In these days of uncertainty in which we are living, it is becoming increasingly important that God's children are enabled to step more fully into the fullness of life that Jesus came to give us. One of the greatest abilities that God has given us is the capacity to be mentally and spiritually at rest and in peace even when circumstances may seem to be out of control. This teaching will show what Jesus taught us about the importance of resting in God and how to step into it by following His directions.
Scripture Reference
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28-30)
Jesus - Come Unto Me All You Who Labor and are Heavy Laden
We all grow tired and weary from carrying the cares of this life. We might not all carry physical weights but we are still burdened by our worries, our fears, our doubts and anxieties that weigh us down on the inside.
We learn to carry this mental and emotional load from early in life and even grow used to the weight, but we were not created to or meant to carry such a heavy load in life.
Jesus wants to free us from these destructive weights that rob us of our peace and joy and free us into a wonderful experience of God's blessing and goodness.
Jesus - And I Will Give You Rest
The rest that Jesus gives us is not merely a physical break from life's labors, but a rest that goes to the core of human needs involving freedom from worry and fear. We will explain more about the Rest of God in a later section of this blog.
How Did Jesus Teach Us To Enter Into His Rest?
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28-30)
1. Jesus - Come to Me
(Matthew 14:25-29) Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus
Jesus first statement is crucial for all who truly want to receive the blessing of rest that He has promised.
"Come to Me"
We can't just continue to do the same old things we have been doing in life and expect a different result to suddenly emerge.
A step of faith is required if we are to enter into the blessing of God. = Come to Me
Connecting Spiritually with Jesus is vital if we are to be able to offload the cares and worries of life that we have been carrying inside us. By seeking God with all of our heart we find acceptance into God's presence and connect with Him spiritually.
(Jeremiah 29:13) And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart
(James 4:8a) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you
2. Jesus - Take My Yoke Upon You
If we continue to live life our own way, we can never really enjoy the rest that God has prepared for us, or the abundant life that He promised us. To do that we must come to Him and let Him be Lord of every area in our life.
*This is the key to successfully entering into God's rest!
"Take My Yoke Upon You"
The yoke is both a sign of assistance and guidance from one who is stronger than you and also a sign of submission and yielding to the choices of one who knows better than you!
The Yoke is a sign of submission to the will of the stronger one= Jesus, and enables Him to lead us into the best possible future we can experience in life!
Submission is easy when you love and trust the one you are submitting to!
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
3. Jesus - Learn From Me
Q. Are we still learning from Jesus?
If we have stagnated in our Christian walk or if our heart has begun to grow cold toward the things of God, we can come to Jesus in repentance and have our heart renewed.
"Learn From Me"
We can revitalise our spiritual walk with God afresh if we are willing to seek Him earnestly and humble ourselves by accepting His wisdom, His truth and His Will in our life.
The Key to learning from God always involves Humility
Humility- Not thinking more highly of yourself than you should
Humility is best demonstrated by emptying our own will and desires in life and accepting God's will and desires for us!
A full glass can't be refilled unless it is first emptied! We must empty the glass of our old self before the new life of Christ can be poured in.
(Philippians 2:5-9) Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
4. Becoming Like Jesus - I Am Gentle and Lowly in Heart
(Matthew 5:5) Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Jesus : "I am Gentle and Lowly in Heart"
= I am Meek and Humble
Being Meek and Humble
Humility - Not thinking more highly of ourselves than we should
Meekness - allowing God to Choose for us
The importance of Submission to God's Will
(John 5:30) I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
(Luke 6:46) “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
The acceptance of God's will in the life of His children is one of the primary things that qualifies them to enjoy the heavenly life of God's Kingdom. Jesus always submitted to the will of our Heavenly Father, and we as His disciples must do the same.
Rebellion toward and Independence from God are the characteristics of those who are still in the bondage of sin within Satan's kingdom. We as God's people need to recognise these attitudes as sinful and/or contrary to God's will, and repent quickly of them if we see them in our own lives.
Believers should Not be rebellious- because rebellion is seen as the sin of witchcraft in God's sight
(1 Samuel 15:23) For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.
Jesus' Example
(Luke 22:27) For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves
Jesus the Son of God, humbled Himself and became a man and died the death of a criminal on the cross. His example of coming as a servant is the one we should look at when we consider how highly we should think of ourselves.
5. You - Will Find Rest For Your Soul
God Rested From His Works
(Genesis 2:2) And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
(Hebrews 4:11) Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
(Hebrews 4:9-10) There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His
Finding Rest
Ceasing From Our Own Works
Man's works, even his good works can never fulfil the righteous requirement of God. We as God's children, must cease from living life our own way and doing our own thing, if we are to experience victory in Christ
God ceased from all His works of creation and rested, and He wants us to cease from the works of the flesh, so we may enter His rest by being filled with and led by the Holy Spirit
He directs His disciples to be led by the Holy Spirit now and to leave their old life behind.
Through repentance and baptism into Jesus death, we can enjoy the wonderful resurrection life available in the Kingdom of God. This life flows within us through an intimate and constant daily relationship with the Holy Spirit.
(Galatians 5:19-21) Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God
*Those who do not learn to walk with the Holy Spirit are left living in defeat and still being controlled by the power of their own fleshly desires.
What Is Spiritual Rest ?
*Spiritual Rest doesn't mean being lazy, but may still require us to do physical things. If we are trusting God to help us get a job, we should still be doing the natural things we need to look for employment, but we should not be doing them with a feeling of desperation or fear, but rather one of trust.
Spiritual Rest comes when we are no longer carrying the mental or emotional weight of problems, worries, fears or doubts but instead have entered into a state of faith.
Spiritual Rest means no longer carrying the responsibility of choosing our own way in life, but yielding that control over to our loving Heavenly Father, allowing Him to choose our way in life.
The Life Of Rest In The Kingdom Of God
(Mark 1:14-15) Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
(Luke 17:20-21) Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
(Romans 14:17) for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
The Kingdom of God initially comes within us when we are born again and filled with God's Holy Spirit. It brings with it the peace and joy that comes through being accepted as righteous (Right) in God's sight.
When we continue to walk with God by thinking, believing and acting according to God's will as revealed in the Bible, and by communing daily with His indwelling Holy Spirit we enjoy the experience of living in the rest of God's Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God is a place of spiritual rest and peace. When believers have received an inner witness or sense that our Heavenly Father has heard a particular prayer, and is now in control of the situation, we as His beloved children can relax mentally and emotionally and enjoy the rest that Jesus promised us.
Be encouraged, even if it takes some time before you can come into that place of faith, because if you continue to come to God, earnestly trusting Him and thanking Him daily for His faithful care, eventually that peace and rest will come.
The rest of God is full of the fruit of the Spirit, which are the character traits that Jesus our Saviour exhibited daily.
As we enter daily into God's rest we will continue to be transformed, bit by bit, and reflect more and more the image of God's Son.
(Galatians 5:22-25) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Getting Ready For Our Heavenly Future Now
The ultimate fulfilment of Spiritual Rest for the Christian disciple will be following the return of Jesus Christ, when He has put every enemy under His feet and we shall enjoy living in God's presence and rest, in beautiful peace and eternal joy.
God's Kingdom is a place where :
people want to be fully dependent upon God,
people want to be fully submitted to God
every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
God Bless
John Nolan
DadsUni
This teaching is now also available as an audiobook on our YouTube Channel
The Being Biblically Spiritual Series
You may also wish to access previous blogs in this series: