Learning to Rest in the 2020s

One of the big themes in the Bible is the command to rest.

The conversation began in the Garden and beginning with God modeling it for us, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” [Ge 2]

One of my favorites is that incredible conversation between Moses and God, where God promises, because Moses asked, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” [Ex 33]

Rest became a cornerstone of the Old Covenant Law: “The seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work.”

One of Jesus’s big promises to us is rest, and an acknowledgment that we need that rest. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” [Mt 11]

And later, Scripture reveals that there’s a price to pay if we skip our rest: “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” [Heb 4]

Years ago, Bob Jones prophesied, “The 2020’s will reveal the Rest of God. To where the body will come into a place of resting in God, where God will rest in us. And in this rest, the enemy will not be able to do warfare because we are resting in God and He is resting in us, and He will accomplish the things He means to do in a people that is at rest. He has always wanted a people that will come into His rest. There never has been one but rest is on the way.”

And now we’re all locked away in our homes. Resting. Well, sort of. What an opportunity.

Sure, life’s a mess. That’s actually normal. We’re not here to be comfortable. We’re here on a mission.

I’m looking to rest better in this season. That doesn’t mean “Don’t do as much.” That means “Do the work from a place of rest.”

What are your experiences with learning about rest? What is Father teaching you, and how is he teaching it to you? 

Appreciating Beauty

I’ve been posting pictures online recently, just because they’re beautiful. No, that’s not right. I choose the picture that I post just because it’s beautiful, but I post it as an act of war.

You may have noticed a spirit of fear in the air, and especially in social media. It’s come out of hiding recently.

I rather hate that spirit; I hate what it does to the victims it affects, I hate the lies it tells, I hate how much it opposes the goodness of my Father and his kingdom. It’s a deadly enemy.

On the other hand, I’ve observed a couple of effective weapons against fear. One of them is beauty.

• When people appreciate beauty, they are less fearful, at least for a time. It’s true that fear makes it more difficult to appreciate beauty, so multiple doses may be required.

• Social media has become something of a steady stream of fear recently. So when beauty interrupts that stream, it loosens fear’s hold for a moment.

• One of my mentors is teaching me about where to put my attention. He wrote, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” [Philippians 4:8]

First, he’s really smart, and that’s enough reason to do what he says.

But I’ve noticed that there are good reasons for putting our attention on admirable and praiseworthy things: it’s good for us. We’re better people when our attention is on pure and lovely things.

On top of that, we’re better friends, we’re more able to help hurting people, when our attention is  on true and noble things. And oh boy, aren’t there a whole lot of hurting folks right now.

So yeah. I like posting beauty. I like looking for beauty. I like appreciating beauty.

And I like the fact that every moment that I enjoy beauty is a moment that the spirit of fear becomes irrelevant to me. I like that a lot.

And if you want to power this weapon up to the next level, check this out: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” [Hebrews 12:2a].

Gaze on him for a bit. Remember what he’s done. Think about what he’s done for you, for your friends. Heck, watch the Chosen show. Heck, just meditate on that passage, Hebrews 12. That’ll kick the spirit of fear right in the teeth.