Elijah House
The Power of the Cross
Through the Spirit and the Word
Working to Heal and Restore Families
www.elijahhouse.org
On Coming Into Rest Part 1
by Terry Thomas
"Our culture teaches that action and accomplishment are better than rest, that doing something, anything, is better than doing nothing."Only a few times in my life have I received the Lord's directions so clearly that I had no doubt that He was calling me to change and to obedience, no doubt that the call was coming directly from the heart of God.
Fifteen years ago I heard such a call from Him. It was to come to rest. He told me to learn to rest at rest. Who would have thought that such a simple command would be so hard to accomplish! After three years of research, practice and failure, I finally began to grasp what He meant and how to experience it. Then His word to me was to begin to learn how to work at restand then to war at rest.
I am a Christian counselor, teacher, mother, wife, daughter, grandmother, neighbor and friend. I write poetry, keep a large flower garden, lead Bible studies, and teach retreats and seminars. I stay very busy with all that I am and do. I am also a past controller of the universe. Though I have resigned this position, numerous times, sometimes I find myself back in active service. You know about universe controllers. They can be found everywhere, especially among the serious servants of God. They are people who work terribly hard to keep everything in order, fixed, at peace, working, in relationshipeverything!
You may ask, "Who gave you such a job?" Well, I did. I knew very early in life that no one else was going to do anything about all the struggle, pain, trouble, anger, chaos, fear, lack of peace and lack of order in my family and in the world, so I decided that I would. I have spent all of my life (except the past few years), all of my energy, most of my gifts and strength working very hard at this job. I wrote my own job description. It was obvious no one else was going to do this work, and the world was running amuck. The need was as plain as the baby bottle in front of my face.
Then you may ask, "What have you done with the destiny that you were created for, with the work God had for you to do?" Well now, that is a problem isn't it? Being a universe controller leaves so little time and energy or even motivation for thatI was just too busy! So, basically, I ignored God's call on my life and pretended that the call and identity I had created for myself was God's, from God. Tricky!
Let me ask you: How well do you rest? How much of what you do comes from the position of resting in God?
We wouldn't dream of breaking the Ten Commandments, would we? We know the wisdom and peace and blessing of not murdering anyone, or stealing, or committing adulteryright? But in Exodus 20:8-11 we see that one of those commandments, the fourth, to be precise, says "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do any work" To keep the Sabbath holy, to rest, is one of the commandments to us. I suspect most of us break this law regularly.
"Ah ha!" You say. "But we are not under the law." Well, you are right. We are not under the law, we are more than that: we are required to move into and live within the fulfillment of the law! Jesus said He had not come to do away with the law but to fulfill it. He is the fulfillment of the Sabbath rest. "As He is, so are we in this world."
The Old Testament meaning of rest is to stop from all work. In the New Testament, Jesus is the fulfillment of the stopping work and being still, desisting from our exertion. In Matthew 11:28 He says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He will give us a stopping place, a place of stillness and cessation of striving. We are created to do good works, but at rest!
The New Testament goes beyond the Old in meaning; it speaks of the rest of God Himself. This is the perpetual Sabbath rest to be enjoyed uninterruptedly by believers in their fellowship with the Father and the Son, in contrast to the weekly Sabbath under the law. This Sabbath rest we find only in relationship with Him.
So we find that Christ moves our resting, stillness, ceasing from work from the behavioral into the heart and spirit. Every moment of every day, we can rest in Him and what He has accomplished for us. God worked six days and then, when His work was completed, He introduced us into His creation so that our first day was His day of rest. He brought us in on the wings of rest. We began at rest when His work was finished.
Next month we will look at how our culture prevents resting.
Terry Thomas joined Elijah House with a background in education in public and Christian schools, and nine years of private and church counseling practice. She leads seminars and retreats focusing on our Christian journey toward wholeness. She ministers within a wide variety of groups on topics relating to inner transformation. Terry enjoys spending quiet time beside a river or leaning on a large tree writing poetry. She finds refreshment in her flower garden, getting together with friends, eating, talking, fishing, playing, and long walks holding hands and talking with Elton Thomas, her husband.
Terry received her Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Eastern Oregon State College and her Master of Education in private and school-based counseling. She now lives in Wenatchee, Washington, counseling and teaching regularly in our Elijah House schools and seminars.
For more information about Elijah House...
Phone: (208) 773-1645; Fax: (208) 773-1647
9:00 AM to 5:00 PM pacific standard time, Mon-Fri.
General Email: ehinfo@elijahhouse.org
Elijah House
17397 W Laura Ln
Post Falls, ID, USA 83854
208-773-1645
fax 208-773-1647
http://www.elijahhouse.org
