‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’
[Mark 6:31]

Sabbath is first of all about the presence of God. If it isn’t filled with the Lord’s Presence it may be leisure, but it isn’t Sabbath. It may be therapeutic and re-creative, but if it hasn’t got a heavenly dimension it isn’t Sabbath.

Sabbath is the time when heaven touches earth. When we take true Sabbath rest we step out of time for a while, and touch eternity. Sabbath is a gateway place.

When Jacob dreamed of the ladder with the angels ascending and descending on it, his declaration afterwards was:

‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’
How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.’
[Genesis 28: 16]

It wasn’t a building he was talking about, it was a grassy hillside. Some of our Christian forefathers used to talk about ‘thin’ places, where Heaven seemed very close. These were often in natural borderlands: on the coast, or on mountain tops. It seems to me that Sabbath rest is one of those places, a borderland between time and eternity, a gateway to the heavenly realms.

Sabbath is the time for miracles: we read that many of Jesus’ miracles of healing and deliverance were done on the Sabbath. The religious folk didn’t like it – it upset all their ideas of appropriate behaviour! For them the Sabbath was a time for rules and proscriptions, for hedging people in,  for worshipping a far-off God. But Jesus was God was in their midst, and He saw the Sabbath as an opportunity for His realm to invade ours, an opportunity for the powers of darkness to be driven back, an opportunity for people to be set free.

As we develop a Sabbath lifestyle (see last post), let’s expect it to be a time when we profoundly experience the presence of God, a time when we see Heaven touch earth. In the Lord's presence, needs are met, prayers are answered, bodies are healed & souls are restored. Let's come to Him with expectant hearts, receiving from Him all the blessings He has for us; and giving to Him our praise and adoration.

And let’s become people through whom the power of Sabbath rest flows, people who bring Sabbath rest in all its wonder, into a very needy world.

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There are many ways to build Sabbath rest into our lives, and as circumstances change we need to have a flexible approach. We are no longer bound by the religious obligation to keep a specific day for our Sabbath; as Paul clearly says, the legal code was nailed to the cross, being merely the shadow of the reality found in Christ:

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness,
which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
 And having disarmed the powers and authorities,
he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink,
or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 
These are a shadow of the things that were to come;
the reality, however, is found in Christ
[Colossians 2: 13-17].

Sabbath reality is the complete rest we are invited into as sons and daughters of our loving Father, and is the focus of this entire website. However, as we have seen, specifically designated periods of rest from our workaday lives are beneficial to the health of the whole person, and these can range from Sabbath moments to weekends or longer. The suggestions in these posts can be shared between these interludes - if we attempt to fit all the recommendations into just one period it will be self-defeating – we’ll end up exhausted!

A REGULAR SABBATH DAY
Many people find setting aside one day a week for Sabbath rest is really beneficial. The Hebrew day starts at sunset and finishes at sunset the following day. For many years my husband & I followed a similar pattern, starting a weekly Rest Day with a special evening meal; for the next 24 hours no work was undertaken, appliances were silent, and meals were simply prepared. It became a much anticipated time of refreshment; then irregular shifts and family responsibilities intervened, and we adjusted our plans to suit the new circumstances.
 
HALF DAYS
Our Sabbath Rest became a mixture of full days and half-days, slotted in at different times during each month. Sometimes we spent these together, or with other family members, at other times we were alone with the Lord; but were usually engaged with one or more of the activities mentioned in these posts.

If fitting in a full day’s rest seems an impossibility in your particular circumstances, consider setting aside shorter periods at regular intervals; perhaps a half-day, or a morning, an afternoon or an evening. Finding some way of marking the start of designated Sabbath time, for example by lighting a candle, eating a special meal, or changing out of work clothes, can be a really helpful way of moving from busyness to rest.

BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS
It is good to mark beginnings and endings with Sabbath time. For example, when I reached our first anniversary of living in a new location, I went for a long walk on the local beach to reflect on the year’s events and its many blessings; and  to pray for the year to come. I came home from my Sabbath walk filled with thanksgiving. It is also my practice to do this each year at the beginning of January.

Similarly, it is good to take time at the beginning or end of key events, festivals or busy periods: Christmas, Easter, weddings, retirement, a change of employment, parenthood etc. This designated time out stops us being swept along in the general frenzy of activity which characterises so much of western living, and gives us opportunity to reflect, plan and pray; time to hear the Lord, to be filled with thanksgiving, time to finish well.
               
WEEKENDS OR LONGER
After or during a particularly busy or stressful period, it is sometimes necessary to extend our Sabbath time into a whole weekend or longer. In one such period, my husband and I would take time away at intervals in a cottage holiday: the mornings were spent individually, alone with the Lord, the afternoons and evenings enjoying each other’s company, and the surrounding area. These Sabbath Getaways were life-savers during a challenging time.
 
NIGHTS
Unless we work night shift, nocturnal hours also give opportunity for regular time when we are refreshed, body, soul and spirit. Applying some of the Sabbath principles discussed in earlier posts enables us to get the most out of our sleep-time: by preparing for sleep by reviewing the day; giving thanks for the blessings and receiving forgiveness for the failures; by laying down worries and praying for the challenges of the next day; by reading the Word and asking for revelation during sleep. By centring our thoughts again on Jesus, and asking the wind of the Holy Spirit to blow over us as we rest, we can turn our sleep into more than natural refreshment, we can turn it into a Sabbath.
 
SABBATH MOMENTS
And then there’s the potential Sabbath Moments which sprinkle our weeks; the half–hours here and there when things are just quiet. A road trip or bus journey, waiting in the car for a family member, luxuriating in the bath tub, quiet morning moments before housemates are up; a lunchtime walk.... Each of these ordinary time-periods gives the opportunity to create something special – a Sabbath Moment.

Sabbath isn’t a day religiously observed, because we ought to;  Sabbath is a lifestyle – a life punctuated by grace-moments, when heaven touches earth .....

More on that next time....

Until then, why not share  with me your Sabbath experiences?

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Two years ago my husband & I moved to the beautiful border-country between Scotland & England, an area which was completely new to us. Our new home was an amazing answer to prayer, and for months we explored the area and marvelled at the Lord’s wonderful provision. We found that so many of our deepest desires had been met, not only in our home, but in its location, and in the area as a whole. I think our experience would have been very similar to that of Adam discovering the delights of Eden, for I’m sure that Adam spent his first day, the Lord’s day of rest, exploring and enjoying the wonders of God’s provision.

Exploring and enjoying our Heavenly Father's grace-gifts is also an important ingredient in how we spend Sabbath time. In the rush of everyday life, we often don’t appreciate all we’ve been given – we’re too busy trying to keep our heads above the water. However, our lives are filled to the brim with blessings, and Sabbath time is the time to stop and take note.

CREATION
We live in a beautiful world, despite man’s best attempts to destroy it. Scientific research shows that spending time in nature is beneficial to our health, so let’s take some Sabbath time to enjoy God’s provision. But let’s also go expecting an encounter with the Creator, for He is revealed in His handiwork.

You can read more about Meeting the Creator by clicking on this link.
 
RELATIONSHIPS
Who are the special people in your life? Our primary relationships – with God, family members and close friends - need the investment of time; instead they often they get squeezed out by our busyness, resulting in some of these ‘life-joints’ seizing up due to lack of nurture and exercise. Ear-marking some of our Sabbath rest periods for these relationships is another element of delighting in the Lord’s provision.

SPECIAL MEALS
In the western world we are blessed with a rich array of foodstuffs, however many of us limit our diet to the quick and familiar. Sabbath is a good time to explore other tastes and cuisines, and celebrate our abundance of supply; so let’s take the opportunity to go out for a meal, or cook up a feast. Eating together is also a vital part of building relationships.

Have a look at Mealtimes: a Means of Grace for more inspiration.
 
OUR SPIRITUAL INHERITANCE
God’s provision isn’t just material. We have been blessed with a huge spiritual inheritance, however many of us live like paupers instead of beloved sons and daughters of the King. We need to take some of our Sabbath rest to explore the riches of His grace. There are many pages on this website to help with this; try the following to get started:

The Power of the Cross
Who am I?
 The Blessing of Righteousness

OTHER STUFF
Our lives are filled with good things, but often we just don’t take time out to enjoy them. Concentrating so hard on making our home better that we never enjoy it as it is? Surrounded by interesting places to visit, but too often working overtime to take the family? New bike in the shed, but no time to ride it? Too focused on keeping up with the fashions to enjoy what’s already in the cupboard? The list is endless - and different for each of us. Sabbath is about taking time to enjoy and give thanks for the amazing bounty in our lives.

And then there’s the creative part of our personalities; we are made in the image of the Creator, after all. Sabbath rest provides much-needed time to explore and delight in inspirational recreation, from painting to model making, chainsaw sculpture to writing poetry; or in enjoying others’ artistry - in music, art or the written word perhaps – the things that get crowded out of our workaday lives, but have the ability to refresh or invigorate.

Sabbath rest  is such an important contributor to our health and well-being, we need to make it a lifestyle choice.

More on this on Thursday......

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In sports science, The Recovery Principle dictates that athletes build rest periods into their training programmes. Many believe that what happens to the body in terms of repair and strengthening during these programmed recovery intervals, is just as important as the actual training sessions.

If rest is important to the effectiveness of our bodies, it is also important to our souls and spirits.

Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest,
that your ox and your donkey may rest,
and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed
[Exodus 23:12 NKJV]

The Hebrew word for refreshed means to breathe, to be breathed upon, or to be refreshed as if by a current of air.

Sabbath is a time for us to both breathe and be breathed upon.

We need that ‘exhalation’, that completing of a work period as seen in the last post; but we also need to put ourselves in the way of God, so that the wind of His Spirit blows across our lives preparing us for the next season.


SABBATH GIVES US TIME TO RECALIBRATE

The ‘One in Sixty Rule’ states that a path of travel  which deviates by 1 degree off course will miss  the intended destination by 1 mile for roughly every 60 miles of travel.  So an aeroplane, for example, would miss its target landing spot by 92 feet for every mile it flew – with enormous consequences – we can imagine the problems on a long-distance flight!

The stuff of life has a tendency, little by little, to pull us off course; things crop up which demand our attention and distract us from our purpose. Our response can be to feel anxious and depressed – we’ve failed again – or we can recognise this is normal. However if we are not going to end up miles off-course we need to take time at intervals to recalibrate.

We need first of all to turn our hearts and affection towards the Lord, to centre our gaze once more on the One who gives everything meaning. It is only in relationship with Him that we can truly be ‘on course’.

                    “For in Him we live and move and have our being.”
[Acts 17:28]

.And then having re-centred ourselves, we need to answer the questions:

• What am I here for?
• What is my unique purpose?

Take some Sabbath time with the Lord to reflect on these questions. The answers are important. Try and write down your conclusion as a statement of intent. During your later rest periods, you can use this statement as your plumb line for adjustment.


SABBATH GIVES US TIME TO PREPARE

Having re-centred yourself, you can then use Sabbath time to prepare for the days to come. This is not about planning and diaries, reading reports and preparing meetings; this is about the prayerful preparation of body, soul and spirit. This is about the refreshment which comes from worship, the nourishment of the Word, the healing power of breaking bread, the encouragement of other believers and the transformative grace of His Presence.

This Sabbath time is not confined to church services or meetings; in fact sometimes it is easy to be so busy with ‘ministry’, or so taken up with the ‘atmosphere’ that we fail to come away refreshed and changed. Real Sabbath-time can be experienced anywhere – in the hills, at the beach, in the car or front room; and can be an individual activity, as well as one shared with family and special friends. It doesn’t require a large gathering to be effective.

A health-giving sabbath involves looking back & putting a seal of completion over what has gone before. It means making adjustments in the present so we are re-centred and back on track, and it should prepare us, body, mind and spirit for the days ahead.

It also is about enjoying the Lord's provision - more about this next time.....

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If we go back to the beginning of time to the first mention of Sabbath rest [Genesis 1 & 2],
we get a real sense of joy and delight. This wasn’t a gloomy day or period characterised by solemnity and a list of prohibitions, but a time of celebration of all the Lord’s handiwork. And it was in this atmosphere that Adam and Eve were created. They were called to a specific task and purpose, but their first day was this day of rest.

Our view of rest tends to focus on it as the reward for finished work. The problem with this is that many of us never ‘finish’, so we never truly rest. Adam rested, not from his work (for he hadn’t done any yet), but in all that the Lord had done - and that is the foundation for all true rest.

Because we see Sabbath rest here, right at the beginning, before the Fall, and long before the Law was ever given, it seems that rather than a religious requirement, Sabbath rest was meant to be a life-giving contribution to man’s health and well-being.

It may seem strange talking about our need for rest when the leisure industry has grown massively in the last half-century, and makes billions from our thirst for recreation. However, although true Sabbath may include leisure or recreational activities, it is much bigger than those aspects of our lives.

So how do we do 'Sabbath' in our modern world?
 
SET TIME ASIDE.
Start with manageable amounts working towards one day a week. If the thought of more than half an hour, because ‘there’s so much to do’, makes you panicky, then start right there. This is not about obeying rules, but about a grace-filled life.

STOP
Make the decision to stop for a while. According to circumstances this will look different for different people; parents with a young family, a doctor on call or a single retiree will each express Sabbath in a unique way. This is about applying life-principles rather than religious laws. For some it will mean the discipline to put aside last week’s balance sheet, for others the refusal to stop ‘feeding’ mechanical ‘servants’,  some may choose to ignore incoming emails or texts, while others will choose a day off from cooking……

ENJOY THE LORD
The number one thing about a true Sabbath rest-period is the Presence of the Lord. I have been taken aback at the number of books and articles I have read on this subject which don’t actually mention this! Although Genesis doesn’t say explicitly, it is reasonable to assume that when Adam became ‘conscious’ his senses were filled with the presence and glory of God. Sabbath is first of all about relationship. So in whatever period you have set aside, make Jesus the focus. At the start ask Him to come and fill it with Himself, and then look for a period of mutual enjoyment: the Lord enjoying you, you enjoying the Lord, and then revelling in the day together.

REFLECT ON THE PAST WEEK
Before we can really benefit from our Sabbath-break, we have to deal with what has gone before - positive and negative. We read that at each stage of creation, God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. It is really beneficial to take time during our Sabbath rest-day to reflect on the week just gone; to lay before the Cross the negatives and disappointments, the failures and worries – and receive His forgiveness and release.

And then to remember all the joys, the small (and large) victories, the aspects which have gone well, the things we can be thankful for and celebrate. We, like the Lord, can then declare over the various elements  of our week, 'This is good!'

SPEAK BLESSING OVER IT
In the account of Creation, we read several times of the Lord blessing what He had made. The word blessing in this context means to cause to prosper. A blessing given in faith carries the spiritual power to effect change. In the Old Testament, parents blessed their offspring, kings blessed their citizens, and in particular, the priesthood was given the authority to pronounce blessing in the name of God. Now it is no longer the province of a few, for every child of the New Covenant is set apart as a priest with the responsibility and authority to release blessing [ 1 Peter 2:9 ].

So let’s take time during our 'Sabbath' to imitate the Lord and release blessing over the work of our hands from the previous week. In doing this we bring completion to our endeavours, and set ourselves in the right place for the next period.

By following these practices we counter the tendency for one week to tumble into the next, deal with things which sap our energies, build an expectation of fruitfulness, and rest starts to settle on us and our households.
 
Feeling Inspired? Why not....
Set aside some time this week to start to explore the blessing of Sabbath?

More on this next time...

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One practical thing we can do in our pursuit of rest is to introduce the rhythm of regular ‘sabbaths’ or rest-days.

Sounds obvious, but for many of us with our helter-skelter lives, taking time off is on our wish-list but not in our diaries. For many Christians, Sunday is considered to be the Sabbath; for a few it may equal proscription: a list of forbidden activities, a day of energy-sapping boredom; but for many others, far from being a day of rest the Sunday-sabbath is often the busiest day of the week.

And for those without any sort of Sunday-sabbath focus, days off are frequently spent catching up with outstanding tasks from the working week, ferrying children around to an array of activities, fulfilling family obligations, and never-ending improvements and maintenance on homes and gardens.

As the numbers of stress-related illnesses soar, the fact is many of us just need a rest. And not solely on an annual holiday, but a regular pattern of rest-days or periods.

The idea of a rhythm of rest and work goes right back to the beginning, when the Lord followed His work of creation with rest.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing;
so on the seventh day He rested from all His work.
Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done.
[Genesis 2:1-3]

The Hebrew word for rest is the same word from which we get the word sabbath, and it means to ‘cease, to sit down or sit still’. If something is made holy, it is separated, set aside. The first Sabbath, whether we believe it was literally a day or a period, was a set-aside time filled with the blessing and presence of God.

And Man who was created on the sixth day, when everything else had been accomplished, had as his first day, a day of rest. This is significant because his rest day came before he started on his appointed tasks rather than afterwards!

Sabbath rest is a faith issue, because true rest is rooted in our trust in the provision of God. Only people who know that He is their Source can take their hand from the plough. Only people who know their times and circumstances are in the Lord’s hands can take time off. Only people who know He’s got them covered can rest in the midst of stuff that needs attention.

The challenge to us is to develop our trust in God’s provision, and to set aside specific time at intervals to rest from our work, and be rejuvenated by the presence and blessing of God in a real Sabbath rest.

Maybe two questions arise…..
How do I find the time? and What do I do in my rest-time?

The answer to the first, is to start where you are, with manageable amounts; even ½ hour a week is better than nothing. And in time this rest-time can be extended to one hour, half a day, a full day - or longer!

And we'll explore some answers to the second next time ….....

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