Pastor Ken shared…
My grace may be to be a pastor or a parent; your grace may be creative to work at xyz office or whatever you do. That might be your grace but for all of us our place is rest. Our place is at the feet of the Master because whether it’s life or prayer itself, God intends for it to all flow out of a place of rest. In fact, God worked in the creation account of Genesis and then He rested so that we as His people could rest and then work or do the work that He intends for us to do. Isn’t that good?
That’s kind of the flow of scripture. He worked and then rested. Not because He was tired but because He finished the work so that we can just rest in that and then flow in prayer and then go do the work that He leads and prompts and equips, empowers us to do. And I find very often when I work and strive and struggle in my own effort, God rests. But when I rest, He goes to work. Isn’t that good?
Jesus has finished the work for us pertaining to anything and everything in our lives and in His great plan. We just need to learn how to rest. In fact in Matt. 11:28 Jesus is speaking:
(28) “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] (29) Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. (30) For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.”
I mean think about it. Jesus could have emphasized any number of blessings that God provided for us but He emphasized and He punctuated this blessing and promise of rest. Why is that? Because that was His mission to come or step out of eternity and into time and space to restore a rest to the people of God that we lost through Adam who committed high treason, who sold out and ushered in all things evil, cursed with striving and struggling and working by the sweat of our brow. Jesus came to restore God’s original intent, that we would rest. God created all things that are in this earth and the recreation account of Genesis and then He led Adam into what He had created. Even in the Ten Commandments given to Moses, only four words are used to tell us “Thou shall not kill” but 94 words were used to articulate “Remember the Sabbath Rest.” Do you think it’s important to God? It’s absolutely important.
And I don’t know about you but I find myself more effective, I find myself more fruitful, life gets easier and God’s grace flows more freely when I rest. I think it’s in our human old nature to strive and struggle and try when really God whispers each morning, especially when we come to a place of prayer, to rest and to rely. On what? Don’t you know my circumstances, don’t you know the state of the world, haven’t you watched FOX news recently? Absolutely, but I found that my purpose, my focus in life isn’t in what I do or what others are saying to me but my high purpose is to be on a journey of discovering and resting in who we are and what we have in Him. Amen.
Whether it’s the economy, the election, that deal going on in your life, God is for all of us, the God that has been there, done that, come back to tell us all about it and bought the T-shirt. That’s the way I like to put it. In other words, He’s been to your future and He has been back. He has been to America’s future and He has been back and He is just here to tell us about it. This morning He is here to inspire and move in our hearts so that we can pray about it. Because prayer changes us, changes the church, but then as well it allows us to just simply release what God has already gone into the future and prepared, what His will and intent and plan is. There is nothing that catches God off guard. There is nothing that shocks or surprises Him. He is fully aware of what people will do, of what’s going to go on in the current election cycle, what’s going to happen with the economy, what’s going to happen with the parts of the world, He knows. Our job is to sync up with Him in and through rest. Amen.
“Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered [today], let us be afraid [to distrust it], lest any of you should think he has come too late and has come short of [reaching] it.” Hebrew 4:1 (AMPC)
In other words, if there is anything we should be concerned about it shouldn’t be about our finances or xyz, if there is one thing we should be concerned about, it is missing out this rest that’s been provided for us.
“Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell].” Hebrews 4:11
God intended to simply lead them into the Promised Land, the land that He prepared that flowed with milk and honey but because of their “stinking thinking” they couldn’t embrace the fact that God had already done the heavy lifting for them. Yes, I am speaking to pray-ers this morning. Because we as pray-ers get this works mentality on us and think if something is going to happen, we got to do it. Right? No, it’s never been about us. It’s always about Him. Amen. It’s not about what you can bring to the table as a Christian, a pray-er. It’s about what God has set at the table before us even in the midst and the presence of our enemies. The table is replete, the table has been set. Now it’s up to us to come up and dine at the table and rest. Rest and then work. God worked and then rested so we can rest and then do our work. That’s where we are most effective. That’s where prayer flows more easily and joyfully and changes us and changes the world and changes what needs to be changed. That’s where we are not shaken by the shaking going on in culture and in the world around us. Rest.
And the children of Israel frankly missed out. That whole generation, of course, died in the wilderness because they couldn’t embrace this concept, really even under the Old Covenant, that God had finished a work for them, had prepared a land for them. They couldn’t embrace it. Instead they allowed their thinking to take charge and control their lives and they worried and they struggled in their minds and they freaked out and they fretted instead of learning to simply rest in a growing and intimate knowledge of this great God who had already done really phenomenal miracles which they saw clearly with their own eyes. They just kept going back to their old ways, striving and struggling and wondering and trying to work it out rather than focusing on the fact that God has already worked it out. Amen
Our place of prayer starts from a place of victory, a place of “the work is finished. We can rest.” Amen.
Prayed…
We welcome You, Holy Spirit
Invade our time; we are hungering for You
Our all and all
Minister to our hearts; let Your peace wash over us
Lift off cares, concerns, and worries
You restore our hurting hearts
Hope, help, and healing virtue come in Jesus’ name
Yielding to You on the inside
You are the one who mobilizes us for Your purpose
Whatever it is we let You have Your way
We worship You, Lord of Lords and King of Kings
Ms. Annie led us singing “I Love Your Presence”
Continued praying…
Magnifying and glorifying You
Righteous One, soon coming King
You have done all the work for us concerning redemption
Stirred in our heart – lifting up the name of Jesus
Worshiping You with all of our hearts
Celebrating and proclaiming Your goodness
You are right here, so near in our worship
Thank You for a spirit of liberty in the Holy Ghost
Let Your Spirit do a work in us and go forth from this place
Glory to God! Declaring victory this morning
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
He is worthy– proclaim His worth!
Holy, holy are You, Lord
We behold You, O God
We step into our high calling and purpose – to worship You!
Father, You are our hearts’ affection, our one desire
Hallelujah to the Lamb of God
We worship You as our REST this morning
Our redeemer and deliver
Thank You, Lord!
Our joy, our delight, our everything
Demons have to flee in the worship of Your Church
We are the strong and victorious in the Lord
You know this is a needful thing to do. Balance the scales of prayer with praise and worship. It just releases what God has already stored up for us. We have become a declaration of His praise!
Thank You, Lord, that You are here this morning
Let it open this nation, our hearts
Our worship and our praise
In this hour, the church out there and in here
A newfound command for worship and praise
Declaring a new day
Deliverance, harvest, power like never seen hereto for
Yes, Lord, we worship You
A release of some bigger, higher things
Going out from the Church – boldly and forcefully
Not to debate or sit on the couch but the Church going out in the positioning and the power
The work already finished
Yes, Lord – out, out, out to do the works of Jesus
Displaying the power – a RELEASE of signs, wonders, and miracles
Keys, keys, help us find the keys
The WHOLE Church!
Stirring, reviving, resurrection in the hearts of the people
Beating and pulsating with life
Get up and go and proclaim and do the mighty and wonderful works in the mighty name of Jesus
Breaking loose and breaking through
Not just here but churches everywhere!
Opening us to the true and living God
Your purpose– that’s our heart cry
Let us move on to where You are leading and calling us
A new way of doing life ministry and business
For this time and for all the challenges that would oppose us
Grant that to us Father in Jesus’ name
We pray over the altars, over souls for fresh fire and fresh anointing oil
A holy discontent – getting up from where they were sitting, a place of status quo
Lord, we call them up in the name of Jesus
FRESH FIRE!
Stir the Church supernaturally
Come, Lord, in a new way
Open, open, open
It’s complete, it will be complete
Give us entrance, clear out the clouds, the dismay
You are the way maker and You have made the way!
Yes, recalibrate us now to what You are saying for us to do now
Gone with the old, help us embrace the new in Jesus’ name
Opportunities, open doors come to us today
Finances, released in the name of Jesus
In individuals lives, Christian businesses
Glory to God, hallelujah
Thank You, Jesus
Ms. Annie led us singing “Glory, Glory to the Lamb”
Declaring God’s favor over you today!
Enjoy God’s rest
