This week has been extremely busy and very spiritually draining. While we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE praying for people, as many of you know, when you spend two entire days praying for one person after another, you will find that you are drained and exhausted spiritually. This is how I was feeling Thursday morning.
I had to drag myself out of bed and go into work. I had ignored much of my work for two days while we prayed for dozens of people, therefore I had a great deal of catch up to do. I began to feel pushed and pulled in many different directions, and then I heard the Lord speak to me and say ‘come aside.’
I knew those words were found in scripture and after I heard them a few times I decided to look up the scripture, it is found in Mark 6:31. Jesus said “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
Ministry is great, helping people is the cry of my heart, yet I have to keep in mind that there are times I simply need to ‘come aside and rest awhile.’ There is so much to do that I could work twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and still have work left, but then I would be used up and of no use at all. There are times, just like today, that God has to remind me to ‘come aside and rest awhile.’
The prayer time was important and I know we will hear testimony after testimony but the ‘come aside and rest’ time is just as important.
The word rest means; cease from movement and labor, give rest and refresh, to keep quiet and calm with patient expectation and to recover and collect strength. When we have given out all we have we MUST take time and recover and collect strength, if we fail to do that we will not be able to remain quiet and calm and have patient expectation. I have found in my walk with God that it is very hard to have the God-kind of faith when you are exhausted. However, when you are refreshed in the Lord it is easy to have expectant faith.
A time to recover strength, where does our strength come from? Psalm 27:1 is one of my favorite scriptures; it says “The Lord is the strength of my life.” There are many scriptures that say this exact same thing. You will find that the Lord is your strength in Exodus 15:2, 2 Samuel 22:3, and Psalm 18:2. I recommend you meditate on these scriptures at times when you find you are weary.
The word strength means a place of safety, a refuge, and a stronghold. It comes from a root word, azaz, which means to be strong, to prevail and to make firm and strengthen. Wow. I love those definitions. In His rest you will find strength to prevail, strength to be firm in your faith; in His presence is where you will find HIS strength.
His rest and your victory are linked together. Hebrews 4:11 tells us to ‘enter into His rest so that we won’t fall into unbelief.’ I have never seen this revelation before today, if we allow ourselves to remain outside of His rest, it is then that we are in danger of falling into unbelief and if we fall into unbelief we are no longer in faith and if we are no longer in faith then we won’t see our promises fulfilled in this life. Can you now see how weariness is a tool of the enemy? I certainly can.
If you find yourself weary today, don’t shake it off and think you will catch up on rest later. No, instead come aside with God and refill your spirit and mind with His strength. When you do that you will not only be in a place of safety and refuge but you will become strong, strengthened in God and equipped with the power to remain quiet and calm, with patient expectation and you will prevail. Now that, my friend, is a balanced life.
