The most important work that we can do is to minister to God. Our number one call is not to His people but to Him. The call to His people is ultimately a call to Him, but we want to first be securely fashioned to His heart. The whole point of our lives is to become one with Him and to allow ourselves to gaze upon His face knowing that we are chosen and forgiven friends of the Father. He thought of you in the garden. He became excited to see your generation come to pass so that you could be born into His glory and mystery.
But what do we do when all of His promises start to manifest in our lives? Most of us should know by now that when God trusts you with something, it comes with responsibility. He will give us a path into our destiny, but sometimes, we have to help with clearing the way. The promotion that we ask for comes with work, and I, personally, have never met a person who God had poured His abundance on that didn’t have to plow for the Kingdom.
Like any new thing, there is a honeymoon stage where everything comes with ease because we are charging the land, but what do we do when our human bodies and minds can’t keep up with the call? The answer is simple. We rest. In the natural, that seems counter-intuitive. We see the mountain of work we have to do or the people that we know that need to see and experience the love of God through us, and we can be tempted to fall into the lie that rest cannot happen or is unnecessary.
I have recently found myself in that place, and to be honest, it is not my first time, but my hope is that it be my last. I have been given from God so many blessings: a family, ministry, nations, a business, a network of amazing people, and provision that continues to teach me that you can never out give God, but the truth is that I got tired. Really tired. The kind of tired that turns into exhaustion and then leads you to second-guessing if all the favor that was given to you was actually not a blessing at all. Now don’t get me wrong, I have boundaries. I rarely over commit, and if I do, I repent and rearrange things. But I was missing some really powerful truths.
After a few weeks of exhaustion, I finally started to discuss the issue with Jesus while I was spending time with Him. And by spending time with Him, I mean playing worship music and lying on the floor because that’s all I had in me to do. As I lay there, He met me there, and I heard him say so clearly, “Ephesians 3.” I began to read it, and the power of His truth started to fill me. Ephesians 3:14-15 reads,
“So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on the earth. And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power” (TPT).
I began to decree those verses over myself. I said, “God, thank You that You are a perfect Father. Thank You that I am Your child. I pray that You unveil Your glory and favor to me. I know that right now You are supernaturally strengthening me down to my innermost being with Your divine might and explosive power!” I continued to read, and there it was, the truth to uncover the lie of doubt that I didn’t even know I had. Verse 20 reads,
“Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you” (TPT).
I immediately started to repent because I realized that my exhaustion was rooted in the lie that it was my own ability getting things done. I had doubted in the mighty work of God to accomplish all that He had promised! His mighty power will accomplish all that He has called me to. Not just what He has called me to now but even the things yet to be revealed or that I haven’t even known to dream or request. The beautiful part is that, if I allow Him to outdo my wildest dreams, if I allow myself to rest in these truths, it says that “his miraculous power will constantly energize me”!
I am a daughter of an almighty God, and the truth of that statement means that opportunities follow me, abundance is poured out on me, and people are attracted to Jesus in me. This is not boasting; it is just what Scripture says is given to those who are hidden in Christ. We will be a sweet aroma to those around us, and the light in us will attract the darkness—because there is no darkness in Christ Jesus—and all who are in the dark that are truly seeking the light.
These promises of my call are exciting, and if I am not careful, I will allow the feeling of excitement to fuel me instead of being fueled by the rest I find in Him. The excitement of an opportunity comes from Christ but is not the Christ. We must be careful that we don’t fall into the same temptation that plagued the Israelites in the wilderness. God laid out plan after plan to come into a relationship with them, and they chose to wander in the desert in their works instead of finding their rest in Him (Heb. 4:1-10).
“Now God has offered to us the same promise of entering into his realm of resting in confident faith. So we must be extremely careful to ensure that we all embrace the fullness of that promise and not fail to experience it. For we have heard the good news of deliverance just as they did, yet they didn’t join their faith with the Word. Instead, what they heard didn’t affect them deeply, for they doubted. For those of us who believe, faith activates the promise and we experience the realm of confident rest!” Hebrews 4:1-3 (TPT)
Part of that promise is that He will call us, anoint us, but first love us. In that love is the command of resting so that we can allow Him to flood over us and into our innermost being. So that He can energize us with His miraculous explosive power and manifest His wildest dreams for our lives. Beloved, resting in the Father is part of the gift of freedom, and today, He is inviting you to take a step deeper into that promise. Run after rest because our rest is God, and He is the hope and fruit of your salvation.
Written by Jenimar Pendleton
Featured Image by Averie Woodard
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