words and obey the commandments of the Father. The ability to live without an agenda is one of the greatest secrets to the divine rest--the yoke of God.

Meekness is not weakness. Moses was the meekest man of his generation, yet he took on Pharaoh. Meekness means you do not trust in yourself, think of yourself more highly, or put yourself forward. We promote this image of ourselves and stay so busy trying to live up to that reputation. But Jesus says you need to take on that spirit of lowliness. Humble yourself and let God do the exalting, believing that God knows what things you have need of. Beloved, if we could really live that way, what a rest and peace that passes understanding there would be. Do you have that kind of a peace today? If not, then you probably have an agenda. What causes that peace to leave? What causes fear to come in and grip our hearts with anxiety? It all stems from discontentment, having other treasures to be successful and happy, finding our self-worth in our accomplishments, portfolios and dwelling places.

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me...ye shall find rest [for] your souls" (Matt. 11:29). Do you want that rest today? Who originated self- promotion and discontentment, the need to excel beyond the place that God had put him? It was Lucifer. This creature had everything but rest. Discontentment, a haughty spirit and a desire to excel was all part of the original sin, the very thing that seduced Eve. It's the same thing right now that tells you if you had a little more respect, money or possessions you'd be satisfied. Jesus said only one rest will satisfy you--the rest of yoking with Him and identifying with Him.

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