Entering In to His Rest

ENTERING INTO HIS REST

GOD IS ONLY CONCERNED ABOUT OUR HEARTS

Mark 7:15

15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

That which comes from our hearts is what defiles us. This is what God is concerned with. We can make our bodies do anything, but what we do is not always a reflection of our hearts. If our hearts are in a place that separate us from God, we must come to the place where we HATE sin. We have to see our sin the way God sees it in order to hate it. If we continue to believe the lie that “we are not all that bad,” then we will never change. Once we have repented of a sin, we should now no longer choose to stay in condemnation of it. We must appreciate God for the route He has taken us because now we have a testimony that we have overcome. We are able to minister not only out of knowledge, but also from experience. The blood of the Lamb has REDEEMED us.

If we choose not to purify our hearts, our motives even inside of ministry are not pure. What we want will hinder us from being where we should be in God. The heart is the control center for all emotions and motives. If we decide to walk in righteousness, there will be nothing that can hinder us from doing so. A PURE HEART CANNOT MANIFEST EVIL.

A sure way to purify our hearts is to deal with the truth about us. The Holy Ghost on the inside will tell us the truth about ourselves; therefore, we will have no excuses. We are fully capable of purifying our hearts because we were enabled with that power when we received the Holy Ghost. This means we also have the power to overcome sin in the flesh. If we go back to sin, it is because we choose to do so. If we walk with a pure heart, no matter what happens on the outside, we will have peace on the inside.

THE DECISION IS YOURS In life, we have a lot of decisions to make. God would never force us to do anything, even serve Him, so what we do is left up to us. The decision to live holy only has to be made one time. God has already deemed us as holy at salvation, but it is left up to us to believe it. Because God has named us the light of the world, this is the truth about us. If, as Sons we choose to walk in darkness, we are living a lie because that is not what God has called us to be. It is time for us to experience the rest that is in God.

The only way we can experience rest is by walking in who we are . . . the sons of the Most High God, holy and blameless. If we have experienced God in His fullness, when temptation comes, we can weigh it against what we know of God and make a decision from there as to which life is better.

1 Corinthians 1:24

24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Even though we have the power to overcome sin by simply deciding not to do it, we must still rely on God at all times. It is God who does the work by His Spirit. No flesh is going to glory in His sight. He does not want us to have any confidence in our flesh, but would rather we rely solely on Him. Deciding to believe in Christ will give us the power to perform the same works as Jesus Christ and even greater ones. CHRIST IS THE ONLY LIFE GOD ACCEPTS. Even though we are the vessels being used at the time, it is still the life of Christ working. This is why God would say if we ask anything in the name of Jesus, that will He do. Jesus Christ is a name of ministry. His only purpose was to reconcile man back unto God, so whatever we ask should have that same purpose in mind. Now is not the time for us to become comfortable with the fact that we are holy and have no more fear of Hell, but it is time for us to work the ministry God has given unto us . . . the Ministry of Reconciliation. We need to ask God what He would have us to do with every moment of our day. From the moment we wake to the moment we go to sleep, we have to give the life that we have received to those around us looking for nothing in return. The only satisfaction we may ever get is the peace we have knowing that we have pleased God, and that should be enough.

Colossians 1:24-25

24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God;

We cannot become comfortable just being churchgoers. We must go all the way to perfection in the life of Christ. We must be holy at all times. As Sons, we will never be happy in our salvation until we fulfill our calling . . . what and who we really are in God. When we fulfill that, then and only then we will feel the peace of God in our lives, and we will never want to leave that place. WHAT MANNER OF MAN ARE YOU GOING TO BE?

1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

The goodness of the Lord is reserved in Heaven for us, because we are spiritual beings, but it takes faith to walk in our salvation and in what was done on Calvary. If we choose to believe, the power of God will keep us free from sin. We must believe that no matter what happens, no matter what temptations come, that God, His salvation and His Spirit, will keep us from falling. We have to cherish what God has done for us because if we do not, we will treat it as any ordinary gift that we can receive in the flesh. When we do not appreciate God and what He has done, we will do anything we want even if it goes against God’s will for our lives. He becomes useless to us, “an in the time of trouble God,” but for no other time outside of that. Once we begin to appreciate God, then our hearts will want to please Him. THE POWER OF LOVE

Romans 2:1

1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

As Sons of God, we must be lovers of men. We have not received the knowledge of God for ourselves, but it is true love when we learn what to do with that knowledge that we have received. In ministry, the knowledge is not a criteria for working, but the big check point for God is whether we can love with a pure heart. We must love those who labor among us. If we cannot love our brothers and sisters righteously in Christ, God has no use for us because we will not love those on the street.

Having received the Holy Ghost, we now have the attributes of Christ. If we refuse to walk in them, we are saying that we despise God ever giving them to us. If we are honest, we would rather be as Satan, an enemy of God, and walk in our own mind. God wants us to bear our brothers in their faults. We have to deal with the fact that we do not do that. The lack of love and consideration for our brothers is just as unrighteous as what we classify as blatant sin. If it is not love, it is not God, because God is love. Everything God does is out of His love for His children and His love for holiness, and it was only by His goodness that we were led to repentance.

He expects us to dispense to those around us the mercy we have received from Him. Until we can walk in mercy and love, we cannot walk in the totality of our ministry. Another attribute of Christ is forbearance. As Sons we are more than capable of forbearing one another, but let us first understand the correct definition of forbearance. Forbearance is not just being a doormat to people and taking whatever they dish out, but it is being able to confront them inside of their disposition in love. When we choose not to walk in love, we can never walk in total deliverance. It behooves us to show the same mercy we would want to be shown in our lives, because that is exactly how much is going to rebound to us when we need it most.

1 John 1:14-15

14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death

15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Everything we do in God should be based on love because there is no true growth in God unless we love. We can become comfortable with all the knowledge we may receive from the Word, but the amount of knowledge that we have does not always depict where we are spiritually. Our ability to love shows our true spiritual location. If we want God to empower us with grace, we must first be willing to dispense the same amount of grace to deliver others. It must be our hearts desire to love as Christ loved and to see others delivered and set free.

There is no way we can walk like Christ without our hearts being filled with love. When we begin to look at others in their faults, we need to stop and think about what God has done in our own lives in spite of our mess-ups. Ask yourself these questions, “When you sinned and repented of it, did God continue to hold it over your head? Did He remind you of it constantly? Did He continue to show you your negatives just to hurt you?”

The answers to all of these questions are, “NO, He did not.” So, why do we continuously do that to the people we see fall? When we walk in love, we never look for the negative in people, but always the positive. The sentiments of the Spirit are to always encourage and edify those who are down. Our walk in love will lead us to the needs of people that we have the power to fill through the blood of Jesus Christ. It may not always be in the form of rebuke or reproof, it may be a smile or a hug, or perhaps a simple hello. When God forgave us of our sins, the emotions we felt at that moment are what we are to pass on to others. Just as love gives us the power to build up and walk in Christ, the lack thereof also has the power to tear down anything that opposes it. But as sons of God, why would we be lacking in love if God is love? Are we not filled with the entire Godhead bodily? Yes, we are, but the problem does not lie in the insufficiency of what we have received, but in the fact that we simply refuse to keep a pure heart. If this is not our focus at all times, then we truly are not walking in love. We may fool those who look on by the things we may do and say, but God still requires a pure heart from all of us. Without a pure heart we cannot love because God is love and there is no darkness in God at all. God takes loving and the lack of love very seriously. When we do not love, we hold people in our own judgment. The more we store up our own wrath against others, the more God stores up wrath against us. If we do not walk in love, that same wrath that we have stored will be used to judge us.

BUT WE ARE ALREADY LOVE. There is no more love to get. We received the fullness of God at salvation. We just have to choose to walk in what we already have. Denying the inner man of being who He really is forces Him to live a lie. Therefore, we suffer as transgressors and our way becomes hard. It is best that we just accept and follow the way God has for us now, rather than to continue to follow our own ways and be judged by God. WHERE IS REST? As sons of God we are not to continuously battle with our own mind or even with the enemy. When we received the Holy Ghost, God gave us all that we needed. We were made complete in Him. If we rest in who we are in Christ, we will find rest from battles with the enemy, because it will be Christ who will do the work and not us.

Hebrews 4:10-11

10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

11 Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

The devil desires to make us believe that we are insufficient in our walk with God. God wants us to believe that the only things that we may lack are the things that He told us to add to our faith.

1 Peter 1:5-8

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The devil also desires to make us give up our fight for righteousness, but God desires for us to stay strong in who we are: sons of God. The only way that we can do so is to obey what God has required of us. In obeying God and adding to our faith, God promises that we will never fall.

1 Peter 1:10

10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

God has called us and He is confident that we can accomplish what He has purposed for our lives. We, too, must be confident in what He has said. An assurance of victory over sin gives us peace and therefore, we can rest inside of God.

Matthew 11:28-30

28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Once we agree with God, we will experience His joy and His peace. Embracing the truth allows us to experience God in His fullness. When our hearts are totally towards pleasing God that is when He is pleased. God does not require that we go through a long process of trying to get our hearts to move, but if we truly repent, our hearts move instantly. All God wants us to do is to embrace His Word as soon as it comes. When we do that, we are right where God wants us to be. We must accept grace and not walk away from the love of God.

The moment we give God a righteous response, we are in the center of His will. When He forgives us, there is no one in this world who can bring that charge back up against us. We must trust that once God says we are forgiven . . . we are forgiven. We must walk in our forgiveness with our heads held high, knowing that we are no longer held captive by sin, but have been freed by the love of the Father. Until next time,

I love you, Apostle Michael Thomas