In this throwback message from June 1st, 2008 at Bethel Church in Redding CA, Kris Vallotton shares about the importance of partnering rest with faith. He reminds us that often busyness is rooted in fear and choosing to slow down is one way we can actively trust that God is bigger than our unsettled internal world. He invites us to allow the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and bring true rest which is the peace found in His presence.
- God’s intention was always for us to live a lifestyle of rest and to keep the sabbath.
- The Lord takes rest seriously. When the Israelites disobeyed this commandment and did not honor the sabbath for 490 years, they found themselves in captivity for 70 years. The Israelites didn’t rest because of their unbelief; they didn’t believe God was for them.
- God designed rest to be a lifestyle, not a vacation.
- A sabbath doesn’t simply mean to stop activity. If you stop your work but not your worries, you won't rest.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
- Many of us don’t rest because when we slow down, we become aware of the unsettledness of our internal world.
- Just as the Israelites did not rest due to their unbelief, we too can refuse to rest due to unbelief that gives way to fear. I’d propose that our busyness is really fear of what will happen when we stop and become quiet. We are afraid of what we will find within us.
“When we trust ourselves we are only at peace when we are in charge.” – John Paul Jackson
- Trials don’t test our character, they test our faith. They reveal whether we are trusting our ability or the Lord’s. We don’t want to reduce our life to our ability to perform.
- Rest is an act of faith. It is the belief that when the silence brings the unsettling that God will come with His sword and sever from our soul and spirit what does not belong. He longs to bring peace because true sabbath is not the absence of work but the presence of peace.
Scripture:
Hebrews 3 & 4; James 1; Matthew 6:19
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