The Discipline of Rest

My son is taking voice lessons & asked me to join him during his practice time yesterday. I had no idea of the work required to sing with ease! We practiced scales along with a video & the thing that kept catching me off guard was the number of times I ran out of breath!

The coach sang the scales with us & demonstrated how to take deep breaths through his nose between each series of notes. Who knew the discipline of breath required simply to sing from a place of rest?🤷🏻‍♀️

Our breath is a wonderful thing because the Source of our first is of God. Psalm 104 says that when He gave us our breath, life was created. Every single, solitary inhale & exhale is a proclamation of our Creator & of Emmanuel, His Son Who is ever with us!

I’ve heard an analogy that says something like, “Come on now, it’s as easy as breathing!”

Paul has the same exhortational vibe when he describes the promise of God’s rest. He writes a rhymer with this: “So let’s do our best to enter that rest.” 

It seems ironic that we have to “do” something to “enter rest.” Kinda like breathing & singing...the discipline of breathing steady, measured breaths is required to sing with ease.

There is a special rest reserved for God’s people. It’s waiting for us & HAS been since the beginning of time when God demonstrated our need for rest when He rested on the 7th day.

Culture does not provide much margin for rest. It requires discipline to enter the day with ease. The Jewish people would scurry about the day before the Sabbath preparing food & tackling tasks so they might enter God’s appointed rest with breath intact!

If we desire to let every breath sing His praise, we must understand the discipline required to steady our breath! The discipline of rest. 

Father, reveal any roadblocks that are robbing us of Your promised rest. Are there any disciplines I need practice or “do” to enter Your rest, moment by moment  day by day, & even for a 24-hour period each week?  You demonstrated it for us, so I’m sure it’s important & will become easy as breathing when we follow the wind of the Holy Spirit’s lead! Give us eyes to see & ears to hear how to do our best to enter that rest!

#OneYearBible

November 2nd One Year Bible Readings

💡EZEKIEL 3:16-6:14

💡HEBREWS 4:1-16

💡PSALM 104:24-35

💡PROVERBS 26:27

Unbelief Cuts the Rope that Secures us to our Savior

Markel & I have a meeting tomorrow that might mark a new career season for both of us. We’ve been waiting patiently for an open door since July, but I can’t say that it’s been peaceful patience😬

I sometimes read about the Israelites & am flabbergasted by their unbelief...I mean, God provided for their thirst through a rock, He sustained their hungry bellies with manna, & they saw Him part an entire sea so they could walk through on DRY land! How in the world could they question whether they could trust God to lead them to the promised land?

Hebrews 3 describes how they missed out on the rest of God because of their stubborn unbelief...& yet, if I look in my own heart, I confess that I sometimes allow unbelief to pitch a tent smack dab in the center of hard circumstances.

Anytime we give unbelief admittance to our hearts, it becomes ripe opportunity for strife to start.

It cuts the ropes that secure us to our Savior, allowing our mind, will & emotions to drift into the deep waters of fear that quickly drive us to the sin of self reliance.

The definition of unbelief means to be in want of faith, withholding trust from God.

I sometimes wonder if unbelief may be the source of all sin & subsequent misery?

I mean, that’s how it all started in the garden-God said don’t eat the fruit or you’ll die. Adam & Eve chose to believe the cunning lies of the enemy over their Father who loved them enough to give them the choice to believe.

The past few months have been wrought with opportunity to indulge in unbelief, & I can’t say that I’ve traversed them all that well.

Our meeting tomorrow is not a given & I dare not moor my hope to a circumstance, because it is when I exchange my source of trust FROM God TO anything else that difficulties are sure to rise! I confess this AM that I will trust Him with the outcome, & even as I type that, rest falls like rain over my heart.

He’s so good like that. He won’t MAKE us trust Him, but will quickly shower us with His Peace when we do 💕

Father, reveal any place where we’ve allowed unbelief to pitch a tent in our hearts. Forgive us for unbelief. Your Son died for us, so our eternal, rest-filled future is secure through Him.

#OneYearBible

November 1st One Year Bible Readings

💡EZEKIEL 1:1-3:15

💡HEBREWS 3:1-19

💡PSALM 104:1-23

💡PROVERBS 26:24-26

We Forget God’s Goodness When The Word & His Way Become Dusty

One of my deep-well friends said something that struck a chord in my heart. We were talking about the discipline of working out & she said,

“Kimberly, the thing that keeps me motivated to care for my body is to remember that it is the home of my Savior & Lord. Every lunge I take, every crunch I make, I proclaim, “This is my spiritual act of worship, O God!’

It was such a tangible reminder to remember the goodness of God in even the most mundane things!

Psalm 103 opens & ends with this phrase:

“Let ALL that I am praise the Lord.”

What does that even look like? Do I have any areas that DON’T praise Him?

I awakened today with a prompting to remove Netflix for a little fast from mindless moments. Watching a show isn’t “bad”, in fact, sometimes we have a little home date night of yummy dinner, pjs & a great movie 💕

It is the motivation that matters. I sometimes think, “I’ve been ‘on’ all day. All I wanna do is turn on a screen & not think.” I can’t say that my motivation is a spiritual act of worship in those moments😳

The entire Psalm proclaims the goodness of God, what He does, who He is & what He will NOT do because of His unfailing love!

He is, “like a father to His children, tender & compassionate, for He knows how weak we are; He remembers we are only dust.”

As I pondered David’s proclamations of how God

•Forgives

•Heals

•Redeems

•Crowns

•Fills

•Renews

•Gives 

this thought surfaced:

In His compassion, God remembers we are but dust; in our complacency, we forget His goodness when we let His Word & Way become dusty.

He knows we are subject to decay, soon to sink under the pressure of trials. Oh, how He longs for us to turn to Him when our frail & feeble frame needs rest!

But, He loves us too much to make us remember Him.

His undeserved & unreserved goodness & mercy pursue us all the days of our life, but will we pursue Him with ALL that we are?

Father, You formed us from dust & breathed your divine breath into our lungs! Let every breath we breathe, ALL that we are & do, become a spiritual act of worship! May the path of following Your Way never become dusty. Help us stay lock step with our Savior where we are ever reminded of all that You’ve done!

#OneYearBible

October 30th One Year Bible Readings

💡LAMENTATIONS 3:1-66

💡HEBREWS 1:1-14

💡PSALM 102:1-28

💡PROVERBS 26:21-22