Home »
Your chains are gone, for the Lord, your Savior has ransomed you. And His promise of rest, still stands, that you may enter into it. It is His will for your life; and doing it involves being led forward, even in these circumstances that are not conducive to growth or progress, by the Holy Spirit of God for whom nothing is impossible. And the approach of the psalmist has been the continuing theme of our meditation, in order to pray, Teach me to do your will, for You are my God; May your good Spirit lead me on level ground [Psalm 143:10].
And it is by His word to you, in your circumstance, that He leads you forward, as He did with Joshua, in order to prosper in doing His will, and enter into the promised land of Canaan, which was God’s ordained place of rest for His people [Joshua 1:7-9]. In the new covenant, after the Cross of Calvary, the place of divine exchange, and rest, is in and through the person of Lord Jesus, who was born into this world to be it’s Savior. It comes by faith, which is the positive response to His call of drawing near to Him, with all the burdens and cares that the world saddles you with, the expected and the unexpected. And when the loving Lord bids you then to take up His yoke, that you may find rest in your soul, it is about a restoration in you, or a rebuilding of your life. It is not about giving your heavy burdens to Him, to receive a burden that is light. It is definitely not an exchange offer.
Your Teacher, Savior and Lord:
For it is to accept Him as your Teacher, by receiving and applying His word, as He speaks it to you. And it is so very true, that you cannot pick and choose what suits you, when it comes to the scriptures. Every word of it is God breathed, and all that He reveals to you, and points you to needs to be accepted and applied in your life. And it is why, there is always the need to rely on Him completely as your own personal Savior, for it is then that you can say the words of Paul; ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’.
It also then brings into play your need for submitting to Him as your Ruler and Lord, instead of depending on your own strength and trying to control all the factors that are at work in your life at any given moment. For the plain and simple fact is that at any point of time, what is beyond your control, is always much greater than what is in your hand for you to be able to be in control of it.
And why is it so important?
It is then that though the unexpected may have happened in your life, especially during the course of the past year, you know that you have a God who causes all things to work together for your good, for you love Him, and have been called according to His purposes [Romans 8:28]. And He has made all things beautiful in His time. Therefore, nothing can ever derail His plan and purpose for your life. It is the truth that can speak into your heart, as you respond positively to the Savior’s call, to learn from Him and find rest in your soul.
But then, you may have been longing for rest, that never seems to come, causing you to be broken through instead of witnessing a break through! And it is then that a right understanding of God’s truth is the only thing that can carry you through the stormy sea of doubt that can come to disturb and confuse you. And it is where the writer to the Hebrews has expressed well the reality of what can happen in your life and mine, though the promise of rest still stands.
Therefore since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it [Hebrews 4:1]. Though there is a promise of rest, there is always the danger of not experiencing it. And it is a process by which you enter into the rest of God. His promise comes with a procedure. And it is with an understanding of God’s word that comes with learning from the Lord, by accepting His teaching that rest in your soul becomes a truth that is very real in your life. Otherwise, as it invariably happens, a word of promise that comes to you from God, at the beginning of a new year, can remain just that, a new year promise, and not your life’s experience during the course of that particular year! Therefore, the godly attributes that one ought to learn from the Master are,
1. Diligence:
God is never unjust and He never forgets your good work, or labor of love towards Him and the saints [Hebrews 6:10]. And He knows when to intervene, to make His promise, or His answer to your prayer be manifested in your life. But from a human perspective, one can become lethargic when there is seemingly no sign of it for a very long time, and you may become disinterested and even go to the extent of not remembering it any more. It could very well have been the experience of Zachariah the priest, when the angel of God appeared to him, as he was ministering in the Temple, to say that his prayer for a child to be born to him and his wife, Elizabeth, had been heard by God. And it meant that it was going to be answered shortly, thus heralding the birth of John the Baptist [Luke 1:13]. Thus, the overriding need for diligence is what God’s word advocates, even when it comes to His promise of rest to you and 1, for His word never fails , and we desire that each one of you show the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who with faith and patience inherit the promises [Hebrews 6:12,13].
It is inheriting His promise, and entering into it, to find rest for your soul, that is the Lord’s desire, and not giving up, or becoming disinterested in it, to remain weary and burdened, by sin and shame. Have hope therefore, and an expectation in you, of His promise coming to pass, in the fullness of time. And it is a process of relying on the Holy Spirit, from the beginning to the end, not deviating into a dependence on the work of the flesh at any point is what the apostle Paul establishes with clarity, even as he admonishes the Galatian church, in strong terms! [Galatians 3:3].
2. Dependence – Christ is Alpha and Omega:
God works in ways that you may not expect, His wonders to perform. He is God! And it is why becoming complacent about your walk with Him, and His presence with you, can inevitably at some time or the other, cause you to be led astray, to fall into needless trouble. It is what happened in the life of Joshua, after many years of leading the people of Israel. He had lots of experience in dealing with various issues, that by solely trusting in it, he was taken in by the Gibeonites, all because he did not inquire of the Lord, concerning them [Joshua Chapter 9]. Through your past experiences, there are always lessons that you can learn. But they cannot become the bench mark for any future course of action that you need to take. For, it is in Christ and through Christ alone that you can find good success, and be led forward rightly. A continual sensitivity to the teaching and word of the Lord, whose yoke is upon you, and a total reliance upon the Holy Spirit is what can make you declare, even as the apostle Paul did, that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. For, what is impossible with man, is possible with God.
It was the lesson of faith that Abraham and Sarah ultimately learnt, when instead of awaiting with patience, the son that was promised to them in their old age, Sarah took matters into her own hands, only to end up giving rise to a problem that defies a peaceful solution even this present day. The Lord who has promised rest to you, is faithful. He who has begun the good work in you, by giving you His word, will go on to make it great and glorious in your life, as He accomplishes it. He is the Alpha and Omega.
3. Discipline:
I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified [1 Corinthians 9:27]. They are the words of Paul, revealing how discipline is an integral part of the calling of God that is discipleship. It was soundly established, even as the church was born, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers [Acts 2:42]. A lifestyle of discipline, both physical and spiritual, needs to be the mark of every person who has been called to be the Lord’s disciple, and, it is in a time such as this, when suddenly the systematic routine and discipline of a person’s activities, have been thrown into a state of rude disarray, that one realizes the value and necessity of it.
For, discipline is what can see you live rightly, and see your family, your children grow and flourish, fulfilling the purposes of God, individually and corporately, it is in your physical body that you are called to do the will of God for your life. And how does He take care of your body? It is by teaching you what to do, and what to avoid, for you cannot do the will of God when your body has been abused, owing to lack of discipline. And the year that has gone by has shown you and I, that the plans that He has concerning us are to give us a hope and a future. For, it is all because of His grace and mercy, that you and I are physically alive and well this day, to declare that He is the God who blesses our food and water, to remove all sickness from us, and that no plague may come near our dwellings.
In a leap of faith, receiving Him as your personal Savior, and taking His yoke upon yourself, is where it all begins. And from then on it is a journey of faith with Him, as your Teacher, Savior and Lord, as you diligently and steadfastly pursue His promise of rest, to make it your experience.
The promise of rest – combined with faith:
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear, lest any of you seem to have come short of it [Hebrews 4:1]. For it can profit you, only when it is combined with your positive response to it, your faith, that is diligently pursued. And the writer to the Hebrews, points out that their forefathers failed to inherit the promise of God for that very reason, for indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it [vs 2].
And we who have believed:
For, we who have believed do enter the rest of God [vs 3]. It is the blessed assurance of God that is settled forever, and can never fail. And to diligently believe and enter the promise of rest, and not falter and fall as the Israelites did, is the wise counsel of God, that comes to you this day [vs 11]. Thus it is your faith that paves the way, to the entrance into God’s rest. A faith that arises in you, and also increases by the hearing of the word, a ‘hearing’ that implies a process that is present continual, a nurturing and working on your faith. It happens as you gain understanding of your promise by meditating upon God’s word and by prayer. And every time you pray , you will find that God will take you to the next step, a step closer to what He has promised you, as He adds another dimension of it, one that was hitherto unknown to you. He is a prayer answering God who will speak to you through His word, until one fine day, your faith will become sight, as your promise comes to pass!
Therefore, to keep working on your faith, is what your focus needs to be, for anything that comes against you, in any area of your life, your health, finances, work, family, relationships, is targeted at only one thing; and that is your faith. For, in some way or the other, the tempter may try to tempt you. It was the apostle Paul’s concern regarding the church at Thessalonica [1 Thessalonians 3:5]. The need arises therefore in every person’s life, as Paul goes on to say, that he was praying with great fervency, that he would be able to see them face to face, so that their faith may be strengthened with a deeper understanding of the truth, to fill up what was lacking [vs 10].
The promise of a son, came to Abraham when he was seventy five years old. But it took another twenty five years, for him and Sarah to advance in faith, with a progressively deepening understanding, to come to the place of knowing that all things are possible with God. And it was then that the son of promise was born to them.
Dealing with the enemy of your faith:
Be sober; be vigilant. Your adversary the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour [1 Peter 5:8]. The enemy is real; but God your promise giver, and promise keeper, is greater and higher. Therefore, you can resist him steadfast in the faith [vs 9]. In other words, it is by rightly understanding the truth of God’s word of promise to you, and to stand firm in it by your confession of it, that you resist him. It is how the Lord Jesus overcame the wily suggestions of the devil. ‘It is written, Then Jesus said to him, Get behind Me, Satan!, For it is written you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’. Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him [Matthew 4:10,11].
The devil had to leave!:
And in your life today, you can see the devil flee. It is the assurance that comes to you in God’s word. Therefore, submit to God and resist the devil, and he will flee from you [James 4:7]. In short, bowing before God, in blessed surrender and submission unto Him, is standing up to the devil!
And the promise still remains:
No matter what your circumstance maybe externally, God looks at it eternally; and as you yield yourself into the loving Hand of your Blessed Savior, in response to His call, you are surely going to see the works of the enemy fade into insignificance, to total oblivion. For, the promise of His rest, still remains; and standing on His promise, you can never fall! And even as you bow unto the Father, in worship, adoration, and reverent surrender, the devil is going to flee from you; and may you see the promises of God to you, take their rightful place in your life, for the glory and honor of His Name.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
