So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. (Hebrews 4:9-11- NLT).
For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, “This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest,” and, “This is the refreshing”… (Isaiah 28:11-12).
There is a rest that walking by faith or confidence in the Word of God brings into life. Instead of trying to solve problems on my own, I learn to trust that God will bring His promises to pass in my life if I will only believe.
The Father’s desire is that we relinquish control of our lives to Him. God designed us for our spirit to rule our lives. His voice was to be the guiding principle of human behavior. His strength was to rise up in us from the inside out as we live in faith moment by moment. His plans and wisdom were to motivate, inspire, encourage, and impassion.
Adam’s sin changed all that God planned. As a fallen race, we strive to live on our own, out of sync with the Creator, and wearing ourselves out in the process. God never planned for us to face alone the pressures that life brings. He created us to need Him, to live in the light of His Word to us and in the light of His presence within us. Human strength only goes so far and lasts only so long. Human wisdom cannot meet the needs of the hour.
The Father’s best for us is to lean on Him, trusting His ability, His wisdom, His guidance. He wants us to rest. Resting means that we cease the struggle and striving to do and to be. Resting means that we trust God to make a way through every challenge, every test, and every hard place. The rest of faith means that we trust God to bring His Word to pass through the moments of everyday living.
There is also an internal spiritual rest that the Holy Spirit brings to us as we learn to yield to His leading. It’s a rest in knowing that we are never alone, that a Helper has been given to us to guide us and give us wisdom throughout the day.
When a believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit, one of God’s purposes with this experience is to once again lead us from the inside out. He wants to unseat and dethrone the mind, emotions, and will that so want to rule all we think and do. From the inside, He wants to once again guide, empower, motivate, inspire, encourage and impassion us!
Praying in the spirit or in tongues does so much more than we realize. Praying in the spirit enables the Father by the Holy Spirit to pray His will through a human vessel. So too the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the Holy Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads before God in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will. (Romans 8:26-27- Amplified).
God created man to rule the earth under His Lordship. Now, through the Spirit- baptized believer praying in tongues, the Father can once again rule and guide the way He planned to when He created us.
Praying in the Spirit or in other tongues also provides rest for the believer. Instead of striving to be and do, as we pray in the spirit, we literally become branches of the vine. He pours His life through us, bringing refreshing, rest, and needed ability and strength. He also makes us a source of help to others as we simply learn to flow with His internal leading.
Take advantage of the tremendous Helper that lives inside of you. You are never alone, and you never lack needed rest, strength, and wisdom. All you need to do is tap into by praying in other tongues or in the spirit and then walking out the desires He places in you during that time of intimate personal conversation with the Father.
Living by faith and yielding to the Holy Spirit will enable us to walk in the rest that God has planned for us. Begin today to live from the inside out!