We can be born-again, filled with the Spirit, and enjoying the blessing of God, but living in a ‘fallen world’ means we will still have issues to deal with from time to time. This part of Kingdom Living, offers some tools for slaying the ‘giants’ in your life.

In FOUNDATIONS FOR BIBLICAL REST we explored how to lay a firm basis for a rest-filled life by dealing with the underlying issues which prevent us experiencing inner peace.

And the next section,CREATING NEW MINDSETS, showed the importance of changing our way of thinking, in order to align ourselves with God and His ways.

If you haven’t yet visited these pages, I encourage you to do so before reading on—everything will make more sense! In addition, the INTRODUCTION lays out the background thinking for the name ‘Rhythms of Grace’ and the purpose of the website.

DEFEATING THE GIANTS

Jesus Christ was supremely a man at rest. Although He had to contend with demonic manifestations [Mark 1:39], the fickleness of crowd emotion [Luke 4:16-30], the slanderous attacks of the religious establishment [Matthew 26:57-68], and financial need [Matthew 17:24-27], as well as the demands of His ministry [Matthew 15:19-21], we get the picture that He continued to be at peace in His inner being. This is beautifully illustrated in the story of the storm at sea:

One day (Jesus) and his disciples got in a boat. “Let’s cross the lake,” he said. And off they went. It was smooth sailing, and he fell asleep. A terrific storm came up suddenly on the lake. Water poured in, and they were about to capsize. They woke Jesus:

“Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”

Getting to his feet, he told the wind, “Silence!” and the waves, “Quiet down!” They did it. The lake became smooth as glass.
Then he said to his disciples, “Why can’t you trust me?”

They were in absolute awe, staggered and stammering, “Who is this, anyway? He calls out to the winds and sea, and they do what he tells them!” [Luke 8:22-25]

To be sure, Jesus sometimes expressed anger, and felt deeply grieved or troubled by the situations He met; but He was totally secure in His identity, unflinchingly sure of His purpose, and absolutely confident in His relationship with His Father. So the situations He faced didn’t alter that deep sense of well-being.

As we seek to live in rest, we also find there are ‘giants’ in the path; obstacles in the way, which need perseverance and Holy Spirit wisdom to dislodge. Jesus has equipped us with the weapons to slay these ‘giants’, and calls us to Himself to teach us how to use them. But we need to understand we wage war against these ‘foes’ not from a position of defeat and intimidation, but one of victory purchased for us on the Cross [Colossians 2:15; 1 Corinthians 1:18]. And therefore, like Jesus, we also battle from a place of rest: knowing who we are, and what we are called to as beloved children of God.

INVEST IN CHANGE

Rest is both a destination, and a journey. We come into a place of resting in the finished work of Christ, then from that place we keep journeying—learning how to live a life of rest.

I have heard it said that ‘God withholds revelation, not from us, but for us’—because He wants us to seek it out; and He wants us to learn in relation to Him. The foundational truths which got us started have layers of meaning; revelation waiting to be explored; revelation which we will never exhaust to the end of our lives. As well as battling our ‘giants’, we need to keep walking, keep climbing—and the view gets better as we go!

Lasting change never comes without investment; to walk the walk of faith we have to invest ourselves in the process. The pages of this website are deliberately designed to encourage that investment, because the world doesn’t need more knowledge, it needs people whose lives have changed and who leak those changes everywhere they go.

Many pages on Rhythms of Grace have content or links to external or internal resources which will help you overcome your pressing issues.
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For example:

• Guilt & Shame: MISSING THE MARK: OVERCOMING GUILT AND SHAME
• Fear: PSALM 91
• Insecurity & Low Self-Esteem: WHO AM I REALLY?
• Physical & Emotional Needs: THE POWER OF THE CROSS

 
In addition, a variety of specific topics will be addressed on Bread for the Journey Blog. Click on the picture below...

BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY BLOG

NOW LET'S CONTINUE OUR JOURNEY…

DEVELOPING LIFE RHYTHMS

But before we do, please take some time to give me some feedback on 'Rhythms of Grace', in the comment-box below...

RHYTHMS OF GRACE: A JOURNEY INTO REST

[Photo credits:  Henry Hustava (knight);  Victor Rodriguez (stormy sky); Jeremy Bishop (waves) @ Unsplash, with thanks]