Soul rest

STRESS! How can we stand it? Money problems, kid problems, parent problems, marital problems, boyfriend problems, girlfriend problems, problems on the job, problems at home, problems with your best friend, problems with your worst enemy, problems with the house, problems with the car, problems with the health, problems in Iraq, problems in congress, problems tying my blasted tie in the morning, it is endless.

How do you spell relief? J-E-S-U-S.

Jesus told us to put all of our burdens upon Him, stating in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light”. I love to read this passage and when I am stressed to the point of exploding it calms me down and I can achieve peace.

Traveling at the speed of light it would take 2 million years to get to the nearest star and there are billions and perhaps even zillions of them. What an amazing intellect and incomprehensible power our omnipotent Savior has, and yet almighty God, Creator and Caretaker of all of creation instructs us individually to personally come to Him for rest for our souls. (“Soul rest” given to us by almighty God Himself Now that is stress-free living! )

God assures us that we are very valuable to Him and He loves us. He knows everything about us including the very number of hairs on our head. Is there any problem too difficult for God to handle? (Even including those that are stressing you almost beyond your limits at this very moment.) Of course not, but how do we get this much-needed help from God? Read above where Jesus states that “He” is “lowly” in heart. He is on “high” yet lowly enough in heart whereby He is entirely approachable.

Again carefully read what Jesus stated above. What does Jesus mean when He states that we must “take His yoke and learn’ from Him”? I believe the answer is found in 1 John 5:4 “For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory”. It is all about our having faith and “trusting Christ” to bring the victory. Victory in life is not won through our own wit and wiles, it comes from the strength of Christ. Remember the passage in Philippians 4:13 that states, “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me”?

If we desire stress free living, it is vitally important to be within God’s will for our lives. We must first seek God’s will for our lives through prayer and then “learn” from Jesus through Bible study and then work diligently towards our purpose following Jesus Christ every step of the way. Most importantly we must maintain faith through thick and thin, no matter how dark the clouds may become, knowing that God who cannot lie has promised to help us through this often difficult, frustrating world of sometimes mean streets and dark alleys.

Importantly we must be “patient”. (Arghhhhh”patience”? Not an easy thing for an old “alpha dog” “class A” personality like me and perhaps you.) We must remember, however that it is God who calls the shots and we are on His timetable and not our own. This is a good thing because at the proper time of His choosing, God’s perfect plan for our lives is revealed and the problem(s) are resolved in a perfect manner, (and it is impossible to improve upon perfection).

Pray for an answer to your problems having complete faith that Christ who is with you always even to the end of time as we know it and even beyond through eternity hears your plea and is going to bring victory – guaranteed! Be patient and worry free until He delivers on His promise, always remaining confident and knowing with certainty that you are in the gentle loving hands of your Savior; now that is the key to knowing Soul-rest

Psalms 37:7
Rest in the Lord and wait
patiently for Him