Work as Rest

For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them,"My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."  John 5:16-17

The Pharisees defined work as activity, even walking was work.  The idea of rest was to stop doing anything, regardless of it's purpose.  Jesus' activity despite it's obvious restorative results met with persecution and plots.  Why was his violation of Sabbath law so dangerous and disturbing to him.  Jesus says he's been working all the time as His father has been working.  The work brings life. Ironically the work brings true rest and peace for those being healed.  It brings freedom from worry and striving. 

Am I ever like the Pharisee?  Do I see rest merely as ceasing activity, of keeping the rules?   Do I kill impulses to bring about restoration?  Do I see rest as striving not to do something I shouldn't?  Or do I see rest as responding to the command "Get up, take your bed and walk"?  Rest is believing your sins are forgiven, and Jesus has given you the power to walk.  The the healing and the rest are the result of faith.  The rest is in the walking.

Father, may I always rest in believing you....

Rest-Full Prayer from Richard Foster

"Jesus, when you walked among the Jerusalem crowds and in the Judean hills, you pioneered this way of living. You were always alert and alive. You lived utterly responsive to the will of the Father. Manifold demands were placed upon you, and still you walked in unhurried peace and power.

Help me to walk in your steps. Teach me to see only what you see, to say only what you say, to do only what you do. Help me, Lord, to work resting and to pray resting.

I ask this in your good and strong name. Amen."

Unearned, Undeserved Spiritual Blessing

For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth come through Jesus Christ.   John 1:17  The Amplified Bible

The law of Moses, the perfect picture of  how we should behave and who we should be, led people to strive until they reached the end of themselves, failure.  No matter how hard any human being could ever work, the righteousness of the law could never be honestly attained.  The best men were only "white-washed tombs."   Then grace of Jesus, a medicine and antidote for life, leads people to rest from the law.  Instead transformation comes from relaxing into grace.

So long I have striven to do what I ought to do and to be who I ought to be,  but I reached the end of myself, failure.  How do I relax into grace?  How do I receive this transformation?  I believe.  I confess.  I know this Jesus.  I pray.  I worship. I wait.  I bring all my struggle and shame to Him over and over again.  I ask the Holy Spirit to change me.   Humility, complete dependence on God, changes me.   All my programs for progress are doomed to failure.

Jesus thank-you for coming as my Word, as my Light, as my Bread.  Teach me from Your life.   Shine your light on all my sin and darkness.   Feed me with your truth.   In the process of being with you, make me new into my true self.   Even with your good and gracious law, I am lost without You.  Thank-you for giving me a spiritual blessing I cannot earn and cannot deserve.

Jesus! I am resting....

I love any song, any poem, an expression of resting in Jesus!  To know Him is to know deep peace and joy.   To know Him is to cease striving and hustling and grasping for my own worthiness.  In His Kingdom, I simply am who He made me to be and He enjoys it!   Inside the greatness of His loving Heart, my need to be loved is completely satisfied, freeing me to love freely.  No depression, no rejection, no failure can move me from the center of his heart. Their pain and sorrow will only lead me deeper into the center and leave once again forever changed.   The longer I journey with Jesus the more incredible this person, this place becomes.  The more relaxed I become! 


Jesus! I am resting, resting In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee, And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For, by Thy transforming power, Thou hast made me whole.

Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless, Satisfies my heart,
Satisfies its deepest longings, Meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings, Thine is love indeed

Humility

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Philippians 2:3

Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue.   -Andrew Murray

Don't do anything to put yourself on top or to feed your starved ego.  In stead, in humility --the place of entire dependence on God -- see other people as a high priority.  Completely satisfied and dependent on God rest in the fact that all your needs for love, security and significance are met in Him.   Nothing needs to be added.  The desire to push to the top and to get to the head of the line disappears.  Seeing others recognized becomes your new priority.

Lord, I place my poor, tired, lonely, ambitious self completely in your lap.  I seek to do nothing to make myself rich, popular, or successful.  Instead, I trust you to meet all my needs freeing me to meet others needs. I am free to see to it that others are rich or popular or successful.   Lead me into the free and happy place of humility!

Abounding Love

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.  Philippians 1:9-11

So this is my prayer; that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well.  Learn to love appropriately   You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush.  Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. (The Message Bible)

We need to pursue love as a commitment and an action, not just a positive feeling.  Jesus is our model.  Love pursues the words and actions that bring the best of everything to the beloved.   We must test our love to make sure that we are not ultimately only loving ourselves but truly loving others.  Do we love merely to be loved?  Do we love to make Jesus "attractive to all"?   Do we love from our soul's great union with our Lover, Jesus.

Jesus, increase my love.  Deepen my love affair with you.   May I become so lost in Your love that I love well, that I love from a Deep well.   Test my heart Lord; purify it from the tyranny of the self-life.   Make Your love so good and perfect in me that it attracts people to You.  

Be Strong in the Lord and the Strength of His Might

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

In conclusion, be strong in the Lord (be empowered through your union with Him) draw your strength from Him (that strength which His boundless might provides.)  Our power comes from tight relationship with God; no other source will satisfy.  Everything else, every last thing, is false strength.

We try to be empowered by so many things: relationships, jobs, achievements, talents, intellect and the list could go on.   Hustling for some sense of energy and capability and security from the many sources our world seems to offer and seems to encourage us to pursue gives a false promise of empowerment and strength.   Those sources because they are so immediate seem so much easier to obtain and so much easier to access.  Our strength coming from our union with Him can seem so vague and so ethereal when we want tangible and solid.    However, His strength is boundless might; it is huge and vast.   Most of all that power is eternal while those earthbound sources are tenuous and temporary.  Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Jesus, teach me stay in union with you.  Teach me Your strength.  Show me how boundless is Your might.  When I feel weak and small, alone and afraid,  remind me Holy Spirit to run in to Your strong tower and be safe.   Help me not to reach first to manipulating my circumstances and to  manipulating other people to find strength.  Instead, teach me how to always and anywhere be strong in us (me and You).