ENTERING INTO GOD’S REST

Your purpose must be so profound in God that nothing will move you off course. This will happen when you receive a total awareness of God’s mind and heart. Saints, the Lord has given you access to both. Begin to meditate, yield and relax in the truth. Absorb the truth and allow it to permeate your soul and quicken your spiritual intellect. By doing so, you will begin to see God so much better.

James 4:13

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

How many saints have made plans for their lives? Maybe you want to go to a seminary or Bible College to learn about God. But let me warn you, God’s mind and heart are not always revealed through college administrators. However, it is most certainly revealed to His Holy apostles and prophets.

When you make plans to secure your life, those plans are for your gain. For example, you may think you can do better in a certain city, so you decide to move there and work to save enough money to get the house and car you want. Some people make plans to go to school and learn another trade so they can work a year or two and make the extra money needed to fulfill their desires. The church has been comfortable with making plans to gain and secure its desires. As creatures of habit, we tend to emulate that which is before us. Saints look at all this world has to offer and decide what it is they want out of it. Then, the world tells them what they must to do to obtain it. The world has its own set of rules. It has its own criteria for gain. So, the Church falls into those slots the world says it must fit into in order to get what it has to offer.

James 4:14

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Wisdom says we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We have not even considered our purpose for life. If Your Life Is Somehow Connected With The Good Pleasure Of God’s Will, Then Your Plans Ought To Include Consulting Him. The Lord deals with us in our presumption and ignorance. James tells us very carefully:

James 4:15

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Our plans must be in God’s will. In other words, anything outside of consulting the will of God is vanity, presumption and ignorance.

James 4:16

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

Saints rejoice because they decide what it is they are going to do and how they will do it. They say, “I’m going to do this or that.” We boast about our meager accomplishments, but the Lord said all such rejoicing is evil.

James 4:17

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

For the Sons of God this scripture takes on a new meaning. It could read like this: for you to understand the will of God for your life and choose not to walk in it, to you it is sin. There are many people who have not heard what you’ve heard. But, for you who have heard the purpose of God and choose not to walk in it, it is sin.

James 5:1-3

1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Go ahead, proceed. Try to do what you want to do. You who are seeking materialistic gain, weep and howl because your miseries are coming.

Furthermore, for the sons of God the word rich also takes on another meaning. It pertains to anyone who is not poor in spirit; anyone who is not hungering and thirsting after God; full of their own desires, ways, determinations and will. According to James, seeking after materialism will only produce rusted and moth eaten possessions.

However, most people who are seeking after material gain haven’t enough money for it to ever rust. It doesn’t have time to get moth eaten. How does this apply to them? They seek and strive for materialism on their jobs or in their businesses. They prosper for a season. But, when the Lord begins to reveal any part of His plan or purpose to them, they choose not to walk in what they know to be the total truth, then the cankerworn and the palmerworm come to eat up their substance. These are spiritual worms, which come in and eat up all they’re working for. You will blossom for a season and you may look good among your peers. Many will have an honorable opinion of you and desire to be like you. They’ll desire to dress like you, drive the kind of car you drive, have a house as big as yours, a husband or wife who looks as good as yours and make as much money as you make. That’s the pursuit of the rich.

That’s the reward for those who would be rich. When you belong to God, He doesn’t forget about you. Suddenly, He requires your soul. For the rich man who was gathering up his treasures the angel of the Lord said, “Fool, your soul is required tonight.” Now, for the sons of God the same principle is true. Once you have been rich and full, God will allow you to go on in pursuit of what you’re looking for. Go on and try to get it. Go on and work for it. Go to school for it. Go and prepare yourself for it. BUT, THERE IS GOING TO COME A DAY, SON OF GOD, WHEN YOUR SOUL WILL BE REQUIRED OF YOU. He’s going to claim that same soul that once said, “Lord, I give everything to you.” You couldn’t even come into the Kingdom of God until you were ready to die to this world, but now because of greed and vanity you want to live unto the world. The Lord says, “Proceed on, but I’m coming back. You gave me your soul. You told me if I saved you, you would stay with me. You told me you didn’t want to live in this world system anymore. You said, take me Lord, as I am.” You can’t give God something and take it back. He’s able to keep that which has been committed unto Him. He wants you to desire nothing but Him. He wants to reclaim your emotions, desires and affections. When the Lord comes to take inventory of the things that belong to Him, just because you don’t surrender, do you think that stops Him? He simply starts to blow on all that has made your soul so full and bountiful. First, He will blow on your money. Then, He’ll blow on your source of supply so that you can get just enough to make ends meet. Why? Because your iniquities have separated your heart from Him.

Then, He’ll blow on your affections and relationships. He may put a sword in your house. He’ll turn children against children . . . father against son . . . mother against daughter. EVERYTHING THAT YOU LOVE MORE THAN HIM, HE’LL TURN AGAINST YOU. He may come into your marriage and touch you where it hurts the most. THE LORD’S PURPOSE IS TO BRING YOU BACK INTO SUBMISSION TO HIS WILL. Why? He wants your affections back. All that pertains to you will be touched by God. Every thing that makes your soul full will be touched. Next, He’ll work on your reputation. You won’t become anything unless He makes you something. All that you’ve worked to become, all the effort you’ve put into being somebody, that image that you want people to see will be shattered. He’ll blow on your IMAGE. He’ll take your fancy car and your house you meticulously fixed up and made so nice. He’ll allow things to break down and you won’t have enough money to fix them. The Lord is zeroing in on you! Why? BECAUSE HE HAS AN ETERNAL PURPOSE THAT IS MORE POWERFUL AND BIGGER THAN YOUR HEART. The things in your heart you feel you must have lead you into destruction and iniquity. God will even cause your heart to faint. He’ll bring you to a point where you will look at everything you’ve gained, everything you’ve experienced, all that you’ve had and lost and you’ll say, “All this is vanity and meaningless . . . it is nothing without the pleasure of God.” He’s faithful to bring you to that conclusion. No matter what you’ve done and accomplished, it will become void of any real pleasure.

James 5:5

5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

When you had things - - you didn’t have enough. You were still looking for something else. This is WANTONNESS. The more you get the more you want. If you are grabbing for all the pleasures of the world, you’re walking in disobedience to God. When we came into the Church, we found the SPIRIT OF WANTONNESS there. We didn’t realize the plan of God for the Church. All we heard from the pulpit was, “God wants us to have the best. He wants us to be the head and not the tail. He wants us to prosper.” Our identification with and interpretation of prosperity was to have enough money to do whatever we desired. That was our interpretation of riches and the church kept us on that road of pursuit. As sons of God, we have experienced much disobedience and have walked in discord, turning our hearts away from the Father. Sometimes we didn’t realize what we were doing because we thought we were doing the right thing. Everybody in the church looked up to the elders because they seemed to have had more faith than the next man. They were the ones who had the material substance.

So, their faith must have been alive! The saints had their heroes in the church. They were the ones who dressed the finest and had the most expensive cars. Everybody was striving to be like them. The messages coming from the pulpit helped us in the error. We were in such pursuit until we thought we had missed God if we didn’t have everything we desired. However, inside of the faithfulness of God, we discovered all of it was vanity. Of all we have nourished our hearts and fed our imaginations with, of all our striving, the Lord has brought us to a point where we recognize it is all vanity. We had the wrong mentality, the wrong spirit. Now, the question is, will you allow the Holy Ghost to lead you to the truth? Will you allow the Holy Ghost to carry you into the true inheritance of the Sons of God? The Lord will always abide faithful. His testimony to us is, “I brought you here.” Don’t be as unwise as some men have been. Saints who are not broken or poor in spirit will never receive their true inheritance. How did the Lord bring you to this spiritual location? HE DID IT WITH REVELATORY KNOWLEDGE OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. As you continue to study this book, He will give you a Spirit of Enlightenment. However, there are many things in this book you may not have heard before and so different from anything you have ever had to assimilate. I dare you to defy the lies of the devil, even when they are religious and sound right. Why? Because you must walk inside of revelation and not speculation. What does God want you to obtain when He brings you to a certain spiritual location? And, for what purpose does He deliver you from bondage? Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Hebrews 4:1-2

The Lord promised Israel that they could enter into His rest.

Exodus 19:5

5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

WHEN YOU ACCEPTED CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOUR, YOU MADE A COVENANT WITH GOD. You surrendered your soul. In covenant making there is always an exchange. You must give up something. You must give up that which is precious to you. You gave your soul to God and He gave you His life. He gave you a better deal than you gave Him because His life was ETERNAL. He gave you eternity and you gave Him your meager, beggarly, vaporous existence. Nevertheless, He said, “I’ll take it. Not only that, I’ll give you a piece of divinity. I’ll make you divine. I’ll bring you into the beloved, preferred above all creation! If you keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure. You’ll be different, separated, set apart unto Me above all people and accepted in the beloved.”

There’s not a creature that He prefers more than you! “For all the earth is mine.” God is saying two things here: everything that exists is His. He can make you do anything He wants you to do, but He prefers that you stand before Him in love. He doesn’t want robots. He wants you to experience His end of the covenant because it reveals how much He loves you. Because of that love, He wants you to love Him back. He prefers to be loved by you more than He prefers to be worshipped by the angels. He had praise and worship before He created you. Praise is not the perfected dance or perfected song. Praise is virtue in motion: the goodness of God emitting from you. Worship is to surrender to the pleasure of God’s will, not to give Him lip service, but for the heart to surrender to His will. The dance and song are to express what comes out of the spirit. “All the earth is mine” also implies that if you keep His covenant there is nothing He cannot provide for you. You have strived and fed your imagination in the past and you’re still not fulfilled. The Lord knows how to fulfill you. He knows how to destroy wantonness. What is the Lord’s purpose for bringing you out of bondage? Why doesn’t He just leave you in the captivity of wantonness? And ye shall be unto me a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel (Exodus 19:6).

Moses was revealing the eternal purpose of God. He was prophesying of that which was to come. God’s purpose is for us to become a KINGDOM OF PRIESTS . . . priests who are to have access to Him. A kingdom of priests and a holy nation are what the Lord wants! For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it…( Hebrews 4:2)

Jesus preached the gospel to the Jews before it was ever preached to the Gentiles, but the Word they heard didn’t profit them because they didn’t receive it inside of faith. They didn’t allow the Holy Ghost to influence them. They rejected and pulled back because the Word preached was not just for the Jew, but also for the Gentiles. It was not just for the man, but also for the woman. This was the new thing that the prophet said God would do in the last days. Then He takes us further back. “For we which have believed do enter into rest.” (Once you understand ENTERING INTO GOD’S REST, then everything you’ve learned and all your plans and desires will have meaning). For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said,

Hebrews 4:3

3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

God’s plan, the fundamentals of it, the rudiments of it, the work and the end were accomplished before the beginning. This divine map was drawn inside the mind of God. The rudiments of the plan of God are already guaranteed. Foreknowledge, foresight and predestination has had its perfect work to guarantee the plan of God. GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE SHALL PREVAIL. The house has already been built. The tabernacle is already standing. The elements are already in place. The activities of the enemy have already been determined. God knows what to use the devil for in everyone of our lives. He knows what to loose the enemy to do in the world because God knew what it would take to bring us out of the world. The work has already been done. Nothing surprises God! All things are working for His eternal purpose. He knew what it was going to take for you to fall on your knees before His Christ. He knew what to allow you to experience. He knew how bad you had to hurt and how to make you desolate. He knew how destructive He had to be in your reputation and image. He knew what He had to take from you. The earth is the Lord’s and all that dwelleth therein. He is the One who has always been in control. You just didn’t know it.

Hebrews 4:4

4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

God rested the seventh day from all His works. When did your sabbath begin? Why are we not ritualistically and legalistically worshipping God on a Saturday? Because the Sabbath for the Church began when we met the Lord. Your Sabbath day, your day of rest, began the day you actually met the Lord, Jesus Christ. You are supposed to be living in it. What is the implication? The implication is even as God the Creator of the universe made the stars and placed them in the sky along with the moon and the sun, on the seventh day, He rested. HE STOPPED CREATING THINGS FOR HIMSELF. You won’t read where God created anything for Himself after Adam. He stopped creating things that would glorify Himself, and He looked on all His works and was pleased with what He had made. He stopped trying to satisfy Himself. His next idea, His next heart throb was to satisfy someone else . . . His man. Eve was the only work of His hands after the seventh day. Inside God’s rest, His compassion moved to satisfy someone else. He went into Adam’s side and fashioned a likeness of Adam and gave it a womb. However, it was the image of the man. Not having gone back to the dirt, this vessel was more refined -- it was made nice and smooth. Adam looked at Eve and at himself and said, This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh. This is likened unto me. This creature is made of the same thing that I’m made of. Do you see the mind of God? You have the opportunity to enter into His rest, your Sabbath, a time to gratify the HEART OF THE FATHER. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath CEASED FROM HIS OWN WORKS, as God did from his (Hebrews 4:9-10)

You’ve labored creating things for yourself. You’ve struggled and tried to figure it out. You’ve laid your measurements like God laid His. You’ve determined that in order for the moon to shine the sun must be in place. So, you’ve set up your sun in your life and created your moon. You’ve established your stratosphere to protect your creation. You’ve secured your axis, but the Lord says, “The seventh day has arrived. It is time to cease from your works, the works that gratify you, even as I did.” When you truly enter into God’s rest, you will be moved to do only that which pleases the Father. The very essence of your being will be to reproduce sons for His kingdom. You’ll find the bone of your bone and the flesh of your flesh, and you’ll look inside and see that their heart cry is to know their God. You’ll take that heart cry and supply it with grace, which will produce the image of Christ; then you’ll bring it to the Father and say, here is another son for your kingdom of priests. ONLY THE MATURED IN THE FAITH WILL ENTER INTO GOD’S REST. Only those who have ceased from all SELF-GRATIFICATION WILL SERVE THE KINGDOM OF GOD. This means your entire existence is to serve the purpose of the Father. Your job, your relationships, your plans, your desires and all that you are will have been offered up. The work of your hands are for the Kingdom. Your very thoughts are for the Kingdom. You have but one driving desire and that is to do whatever your part is to secure sons for the good pleasure of the Father. Dare to seek God in this mentality. Ask Him to help you take on this new disposition. For it is truly the will of God that you enter into His rest.