“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.
So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God; 10 For he who has once entered [God’s] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own. 11 Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell].
Hebrews 4:9-11 AMP
There is a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for God’s people. This rest is a rest of faith; a rest of trust in Him and His ability to meet every need you have or could ever have.
You are either laboring or you are resting. When people do not trust in God, they trust in themselves. Trusting in yourself or anything other than the Lord is unbelief and disobedience. It is also stressful. Trusting in God requires faith, obedience, and trust. Unbelief and disobedience will rob you of the blessings available to you as an obedient child of God. Unless you trust in God as your only source and supply, you will not enter into His rest. You have to cease from the weariness and pain of your own human labors. God wants you to know and experience His rest for yourself. You must be zealous; you must exert yourself; you must strive diligently to enter God’s rest. The only work you need to do is to place your trust firmly in God and obey Him in all things. What can you do to enter into God’s rest?
Cast your cares on Him:
Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. 1 Peter 5:7 AMP
Don’t be double-minded:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:5-8 NKJV
Be motivated by, and operate in, faith—not fear:
Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” Hebrews 10:38 NKJV
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 AMP
Know God’s Word. If you know His Word, you will know His will:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6a NKJV
Know that God’s Word is true and that He always keeps His promises:
Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it. Jeremiah 1:12 AMP
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Numbers 23:19 NKJV
Act on God’s Word. If you don’t DO the Word, you demonstrate that you do not really believe the Word. If you don’t believe the Word, you will not inherit the promises:
But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. 23 For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; 24 For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. 25 But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience). James 1:22-25 AMP
Always be full of joy and gratefulness:
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all of them, This day is holy to the Lord your God; mourn not nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Law. 10 Then [Ezra] told them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. And be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and stronghold. 11 So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, Be still, for the day is holy. And do not be grieved and sad. 12 And all the people went their way to eat, drink, send portions, and make great rejoicing, for they had understood the words that were declared to them. Nehemiah 8:9-12 AMP
Demonstrate that you trust Him and that you know He is God and that He is still the boss, by your faith and obedience. Be STILL and KNOW:
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Psalms 46:10-11 NKJV