“One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.”
Ecclesiastes 4:6
This is the time of the year when many take time off for vacations. If that’s you and your family, remember to rest. It’s easy to spend so much time with activities while away that we wear ourselves out and come home more exhausted than when we left. Remember to set aside time for rest; absence of activity, walks in nature (which have a restorative effect), and resting in silence and stillness with God. Enjoy the time away without running yourself ragged.
Whether you have a vacation planned or not, make resting with God a part of your daily life. To rest with God is to unload our burdens and cares while focusing on Him. Weaving in moments of silence and listening is healing. Here in Arizona the temps hit the hundred plus teens mark this time of the year (it hit 112 degrees earlier this week). I like to get up at 5:30am, sit in the backyard, and enjoy watching the morning sun break through. We have quite a few birds in our backyard so I get to enjoy their songs as I’m resting with God. My time with Him includes praise, thanksgiving, and time in His word. This morning I walked away with a lighter load and joy in my step. We don’t have to go anywhere to rest with God.
Then around 8:00pm every night, I take our dog for a walk. This is a great way to unwind and let everything go from the day. It’s dark that time of the night, and the temperature can still be close to one hundred degrees; the air is thick with heat. I rarely run into someone else; the desert silence is wonderful, a balm to the soul.
One of the enemy’s tactics in these end times we live in is to keep everyone spun up and burnt out:
“And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
For many modern Christians, resting with God is a lost art. Or a waste of time. Rest is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. Prayer-immersed rest with God is a critical part of the Christian life.
Living in His Presence
“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?”
Psalm 139:7
“Where can I go from Your presence?” has been on my mind a lot lately. It’s awe-inspiring to realize that no matter where we go or what situation we find ourselves in, God is there. Those of us who are Christ-followers have the Holy Spirit living within us. We will never be alone or on our own. We’re immersed in His presence; He surrounds us and fills us.
The question is whether we are living in the life-giving wonder and freedom that comes from living in His presence.
As I’ve turned “Where can I go from Your presence?” over in my mind, conviction has worked its way in. There have been many times in my life when a trial hit and I acted more like an unbeliever by reacting in fear, anxiety, or other foolish ways instead of turning to the God who lives in me and surrounds me for help, strength, wisdom, crucified flesh, victory in warfare, or whatever I needed at the moment. To act as an unbeliever is to act as if God doesn’t exist, isn’t there for us, or doesn’t care. It is the antithesis of faith.
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6
A life immersed in prayer can tap into all that God has for us, no matter where we are or what we’re going through. God’s kids are never alone, abandoned, or orphaned. Do we believe this? Do we believe that God rewards those who go after Him? Do we look for Him in our circumstances and understand that He is always available and even willing to bless us?
The Bible is packed with verses that show that we are living in His presence.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9, “Fear not, I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10), “The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5) and “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” Hebrews 13:5b are a few.
The other question that must be asked is, what do we want? We can have as much or as little of God as we want. If we’re playing two ends for the middle, trying to have as much of the world we can while trying to have God, He will allow us to have all of the world and its pleasures that we like while our heart is choked and lukewarm.
Consistent prayer is key. The awareness, discernment, strength, and understanding we need are forged and honed by a strong prayer life. God is with us, in us, and available every minute of the day. Our great Father is ready to help and even reward those who go after Him.
The man known as Saint Patrick (387-461) was kidnapped in his youth and forced to watch sheep, alone, for 6 years. His story provides a picture of a man who learned the secret of living in God’s presence at an early age.
“Tending flocks was my daily work, and I would pray constantly during the daylight hours. The love of God and the fear of Him surrounded me more and more—and faith grew and the Spirit was roused, so that in one day I would say as many as a hundred prayers and after dark, nearly as many again, even while I remained in the woods or on the mountain.”
Imagine a church of prayer-powered, sold-out Christ followers who are convinced that He is with them, in them, and for them, and whose goal is to pour their lives out until the end. Movies (Christian or not), TV, and the pleasures of this world are nothing to them. They want to know and walk with the God who is the most powerful being in the Universe and their prayer life reflects it.
That church could change the world.
“All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.”
– Hudson Taylor
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:31-39