We are on a journey or an adventure together discovering how to engage the spiritual realms •Discovering those realms within us around us & the heavenly realms •On this journey we are going to follow the pathway of relationship and responsibility
Engage the Holy Spirit as living water in the River of life •Engaged Jesus as we take His yoke upon us •We engage the Father at the seat of rest and government •Matt 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Our spirit is a mountain a place of spiritual authority •There are thrones on the mountain •Throne represents the authority – the rule and government of our lives •We will look at the seat of rest and the seat of government and how to engage the Father as a son
Depending on who is on the throne or seat of rest in our spirit, we will either be at rest or seeking to meet our own needs in our own strength • Key to being able to fulfil our destinies is to experience living from the place of rest • All responsibility must flow from relational rest
Who is on the throne of your life •Who is in charge of your life
•With God on the seat of rest we will find the answers to the questions that we all deep down are asking •Who I am? •Where did I come from? •Why am I here? •What is my purpose? •Will my life mean anything?
When God is on the throne of our lives the needs of the soul are met. •Love •Affirmation •Approval •Significance •Provision •Protection
Engaging God Seat of Rest •Being seated is a picture of rest. •In the Old Testament, the priests never sat down. •There were no chairs in the tabernacle of Moses or in the temple of God because their work was never finished. •There was only the mercy seat where God’s presence and glory rested
Jesus sat down because His work is finished. • Hebrews 10:11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet.
Hebrews 10:13 .. Enemies become a footstool for His feet. •God’s desire is that none would perish and all would come to know Him •His enemies therefore become His children e.g. Saul became Paul •The place where He can bring His rest – a footstool
Isa 66:1 Thus says the Lord, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? 2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
Heb 4:9-11 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest •Labour or be diligent to enter rest •Not work for rest but surrender and enter rest
The physical land was rest to the children of Israel in the Old Testament, •Heb 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. •God’s grace and rest are the inheritance of the believer under the new covenant.
Gen 2:2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it
Rest is blessed to empower us to prosper us • Rest is sanctified or set apart for a special purpose • Rest is God’s provision and protection and the place where He can be our shepherd so we will not want • Rest is the place where our destiny can be fulfilled
YHVH, the Creator of the universe, rested on the seventh day. •We do not get just one day in seven: we get every day, because our rest is in Him. •Our rest is possible because His work is complete but always functioning •He is always working on our behalf
John 15:4-5 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Abiding in Him speaks of a relationship of rest where fruit grows • We cannot produce fruit of any eternal value unless we are connected to the source through the Vine (Jesus). • In relationship with Him, we allow Him to work through us so our destiny can be fulfilled. • We are together with Him
We may be a branch of that Vine, but the branch does not provide the nutrients and supply of life itself. •If you cut the branch off, it dies. •The life is drawn up through the roots and the plant to produce the fruit. •Through Jesus we have access to the resources of our heavenly Father
Rest is about being and not doing •Rest is not trying to earn our relationship or score brownie points •Rest is not inactivity but the works that flow from our relationship not for our relationship •Only doing what we see the Father doing never acting independently
Fruit in our lives comes from being receptive to the life of God flowing through us. •We are a channel of God’s blessing •If we want to fulfil our destiny, the call of God on our lives, we need to abide in Him. •Abiding in Him and Him abiding in us
Engaging God Seat of Rest •When He is on the throne of our lives we will discover we can truly trust Him •His rule brings us rest •His government brings us peace •Rest comes as we surrender the rule of our lives to Him •Rest is realised as we abdicate and stop working for ourselves or Him
Heb 4:1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. •Heb 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest •Rest is a result of our trust or faith in God
Heb 4:11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. •Rest requires diligence: we have to actively surrender and pursue God for relationship •His relationship is true rest true peace
Psa 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God • What does it mean to be still? • The NASB translates this phrase as ‘Cease striving’. Striving comes from the word strife • God wants us to stop fighting and struggling and surrender control of our lives to Him • If we are always ‘doing’, we are not allowing Him to be God in our life.
Engaging God Seat of Rest • Prov 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding • What is our own understanding? • The pathway of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil • Knowledge apart from God • It is doing things for our relationship with God rather than from our relationship
Isa 40:31 Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary. • In the wait have you taken things into your own hands? • Have you tried to work things out for yourself and taken Gods place?
Have you tried to find your own source of provision? •What is it like in the resting place? •Anxious worrying or peaceful trust? •If we don’t wait for God the enemy has many counterfeits to offer us. •Dead works is hiding in the bushes making our own coverings
Matt 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Matt 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
Matt 7:26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
The storms of life come to everybody: it is how we respond to them that will demonstrate to what extent God’s kingdom rest is manifested through us. • We are all called to live in a state of rest regardless of what is going on around us • What wears us out is trying to do things in our own strength.
•We are called to live in the eye of the storm. •There may be 200mph winds blowing all around us, but in the eye, everything is completely peaceful. •Jesus never promised we would have no troubles – the very opposite, in fact.
He gives us His love, joy and peace. •With the love, joy and peace of God in us, we can live at rest all the time. •This rest is not automatic, we have to learn how to do it. •Learn to let go and trust Him
Jesus is our example. •He was asleep in the boat, crossing the lake, when a great storm rose up. His disciples were in a panic, even though He had already told them they were going to the other side. •He was at total rest in His word •They were not at rest
They woke Him up, and He brought peace. • He rebuked the storm and everything became calm • Peace, be still – rest • He had authority from a place of rest • Our authority comes from a place of rest • When He is on the seat of rest in our spirit we can live in His authority
In spiritual terms rest means primarily to cease from one’s works to earn favour and relationship with God •In this context rest means to be done with self-effort as far as salvation is concerned. •It means the end of trying to please God by our efforts and dead works.
God’s unmerited perfect rest is rest in God’s grace His divine ability. •Rest is offered to everyone and is freely available but can only be received as a free gift through faith •Only in Jesus and the Father can our soul fully and truly at rest.
The rest is called a “sabbath rest” because it is a participation in God’s own rest. •When God completed his work of creation, he rested •Jesus has also completed His work and now He is seated at rest •Are we resting on what He has already done?
God’s rest is not essentially physical at all. •Resting in God and trusting in His promises can relieve us of nervousness, tenseness, and other physical problems. •These are the by-products of His rest
Exod 31:17 It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labour, and was refreshed.” • Relationship between rest and refreshment spiritually and physically • Refreshed – Hebrew is napas = renewal of energy of mind and body,
Rest involves remaining confident, keeping trust. •To rest in something or someone means to maintain our confidence in it or him. •To enter God’s rest, therefore, means to enjoy the perfect, unshakeable confidence of our salvation in Jesus
Rest can mean to lie down, be settled, fixed, secure. •There is no more shifting about in frustration from one thing to another, no more running in circles. •In God’s rest we are forever established in Christ.
We are freed from being tossed about by every doctrinal wind, every idea or fad, that blows our way. •In Christ, we are established, rooted, grounded, unmoveable on a rock •We are in a relationship where He is our provider, protector, director and restorer
Rest has dominion over chaos •Not striving with the sweat of our brow •Resting in the promises of His word in spite of the storms •Resting by following the way, truth and life and trusting His provision
Psa 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. •Provided for, refreshed, restored and directed
Psa 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. •He will protect us through the storms and battles of life •When He is in our boat we can say peace be still
Sometimes we may feel up or feel down according to our circumstances •True rest means we can rule over the circumstances •True joy and peace comes out of the rest in our relationship with God •We trust Him because He is the good shepherd
We need to be able to live in the peace and joy which comes from that relationship and does not depend upon our circumstances. • We need to live with an attitude of thanksgiving and praise, rejoicing always. • That will keep us in the eye of the storm.
Psa 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. •Table = our supply in the presence of our enemies •Enemy may be lack, fear, poverty, insecurity, debt, sickness, addiction
Engaging God Seat of Rest • The reason we can rest and rejoice in the midst of our enemies is because Jesus defeated them when He took our place and bore our sins and sicknesses on the cross. • He has done it all and the work is finished. • We only need rest in Him and rule in Him
Rest also means to lean on – depend on • To enter into God’s rest means that for the remainder of our lives and for all eternity we can lean on God. • We can be sure that He will never fail to support us. • We can depend on Him for everything and in everything for support, for health, for strength, for all we need.
Matt 6:31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 .. for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. • John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” • Col 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, • Phil 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Heb 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? •We can serve from rest
Heb 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God •Heb 4:16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
When He is on our throne and we are in Him we have access to His throne of grace •When we draw near to that heavenly throne •We make our requests, His mercy and grace is ours to help in our need •We rest and let Him work
Engaging God Seat of Rest •Know Christ and you will know rest. No Christ and there will be no rest! …In this life or the one to come! •Christ can make the rest of your days Be the best of your days If He is the Rest of your days.
Who is on the throne of your life •Who is in charge of your life
Close your eyes •Begin to think about that door of first love •Activate your imagination as the doorway to encounter •Picture the door reach out and open the door •Picture the seat of rest the throne
Father I thank you that you live in me • I ask you to forgive me for doing things in my own strength. • I repent of providing for and protecting myself; • I repent of finding significance in achievements and trying to create my own self image; • I repent of comparing myself with others.
I repent of trying to be somebody else and trying to meet others’ expectations; • I repent of wearing masks of pretence to cover up my inadequacies • I repent of trying to be good and righteous using dead works to try to please You and others; • I repent for trying to make amends for my past to cover my own sin
I repent for trying to maintain control of my life. •Today Jesus I choose to hand responsibility for my life over to You. •I cast all my burdens onto you and hand over responsibility for my family, finances and future to You
I cast all my sin, guilt, shame and condemnation onto You • I cast all my sorrows, grief, disappointments, worry, anxiety and fear onto You. • I cast all my debts onto You; • I cast all the weight of expectation onto you; • I surrender control of my life to You.
Jesus I choose to step off the throne of my life • Jesus I invite you to be Lord of my life • I ask you to take your place on the seat of rest in my spirit • Now, Lord, choose to live at rest in this earthly dimension, receiving Your rest to live continually in the eye of the storm. • I choose to live from the seat of rest.
I now step into You on my throne •I now draw near to Your throne of grace •I sit on your lap and rest my head on your chest •I share all my needs with you as I rest on your throne of grace
Choose to take your hands off all the problems •Listen to the rhythm of His heart •Feel the total rest and complete peace of being with Him •As you rest He begins to work releasing His grace and mercy and help