Rest

 Rest

April 8, 2026

Matthew 11:28-30

28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take Myyoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

When you commit everything to the Lord, you can rest in the assurance that He has everything under control.That’s a lot easier said than done. When we look around us, we see all sorts of problems and turmoil. How can the Lord possibly be in charge when we see wars, destruction, death, disease and personal conflicts? Nevertheless, the Lord is in charge. He tells us directly that “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” It is an act of faith to rest in that assurance and trust in Him when all around you is in chaos. 

I’m really preaching to myself today, because we have had a lot happening here. Many prayer requests have come in for various problems that are happening all around us. Some have had relatives pass away. Others have had problems with children and some have had family members sick and even in the hospital. It is overwhelming to consider all the things that can go wrong, but our faith is not in what we see, but in what we know that the Lord can do. We pray and trust the Lord to do only what He can do. We are powerless to solve these problems on our own, but we know that He is able. That is where we find rest, in knowing, in really knowing and having assurance that the Lord has all of these things under control. So Lord, help us to look only to You and give us rest for our souls, for we are weary and heavy laden, but we give it all to you, for your burden is light.

Sit

 Sit

August 13, 2025

Ephesians 1:20-21

20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Ephesians 2:6-8

6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show thesurpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

One of the mysteries of the gospel is that one must start your spiritual journey in Christ by sitting down. It by acknowledging that Christ has done it all and is sitting in heavenly places that we come to be saved by grace. There is nothing we can do to earn it and nothing we can do to redeem ourselves. We need to accept His free gift and sit down with Him in heavenly places. It is a mystery. Every other religion imposes tasks that must be performed, Sacrifices that must be made and penance that must be given in order to please the gods. Not so in Christianity. We must simply accept a relationship with Jesus, acknowledge His lordship over our lives and receive the adoption as sons. Once this is settled, we can sit with Him and listen to His voice. Only then can we hear His gentle voice and begin to walk in the ways that He instructs. So then, sit down end enter His rest, for He cares for you.

(For additional wisdom on this topic, see a little book by Watchman Nee, “Sit, Walk, Stand”.)

Rest

 Rest

May 30, 2025

Matthew 11:28-29

28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentleand humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

Mark 6:31-32

31 And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) 32 They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

Yesterday we took a tongue in cheek look at vacations. But today let us look more seriously at rest. Even when you are doing the Lord’s work, the pressure and stress of constant activity can get to you. Even Jesus and His disciples needed to get away for awhile to rest from their labors. In Mark it ways that so many people were crowding around them, seeking to hear Jesus’ teaching and receive healing, that they were exhausted. The went away on a boat to get away from it all and rest awhile. So there is a Biblical example for taking a vacation, taking a break from all the activity and just resting.

The passage in Matthew is a bit more spiritual. There Jesus is teaching about resting from sin. The evil and sin around you can weight on your soul, but when you come to Jesus and He forgives you, you can rest easy. Your soul feels lighter when relieved of the weight of sin and shame. So another important aspect of resting in the Lord is to take His yoke upon you, Listen to His guidance, enter into the gentle and humble ways of His heart and you will find rest for your souls.

  

Vacation

 Vacation

May 29, 2025

Vaca-t-ion- from the Latin vaca, cow, T for Taurus the bull, and ion is a charged particle. So vacation is coming for us like a charging bull! At least it looks like that. So far we have had lightening, thunder, rain and road construction. But at least we’re safe.  But what about rest? Isn’t vacationing supposed to be about rest?

The writer of Hebrews talks about rest.

Hebrews 4:8-12

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the peopleof God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

He promises a Sabbath rest for the people of God, but he also says that we must diligently enter that rest, so that doesn’t sound much like a vacation! He goes on to say that the answer is in the Word of God, which is sharper than any two-edged sword, so the answer lies there if we can perceive it.

Anyway, we are off to pursue whatever “vacation” means in this day and age. Hopefully, that will include good times with the family, making good memories, with the faint hope that there will be a little rest involved! So school’s out, you have a little time off of work, so enjoy vacation time, but remember to keep the Word of God included to judge the thoughts and intentions of your heart.