Rest in God

Set aside today to reflect and journal on the past year. But before I write-up on the year, wish to journal specifically upon a subject God tutored me on during the start of the year-God's rest.

Only this year do I realise one of God's intent for the Israelites to conquer the Promised Land is to give them rest.

Deut 25:19 "When the LORD your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance...."

Jos 21:43-45 "So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled."

The basis of God's rest is His love, His promises and most importantly, Jesus.

John 19:30-When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

I have heard the phrase 'We fight FROM victory', but yet I often fight from doubts, struggles and defeat. As I ended my extended QT today, there was a sense of release from the following areas:

-Need to equip myself (handling children, singing, knowledge)
-Ministry
-Evangelism, bridging bridges with friends
-Spiritual disciplines

These are positive aspirations. However, it shouldn't be pursued with a self drivenness but instead from a position of REST in God. I desire to make this my default position and I believe it will come about as I know Him more intimately. I live my life trying and doing much without fully believing and appreciating that my life is in His hands, and He is extremely concerned with me and has a purpose for me (which will come to pass).

In fact, as I am currently organising the mission trip to Pekanbaru, I can see His hand upon bringing the people together and the planning. Also, in my desire to bridge the gaps between my relationship with dad and mum, I can visibly see God's leading. Just watched the movie 2012 with parents last night and the main theme which spoke powerfully to me was the bond between father and son. Although I do not have a clear leading as to my vocation/career, I know He has a plan and He is ALREADY guiding.

Difficulty is that this paradigm shift goes against the conditioning of my life since young. It starts from primary school (I can't remember if i was competitive in my pre-school) where life is intelligence and performance driven. Maybe this is one of my primary blocks as I often share about how lousy I felt as a poor student. Until now, I still tend to feel insecure when I encounter areas of intelligence/abilities.

I thank God for revealing this so I can start the paradigm shift and am excited about the breakthroughs it will bring :)