God is Good - HALLELUJAH

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  Matthew 11 vs 28-30

This is one of my favourite scriptures.  I love that Jesus has given us an open invitation to come unto him, he has already made the way for us.  Hebrews 4 v 16 tells says "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" 

To approach or to come unto him, takes conscious effort - it is movement.  So how do we approach the God of Creation?

We all know what it is like to carry a heavy burden and what a great relief it is to lay it down or let someone else lift that burden.  Or after a long journey or hard days work, what a beautiful thing it is to come home.  Like the old saying "there's no place like home".

Home is where you can lay down and rest, it is a private place away from the world. It can be our safe place.  The place where we are completely ourselves.  But yet to truly rest is one of the most difficult things to do.  We can feel guilty, like we should be doing something or we are wasting time etc.  Or our minds just simply cannot rest.  

To truly rest is not about doing nothing - rather it is trusting the Lord with all our heart and not leaning on our own understanding, by acknowledging him in all our ways, knowing that he will direct our paths.

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."  Proverbs 3 v5-6

True rest and peace is only from God, it comes from deep inside us and it is not dependant on what is going on around us.  When we learn how to enter this rest it will effect positively what is going on around us but what is going on around us will cease to negatively effect us.

For me it is the most glorious thing about this personal relationship that Jesus has provided for us.  Because out of this place of rest and peace flows a knowledge and experience of his divine protection, provision, healing and deliverance.

There is a confidence and security in his presence that nothing in this world can give to us and once we enter into this place of rest - nothing in this world can take it away from us.  It defies all the natural ways of thinking.  It cannot be explained, because it doesn't make any sense in the natural.  But when we have our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus and we enter the stillness of his love and presence - everything else seems to melt away and we are able to, be still and know that he is God.  We will have a confidence that he has made a way for us.

So how do we enter this place of rest and peace?  We meditate and consider how great our Heavenly Father is and how amazing he is.  Looking at creation we see his glory displayed, and acknowledge that he is the creator of all things, and is holding all things together, including our lives and everything that concerns us.  We consider how Jesus came to the earth and how he taught and ministered grace and power, revealing to us the Father's heart.  We think about his death and resurrection and pour out our thanks and praise to him for taking our place.  we remember all his mighty promises and awesome grace.  We stand amazed in his presence.  We make the conscious effort or movement turning away from looking at our problems to looking into his love - It is our choice.  

Many times I hear people say that they feel God is a million miles away.  This is where the enemy wants to make us feel alone and tired and tempt us to give up hope and trust.  But no matter how difficult the situation is - God knows all about it - he is waiting for us to come unto him - and to lift or turn our attention away from the problem and fix our attention on him.  As we draw unto him - he is waiting - and will not hesitate to come and talk with us.  It is in the stillness of knowing that He is God - that he will speak to us and move on our behalf.  

It is like when we have our attention on the problem we are blocking God from working on our behalf because we are standing in the way - but as soon as we fix our attention on him - he is free to work all things together for good for us.

I remember many years ago when my oldest son was just a baby, he was teething and I was laying in the bed with him trying to comfort him.  I saw Jesus standing at the bottom of the bed - I saw his arms stretched out - and he said "I am standing at every sick bed waiting, ready and willing to answer".  I have never forgotten that experience.  

I want to challenge you today by asking "Is that the Jesus you know?"  

The Holy Spirit has come to teach us who Jesus is, and what the Father's will for us is.  But many religious teachings and doctrines have distorted his will and his love.  But it doesn't change who Jesus is.  It doesn't change the Father's heart toward his children.  

Maybe you need a change of viewpoint today.  Maybe you have been in a difficult situation so long, that you can't see any way out of it.  Maybe you have lost hope.  Or maybe you have never felt the knowledge of his love before.  

Here is a simple prayer to guide you to take that first step to approach him and to enter into his rest and peace.

Father God I thank you that you love me with an everlasting love and that nothing can separate me from your love that is in Christ Jesus.  I thank you that you have forgiven me and washed me clean from all my sins.  I thank you that you died in my place and that you have called me by name.  I love you Lord, and I want to know you more.  I want to know your heart and your thoughts, so I ask you Holy Spirit to come and teach me and show me more.  Open the eyes of my understanding.  Help me to turn my eyes away from my problem and instead give it to you.  I trust you Lord.  I love you Lord.  Amen

There are so many beautiful scriptures that we can meditate on.  So many amazing examples of God's great power and love. The Bible is the Word of God which reveals the will of God to our hearts and lives.  God never sleeps he is always ready to spend time with you.  I have recorded some songs and I hope and pray that you will listen and take a few moments to turn your eyes and your attention totally unto your Heavenly Father and your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ today and allow him to lift you to a higher place where you will be able to see that He has a miracle for you, He has made a way for you.  xx

If you have not already received Jesus Christ as you Lord and Saviour, I invite you to turn to him right now.  He will not turn you away.  It doesn't matter who you are or what you have or haven't done.  God loves you and sent his Son to die for you.  He raised Jesus from the dead and made a way for you to come to know the God of creation as your own Heavenly Father.  He has the gift of salvation for you today - will you receive it?  It is yours by Grace through Faith, which simply means that Jesus paid the price and it is a free gift to you but you must receive it by faith - by believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.  Here is a simple prayer to guide you or you can use your own words.  Remember it isn't the prayer that saves you.  It is Jesus who saves you - the prayer is how you accept him.