I'm Resting | The Worshipper's Thought of the Day

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine that was so enlightening.  You know, it always amazes me how GOD manifests Himself, even during something as simple as a phone conversation.  At any rate, the thought came up that in facing situations, particularly when people bring up our pasts, it's important to rest on the Word of GOD and what has been promised to us therein.

As we conversed, the Holy Spirit began to minister to me and focused my attention on the word "rest."  What came to mind was a picture of me fatigued and leaning against a large rock or boulder.  I noticed in this picture that all my weight was being supported by the rock because my body was too weak to support the weight it had been carrying.  The picture's message was quite clear: I don't have the strength to hold up (or uphold) the weight of my life, but the promises of GOD--like a huge boulder--can most certainly do so.

When people talk badly about you or they can't seem to stop reminding you of whatever it is you may have done in the past, it weighs heavily upon you.  Some people may even get discouraged because it seems that no matter what lengths they undergo to divorce themselves of the former things, it always seems to resurface--somehow, some way.  It's during those times that it is imperative that GOD's Word be our support.  Its unfailing ability to shoulder the weight of every care and concern is what makes it so easy to simply let go.  And in this instance, it's not so much passing off the weight of one's past to GOD so it doesn't have to be carried anymore.  Now wouldn't THAT be something!  In all honesty, who we are right now is the result of EVERY decision we've made, so we can't just take the weight off of us and hand it to GOD.  What I'm talking about here is when the weight becomes too much to bear, and the person carrying the load is either showing signs of difficulty walking or desire to quit walking.  That's when you must remind yourself of GOD's promises:

• I have the mind of Christ and I hold the thoughts and purposes of His heart (1 Corinthians 2:16).
• My sins have been taken away, and I am forgiven. I am now chosen, adopted, and forgiven with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 1:3).
• I am healed and delivered from sin because Christ was wounded for the wrong I did, He was crushed for the evil things I did; my punishment was given to Him, and I am healed because of His wounds (Isaiah 53:5-7; I Peter 2:24).
• I am dead to the power of sin and have been made alive with God through Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).
• I have everything because I have Christ, and I am filled with God (Colossians 2:10).
• The Lord God gives me grace and glory. I will walk uprightly before Him, and He will withhold no good thing from me (Psalm 84:11).
• I have all things freely through His son Jesus Christ who was delivered up for us all (Romans 8:32).
• I am a brand new person inside, pure and holy, full of God’s goodness (II Corinthians 5:17; I Corinthians 1:30, II Corinthians 5:21).
• In Christ, I was chosen before the world was made. In His love, He chose me to be a holy person and without blame before Him (Ephesians 1:4).
• In Christ Jesus, I have been made a new person that I may do the good works He has planned for me (Ephesians 2:10).
• I, therefore, having been justified by faith, have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).
• In Christ, God has chosen me as His own and made me strong. God has placed His mark on me. He has placed His Spirit in my heart as a guarantee for all He has promised (II Corinthians 1:22-21).

When we declare the Word of GOD over ourselves, it doesn't matter what people say or believe about us, because we're leaning on the Word.  We've literally allowed ourselves to let go and go limp so the Word can hold us up entirely.  Whenever someone says they can not let go of something, that's merely a lack of confidence in the ability of GOD's Word to take on life's weighty matters past, present and future.  We must lean all of our weight on what GOD has promised us in His Word.  For GOD's Word is sure and will uphold the weight we find so difficult to carry, thereby allowing us to experience not just relief--but rest.  And after we've rested and regained our strength, we can get up and start walking again.

The beautiful thing, though, is that as we walk, the weight begins to feel less heavy over time.  Yes, we need rest and relief from the weight; however, bearing the weight strengthens us.  As we mature and grow in the things of GOD, we go from resting on the Word to resting in it.  In other words, what once wearied us has become the conduit through which our power is made manifest.  Picture a power lifter.  The muscles he's developed through intense weight training are what he uses to confidently operate as a power lifter.  The ministry of reconciliation that GOD has given each of us has been developed, matured and strengthened through bearing the weight of our pasts so that we can confidently operate as ministers of reconciliation via our respective tools (e.g. music, preaching, dance, etc.).  Our testimony of GOD's power to both redeem and transform, as a result of carrying the weight of our pasts, serves as the conduit for our power to be manifest through our tools to reconcile those who are where we've been.  It's at this point that we're resting in the Word because the Word inside of us keeps us in a perpetual state of rest, no matter what it is going on outside of us.  Doesn't it feel good to exhale and say, "I'm resting..."?  Yes, it most certainly does.