Rest
About It!
Jeanne Alcott
In a service one night, a minister was teaching on the scripture Matthew 11:28. When he came to the words from Jesus, “Come unto to Me,” he felt the presence of God in such a great way that all he could keep saying was, “Come unto Me.” Finally, he stopped and looked at the people in the audience and asked, “What does that mean?” What does, “Come unto Me” mean?”
No one said anything until a girl who was sitting on the front row raised her hand. When the minister saw her, he decided to see what she had to say so he asked her, “Okay, what do you think Jesus meant when He said, ‘Come unto Me’?” And she answered, “It means that He wants me.”
No one could add anything to it. That was it right there. Spoken from a child, Jesus made known that when He says, “Come unto Me,” it means “He wants me.”
Matthew 11:28 says, Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls]. The Lord is showing us that we can rest in Him. We can come away from worry or concerns or stress and be refreshed. The weight can be eased.
Take a load off.
When we’re overburdened and laboring against the problems and responsibilities of life, we can go to Him and take a load off! That’s how you rest in God. You take a load off! That’s what trust does.
When you trust in God for what you’re facing, it takes that load of care and performance off you. You weren’t designed to carry around what’s too heavy. You were designed to rest in God, trust Him and be at peace. To do that, you have to come to Him. Then notice in that scripture, once you do that, He says, “I will cause you to rest.”
It didn’t say that when you go to God you might be able to find some relief or He will see what He can do to help you. It’s a much stronger action that He’s describing. When you go to Him in your trust, that sets into action all that God can do for you. He goes deep into your spirit and He causes you to rest. The reason He can cause you to rest is because now you’ve made Him your foundation. Instead of relying on yourself, He is your foundation and therefore you are not carrying the load now. You’ve given it to Him. Once you’ve rested in Him and you’ve taken the load off, that’s when you can see tremendous answers.
When we rest, that’s when blessing comes.
I think of the dear friend and Partner who wrote to us and described so well how this whole process works. She said “I am learning to ‘rest’ in [God] in the face of negative circumstances. I used to get upset about the negative things and pray for God’s help and try to relax and trust Him—not doing a very good job of it.” We all know how that is. We try to go to God and give it over to Him but we don’t seem to be able to do a good job of it.
So she goes on and describes how she came to a place where her car had to have some extensive work done on it and she didn’t have the funds. That’s when God began to speak to her about resting in Him and trusting Him for everything. So she did.
When she rested in God, you know what happened? He was able to work just as we talked about. She received a financial gift that paid for the work on her car, plus she had enough to give to others, and still some left over.
That’s how it works. What a difference it made when she stopped having that load on her and did what Matthew 11 says: “Come unto Me.” She went to God and rested in Him. That’s when everything was taken care of, plus she had more blessing than she expected. When she found rest, she found blessing. THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE REST IN GOD. WE FIND REST AND THEREFORE WE FIND BLESSING.
That’s because we’re seeking Him first and then all these things are added to us. We know that scripture in Matthew 6. Instead of being overburdened and trying to carry the heaviness of what’s happening in our lives, we recognize that God wants us to come to Him. So we go to Him and start trusting and handing everything over to Him and that’s when He causes us to rest. We’re eased and refreshed. We take a load off.
Rest the whole weight of your life on Him.
Here’s a good way to picture this. There was a man who had the job of translating the Bible for a South Seas island tribe. His name was John Paton. But as he was working on the Bible, he was having problems finding a word in their language that could mean trust. One day as he was working on this, one of the natives came to visit the missionary. He was tired from working so hard, so he threw himself into a big comfortable chair that the missionary had, and he said, “It’s good to rest my whole weight on this chair.”
Right then John knew he had the meaning to describe the word trust in their Bible. It’s resting one’s whole weight on God just as that native was resting his whole weight on that chair.
God wants us to come to Him, put ourselves into the big comfortable arms He has waiting for us and rest the whole weight of our life on Him. Take a load off. That’s how we need to envision resting in God.
We trust Him so much that we put our entire being into His hands. When we do, He is now able to cause us to rest. That doesn’t mean we’re not doing anything. We continue to work and pray and be disciplined—all those things that we do in order to have a better life. But we don’t carry the heaviness of those. We trust God with the outcome and the results of what we’re doing. Our actions and words and efforts. We put everything into His hands.
Otherwise, things become too heavy and we get crushed. Most of us know how that feels. We forget to “come unto Jesus” and give Him the weight of our burdens and concerns. So we find ourselves getting agitated because things don’t go right or we say things we’re sorry for later or we feel as though we can’t go on. You know all the things people do when we’re stressed or under a heavy burden.
When you see those signs coming out of you.
When we see those signs start coming out of us, we need to remember, “Come unto Me, I will give you rest.” The Lord wants us. It’s only as we rest in Him that He can take the load off us. He removes the weight of it and teaches us to trust Him so we can see His deliverance. If we will reach that state—the state where we don’t take on things in our human strength and we rely on Him—then we can see a much easier way. We will be refreshed to see greater things happen.
This is what Wallace Johnson discovered. He’s the man who was the founder of the hotel chain, Holiday Inn. You may have stayed at a Holiday Inn when you have traveled. Johnson was born into a poor family in Mississippi and worked at everything from picking cotton to being a carpenter. Then one day he borrowed $250 and went into homebuilding and became very successful.
About that time, he joined with a business partner and they built the first Holiday Inn, from there, it grew into one of the largest hotel chains in the world. Johnson was a Christian and he is quoted as saying, “I am totally dependent on God for help in everything I do. Otherwise I honestly believe I would start to fall apart in months.”
Even though Johnson had abilities and blessings, he found that he must take the load off himself and rest in God. Otherwise, he would fall apart under the weight of care and concern.
Now it becomes possible.
God does not want to see you crushed under the weight of what you’re experiencing. Come to Him. Rest in Him. That will help you endure and be able to see God’s will come to pass for you. What seems impossible because it’s so heavy on you will be possible now. That’s because the weight will be on God instead of you. So take a load off today and experience the ease and refreshing God has for you. That’s when great things can happen.
A PRAYER FOR YOU.
Lord, we accept Your invitation to come unto You. We release the weight of burdens and care and responsibilities into Your arms. Heaviness and frustration are going. We feel light as a feather. And now this is opening new doors of opportunity for my dear friend. They can see greater things happen. They will not be crushed but they are raised up. Your power is flowing in their behalf. We expect answers and blessings to come in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Good things can happen in a prayer relationship. Let us pray with you. Also, give us updates!
If you’re experiencing heaviness or frustration, let us pray with you. As we go into prayer, you can rest in God. Then that’s when God’s power begins to move in a greater way.
So let’s get our faith going together. Be sure you share with John and me what is trying to weigh heavy on you. As we pray with you, we believe the load will be removed and that’s when circumstances can change. So let us hear from you right away. Then we pray, we want to send you some powerful words from God’s Word.
Also, for those of you who have contacted us to pray with you, be sure that you give us updates of what’s happening now. This is a prayer relationship we have with God so let us know how things are progressing. And we will pray according to God’s will for you. Let us hear from you today by clicking here. Jeanne and John
SPECIAL NOTE: It’s refreshing to be Partners with someone like you!
Now, John and I want to express to you what a joy you are to us and to God. Your sacrificial giving shows that you have learned how to rest in Him with your finances. You trust Him that when you give to Him, He will take care of you.
You will experience the blessing of knowing that because you’ve obeyed Him with your finances, He can do a great work in people who come to this ministry for help and growth.
In a time when the world is hurting to know God, it’s refreshing to be Partners with someone such as you. You recognize the power of giving and we believe that as you give now, that power will be used to keep Word of Power teachings going out and all we do in this work. It can also open up the doors of blessing for your own life. Amen
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All scriptures are taken from the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition unless otherwise indicated.