Monday, September 21, 2020

My Mind Is Now at Rest -- He Places My Mind at Rest

  "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26:3)



I understand the full import of this verse now.

For the longest time, my mind was constantly racing, constantly churning.

For the longest time, I thought that I had to think about God constantly, when really He was thinking about me, and that's what really matters:

"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" (Galatians 4:9)

All this time, I was so busy in my mind. I really believed that I had to jump-start my day by getting busy thinking about everything.

For the longest time, I did not realize that I did not have to "conjure up" the Lord. I was so busy trying to plan, think, commit, plot, conspire to figure everything out. I really believed that everything in this life was my responsibility.

If I was caught off guard or if I did something wrong, I would fault myself so greatly, and then I would resolve to try harder not to fail next time.

What I have learned now, is that I am not trying to live this life. This life is not my life, but His life in me:

"Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also." (John 14:19)

And

"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Philippians 2:20-21)

For too many people, this revelation makes little sense. They do not really believe that Christ Jesus is our life. They believe that this life is a life that they must generate on their own. Yet that is not the case at all.

Indeed, we are called to a life of rest, so that He may work through us, that He may live in us:

"9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4:9)

We live through Him, not our efforts. He lives in us, not alongside us while we try to figure everything out on our own.

Consider the fullness of the New Covenant:

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10-12)

All our sins are forgiven, paid for, put aside forever. We can rest assured that He is our God, that He is for us, not against us (Romans 8:31).

He is alive! He does not come and go depending on how we feel. Whatever we are thinking or feeling, that is not going to prevent Him from manifesting in our lives, blessings us, favoring us, even when we do not deserve it.

Now I understand the fullness of the Gospel of Grace!

"10Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:" (1 Peter 1:10)

and

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:" (Galatians 1:6)

My mind is at rest. I do not have to work. He is working. I just get to receive all that He is doing.

Thank you Jesus! You have placed my mind at rest!

"28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

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