Grace for Rest Part 3

Call to Prayer

Title: Grace for Rest Part 3

By: Daniel Peter

Date: 27.12.2022

for with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. Isaiah 28:11‭-‬12 KJV

Rest is a concept that means to “cease work or movement in order to relax, sleep, or recover strength”. God’s perfect will is for us to operate from His rest, just as Adam was placed in a Garden where all his needs were met. In the first two parts of this topic, I mentioned believing the Gospel and obedience to instructions as the way to attain this in God. Today, I will give yet another key.

Scriptures say: “For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His (Heb. 4:10)“. When the writer of Hebrew said “work’, he meant works of the law (obedience to the commands of God). The old covenant was instituted in such a way that the blessings and curses were a direct consequence of your obedience or disobedience. So whatever the old testament folks received from God was a reward for their labour. However, as mentioned in Hebrew 4:10, when you enter God’s rest, you cease from your own work (your own obedience), and all you receive is based on the obedience of Christ (Rom. 5:19)

Now, despite all we receive in the place of rest is based on the obedience of Jesus Christ and not ours, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing for us to do. It means we will receive help from the spirit to do those things that are required of us. Though the work is not accounted as ours, but His, because He provided the grace (power). This was what Apostle Paul was saying when he said “... I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me (1 Cor. 15:10). That is, despite Paul worked the hardest, it was Christ in Him doing the work, not himself.  He was at rest.

The 3rd key in attaining rest is seen in another thing Apostle Paul did more than others in his generation apart from working more. He said “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you (1Cor. 14:18). By speaking in tongues often, we access grace to do the needed work (believe and obedience) to come into or experience God’s rest. Therefore, it is not us labouring, but His Spirit in us. This was what God was saying to the Israelites in Isaiah 28:11‭-‬12, but they did not hear, but you and I will.

Prayer Point:

Let’s thank God for His word today. Let’s also ask Him for grace to pray in tongues for a long time.