Follow Christ by Resting In Christ!
Learn What It Means To Be In A State Of Resting In Christ
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When I was about twenty-six years old, I had left my family church because I had brought up the need to live by the Bible. I was told by the pastor that most of the Bible isn’t for us today. I knew from my heart he had to be wrong so I made a commitment to find the truth on my own and then left my church for good.
I took my Bible, held it in the air and announced out loud that I was on a quest to find a church that believed in the uncompromising Word of God. It took some time, but I found a place where I could learn the true, uncompromising Word just as I had determined and I committed to living it.
I had many problems at the time, so I committed to looking to God’s Word as a lifestyle and for resolution of the problems plaguing me. I believed God’s Word would help me overcome every problem. However, I found out that a commitment to God’s Word alone doesn’t change a person’s life or turn their problems around.
Christians need to add a specific action to every verse of blessing or obedience. That action is to accept immediately that whatever scripture you’re reading is true and a reality for you. If you don’t, then you won’t realize change and your problems will only compound as mine did. That’s what I’m going to discuss today in order to create a life-changing “event” in your life.
Resting In Christ To Receive and Live God’s Word
Please keep reading without any preconceived ideas, such as “I already know that,” “I’ve done that and it doesn’t work,” or “it takes more than that to make life changes with God’s Word.”
You might have other similar thoughts, but this study is so important to your Christian growth, read it though and then read Giving Your Burdens To Christ which will give more insight about Matthew 11:28-30 to better understand the process of resting in Christ.
Resting In Christ Means Allowing Christ To Take Your Burdens Immediately:
The center of where all change in your life occurs and where all blessings abound is with Jesus. He has already provided everything we need through His redemptive work on the cross. Read verses Matthew 11:28-30. These verses tell you that you can be free of your problems or burdens right now and you can also rest while you do it.
Matthew 11:28-30: 28. “Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened and I will give you rest. 29. Take my yoke (get in the harness with Jesus) upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. 30. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
You can rid yourself of problems, receive what you need or be healed right now by giving your problems to Christ. He will fix or take care of them for you. When you do, they’re no longer yours. Don’t bother to make a list. Just turn over to Him whatever troubles or needs you can think of because they’re the one’s that are bothering you the most. You can add more needs or problems later.
Once you do this, you rest in JESUS and take hold of His peace (it’s given by grace). We can do this because Jesus made the process easy.
1 Peter 5:7 (ESV) 7. casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Psalm 55:22 (NASB) 22. Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
We have the peace of God through Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:7) and all we have to do is take it by faith, knowing that Jesus has taken our burdens and that we can rest in Him while we wait upon God to answer our prayers.
You need to believe what Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30 so intensely that it’s as if you can see Him and hear Him talking to you. You must hear Him telling you, “rest (your name), while I take care of all your problems and troubles for you. I have unburdened you because you believe in Me and because I love you.”
You need to see yourself falling into His arms and letting everything that’s bothering you go. Let yourself feel the security of His strength and power that He is taking care of you. This is not a visualization or mind trick, but the spiritual reality of what really happens when you take Matthew 11:28-30 seriously.
The very moment you hand over your problems to Jesus, you are free. Take a deep breath, smile and just rest your body, mind and emotions. Act and feel just as you would if someone came to you and took away all the problems in your life and then DON’T STOP FEELING THAT WAY NO MATTER WHAT!
Keep in mind that the Word of God and what Christ did on the cross for you is very simple. This is why many Christians don’t take it seriously. You must believe 1 Peter 5:7. It must be a reality for you.
See Jesus facing you while holding your hand, telling you to cast your cares upon Him instead of thinking, “I can’t do that! I have to get to a certain level of Christianity before that can happen. I have too many problems and with the way I’m living, Jesus couldn’t possibly care about me.”
In order to believe scripture automatically we need to overcome the complex part of the equation which is the human condition. Our lives are intertwined within problems, a lack of spiritual wisdom, interests aside from God, and and at times, a false sense of who we are. Whatever the case, we need to overcome all the confusion in our lives with the simplicity of God’s Word, not the complexity of our minds or emotions that were fed by the world’s system since birth.
If you need God’s Word to work for you NOW, you need to immediately rid yourself of any feelings that are telling you that you’re not capable of giving your burdens to God or that it’s ridiculous that He would really take them. You need to stop caring what others think and stop caring what you think if it doesn’t match what God says.
Colossians 1:20-22 (KJV) 20. And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, 22. yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
It may sound too good to be true, but God doesn’t see us as we do, He sees us through Jesus. He sees YOU as unblameable every moment of your life because Jesus died on the cross not only for forgiveness of sins, but so that you can identify with Him to receive a life of great peace, joy and blessing! This means that YOU have nothing to do with how great God sees you. It’s because of Jesus and what He did on the cross. It’s a part of our salvation!
You can’t do anything to look good in God’s eyes on your own. By grace you are the righteousness of God. Therefore, you can immediately give your burdens to Christ and rest in Him this moment because Jesus made you good enough! Knowing this should break down all the barriers that are making you wait to get help from God until you’re good enough.
In the moment that you give your burdens to Him, you must believe by faith that He has taken them. You need faith because you can’t see the transaction of the problems in your life going from you to Him, and when you look at your life, you still see the debt, or a bad marriage, your inability to be stress-free or whatever it is that’s causing you problems.
In my son’s case it was the loss of a job due to downsizing. He needed employment NOW! Yet all he could see was his money source dwindling down to nothing with no great prospects because the job market was difficult at that time.
It was when he was able to cast his cares upon the Lord, giving God the burden of being an unemployed single dad that he received an amazing job opportunity that he has excelled in for the last 4 years. He had more problems to overcome, but one by one, he got a better place to live and the car he needed. Now he’s in management and a mentor to help train others to be leaders in their field. He’s favored in his industry as one of the top employees in his field.
Resting In Christ Is a Spiritual Reality
We have to see God’s Word as a reality and step into it as our truth over what we see, feel, hear or think. My son had to do his part to get a job. He didn’t just sit around all day and wait for a job to come to him. He had to get dressed, look his best and take his resume to different companies and job fairs.
He did his part and God did His through Jesus. My son cast his burden upon Christ as if it were as natural as asking your parents for help and knowing that you’ll get it. He regarded the action as a reality, not some foolish or desperate attempt to get something because nothing else worked.
He also did something that was very important. He asked God to forgive his sins and repented of them. Again, he did his part. We have forgiveness of sins, but we have to do our part in order to be at peace.
Jesus already took our sins, but we are told to ask God to forgive us in Jesus’ Name and then repent of doing them again. If you have sin that hasn’t been forgiven before you pray, you need to ask for forgiveness (Mark 11:25-26). We have an action to accomplish to receive God’s forgiveness and anything the scriptures tell us to do, even if it’s just having the faith to make scripture become a reality in our lives.
What I’m saying is that by taking God’s Word as truth as we learn it instead of waiting until we somehow figure it all out through hundreds of books, Bible studies and going to church every day, we will receive what we need NOW and build our confidence in God as we continue to learn God’s Truth (His Word). STOP WAITING TO RECEIVE YOUR BLESSINGS! Please do read Christian growth books, continue with Bible studies and go to church, but don’t wait to live God’s best for you now as you grow in Christ.
Start with some kind of action or it will become more and more difficult for you to believe. For instance, it’s important to build up your faith in trusting Jesus with your cares and burdens over little things because you never know when something very serious or devastating is going to happen to you. A few years ago I became so ill that I could barely move.
I’ve never felt so weak or ill in all my life. My oldest sister had just died and I was so emotionally worn down I got the flu. I immediately turned over my illness to Jesus and rested in Him for healing.
Once I did that, I prayed and asked God to forgive me for not taking better care of my health. I had been working too hard and not eating as well as I should have. I repented and developed a new work schedule for when I was healed.
I immediately began to heal because after I gave my burden to Jesus, I began to do my part by getting rest and taking care of myself in order to cooperate with God for my complete healing. By resting in Christ I was able to be at peace to get the rest I needed while I trusted God for my healing.
I never doubted during the time I was ill that I was healed. I completely trusted Jesus and had faith that God had healed my body through Christ.
I didn’t receive an instant healing, but most healings usually have a time element involved. I’m in good health now, but the point is that when we have a burden we should immediately turn it over to Jesus and believe that once He has it, we will only experience a positive conclusion as we go to God in prayer.
Begin practicing resting in Christ by giving your cares and burdens to Jesus now so that you can always rest in Him immediately to achieve peace and joy while He takes care of them.
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