Plunge In...

I’m always amazed when God sends little signs and confirmations that He knows exactly where I am at a particular moment. I know I shouldn’t be surprised but always get this leap in my spirit when a Word or a song or a person comes across my path and speaks the answer to a question that I asked God that morning or even that same minute. I have listened to a particular soaking CD many times but almost every time I will hear something new and it will be for me right in that moment. A co-worker of mine calls them “God winks”.  So this morning, I just want to encourage you that God sees and He knows. When you are on your mountaintops, He is there and when you are in your deepest valleys, He is there. Your inadequacies, your fears, your desires, your hurts, He knows them all and He is a refuge and a shelter for your soul and your spirit. I invite you now to plunge into the depths of God’s love and rest there.

Matthew 11:28-30 is a beautiful piece of scripture. It’s one that most can finish because you’ve heard it all of your life. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…” (NKJV) The Message Bible’s translation called to me this morning, however, and I wanted to share it with you.  “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Do you hear what He is saying to you? God has plans for your life. Through this season of challenge and often struggle, He is preparing you for your next level. But He wants you to know that He will not put anything on you that He is not right there to help you with. That’s why He wants us to learn to rest in Him. He is carrying the weight but we have to stop trying to help Him with it.

God is calling on us to trust Him. He has every situation already laid out and finished. When Christ rose from the dead, He came back with all power in His hands and the victory! So, if you serve and believe in a risen Savior, you must trust that He can handle your “stuff”. Whatever that is, He can handle it. Your job, your finances, your health, your spouse…He can handle it! I encourage you today, to lay it all down and rest in God’s love. “And He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14 ESV) I know it can be hard but as I heard a mighty woman of God say last week, your flesh will not win! We are God’s beloved and He desires to bless us. Receive it and rest in it.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NLT)

AMEN…