I heard a fab talk on TV.

What does God mean by rest?

He does not mean do nothing, He means whatever happens do not worry because I am with you!

The speaker said, ‘the first definition of evil is; full of labours, the second is; bad’

If that is so, then when God tells us to rest, he means do not be full of labours. Labouring here means, putting in lots of energy by thinking/worrying to yourself, ‘if I just do this, I will make it right, if I pray more often, God will hear me, if I put more energy in, I will get the reward.’ What you are doing is making everything about you, what you need to do, what you want to do, which is taking it out of God’s loving hand.

This only puts us under tremendous pressure, and this is not what our Loving Father wants. Jesus said, “Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ….See how the flowers of the fields grow. They do not labour or spin.” (Matthew 6:27-29)

We can never earn God’s love or favour, it is given to us through Jesus on the cross. If we try and earn it, we are saying that what Jesus did was not enough!

What we need to do is give it to God in prayer, then do what we can without stressing or overworking, and leave the rest to God. Doing the work with a light heart, knowing that God has got your back, makes the task much easier. That is what Jesus meant when He said, “My yolk is easy, and my burden is light.” (Mathew 11:30)

When you work for God, He works for you, and He is capable of much more than you are.  

 Jesus tells us not to be worried about anything, because our Father in Heaven knows what we need and will provide for us. What we tend to do is try and make it happen now! The devil, who knows our weaknesses, will be whispering in our ears “What are you going to do about it? You cannot just ignore it, it is up to you” etc, etc.

But what we need to do is first give the situation to God, thank Him for dealing with it, then carry on with a glad heart because we know God has got this! And our Heavenly Father, who loves us, will not only sort the problem,  but will bless us for believing in Him.

Psalm 116: verses 5-8 say ‘the Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,’

So, when you feel low, and the pressures of work/home/family become unbearable. Stop! Pray! And Rest in Him!