MINISTERING OUT OF THE PLACE OF REST
John 7:37-39 – In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Now this is something that many can’t quite understand. Whether it is in singing or in preaching its not our talent, effort, or anything we can do. Ministry has to flow out of our belly, out of our spirit not out of our head. So its not how hard we preach or how talented our delivery is, it is simply rivers of living water flowing out of us to the people all around us. Ministry has to become the outflow of drinking in His Spirit. Ministry actually becomes the overflow of our thirst for God, we take Him in and He flows out of us to the hurting people around us.
THE REST OF HEAVEN
Heb.6:19,20 – Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Rest has been an important theme in the scripture since the Lord rested on the seventh day after creating the heavens and the earth. Honoring the sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments and is a principle still important for the people of God today to set aside one day each week to rest and honor the Lord. Jesus spoke about rest in Matthew 11: 28-30 – “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Ultimately the Lord is pointing to our final rest in heaven, enjoying Him and resting in His presence for eternity. Jesus displayed this when He entered into heaven as a man representing us and declared that access into this rest of God is available now. So today Jesus is still calling us to come to Him, draw near to Him having your sins washed away and to come boldly into His presence. We have access to His presence in prayer in our time of need but even more than that, we have been invited into this new way to live, living our lives in the presence of the Lord.
