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Labouring
in His Rest
John 15:4-5 – 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither
can you, unless you abide in Me.5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in
him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Hebrews
4: 1-10 (NKJV) – Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest,
let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short
of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was
preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter
that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter
My rest,’” though the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain
place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the
seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” 6 Since
therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those
to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again
He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long
time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear
His voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would
not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest
for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest
has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
- Jesus Christ is the kingdom labourer in us. We are to do nothing but remain connected with the vine in order to bear fruit. We are to enter into a labour that is already finished. At the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished.” The Lamb was slain from the foundations of the world. When God Himself ended His work that He had done in Genesis chapter 2, He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because it He rested from all His work.
- There is a rest for the people of God, and it is from this position of rest that kingdom labour is done. This rest is found in Christ and it is only accessible to a man when He believes the work of the cross and takes action. He who has entered God’s rest has himself ceased from his works as God did from His. The rest of God gives us rest from sin, rest from Satan and rest from the world system.
- The only thing that hinders us from entering into the God’s rest is disobedience (unbelief). Thanks be to God for the freedom we have in Christ when we know that our old man has been crucified with Christ, the body of sin has been destroyed and we are no longer slaves of sin (Romans 6:6) .When the people asked Jesus – , “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” This is the work we have been called into as kingdom labourers.
Labouring
outside God’s rest is very tedious. The old man is a hard task master that
forces his slaves of sin into this
kind of labour, just like the Egyptians as they laboured under Pharaoh.
Deuteronomy 26:6-10 (NKJV) – But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard
bondage on us.7 Then we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and looked on our
affliction and our labor and our oppression. 8 So the Lord
brought
us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great
terror and with signs and wonders.
This is
our cry:
- Lord, settle me into the rest of God so that in my labour will win divine approval. They did not enter into Your rest because of unbelief. Please give me a heart that believes. Strip me of all activities and ministries that add nothing to your plan; that have nothing to do with Your Kingdom increase.
- Lord, on account of my life, You will see the labour of our soul and You will be satisfied - Isaiah 53:10-11 (NKJV).
- Lord, strip me of all labour that does not allow me to sit at your feet. Martha was all over the place. She was labouring hard, but she neglected the one thing that was needful – to sit at His feet and take instructions for her life and ministry.
- Lord, please bring me into Your rest in all areas of my life. Now that my restless old man had been crucified with Christ, please rid me of all his restless relics.
Labouring
in His Suffering
Colossians 1:28 (NKJV) -
24 I now rejoice in my sufferings
for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ,
for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister
according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill
the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden
from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known
what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which[d] is Christ in you,
the hope of glory.28 Him we
preach, warning every man and teaching every
man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I
also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.
- Lord, please give us understanding and bring me to a place of actually rejoicing in suffering for others, knowing that it was Your suffering that brought life to me.
- Lord, please don’t let me take the easy way out and be lackadaisical about revival labour. Help me to know that if I avoid persecution, reproach, shame e.t.c …I am avoiding opportunities to reach out to people with the gospel message which is the only power that can save them.
2 Corinthians 4:5 - For
we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves
your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
- Lord, please don’t let me end up preach myself. Let nothing of me obscure the message. Let Your Holy Spirit lead me into all truth as I present the gospel.
- Lord, let my gospel be the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ not another gospel. Apostle Paul said if anyone (even he himself) preaches another gospel, let him be accursed.
- Lord, it will be You I will preach - The message of the cross. Christ and Him Crucified. Narrow me down to this. Bring understanding to my life that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, not Bible stories.
- Lord, help me to put off the old man and put on the new man (complete repentance).
- Settle me down to learn of Christ and bring me into discipleship.
