The Covenant Life Blog – A Blog About Living With Jesus Today

GOD WANTS YOU TO REST

What the people of this world are seeking more than any other thing is the very thing that God wants to give us more than anything else —  REST.

Matthew 11:28 —  “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you REST.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”          

This world is filled with fears, anxieties, depression, sickness, disease, poverty and lack.  These are the reasons the people on the left are demonstrating this past week.  They are bound in the darkness and are consumned by the above characteristics. People spend the vast majority of their lives seeking solutions to these issues of life.

There is a solution to all of their insecurities, fears, and anxieties; but it seems the church  that man is building is not declaring the message of King Jesus to these troubled people:  “repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

Here is a picture of a life of REST that King Jesus offers:  Psalm 23 – The Lord Jesus is Our Shepherd.

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil;

For Thou art with me;  

Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

Thou hast anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Look To God’s Word, Not Natural Facts

Numbers 21:9

“So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”

“Rob, I know that God is my healer. But why is this sickness and pain still in my body?”

If you have been looking at your sickness and pain all this while, stop looking at yourself and start looking at Jesus. Did He or did He not take upon Himself your sickness and pain?

God’s Word declares, “Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, and our pains — he hath carried them…” (Isaiah 53:4, YLT)  Since Jesus has already taken your sickness and pain at the cross, then He cannot “untake” them. Even if you find it hard to believe that Jesus has paid for your healing, especially when the pain is unbearable, the truth is that it is still paid for. It is a finished work!

God is not saying that your sickness does not exist, nor is He asking you to pretend that it is not there. He is asking you to look away from the sickness, painful as it may be, and look to the truth that it has already been judged at the cross in the body of His Son.  The Word of God tells us to “set your minds” and “to think on these things”.  You have the ability to determine what you will focus your thinking upon – either your ailment or what God’s word says about your ailment.  You have the ability to determine what words come out of your mouth.  He says “life and death are in the power of the tongue”.  You can choose to speak words that agree with what God says that bring healing and life, or you can speak words that agree with what is happening in your body through the symptoms you are experiencing and reinforce them.

Once, while still in the wilderness, the children of Israel were bitten by deadly desert serpents. The serpents were real. The bites were painful and deadly. So God told Moses to point the people to the bronze serpent put on a pole — a picture of the cross. (John 3:14) Bronze signifies judgment. In other words, the serpent — their problem — was already judged at the cross.

Those who kept their eyes on the bronze serpent lived. Those who focused on their wounds died. So stop looking at your sickness. Instead, look to the cross and see your sickness already judged in the body of Jesus. Surely He has borne your sicknesses and carried your pains! That is the truth of God’s Word. And His Word supersedes natural facts.

My friend, you let natural facts rule or establish God’s truths over your problem by what you choose to focus on. So decide today not to focus on the facts concerning your problem. Instead, establish the truth of God’s Word and Christ’s finished work over your problem — and live!