How to Prioritize Rest | Part 3

Be still and know that I am God… Psalm 46:10

Welcome back! I hope that each of you have been practicing physical and emotional rest over the past weeks. So, let us tackle the concept of spiritual rest. I think this is timely as we are in the mist of the Christmas season and approaching the new year!
What is spiritual rest? I define spiritual rest as security in relationship with God, access to Him always. Sometimes, I have difficulty walking into the access that I have with Jesus and I need help. This looks like inviting a friend into my wrestle and sometimes it looks like me going through the process below. My prayer is that this will lead you into deeper, richer, and more intimate encounters and experiences with the Lord.  

In order to be still, I have found the following process to be extremely beneficial in my life:
Step 1: Find a physical location that you can be still and allow yourself to connect with your thoughts and emotions.
Step 2: Ask yourself which thoughts are lining up to your identity in Christ and His character and which ones are not.
Step 3: Before I describe this next step it is important for you to know that God is always with you and NOTHING can separate you from His love (Romans 8:38-39). I’m a visual person so I like to actually picture Jesus standing before me with His hands open as to receive something from me. I encourage you to do the same. There is NO WRONG WAY TO PICTURE JESUS. Then picture the lie, fear, situation, emotion, thought, struggle, person, etc… that does not line up with God’s truth however you want to…colors, shapes, objects, images (no wrong way to do this part either). After that, allow yourself to place that thing in the hands of Christ and watch Him do something with it. There are a number of things that can happen at this point including God transforming into something new or the thing completely disappearing. I like to say the following, “Jesus I give you my fear (or whatever it is), what do you have for me in exchange?” Then wait, let Him engage all of your senses to receive something that is life giving, encouraging, and/or edifying. It is God’s delight to lavish His unfailing love on His children. You were created by God out of love and for love!

As you practice this, you begin to experience more and more as you learn how to rest and be still, knowing that He is God. There are so many scriptures that speak into this dynamic of being still and resting IN the Lord. I will leave you with one of my favorites, “The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Years!!!!!