STEP 19 - Protect Your Rest in Him.

The book of Hebrews 4 says “For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

 

God’s word has a lot of power, breaking chains that can keep us bound. He gives us the good news and there are times we don’t receive what is heard and that takes away its value and can decrease the level of our faith and in that we may not obey.

Those that have received the good news were able to enter into His rest and those who choose disobedience over the good news, He has shut the door to their rest.

If you are still sinning after giving your life to the Lord, no wonder you can’t experience peace, joy, rest or any of the benefits given to His children.

 

The word is very clear, he judges us on our thoughts and attitude displayed within our heart, the true intent and that covers those who are still sinning, but their heart desire is to transform. To me, He is giving them time to get it together, to make Him first choice over the ways of the world…over relationships that don’t line up with His word, over disobedience, over anything that puts a wedge between them.

 

If we are not in His rest, then we are in the world and all of the things of the world have access to our heart, mind and soul.

 

Ever wonder why it’s so easy to get angry and frustrated? It only takes a millisecond. There are times we are aware of what caused the negative shift and then there are times we just go with the momentum of being negative with no reason to support it…it’s in the atmosphere and gets into our spirit.

 

Just moments ago, you were extremely happy and filled with joy, thanking God for all of your blessings, breath and life; even had the nerves to feel somewhat sad that you’ve not spent enough intimate time with the Lord.

 

Thank God for freedom of choice, which allows us to walk in the positive or negative paths. Even in that freedom when things don’t go the way we think it should, we think we should blame someone before we take responsibility and guess who we normally blame?

 

God. It’s His fault things didn’t turn out the way we saw it or He didn’t open the door we wanted to walk in…the blame list goes on and on. It’s rare we think about our choices, actions and lack of patience that could create consequences that won’t benefit us in the long run.

 

Then after things don’t work out, we run to Him looking for answers and rest but that’s after time goes by and we’ve exhausted all thoughts or justifications that make sense to us.

 

1 Corinthians 10 tells us that “no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

 

Why do we feel it takes so much work to fully trust His words which allow us to enter into His rest?

 

Yes, we were born with a sinful nature and that is our first response when viewing things in a negative light, but His death has given us options, choices, other paths to select if we take the time to pray, wait and watch for doors to open that lead to Him and his offerings for us.

 

We must fight moment by moment to remember that once we gave our life to Christ; according to His word, our mind, soul, spirit, thoughts, responses and even expectations start to transform to be more like Him. His death not only conquers sin, but it provides everyone with choices even after we give our life to Christ, we must be intentional on selecting choices that glorify Christ over ourselves, others or the ways of this world.

 

Sometimes it is God leading and guiding us in a different direction or the enemy trying to steal blessings but there are many times we should take responsibility and accept the consequences of our choices which have nothing to do with God or the enemy.

 

The bible tells us there are traps set to capture us and steal, kill and destroy all the love we have for Christ.

 

We forget that we live in this world and have a choice not to be of the world.

 

Christ death has given us free will to choose this day “who” we will serve. In order to continually transform into the person, we were created to be, we must eat spiritual food. By reading (drinking our milk) and believing the word of God (growth) and become familiar with the benefits (wisdom) of being His child, we mature and grow in Him, our knowledge opens new doors for us to venture through.

 

In Acts 26, it says “to open their eyes to their true condition so that they may repent and live in the light of God instead of in Satan’s darkness, so that they may receive forgiveness for their sins and God’s inheritance along with all people everywhere whose sins are cleansed away, who are set apart by faith in me.”

 

Hosea 6 talks about lack of knowledge and how it can steal everything right in front of your eyes and cause frustration and doubt. We start blaming others, God and even the devil for outcomes when in essence, we’ve not done our part in understanding His word that leads and guides us away from the negative outcomes.

 

Here are a few examples of being “of” the world versus being “in” the world and it’s a big difference once your eyes have been opened and you can see past all of the illusions His word will become clearer and your rest in Him will be easily accessible.

 

Being in the world consists of walking in our fleshly desires and responding to our egotistical offerings. Wanting materialistic things even if we can’t afford or need them, wanting positions that don’t belong to us because there are traps that will bind us and re-direct our steps pushing us further from God’s will and also confirming that we do not fully trust that He knows what’s best for us.

  

Wanting things to go our way even when it makes no sense, we push past the logic that reminds us of the fruits of the Spirit aren’t tied to the things of this world and eventually and silently steal our peace, love, joy, happiness and path the Lord paved just for you.

 

These are devices that pull us deeper and deeper into darkness causing us to isolate from those who love us, those who can see the change and want to pour His love into our life. Isolation has a different conversation going on internally, trying it’s hardest to keep you away from the logic and understanding of Christ while persuading you that no one really loves you, life is too hard, you’ll never get out of the rut or valley and there’s no hope.

 

We’ve been warned that if we continue to practice the works of the flesh that we will not inherit the kingdom of God. We must strive to live in the Spiritual realm; seeking things that build God’s kingdom and not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

 

Psalms 1 is a great reminder that “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law, day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”

 

What does it mean to live in the world but not be of the world, what does that look or feel like?

 

2 Corinthians 5 talks about “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” When something passes away, it is no with life, it’s gone, it’s time of life is gone, will not and should not ever return.

 

To me, it means I’m walking by faith, not bound by the conditions the world has created. It doesn’t take away the fact that I must work, shop, pay bills, be responsible as a citizen and participate in the things that please God.

 

God created this world for us to enjoy, even down to the smallest detail. He put so much effort to display His love for us. He could have created everything in black, white or gray. He could have created one type of specie, flower, fish, bird, and human, but no, that wasn’t the case. There are flowers that look like animals even the colors used are replicas of the animal. There are tons of foliage that can live in various conditions, and some need hardly any water. The variety of perfectly created humans were made for Him to receive praise & glory. Our personalities, characters, sizes, shapes, and colors offer differences that bring more beauty into the world.

 

As a child of God, we must declare that the Lord is upright; He is our rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Sometimes we must fight moment by moment and day by day by feeding ourselves His word, praying with the intent to hear and follow the directions of the Holy Spirit.

 

This will help keep these negative actions such as fear, frustration, anger, disappointment in man, jealousy, hatred, unforgiveness, conditioned love, conditioned respect even though the bible says not to be a respecter of person. I’m to treat everyone the same, in love, we can embrace His word over what the world offers. It doesn’t say those persons must participate in my day to day living, we can create boundaries from those that feel our relationship isn’t worth the work and their decision is out of our control, so we respect their choices as we want them to respect ours.

 

Life is not an easy task with all the interferences we experience when we go out into the world by those who don’t believe in God and even the children of God who are striving to grow and mature in Him are finding out it’s a process and takes time.

 

Be kind, patient, loving, forgiving, embracing, understanding, and thoughtful to yourself first so you’ll be able to give to others as Christ gave to us.

 

2 Timothy informs us to “do our best to present ourselves to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

 

Galatians 5:17 for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

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