Resting is a declaration of freedom. -Kerri Weems
We are meant to wield our rest.
Rest is not the lack of action, but a weapon to choose.
Our choice not to act is in fact an action.
When we fail to choose rest, we find ourselves ever increasingly exhausted, stressed out and not focused on God. We become trapped on the world’s running wheel, at a pace we were never designed for. We become captive to the action of go, through our lack of understanding in just how much of a blessing to us rest actually is.
The bottom line is this….if God Himself rested after a busy week, why do we think we can keep going? The Maker of the Universes & all that is in them needs to nap, but His creations don’t? Everything God created has seasons of planting, growth, pruning, harvesting and last but not least: resting.
When we deliberately choose to rest, we free ourselves from the enemy’s mindset that we have no other choice but to stay in the whirlwind of busyness. In answering His invitation, we find His rest, true restorative rest deep within begins to seep into our mind, body and spirit:
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. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. – Jesus, in Matthew 11:28-30
In choosing to go to Jesus, and choose rest, God not only restores us, but gives us the weapon we can use to protect ourselves from the enemy: deliberate choice to sit at His feet, and rest there.
In His Presence, we learn to unwind, de-stress, listen to His voice, and follow His graceful leading. When we stay resting in Him, we keep free, and our spirits remain refreshed.
Rest is not only about sleeping, but the laying down of ourselves before Him, allowing Him to fill us with His love, peace, joy, hope.
We find our true selves at His feet.
We find the refuge, the shelter, the safe place, our true Home in Him. Where we can fully become the “us” He designed us to be, and be released to live the life God intended for us!
The enemy knows that if we draw close to Him, he will have less access to us.
If we keep His words in our minds, and live our lives in His flow for us, the enemy has less of a battleground to attack us from.
For when we rest in Him, we are drawn into the wide open fields of freedom God has for us, like a bird released from its cage who immediately heads to the currents of wind where she was meant to soar.
Like Mary, we were meant to let go of what the world tells us we must do, and choose the best yes by remaining at Jesus’ feet.
Now before you start complaining nothing will ever get done if i do that (been there, thought that!), let me tell you that somehow in the design of time, spending the time in rest with God seems to make me more productive. My purpose for the moment seems clearer, and i get more done in less time with less errors or distractions. I am less stressed out when emergencies pop up, and keep my cool way longer than i am capable of naturally!
I don’t get it, but i don’t have to! I just need to choose to grab hold of rest, and wield it as He leads me to use it! When I seem headed back onto the never-ending to-do treadmill, prompt me early God to use the rest You have given me to break the tentacles of busyness and stress from reattaching themselves to me.
Lord, may we pick up rest today, and use it as You lead us to in the coming moments, hours, days. Because of Your actions on the cross, You declare us free, and desire for us to stay free in You. Help us to draw close, lay our burdens and to do lists before You. May we pick back up that which You desire for us to complete each day, and may we never stray far from Your voice as we live out the purpose for which You called us. May our preoccupation ever be Jesus!
KARLA LEES 