21 Days of Fasting & Prayer

Day 5

Rest!

BE STILL                 Spend 2 minutes in stillness and silence with God 

SCRIPTURE           1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters,3 He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right path for His name’s sake. Psalm 23:1-3 

DEVOTION 

Why is it that we struggle so much with rest? Honestly, the reason is usually because of something we don’t think about – pride. It’s true that we have plenty of factors taking up our time. Between our work commitments, social commitments, parenting commitments, church commitments, and the like, we often find self-commitment last on the list. So how does pride come into play here? Well, since you asked, it shows up in two ways: We either believe that if we aren’t the ones to do something everything will fall apart, or we believe that we can take on the world and won’t eventually fall apart ourselves. While our intentions may be pure and filled with love, that sneaky little life-sucker called pride may be at play here!

Before we carry on, I want to affirm that serving, loving others, enjoying our lives, and being in community are what God calls us to do. Having a busy schedule is not a crime and it's not what we’re addressing here – a busy schedule without rest is where we find ourselves in trouble. Now that we've got that clarified, let's continue. 

When we don’t take time to rest because we believe things will fall apart without us, we’re inadvertently putting ourselves in the position of God. Pride has convinced us that if we take a day off or sit down for 30 minutes the world won’t be able to carry on. There are people that need us, right? They need God more and we cannot be someone else’s god. The world will keep going if we take time to rest, and it will certainly keep going if we’re out of commission because our body has forced us to rest. Let’s take the easy route and sit ourselves down first. 

Pride also blocks our rest when we take on too many commitments because we think we can handle it all. It has us playing God...again. We jam-pack our schedules without factoring in times of relaxation. We work, work, work with no time for play. However, if we look at our all- powerful God, we know that even He took time to rest. Jesus did, too! They modeled for us how to work hard, serve hard, love hard, and REST hard. It’s time to take off that superhero cape, God's got this. 

While pride may keep us from entering a place of rest, our trust in God will gracefully escort us there. We trust that the world will continue turning if we take a moment to rest – after all, it is in God’s hands. We trust that the church won’t fall down if we take a Sunday off from serving – after all, it is set on the chief cornerstone. We trust in the restoring power of God as we rest our minds, emotions, physical bodies, and spirit in Him. We trust that letting God be God will always work out better than us trying to play God. We trust that with God we lack nothing. Therefore, the refreshment, nourishment, and “soul food” we get when we rest in Him will be far greater than anything we miss out on while we rest. 

Let's revisit our phrase from the beginning of this section for old times' sake. This time, say aloud as much as you need: "Rest is not an option, but a necessity." 

What does rest look like for you? Is it incorporated within your daily schedule? 

Create a "game plan" below for adding moments of rest into your life. 

PRAY IT OUT 

Heavenly Father, 

Your Word says that those of us who dwell in the secret place with You will find rest. I come to You humbly seeking rest. I declare today that You are my refuge and fortress, and in You I trust. I thank You that I can find shelter under Your wings, and that Your faithfulness is my shield and rampart. God just as You rested after creating the heavens and the earth, I take time to rest from my labor. I rest my mind, emotions, physical body, and spirit in You. 

Help me to see areas in my life where I need to incorporate more rest. I repent for any times that I have attempted to play God and take on everything. Forgive me for the times I did not rest because I didn’t want to miss out on outings, money, accolades, or events. I admit that sometimes I forget that with You I truly lack nothing. Thank You for restoring my soul! Thank You for rest! Thank You for the opportunity to reset, so that I may continue pouring out into others. Protect me from burnout and Holy Spirit guide me when I need to slow down and rest. In Jesus’ Name, Amen