Rest and Praise

Interestingly enough these are the two things God has been speaking to me more than anything else: Rest and Praise.

It's counter to our prideful, like-to-be-busy, God-needs-me, Western personalities that say we must worry, be occupied, be doing something in order for God to use us, bring to pass what He has promised, etc.

But Jesus is so clear in Luke 10:42 - Mary has chosen the better thing AND IT WILL NOT BE TAKEN FROM HER.

We so often think that when we rest and praise we are forgoing other things. We are losing out on something else. But Jesus says that when we rest, listen and worship Him, nothing is taken from us.

In fact, we receive, we are strengthened, we are focused, we are in the only fitting position to relate to our God: on our knees.

This word is sweeping through our generation lately. Obviously God is trying to tell us something and perhaps we should take heed.

This is to be a year of power, of immense things. And I think we went into it thinking we were to have a hand in it. Deep down inside we thought it would be based on something we had to DO.

We were wrong.

It is ALL based on God. That's it. And our only response should be praise. Abiding. Resting.

See rest is tricky. We think it means do nothing. Again, we are wrong.

Rest is not inaction. It is putting to rest our unbelief and praising God in confident and hopeful expectation that He will bring to fruition all He has promised and spoken.

So rest of this magnitude is actually quite active and kind of hard. Really hard.

But as we praise, we create space, we expand our tents and this rest becomes the only thing that sustains.

Enlarging the place of our tent (Isaiah 54) has less to do with giving up things and more to do with praising God so we give Him more room to enter, move in, take up residence. We create a bigger home for Him in our praises.

And remember, praise isn't to give us warm, fuzzy feelings inside. Praise breeds intimacy, intimacy breeds authority, and authority brings down powers and principalities.

Praise is militant and rest is powerful.

No wonder I've been sick for a month so God could finally help me realize the importance of rest and praise in all circumstances.

I get it now.

I want to choose the better thing. The thing that will not be taken from me.