The art of resting in Jesus is important and appealing; yet some of us find this harder to do than expected.
We are so used to doing things, being active, being busy – the reality of just resting in Jesus Christ is hard for many of us. Some of us wonder, “What are we supposed to do while resting?”
And it can a jolt when you suddenly shift or transform your way of being.
Yet worship is simple. Awe quiets us down automatically.
And there is a simple solution that Jesus gives us; it’s easy to do and powerfully effective. Based on Matthew 11:29:
NASB: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.”
Choose: decide to be gentle. Humble of heart. Doing this is wonderfully easy and simple. Very quieting. Don’t let pride get in the way. Give up the burden. And find rest for your soul.
Yoke with Jesus, who is stronger and who can carry more – let him help you carry your burden. This is a relationship, not a problem.
This sounds simple – yet this is powerful and effective. Act on this and do it. If you need help to do this, just sincerely ask Holy Spirit, your Helper, to help you. Please!
When I pay attention, ask, listen and do as shown or told, I do extremely well in life and in ministry.
When I do things on my own, sometimes things go well. Sometimes not. Sometimes I am smart and effective. Sometimes I am, by hindsight, incapable of doing smart things on my own. So I need help.
If only I could reach Jesus and get the help I need.
My Spirit Guide tells me what Jesus has to say to me, now.
Is this wrong, do you think?
Am I misled? Is this more foolishness in my life? Or am I perhaps beginning to touch wisdom, at least a bit?
Do you have The Spirit Guide? Do you wanthim?
If you have The Spirit Guide, do you pay close attention, often?
I’ve noticed several things that help me live out of my New Self, my New Person. So I make a list to help me remember and do this, especially when I am under pressure. (So read slowly & meditate, or even better, have a conversation with Jesus about these matters.)
Why is this important?
My Old Person has:
been marked by sin,
has wounds & is reactive (has trauma & PTSD) because of them,
is carnal and fleshly, selfish and mean. Feels smaller than I am.
does not please God.
Does not hear God except for audible voice, which is rare and something I personally have not yet heard.
Carries the curses of a broken world, including sin, sickness and disease. Feels bad.
Cannot minister effectively.
.
My New Person has:
always been free of sin – and has no marks of sin.
Has no wounds and so is not reactive to wounds (has no trauma or PTSD). Feels bigger than I am.
Your response protects you from Satan’s attacks. (jon-tyson-mr9qc7VLnek-unsplash)
You can be a First Responder!
Our Lord cares about how you respond. While what happens to you is not always within your power to control, your response is always within your power. Why does Father care so much about your response?
It’s an opportunity for faith, which pleases God.
I hope I can learn this well and deeply, it will change my life and I believe it can change yours. And this lesson is being brought to me these days in multiple ways, and I would be foolish not to learn.
Worship is our key response. Which opens doors to so much else.
I got sick: this is a call to worship my Healer.
I had financial pressures: this is a call to worship my Provider.
I have a family member who is under tremendous pressures: this is a call to worship my Creator.
(My special thanks to Amanda Rankin who teaches such things as this and who provides timely, needed and loving reminders. May everyone be blessed to have a good friend like she is.)
See the pattern? Problems are literally a call to worship the One who provides help and everything that we need.
You could simply ask for help. Worship as a first response is better; not only is such worship an implied request, it has side effects on you: greater faith. Puts our Lord highest, instead of making idols in your heart out of what you desire.
Putting righteousness and the Kingdom first, all of these other things are added to you.
And…asking for help after you have worshipped connects you better to the One who Helps. Puts the King first instead of your need. Allows and assists you to receive help better from your Helper.
What does it mean when someone has been healed or set free and you see them light up? Is it just gladness for their improvement? Gladness, yes. Being lit up? Might it mean more?
What does it mean when they have Holy Spirit? In biblical terms, in the Greek, they have experienced sozo. Which can mean that they have been healed, set free, even saved. Does that mean all of these or only one of these things? I wonder….
Maybe they just have Holy Spirit on them, helping them heal or be set free. Could be. Like the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, they have Holy Spirit on them just for a bit? Or in them? I wonder…and I do not know, yet.
So I will watch. If after being set free and being healed, they stay lit up with Holy Spirit evident in their lives over a period of time, there is a greater chance that they have Holy Spirit in them and not just on them for a brief time. Meaning it is more likely that they have been saved. I wonder, as I watch for such things, what will I discover and see before me that is obvious? I do not know, and I wonder.
I do know this for a certainty. God is more merciful than we are. God loves more and better than we do. And I do know this: God’s theology is wider, more inclusive and more generous than the theology of we human beings.
And so, I wonder. I will ask our Lord. I will listen. And I will watch people who have received ministry with wonderful success. I will see Fruit of Holy Spirit, or not. I will see obvious evidence of Holy Spirit in them, or not.
And I do not know what will become obvious.
Even if it’s only some ministered to who have such evidence of Holy Spirit, and not all or even most, I will rejoice.
And if I cannot identify any with certainty and confidence that they have Holy Spirit…what will I do? I will rejoice!
For our Lord has saved many of us. Has ministered to many of us. And Jesus is still Immanuel, God with us. And he is coming! Hallelujah!
I asked him about his insights about worship. He said something significant, and I’m looking forward to when he says more.
Worship has different levels, he told me. When I asked about this, he said that sometimes Holy Spirit takes over the worship, at which time it goes to a higher level.
This makes sense. It’s important. In just a few words, he’s telling us something important. You can take an activity to a new and higher, better level when Holy Spirit inspires and leads – and when we are following Holy Spirit well.
This is especially valuablewhen we let Holy Spirit guide and lead our worship.
In Galations 5:16-23, Scripture encourages us to walk in line with, meaning to follow, Holy Spirit. When we follow Holy Spirit – letting Holy Spirit lead us – we experience Fruit of the Spirit.
So worship goes to an additional level when we invite Holy Spirit to take over and lead.
Fruit of the Spirit, including love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control is ours when we follow Holy Spirit in life.
Jesus gave us Holy Spirit as a Guide and Comforter. Holy Spirit reminds us of what Jesus taught, and points us towards and teaches us more about Jesus. Inspires us and brings us revelation.
What else can you accomplish in your life when you invite Holy Spirit? When you follow Holy Spirit? When you let Holy Spirit take over and lead?
So…prayer is conversation, two-way conversation, with God.
What is worship?
I remember someone telling me that worship is giving highest worth. Highest Worth-ship. So putting the Kingdom of God first is very close to, related to, or maybe sometimes even the same as worship.
This seems to be correct, as I easily found this:
“The most commonly cited definition of the word “worship” is based on the etymology of the English word: “Worship” is derived from the Old English word “woerthship.” So, when we worship God, we are proclaiming (or giving him back) his worth.”
Having God’s face shine upon you and his countenance on you is, I have been told often, a way in Hebrew to talk about the Presence of God.
Experiencing God face to face – so intimately and personally, is this not the essence of being in heaven? Being in the Presence of God so intimately and personally, with such closeness? What can be better?
