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In the previous two posts, I blogged about my thoughts and lessons from the two sermons on the 1st day. I was unable to attend the worship session and listen to the sermon on the 2nd day because of a situation that God had put me into that disturbed the ‘rest’ I thought I was having.
I could say that the 1st day was ‘restful’, having being able to hear God’s word and also share God’s word in my small discussion group. I had a great time playing games, both the games organised by the committee as well as the card games we played amongst ourselves.
On the morning of the 2nd day, I tried to find God by doing ‘christian’ things or ‘quiet time’, sitting down to read my bible and portions of a christian book. But somehow, I just couldn’t get through. Suddenly, the entire issue of resting in God all dawned upon me. Though knowing my theory how to find rest, was I really resting in Him?
It was a scary thought because I knew I wasn’t.
The next moment, the difficult situation arose where I was disrupted from being able to attend worship, I felt myself in a state of unrest. The situation was overwhelming. It totally disturbed me and brought me into an extremely difficult state that I felt like leaving the camp.
Where was rest at that moment? Just when I thought I had got it about what ‘rest’ is, it vanished immediately. The ‘restfulness’ disappeared because it wasn’t true rest at all. I ‘rested’ merely in a ‘christian’ state of thinking that God was there and when the difficult situation arose, that state collapsed, that ‘make-belief’ rest vanished.
God has been bringing me through an tremendous period of ‘restlessness’ and ‘weariness’. He is teaching me to rest in Him. It is not easy, in fact, painful. I can’t doing anything but ask for prayers.
Speaking about rest, I have just found an old hymn about rest. It is entitled Jesus! I am Resting
Jesus! I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,
And Thy beauty fills my soul;
For, by Thy transforming power,
Thou hast made me whole.
Ever lift Thy face upon me,
As I work and wait for Thee;
Resting ‘neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus
Earth’s dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father’s glory,
Sunshine of my Father’s face.
Keep me ever trusting, resting;
Fill me with Thy grace!
There are 4 attitudes towards 4 relationships which we need to maintain in order to continue in a state of rest. If any of these relationships are broken, our rest would be broken. They are 1) An abiding relationship with Jesus, 2) A loving relationship with one another, 3) A hostile relationship with the world and 4) A Co-witnessing relationship with the Holy Spirit. Read the rest of this entry »
Happy new year to everybody who reads my blog! One year has passed and I have realised the tremendous amount of changes that have taken place in my life, for example, I no longer am alone. The Lord has brought me through many circumstances and situations, teaching me new things as well as reaffirming some old ones.
I have just returned from a church camp not too long ago. It was a camp by the theme of ‘Refuel’. Thank God that he used this camp to make a great impact and teach me valuable lessons for life. I hope to blog down some reflections and thoughts about the camp and the lessons that I have learnt through it.
On the first day, the sermon message on ‘What is True Rest?’ spoke to me on a very personal level, as I was going through, during the past month or so, a intense period of restlessness or wearinessness in which I c0uldn’t find proper rest and joy. Thank God for speaking through this message because he gave me the very detailed solution to restlessness through it.
