5 Tips to Rest in the Lord

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Crazy chaos is what our lives are and can be. Schedules, conflicts, and onslaught of information can bog our lives. Resting can be a scary matter for many people. However, resting in the Lord means many things to different people. It may be viewed as learning to trust more, submitting to God’s Will, spending additional time in prayer or meditation. There is the physical and mental realm, and all these are part of finding the rest of God. It encompasses every facet of our lives. But how do we rest? We can rest studying the Word of God. There is worship, praise, along with coming to Him with humility. The author of Hebrews mirrors this by instructing us to cease from weariness. “Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest of God, to know and experience it for ourselves.” Take a break from life and the cares of this world to experience God with the help from these 5 tips.

Release Your Burdens

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Our problems are not a surprise to God. When we try to make things happen and work in the flesh to vindicate ourselves or promote ourselves we will end up in trouble. We can lean on God and find the rest in Him. We can enjoy life no matter what is going on. Guess what? Worrying is useless to you and will cause more stress in the mind and body. Don't wear yourself out by controlling what you can't anymore. The bottom line is that you are being counterproductive when you enter into this type of negative cycle. “It’s like sitting in a rocking chair, rocking all day, wearing yourself out and getting nowhere. Trusting God means we give up worrying, reasoning, and anxiety and we enter into His rest with simple childlike faith—we live by grace through faith,” author Joyce Meyer shared.

Surrendering Your Will

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Resting in the Lord is also giving up the ego and not having your way. Surrendering to God’s Will helps you rest. You will know that you have reached this when you trust Him to work all things without your help. You trust God when it is realized that you don’t have to defend yourself anymore from slander, gossip, or injustice. A level of this spiritual maturity is not easily mastered. Maturity doesn’t happen overnight, it is like a muscle that we need to keep using so it becomes stronger. Don’t be upset if you find that you keep on failing in this area of life. It is all part of the unique process. Genuine surrender will go to God and lay it out on the line. “Father, if this problem, pain, sickness, or circumstance is needed to fulfill your purpose and glory in my life or in another's life, please don't take it away,” Pastor and author Rick Warren wrote.

Know You are Loved

God loves us unconditionally. No matter what nothing can separate us from His love. His love does not fluctuate as it does with people. The Lord does not hang it over our heads when we mess up or sinned. He gave us Jesus to atone for this. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life,” John 3:16. Ask the Lord to show you His love to you, so you can enter in His rest. When we experience His love it will flow to others. On your darkest days when there is nothing to keep you going, He loves you. It is the kind of love no one can match. No husband, parent, friend, or child will love you the way the father can and will love you. When we understand this we can move ahead and love ourselves, our enemies, and love God.