God's Heart

 

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Rest

 Rest is not laziness or idleness. It’s not the antithesis of productivity nor the absence of work. Not at all! Rest is the highest expression of trust. It finds its authenticity in the complete surrender of control in deference to the superior care and capability of Another. When we operate from rest (which is actually a person, Jesus Himself), we are acknowledging the Holy Spirit as the active agent by which all growth occurs in our lives. While we have the pleasure of participating in that creative process as partakers of the divine nature, the source of the transformation is Him.

Passages to Ponder:

Hebrews 4:10-11

As we enter into God’s faith-rest life we cease from our own works, just as God celebrates his finished works and rests in them. So then we must be eager to experience this faith-rest life, so that no one falls short by following the same pattern of doubt and unbelief.

1 Corinthians 3:9-11

We are coworkers with God and you are God’s cultivated garden, the house he is building. God has given me unique gifts as a skilled master builder who lays a good foundation. Afterward another craftsman comes and builds on it. So builders beware! Let every builder do his work carefully, according to God’s standards. For no one is empowered to lay an alternative foundation other than the good foundation that exists, which is Jesus Christ!

2 Peter 1:3-4

Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness. As a result of this, he has given you magnificent promises that are beyond all price, so that through the power of these tremendous promises we can experience partnership with the divine nature, by which you have escaped the corrupt desires that are of the world.

All reactions:

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Life can be like a roller coaster ride

Life can sometimes be like a roller coaster ride. There are ups and down, joy and sorrows. The next time you experience life's harsh side, such as a job loss, separation or divorce, prolonged illness or the death of a loved one, do take time to heal your hurt.  

Here are some suggestions that I hope will help you. 

  • Take the time to heal the hurt. The struggle is real. Avoid the temptation to ignore or escape from it. By taking time to accept the pain is the way to recover from it. Covering it up may only resurface later in a potentially more serious way.

• Take time to slow down or grieve. Cry when you need to. You have every reason to weep when you are hurt. It is the cleansing process.

• Take the time to be vulnerable. A crisis may have occur into your life. If you broke an arm, you would not expert to function at full capacity immediately. If your heart is broken and spirit is hurting, there will be confusion, overwhelm, feeling of despair. These are a normal part of adjusting to life's blow.

After you have gone through the above process, move on to the next level, that of healing. 

• Take time to identify resources. Seek out people who can help and guide you. A coach, mentor, counsellor or compassionate friends.

• Take the time to care for your health. During a stressful time be sure to look after your well-being. Eat healthy food, exercise, pray and sleep well.

• Take time to be patient. God has given us capacity to heal, at times, it may take longer than you expected. Be patient. The flow of life will return to it's normal pace.

Remember, it is perfectly okay to cry when you need to, however, never forget that YOU are special and beautiful within you. God loves you! You are worthy and wonderfully made!  

 

Pain

 

Faith

 

Dirty Water

 

God has Revealed Himself

 

"No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed Himself in His Son."

-Karl Barth

The word religion comes from the Latin word religio, which means "to bind together" or "re-align." It generally indicates that something is separated or broken and in need of restoration. In spiritual practices, religion is any pathway that leads you to God or sets you in right standing with God. The baseline of most religion is that humans are separated and unrighteous in the eyes of the divine; therefore, one must do something to get close to God, be accepted by God, or "get right" with God. On top of that, it is normally grounded upon a system of reward and punishment (Do good, get good. Do bad, get bad), and it stems from the subconscious notion of — "If I do good, God will bless me. If I do bad, God will curse me."

Jesus was born into the religious structure of Judaism, which operated from the Old Mosaic Covenant. The Jews believed that following the 613 commandments of the law made them right with God. However, this system of works-based righteousness and performance never produced its assumed return on investment and only brought them (the Jews) a sense of unworthiness, shame, guilt, and sin consciousness. Paul highlights this in his letter to the Romans, "Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin." (Romans 3:20).

Through the incarnation God chose to be born into a strict religious system of law and performance so that he could bring those in bondage out of this treadmill of suppression and into the liberating reality of full acceptance. "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters." (Galatians 4:4-5).

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus speaks a subversive message of rest to the law keeping puritans that had spent their entire life working, striving, and performing by doing good-for-nothing religious jumping jacks, "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." (Matthew 11:28-29). Jesus came to teach us how to recover our life from the strenuous strain and demands of religion. At the rock-bottom place of emptiness, burnout, exhaustion — feeling as though we are not good enough — we are then met with overwhelming love, limitless mercy, and rejuvenating peace.

Unfortunately, conditional ideologies have infiltrated Christianity distorting the gospel message of rest and liberation by reinstituting law-based conditions such as — if you go to church, read your bible daily, say the right prayer, join our denomination, live holy and pure enough, or believe the right thing, then you are included, loved, and accepted by God. Other religions outside of Christianity have also adopted different conditional methods that ultimately require you to do something or perform properly to obtain blessing, moksha, nirvana, enlightenment, or salvation.

Conversely, the message that Jesus brought to humanity was not a conditional fear-based obligation but a revolutionary life-giving proclamation that God unconditionally loves, accepts, and includes all of humanity just as we are with zero strings attached. So fall into to reality of rest, recover your life, and ride the unconditional waves of grace!

Pray from September 2013 Knox, Waimate

 So let's pray together. Hallelujah. What a Saviour! Father as we come before You this morning, we need to really keep reminding ourselves that it was Your great love that moved us to come and have a relationship with You. 

It was You who first initiated it, it was You that reached out to us, it was You that pursued us and sought us out in the midst of life, and in due course revealed Yourself to us, and we want to say thank You this morning. Thank You that You are a God of love and that You did reach into our lives and reveal Yourself to us and we responded to that great love, as the Scripture says we love because he first loved us, and so Father, thank You so much for that. 

And as we journey through life. Lord, we know that there are so many times when we don't seem to live up to the new identity we have, we seem to drift so easily. We seem to be side-tracked so easily. Old habits and old ways seem to still grip us somehow but it's good to be reminded that, that’s not who we are because You've reached into our lives and because You're such a wonderful Saviour, You have literally saved us out of the old life into the new, out of darkness into light of Your kingdom and into Your family and right into the circle of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What a Saviour, You have saved us into that, and that's what we are grateful for, and sometimes Father as we look over our shoulder, sometimes if we stop and we start to look at our performance, we could easily be cast down, we could easily be depressed and despondent thinking here I go again but You don't look at our performance. 

You look at our new identity. You look at who we now as Your children, and in that relationship, as You work within us by Your Spirit, You bring about change, healing and wholeness. It might be slow at times we might falter at times, but You continue to work as the apostle said that He would continue the work, that He shall complete that which he has begun. And so Father we to say thank You for the work that You're doing in our lives. None of us are perfect, but we are new creations. We are Your children, and so as we look to You in relationship. We say that was stupid. That was silly. I'm sorry and we step on again without any condemnation for there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. And so we thank You Lord for that wonderful relationship.  O what a Saviour!  Hallelujah. What a Saviour that He would save us from all of that, into a beautiful relationship with Father Son and Spirit.  Thank You Father for that this morning in Jesus name we pray. 

Amen

Human

 

Purpose in that Pain