Rest in a restless world

Editor's Notes

• #5: Distraction – Most often when we think of distraction our mind goes to things around us that keep us from following through with a project as Steve Adams says “Action requires traction, but the enemy brings distraction.” But in terms of spiritual rest the distraction is often more internal in nature. It is the unsanctified hopes, fears, desires etc. that we have that distract us from being at rest in the Spirit. Psa 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Performance – We have spoken a lot in recent weeks about performance so let me just reiterate that your spirit cannot be at rest if you are trying to perform in order to secure your place at God’s table. Beware of anything that is an add on to Christ. Often we download add-ons to our internet browser or other software programs that causes the program to crash. There are no add-ons for salvation, only Jesus. Spiritual disciplines are dangerous if they are done in the flesh, they are means of grace to create time and space to be with Jesus. Anxiety and Being Bothered - Anxiety is an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by nervous behaviour, such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints and rumination. It is the subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over anticipated events, such as the feeling of imminent death (Wikipedia). To be Bothered to someone - to give trouble to; annoy; pester; worry (Dictionary.com). The enemy can put your spirit in a prison of anxiety where he will be the jailor that will constantly give you trouble. Rather let your heart be guarded by Christ, Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. If your Spirit is at rest then you can have rest for the soul and the body. If not you can do all the techniques of stress management and have a balanced healthy lifestyle, be a platinum Vitality member but still not be at rest.
• #6: Our Soul Mind - Psa 46:10 NKJV Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! 1Ki 19:11-12 NKJV Then He said, "Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. Will – Be Simple the spiritual value of simplicity is about having a singular focus. Matt 6:33 Seek first the kingdom, and Mat 6:24-25 NKJV "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Money is a wonderful servant but a vicious master Emotions – We need to come away from the business of this world to be emotionally recharged. Mar 6:31 NKJV And He said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. For some to be away is to be alone while for others it is to be with others. If it involves others be sure to spend time with people that accept you as you are and believe in you. But your emotions need time to be recreated. Times of extreme stress fray our emotions and we become edgy and over sensitive. God calls us away to be with Him. What emotions commonly overcome you during challenging times?
• #7: Rom 12:1 NASB Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. We all have physical limits. We can’t do it all, our physical world is limited and we need to embrace these limits. We often speak of boundaries but these can be selfish, when we talk about limits we just acknowledge our physical limits. None of us have what it takes to save the world. But God doesn’t ask what is beyond us, yes the Spirit enables us to do more than we could ever think is possible but we all have limits. Love Servant hood: Like Mary our singular service is to do the will of Jesus from sitting at His feet. But often we are like Martha we serve from a place of slavery we are trying to live up to expectations and we actually resent the people or even God we “serve”. Most often the great God will call us to do small things with great love. We are not called to do great things we are called to serve Jesus with love, He decides the definition of great. He must define success for us, most of us will never become famous or well known but through tedious mediocrity (faithfulness). We al love super heroes. The people that spectacularly save the day by doing out of this world things. It may be that God may need you to do something like that, but don’t miss the everyday moments of faithfulness that is building the kingdom. Doing whatever you do with excellence honours God. Faithfulness is not laziness it is doing things with all our hearts even if the results are not spectacular.