Sit, Walk, Stand

Ephesians 2:4-6

Many times in our Christian walk, we speak of resting in the Lord as if it is something that we should do after we are completely exhausted from the cares of this life. It is made to sound as if we finally sit down and take our ease in Christ only after we have worked sufficiently for Him in one capacity or the other. The order usually goes something like this: Stand up for the Lord in front of the world and take the blows; then walk softly before God and stay on the straight and narrow; and finally, someday, when it is all said and done, we will sit together with Him in heaven. Paul paints quite a different picture.

The order of events, according to the Apostle Paul, is designed by the Holy Spirit, for nothing happens in the Word by chance. Paul shows us what I call the “2-4-6” method of Christian experience. Watch it unfold:

Sit – “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6).

Walk – “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (4:1).

Stand – “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (6:11).

We actually start out defeated and beaten somewhere on the road of life, and then Jesus “raised us up together” (2:6). This is a type of our salvation experience, where the Good Samaritan cares for us along life’s highway. The first thing that He does is sit us next to Jesus. The starting point for every believer is resting next to the Master. Only when we have learned to rest with Him in His finished work are we qualified to “walk worthy” (4:1).

The “walk” is now made easier because we are accustomed to being so close to Him in proximity. You need not fear that you are going to wander off of the “straight and narrow”. Even if you do go down into a valley of the shadow of death, your Shepherd will enter it with you, and He will not abandon you in the midst.

Once we have placed our daily walk in the Lord, we are ready to stand when the enemy begins his attack. Interestingly enough, there is no mention here of the believer fighting back. Some have preached sermons on spiritual warfare, calling for militant Christians to “attack the devil”. Paul tells the believer to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (6:10), showing us that all of the battle belongs to the Lord and none of it belongs to us.

In Christ, He does the fighting and we get the victory. What a Savior! While we certainly wrestle (6:12), when it comes to the attack of the enemy, we simply stand there, while Christ takes care of us (6:13, 14). Consequently, the Holy Spirit is careful to let us know that we will stand in the “evil day”. Note that it is singular, for whatever bad comes our way, it is temporary. When God blesses the believer, it is always with “good days”, used in the plural, for they will last for all time (1 Peter 3:10).

Work to Rest

Hebrews 4:9-11

When you enter into the rest of God, you cease from your own works (Hebrews 4:10), in the same manner that God ceased from His own works on the 7th day, and rested. Entering into that rest is one of the hardest things that the believer will ever do, for we are hard wired due to our first father Adam, to “do”, and not to rest.

Adam’s sin in the Garden brought sweat to the brow and a curse to man that he would live by the sweat of his face all of his life. Where Adam had simply tended to the Garden prior to the fall, he now had to work the land to bring forth fruit. When Jesus travailed in His own Garden, prior to the cross, He sweat as it were great drops of blood. The mingling of the precious blood of the Savior with the sweat of the curse would forever free man from having to live by his work again. Any man who accepts Christ by faith can enter into the rest that Jesus paid such a steep price to achieve.

Now this certainly does not mean that man can quit his job and lay on the couch all day and Christ will provide. If a man does not work, he does not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but it does mean that Christ has redeemed us from being a slave to our work. In fact, the work that is encouraged in Hebrews 4 is the constant labor, to stop laboring!

Hebrews 4 is the “rest” chapter, with the word being used some 9 times in that chapter alone. The framework is built around the children of Israel failing to enter into the rest of the Promised Land when 10 spies said that they couldn’t take it. Paul says that they failed to enter into rest because of “unbelief” (Hebrews 4:6), and that there is a better rest than the Promised Land anyhow, since David prophesied of a day of rest after Joshua had crossed the Jordan (4:5-8).

If they failed because of unbelief, then we fail because of the same thing. We must labor to enter into the finished work of Christ, not by our works; for that shows that we do not believe that it truly is a “finished work”. We must stop trying to achieve satisfaction in the Spirit by our own efforts. These efforts, while genuine, only show that we are trusting in our own ability to save, and not fully trusting in His ability.

God’s work of creation was a perfect work, as everything that God does is. Only when His work was completely finished, and that work was deemed “good”, could God rest on the 7th day. Christ’s work of redemption was a perfect work as well. Only when He said, “It is finished” could Jesus hang His head and “give up the ghost”. While all other priests never sat down (there were no chairs in the tabernacle), our High Priest Jesus has sit down at the right hand of the Father, and is resting in His finished work. We have been saved so that we can “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

Believer, rest in His finished work today. May your only spiritual labor today be the labor that enters into rest. Have faith in His finished work and sit together with Him in every area of your life.

The Rest and the Refreshing

Acts 2:4, 11

Many things have been said against the biblical practice of speaking in tongues. It is often chided as having passed with the apostles, linked with cultic activities or even as being from the devil himself. Religion often links things that it does not want or understand, as being from the devil. John the Baptist was said to have a devil in him (Matthew 11:18), and Jesus’ miracles were attributed, by the church of that day, as being from the devil as well (Matthew 12:24).

Isaiah first prophesied that God would use tongues as a means of speaking to His people (Isaiah 28:11), and that they would deem speaking with other tongues as a “rest” and a “refreshing” (Isaiah 28:12). On the Day of Pentecost, when the church was empowered by the Holy Spirit, all 120 that were present, “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). This is not to insinuate that one must speak in tongues to call themselves a Christian, but it does show us that this wonderful gift is available to believers because of the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

A frequently used criticism of speaking in tongues is the argument that tongues were only necessary to minister the gospel to the many people who spoke various languages. I have even heard it argued that tongues should only be used when the Holy Spirit overtakes the tongue of a missionary in a foreign land, who has no interpreter, so that he can preach the gospel in the native tongue of the land. This attack against the biblical gift of tongues is from no other source but Satan! He does not want God’s people experiencing the rest and the refreshing.

In Acts 2:11, the Bible records that all of the nationalities represented on the Day of Pentecost could hear their own tongue being spoken by the 120. They do not say that they hear the gospel, only the “wonderful works of God”. It is not until verse 14 that Peter stands up and preaches to them of Jesus Christ and His finished work, and there is no indication that he preaches this message in tongues. To argue that tongues are for the presentation of the gospel in any form is outside of the Word of God. This gift is not for gospel preaching, but for saint edification!

Paul wrote that when you speak in tongues you are not speaking to men, but to God (1 Corinthians 14:2). He further wrote that when you speak in tongues you edify, or build up, or repair yourself (14:4). He said that it is your choice, as a Spirit-filled believer, to pray in tongues or not. It is also your choice to sing in tongues, or not (14:15). He told young Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him (1 Timothy 1:6), and Jude told the church to build themselves up on their most holy faith. How? By, “praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20).

Ask God today for a fresh revelation of this truth. He will freely give His children all things (Romans 8:32), and, as a good Father, He wishes to give you liberally of His Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). A beautiful part of God’s abundant grace is how the Holy Spirit ministers in you and through you, helping your sicknesses of body and soul, and interceding for you in areas that you have no direction (Romans 8:26).

Live free in His love today!

The Right Thing at the Right Time

Luke 10:38-42

Let’s revisit the lady from yesterday’s devotion: Mary of Bethany. This time, we go into her home to a moment that we mentioned previously, where Martha works in the kitchen while Mary sits at the feet of Jesus. There are some powerful truths contained in this scene, and we need a fresh revelation of each one.

To “sit at the feet” was sometimes a literal term, denoting physical position, but most often it meant to learn in a one-on-one setting. Paul uses this term of himself when he gives as a portion of his biography that he was brought up “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3), meaning that Gamaliel had served as his teacher. Mary is going to the highest school in the world: the feet of Jesus!

While sitting at Jesus’ feet, she also “heard His word” (Luke 10:39). When Jesus spoke, His words were “spirit” and “life” (John 6:63). His words washed clean the disciples (John 15:3), and the soldiers sent by the High Priest to arrest Him were instead arrested by His words, stating “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). You and I, His church, have ourselves sanctified and cleansed by “the washing of water by the Word” (Ephesians 5:26). In other words, when He speaks, you feel clean.

“But Martha was cumbered about much serving” (Luke 10:40). The Greek word for “serving” is often translated “ministry” in the New Testament, meaning that what she was doing in preparing food for the Master was a form of ministry, which is of course honorable. The problem is found in the Greek definition of “cumbered” which is the word ‘perispao’. It means “distracted”. Martha’s “ministry” had her so distracted that she couldn’t see the forest for the trees. The very one whom she is working so hard to impress is sitting in her front room. While there is nothing wrong with cooking the meal, there is something wrong with letting the meal cook you!

Ministry is an awesome lifestyle; I thank God every day that He chose me for this high honor. However, when ministry becomes all about “doing” and not about “being”, then we have become distracted with serving. These feelings lead us to wonder if our Jesus even loves us anymore, when like Martha we ask, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” (Luke 10:40). What a trick of the devil to cause us to believe that our Lord is anything less than caring and loving. How often has Satan used the workings of ministry to distract the minister from the love of Jesus?

When the Lord wants to get your attention with love and affection, He simply says your name twice, “Martha, Martha” (verse 41). How wonderful to hear our name on the lips of our Savior! All of our cares and troubles just fly out the window when we have Jesus turn His face our way.

“One thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part” (verse 42). The most needful thing in the world is for people to sit at the feet of Jesus, casting all of their sorrows and cares onto Him so that He can wash them off with the water of His words. To Martha, this seemed like the wrong time to be relaxing when there was so much work to be done. Jesus is not advocating laziness; on the contrary, He is encouraging us to do the right thing at the right time, even when everyone else is fretting over everything else. This resting at Jesus’ feet leads Mary to anoint Jesus’ body for burial before He even dies (see yesterday’s devotion), for Mary is the only one that believes that His body will not be in the tomb for post-burial anointing. The right thing at the right time leads us to be one step ahead of everyone else in our business, our families, and our finances and in our decisions; and all of that from a little time at the feet of Jesus!

Then Came Amalek

Exodus 17:8-13

This passage chronicles the only fight that Israel had between Egypt and Sinai. Once they go under the Covenant of Law they are found fighting constantly, but here, while still under the Abrahamic Covenant of promise, they have one fight that defines the position of the believer under God’s grace and favor.

Israel arrives at Rephidim, which is “resting places” in Hebrew, showing us the place of rest that we have in Christ. Immediately, Amalek comes to fight with Israel in the resting place, which makes sense due to the fact that Amalek comes from the Hebrew root word “amal” meaning “worrisome labor; pain”.

The chief fight for the believer is not against Satan or the forces of the darkness of this world, but it is against “worrisome labor”. In a nutshell, our battle is to enter into the “resting place” while everything around us tells us to worry and work. The Apostle Paul knew this when he instructed the believer to “labor therefore to enter into that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). This is the token statement in the entire New Covenant where Paul tells the believer to labor for anything. Isn’t it interesting that our one labor is to stop laboring?

Moses sends Joshua into the valley to confront the Amalekites while he goes to the top of the mountain to stand with the rod of God. Moses understood the symbolism of the rod, as it had been held up to part the waters of the Red Sea, signifying God’s arm of strength. With the arm of God fighting for Israel, Moses knew that they could not lose. As long as the covenant keeper was lifted up, there would be victory then, and if we hold up covenant now, the victory is ours through the covenant that Jesus made with His Father at Calvary.

No matter how much we know about covenant and grace and God’s goodness and kindness, as we labor to enter into rest, our own works will most likely become involved. Moses’ hands began to grow heavy (Exodus 17:12) as a sign of our own works growing more and more wearisome. Though we know the answers, sometimes we falter and fail in their application. We need something more to help us than our own knowledge and intelligence.

“There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9, 10). This is not to insinuate that you will not cease from your works until you enter into His rest, but rather that you will not enter into His rest UNTIL you cease from your own works. When the hands grow heavy, it is time to sit down, just as Moses did. Look at what he sits on, and who helps him:

“But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up His hands” (Exodus 17:12). Moses sits upon a stone, which is the solid rock of Christ, which Jesus said if we build our house upon, it will stand during the storm (Matthew 7:25). Aaron and Hur are a type of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, holding up our hands. In this position, the believer is off of their own feet and being supported completely by the finished work of Jesus. Only here will we see victory in our valleys, when we are resting on the mountain.

One final note: the word “steady” which describes how Moses’ hands remained until the going down of the sun is the same word in Hebrew as “faith”. Let your faith rest on the perfect, finished work of Jesus until the setting of your sun, when you meet Him in glory.

When Jesus Rests His Head

Luke 9:58

This passage comes at the beginning of a trio of statements made by Jesus as tests of discipleship. A man approaches Him and wishes to be a follower. Jesus explains that even the animals have a place to sleep at night, but He has nowhere. We have no record as to whether this turned the man away or not, but we do get an inside look at the mind and the heart of our Savior.

While the moral of the story is that we should be prepared to give all for our Savior, even our security and comforts if necessary, the higher lesson learned is that Jesus was a man on a mission. From the beginning of time, God saw the cross as the way to save mankind, and He destined His Son to go to that cross. Long before Adam sinned, even long before Adam was created, God had predetermined that Jesus would be the sacrifice for sins. Due to this fact, it is important to remember that when we read the Gospels, there was nothing shocking to Jesus about His coming death in Jerusalem. In fact, Jesus knew it was coming from the start (John 9:39).

The phrase that Jesus uses regarding His rest is “the Son of man hath nowhere to lay His head”. The phrase, “lay” is the Greek word ‘kleno’ and it means “to recline”. Jesus is speaking in the natural, with a spiritual emphasis: He has no place to call home and He has yet to finish His work. We are often too quick to stop what we are involved in long before we finish. How many projects have you started and then life got in the way, and things didn’t get completed? We are a people that move from one thing to the next, often without finishing the thing that we are working on at the moment. Perhaps we think that the next thing will bring more pleasure, or perhaps we are just quitters.

Jesus was far from being a quitter! In fact, He teaches us the principle of never stopping until you are finished. The Apostle Paul had this in mind when from a Roman prison cell he wrote to young Timothy, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, and I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:6-8). Paul was not ready to be offered or to depart until he had “finished” the course. Finishing what he was here to do was important to Paul and it should be important to us.

Jesus suffered all of the cruelties of the cross for you and for me. So complete was His work there that He cried, “It is finished” just before He died (John 19:30). However, if you will notice, He knew that “all things were now accomplished” in the 28th verse, before He ever said, “I thirst” (John 19:29). Noticing that there was one thing left to be done, Jesus put off yelling “It is finished” until He had drank the sour wine for us, so that we could be freed from the sins of our fathers. As the old song says, “When He was on the cross, I was on His mind”.

Just after “It is finished”, the text says, “He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30). The word “bowed” is the Greek word ‘kleno’; the same word used in Luke 9:58 for “lay His head”. At the cross, when He had sufficiently paid for you and me, Jesus finally found a place to lay His head. Aren’t you glad that He didn’t rest until He had said, “It is finished”?

The Rest and the Refreshing

Isaiah 28:11, 12

This marks the first prophecy in the Bible regarding speaking with other tongues. We know that the “stammering lips and another tongue” refer to this beautiful gift because Paul quotes this passage in 1 Corinthians 14:21, “In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord”. The translators added the words “men of”, taking the original meaning away from the text, but Paul is referring to men speaking with unknown tongues (1 Corinthians 14:1-22).

When a believer speaks with other tongues, they are not speaking to someone else, for no one else would understand what they are saying. They are speaking things that are mysteries to themselves, but they are being directed at God (1 Corinthians 14:2). This speaking can be done as prayer or even as a song (14:14, 15), and it is always done to edify the speaker (14:4). To edify means “to build or repair or to grow in wisdom”, so by speaking with other tongues, the believer is building up themselves.

The Apostle Jude instructed us to do as much, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 1:20). How do we “build up” or “edify” ourselves? We do this by praying in the Holy Ghost which is praying in tongues. Paul told young Timothy to “stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). The gift that is inside of us that we can stir up at will is the unknown tongue. It is ours, so let’s use it!

Isaiah tells us that speaking with other tongues will be both a rest and a refreshing, but that many people “would not hear” (Isaiah 28:12). Paul envisioned as much when he said, regarding spiritual gifts, “But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant” (1 Corinthians 14:38). Let us that have ears to hear pay close attention to what the Spirit is saying to us as He gives us instructions for our rest.

Each believer can walk in and function in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. You received the Comforter when you invited Jesus into your heart, but there is always more fullness to be had. Paul told the church at Ephesus to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), denoting that there is more filling to be done, even after we are saved. Even the disciples and apostles, who had been present out the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, needed a re-filling of the Spirit from time-to-time, as Acts 4:31 bears out.

Don’t let detractors discourage you from using your prayer language. If you wish to use tongues as edification and you are not sure about it, ask the Father and He will freely give the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13), but don’t shy away because you think that it is not for you or even that it is off-limits for the church in general. Some site Acts 2 as evidence that tongues is only to be used to preach to people of other languages, but a close examination of that chapter will show that when the strangers in Jerusalem heard tongues they heard of “the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:11). When it came time to hear the gospel message, which led 3000 to salvation, they heard Peter preach a message to them; with no indication that he preached in tongues (Acts 2:14).

You have instant rest and constant refreshing at your disposal; believe it or not.

That I May Know Him

Philippians 3:10

If there is any one that ever lived that could claim to know the character of the risen Christ, surely it was the Apostle Paul. Yet, when writing to the church at Philippi, he says, “That I may know him”, as if there is more for him to know. How telling is this? If Paul had more to learn of the glorious Savior, surely we have a world of knowledge awaiting us!

The context of Paul’s request is a recap of his life prior to meeting Jesus. He counts all previous knowledge and law keeping as “loss for Christ” (Phil. 3:7), and “dung” (Verse 8), willing to exchange them “for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”. The thirst for knowledge is a recurring theme in Paul’s writings as he challenges believers to come to a fuller understanding of whom that they are in Christ. Notice his insistence:

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” (Romans 15:14)

“That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge.” (1 Corinthians 1:5)

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15:34)

These are just a few examples of Paul appealing to the knowledge of the believer. His belief was that there was no greater knowledge to be found than that which brings Christ into fuller light in your heart and mind. There was and still is, always something more to learn about our Savior.

The fullness of knowledge is linked to the fullness of spirit. Paul goes on to say, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12). The daily increase in his knowledge of who Jesus was led him to an apprehension of what it meant to be complete in Christ. The more that he learned of Christ, the more that he felt complete or “perfect”.

Jesus told us to “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me” (Matthew 11:29). Daily resting in Christ, whose yoke is “easy” and whose “burden is light” (Matt. 11:30), causes us to “learn” who He is. The more we rest in His finished work, the more that our awareness of His love and compassion is for us.

As you go about your day, take every available moment to dwell on the Father’s love for you. As you allow grace to wash over your soul, you place yourself beneath the yoke of Christ which is easy and light. Every moment that you rest under that yoke, you come into a fuller knowledge of who Christ is, which leads you one step further to living a perfect lifestyle. I do not insinuate that you will never fail again, but the goal in Christianity is to let Christ live His life through us, and that will be a life free from the stain and the failure of sin.

Sit, Walk, Stand

Ephesians 2:4-6

Many times in our Christian walk, we speak of resting in the Lord as if it is something that we should do after we are completely exhausted from the cares of this life. It is made to sound as if we finally sit down and take our ease in Christ only after we have worked sufficiently for Him in one capacity or the other. The order usually goes something like this: Stand up for the Lord in front of the world and take the blows; then walk softly before God and stay on the straight and narrow; and finally, someday, when it is all said and done, we will sit together with Him in heaven. Paul paints quite a different picture.

The order of events, according to the Apostle Paul, is designed by the Holy Spirit, for nothing happens in the Word by chance. Paul shows us what I call the “2-4-6” method of Christian experience. Watch it unfold:

Sit – “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6).

Walk – “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (4:1).

Stand – “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (6:11).

We actually start out defeated and beaten somewhere on the road of life, and then Jesus “raised us up together” (2:6). This is a type of our salvation experience, where the Good Samaritan cares for us along life’s highway. The first thing that He does is sit us next to Jesus. The starting point for every believer is resting next to the Master. Only when we have learned to rest with Him in His finished work are we qualified to “walk worthy” (4:1).

The “walk” is now made easier because we are accustomed to being so close to Him in proximity. You need not fear that you are going to wander off of the “straight and narrow”. Even if you do go down into a valley of the shadow of death, your Shepherd will enter it with you, and He will not abandon you in the midst.

Once we have placed our daily walk in the Lord, we are ready to stand when the enemy begins his attack. Interestingly enough, there is no mention here of the believer fighting back. Some have preached sermons on spiritual warfare, calling for militant Christians to “attack the devil”. Paul tells the believer to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (6:10), showing us that all of the battle belongs to the Lord and none of it belongs to us.

In Christ, He does the fighting and we get the victory. What a Savior! While we certainly wrestle (6:12), when it comes to the attack of the enemy, we simply stand there, while Christ takes care of us (6:13, 14). Consequently, the Holy Spirit is careful to let us know that we will stand in the “evil day”. Note that it is singular, for whatever bad comes our way, it is temporary. When God blesses the believer, it is always with “good days”, used in the plural, for they will last for all time (1 Peter 3:10).

The Rest and the Refreshing

Acts 2:4, 11

Many things have been said against the biblical practice of speaking in tongues. It is often chided as having passed with the apostles, linked with cultic activities or even as being from the devil himself. Religion often links things that it does not want or understand, as being from the devil. John the Baptist was said to have a devil in him (Matthew 11:18), and Jesus’ miracles were attributed, by the church of that day, as being from the devil as well (Matthew 12:24).

Isaiah first prophesied that God would use tongues as a means of speaking to His people (Isaiah 28:11), and that they would deem speaking with other tongues as a “rest” and a “refreshing” (Isaiah 28:12). On the Day of Pentecost, when the church was empowered by the Holy Spirit, all 120 that were present, “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). This is not to insinuate that one must speak in tongues to call themselves a Christian, but it does show us that this wonderful gift is available to believers because of the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

A frequently used criticism of speaking in tongues is the argument that tongues were only necessary to minister the gospel to the many people who spoke various languages. I have even heard it argued that tongues should only be used when the Holy Spirit overtakes the tongue of a missionary in a foreign land, who has no interpreter, so that he can preach the gospel in the native tongue of the land. This attack against the biblical gift of tongues is from no other source but Satan! He does not want God’s people experiencing the rest and the refreshing.

In Acts 2:11, the Bible records that all of the nationalities represented on the Day of Pentecost could hear their own tongue being spoken by the 120. They do not say that they hear the gospel, only the “wonderful works of God”. It is not until verse 14 that Peter stands up and preaches to them of Jesus Christ and His finished work, and there is no indication that he preaches this message in tongues. To argue that tongues are for the presentation of the gospel in any form is outside of the Word of God. This gift is not for gospel preaching, but for saint edification!

Paul wrote that when you speak in tongues you are not speaking to men, but to God (1 Corinthians 14:2). He further wrote that when you speak in tongues you edify, or build up, or repair yourself (14:4). He said that it is your choice, as a Spirit-filled believer, to pray in tongues or not. It is also your choice to sing in tongues, or not (14:15). He told young Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him (1 Timothy 1:6), and Jude told the church to build themselves up on their most holy faith. How? By, “praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20).

Ask God today for a fresh revelation of this truth. He will freely give His children all things (Romans 8:32), and, as a good Father, He wishes to give you liberally of His Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). A beautiful part of God’s abundant grace is how the Holy Spirit ministers in you and through you, helping your sicknesses of body and soul, and interceding for you in areas that you have no direction (Romans 8:26).

Live free in His love today!

The Right Thing at the Right Time

Luke 10:38-42

Let’s revisit the lady from yesterday’s devotion: Mary of Bethany. This time, we go into her home to a moment that we mentioned previously, where Martha works in the kitchen while Mary sits at the feet of Jesus. There are some powerful truths contained in this scene, and we need a fresh revelation of each one.

To “sit at the feet” was sometimes a literal term, denoting physical position, but most often it meant to learn in a one-on-one setting. Paul uses this term of himself when he gives as a portion of his biography that he was brought up “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3), meaning that Gamaliel had served as his teacher. Mary is going to the highest school in the world: the feet of Jesus!

While sitting at Jesus’ feet, she also “heard His word” (Luke 10:39). When Jesus spoke, His words were “spirit” and “life” (John 6:63). His words washed clean the disciples (John 15:3), and the soldiers sent by the High Priest to arrest Him were instead arrested by His words, stating “Never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). You and I, His church, have ourselves sanctified and cleansed by “the washing of water by the Word” (Ephesians 5:26). In other words, when He speaks, you feel clean.

“But Martha was cumbered about much serving” (Luke 10:40). The Greek word for “serving” is often translated “ministry” in the New Testament, meaning that what she was doing in preparing food for the Master was a form of ministry, which is of course honorable. The problem is found in the Greek definition of “cumbered” which is the word ‘perispao’. It means “distracted”. Martha’s “ministry” had her so distracted that she couldn’t see the forest for the trees. The very one whom she is working so hard to impress is sitting in her front room. While there is nothing wrong with cooking the meal, there is something wrong with letting the meal cook you!

Ministry is an awesome lifestyle; I thank God every day that He chose me for this high honor. However, when ministry becomes all about “doing” and not about “being”, then we have become distracted with serving. These feelings lead us to wonder if our Jesus even loves us anymore, when like Martha we ask, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” (Luke 10:40). What a trick of the devil to cause us to believe that our Lord is anything less than caring and loving. How often has Satan used the workings of ministry to distract the minister from the love of Jesus?

When the Lord wants to get your attention with love and affection, He simply says your name twice, “Martha, Martha” (verse 41). How wonderful to hear our name on the lips of our Savior! All of our cares and troubles just fly out the window when we have Jesus turn His face our way.

“One thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part” (verse 42). The most needful thing in the world is for people to sit at the feet of Jesus, casting all of their sorrows and cares onto Him so that He can wash them off with the water of His words. To Martha, this seemed like the wrong time to be relaxing when there was so much work to be done. Jesus is not advocating laziness; on the contrary, He is encouraging us to do the right thing at the right time, even when everyone else is fretting over everything else. This resting at Jesus’ feet leads Mary to anoint Jesus’ body for burial before He even dies (see yesterday’s devotion), for Mary is the only one that believes that His body will not be in the tomb for post-burial anointing. The right thing at the right time leads us to be one step ahead of everyone else in our business, our families, and our finances and in our decisions; and all of that from a little time at the feet of Jesus!

Then Came Amalek

Exodus 17:8-13

This passage chronicles the only fight that Israel had between Egypt and Sinai. Once they go under the Covenant of Law they are found fighting constantly, but here, while still under the Abrahamic Covenant of promise, they have one fight that defines the position of the believer under God’s grace and favor.

Israel arrives at Rephidim, which is “resting places” in Hebrew, showing us the place of rest that we have in Christ. Immediately, Amalek comes to fight with Israel in the resting place, which makes sense due to the fact that Amalek comes from the Hebrew root word “amal” meaning “worrisome labor; pain”.

The chief fight for the believer is not against Satan or the forces of the darkness of this world, but it is against “worrisome labor”. In a nutshell, our battle is to enter into the “resting place” while everything around us tells us to worry and work. The Apostle Paul knew this when he instructed the believer to “labor therefore to enter into that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). This is the token statement in the entire New Covenant where Paul tells the believer to labor for anything. Isn’t it interesting that our one labor is to stop laboring?

Moses sends Joshua into the valley to confront the Amalekites while he goes to the top of the mountain to stand with the rod of God. Moses understood the symbolism of the rod, as it had been held up to part the waters of the Red Sea, signifying God’s arm of strength. With the arm of God fighting for Israel, Moses knew that they could not lose. As long as the covenant keeper was lifted up, there would be victory then, and if we hold up covenant now, the victory is ours through the covenant that Jesus made with His Father at Calvary.

No matter how much we know about covenant and grace and God’s goodness and kindness, as we labor to enter into rest, our own works will most likely become involved. Moses’ hands began to grow heavy (Exodus 17:12) as a sign of our own works growing more and more wearisome. Though we know the answers, sometimes we falter and fail in their application. We need something more to help us than our own knowledge and intelligence.

“There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9, 10). This is not to insinuate that you will not cease from your works until you enter into His rest, but rather that you will not enter into His rest UNTIL you cease from your own works. When the hands grow heavy, it is time to sit down, just as Moses did. Look at what he sits on, and who helps him:

“But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up His hands” (Exodus 17:12). Moses sits upon a stone, which is the solid rock of Christ, which Jesus said if we build our house upon, it will stand during the storm (Matthew 7:25). Aaron and Hur are a type of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, holding up our hands. In this position, the believer is off of their own feet and being supported completely by the finished work of Jesus. Only here will we see victory in our valleys, when we are resting on the mountain.

One final note: the word “steady” which describes how Moses’ hands remained until the going down of the sun is the same word in Hebrew as “faith”. Let your faith rest on the perfect, finished work of Jesus until the setting of your sun, when you meet Him in glory.

When Jesus Rests His Head

Luke 9:58

This passage comes at the beginning of a trio of statements made by Jesus as tests of discipleship. A man approaches Him and wishes to be a follower. Jesus explains that even the animals have a place to sleep at night, but He has nowhere. We have no record as to whether this turned the man away or not, but we do get an inside look at the mind and the heart of our Savior.

While the moral of the story is that we should be prepared to give all for our Savior, even our security and comforts if necessary, the higher lesson learned is that Jesus was a man on a mission. From the beginning of time, God saw the cross as the way to save mankind, and He destined His Son to go to that cross. Long before Adam sinned, even long before Adam was created, God had predetermined that Jesus would be the sacrifice for sins. Due to this fact, it is important to remember that when we read the Gospels, there was nothing shocking to Jesus about His coming death in Jerusalem. In fact, Jesus knew it was coming from the start (John 9:39).

The phrase that Jesus uses regarding His rest is “the Son of man hath nowhere to lay His head”. The phrase, “lay” is the Greek word ‘kleno’ and it means “to recline”. Jesus is speaking in the natural, with a spiritual emphasis: He has no place to call home and He has yet to finish His work. We are often too quick to stop what we are involved in long before we finish. How many projects have you started and then life got in the way, and things didn’t get completed? We are a people that move from one thing to the next, often without finishing the thing that we are working on at the moment. Perhaps we think that the next thing will bring more pleasure, or perhaps we are just quitters.

Jesus was far from being a quitter! In fact, He teaches us the principle of never stopping until you are finished. The Apostle Paul had this in mind when from a Roman prison cell he wrote to young Timothy, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, and I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:6-8). Paul was not ready to be offered or to depart until he had “finished” the course. Finishing what he was here to do was important to Paul and it should be important to us.

Jesus suffered all of the cruelties of the cross for you and for me. So complete was His work there that He cried, “It is finished” just before He died (John 19:30). However, if you will notice, He knew that “all things were now accomplished” in the 28th verse, before He ever said, “I thirst” (John 19:29). Noticing that there was one thing left to be done, Jesus put off yelling “It is finished” until He had drank the sour wine for us, so that we could be freed from the sins of our fathers. As the old song says, “When He was on the cross, I was on His mind”.

Just after “It is finished”, the text says, “He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30). The word “bowed” is the Greek word ‘kleno’; the same word used in Luke 9:58 for “lay His head”. At the cross, when He had sufficiently paid for you and me, Jesus finally found a place to lay His head. Aren’t you glad that He didn’t rest until He had said, “It is finished”?

The Rest and the Refreshing

Isaiah 28:11, 12

This marks the first prophecy in the Bible regarding speaking with other tongues. We know that the “stammering lips and another tongue” refer to this beautiful gift because Paul quotes this passage in 1 Corinthians 14:21, “In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord”. The translators added the words “men of”, taking the original meaning away from the text, but Paul is referring to men speaking with unknown tongues (1 Corinthians 14:1-22).

When a believer speaks with other tongues, they are not speaking to someone else, for no one else would understand what they are saying. They are speaking things that are mysteries to themselves, but they are being directed at God (1 Corinthians 14:2). This speaking can be done as prayer or even as a song (14:14, 15), and it is always done to edify the speaker (14:4). To edify means “to build or repair or to grow in wisdom”, so by speaking with other tongues, the believer is building up themselves.

The Apostle Jude instructed us to do as much, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 1:20). How do we “build up” or “edify” ourselves? We do this by praying in the Holy Ghost which is praying in tongues. Paul told young Timothy to “stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). The gift that is inside of us that we can stir up at will is the unknown tongue. It is ours, so let’s use it!

Isaiah tells us that speaking with other tongues will be both a rest and a refreshing, but that many people “would not hear” (Isaiah 28:12). Paul envisioned as much when he said, regarding spiritual gifts, “But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant” (1 Corinthians 14:38). Let us that have ears to hear pay close attention to what the Spirit is saying to us as He gives us instructions for our rest.

Each believer can walk in and function in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. You received the Comforter when you invited Jesus into your heart, but there is always more fullness to be had. Paul told the church at Ephesus to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), denoting that there is more filling to be done, even after we are saved. Even the disciples and apostles, who had been present out the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, needed a re-filling of the Spirit from time-to-time, as Acts 4:31 bears out.

Don’t let detractors discourage you from using your prayer language. If you wish to use tongues as edification and you are not sure about it, ask the Father and He will freely give the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13), but don’t shy away because you think that it is not for you or even that it is off-limits for the church in general. Some site Acts 2 as evidence that tongues is only to be used to preach to people of other languages, but a close examination of that chapter will show that when the strangers in Jerusalem heard tongues they heard of “the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2:11). When it came time to hear the gospel message, which led 3000 to salvation, they heard Peter preach a message to them; with no indication that he preached in tongues (Acts 2:14).

You have instant rest and constant refreshing at your disposal; believe it or not.

That I May Know Him

Philippians 3:10

If there is any one that ever lived that could claim to know the character of the risen Christ, surely it was the Apostle Paul. Yet, when writing to the church at Philippi, he says, “That I may know him”, as if there is more for him to know. How telling is this? If Paul had more to learn of the glorious Savior, surely we have a world of knowledge awaiting us!

The context of Paul’s request is a recap of his life prior to meeting Jesus. He counts all previous knowledge and law keeping as “loss for Christ” (Phil. 3:7), and “dung” (Verse 8), willing to exchange them “for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”. The thirst for knowledge is a recurring theme in Paul’s writings as he challenges believers to come to a fuller understanding of whom that they are in Christ. Notice his insistence:

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” (Romans 15:14)

“That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge.” (1 Corinthians 1:5)

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15:34)

These are just a few examples of Paul appealing to the knowledge of the believer. His belief was that there was no greater knowledge to be found than that which brings Christ into fuller light in your heart and mind. There was and still is, always something more to learn about our Savior.

The fullness of knowledge is linked to the fullness of spirit. Paul goes on to say, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12). The daily increase in his knowledge of who Jesus was led him to an apprehension of what it meant to be complete in Christ. The more that he learned of Christ, the more that he felt complete or “perfect”.

Jesus told us to “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me” (Matthew 11:29). Daily resting in Christ, whose yoke is “easy” and whose “burden is light” (Matt. 11:30), causes us to “learn” who He is. The more we rest in His finished work, the more that our awareness of His love and compassion is for us.

As you go about your day, take every available moment to dwell on the Father’s love for you. As you allow grace to wash over your soul, you place yourself beneath the yoke of Christ which is easy and light. Every moment that you rest under that yoke, you come into a fuller knowledge of who Christ is, which leads you one step further to living a perfect lifestyle. I do not insinuate that you will never fail again, but the goal in Christianity is to let Christ live His life through us, and that will be a life free from the stain and the failure of sin.

Sit, Walk, Stand

Ephesians 2:4-6

Many times in our Christian walk, we speak of resting in the Lord as if it is something that we should do after we are completely exhausted from the cares of this life. It is made to sound as if we finally sit down and take our ease in Christ only after we have worked sufficiently for Him in one capacity or the other. The order usually goes something like this: Stand up for the Lord in front of the world and take the blows; then walk softly before God and stay on the straight and narrow; and finally, someday, when it is all said and done, we will sit together with Him in heaven. Paul paints quite a different picture.

The order of events, according to the Apostle Paul, is designed by the Holy Spirit, for nothing happens in the Word by chance. Paul shows us what I call the “2-4-6” method of Christian experience. Watch it unfold:

Sit – “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6).

Walk – “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (4:1).

Stand – “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (6:11).

We actually start out defeated and beaten somewhere on the road of life, and then Jesus “raised us up together” (2:6). This is a type of our salvation experience, where the Good Samaritan cares for us along life’s highway. The first thing that He does is sit us next to Jesus. The starting point for every believer is resting next to the Master. Only when we have learned to rest with Him in His finished work are we qualified to “walk worthy” (4:1).

The “walk” is now made easier because we are accustomed to being so close to Him in proximity. You need not fear that you are going to wander off of the “straight and narrow”. Even if you do go down into a valley of the shadow of death, your Shepherd will enter it with you, and He will not abandon you in the midst.

Once we have placed our daily walk in the Lord, we are ready to stand when the enemy begins his attack. Interestingly enough, there is no mention here of the believer fighting back. Some have preached sermons on spiritual warfare, calling for militant Christians to “attack the devil”. Paul tells the believer to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (6:10), showing us that all of the battle belongs to the Lord and none of it belongs to us.

In Christ, He does the fighting and we get the victory. What a Savior! While we certainly wrestle (6:12), when it comes to the attack of the enemy, we simply stand there, while Christ takes care of us (6:13, 14). Consequently, the Holy Spirit is careful to let us know that we will stand in the “evil day”. Note that it is singular, for whatever bad comes our way, it is temporary. When God blesses the believer, it is always with “good days”, used in the plural, for they will last for all time (1 Peter 3:10).

Work to Rest

Hebrews 4:9-11

When you enter into the rest of God, you cease from your own works (Hebrews 4:10), in the same manner that God ceased from His own works on the 7th day, and rested. Entering into that rest is one of the hardest things that the believer will ever do, for we are hard wired due to our first father Adam, to “do”, and not to rest.

Adam’s sin in the Garden brought sweat to the brow and a curse to man that he would live by the sweat of his face all of his life. Where Adam had simply tended to the Garden prior to the fall, he now had to work the land to bring forth fruit. When Jesus travailed in His own Garden, prior to the cross, He sweat as it were great drops of blood. The mingling of the precious blood of the Savior with the sweat of the curse would forever free man from having to live by his work again. Any man who accepts Christ by faith can enter into the rest that Jesus paid such a steep price to achieve.

Now this certainly does not mean that man can quit his job and lay on the couch all day and Christ will provide. If a man does not work, he does not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but it does mean that Christ has redeemed us from being a slave to our work. In fact, the work that is encouraged in Hebrews 4 is the constant labor, to stop laboring!

Hebrews 4 is the “rest” chapter, with the word being used some 9 times in that chapter alone. The framework is built around the children of Israel failing to enter into the rest of the Promised Land when 10 spies said that they couldn’t take it. Paul says that they failed to enter into rest because of “unbelief” (Hebrews 4:6), and that there is a better rest than the Promised Land anyhow, since David prophesied of a day of rest after Joshua had crossed the Jordan (4:5-8).

If they failed because of unbelief, then we fail because of the same thing. We must labor to enter into the finished work of Christ, not by our works; for that shows that we do not believe that it truly is a “finished work”. We must stop trying to achieve satisfaction in the Spirit by our own efforts. These efforts, while genuine, only show that we are trusting in our own ability to save, and not fully trusting in His ability.

God’s work of creation was a perfect work, as everything that God does is. Only when His work was completely finished, and that work was deemed “good”, could God rest on the 7th day. Christ’s work of redemption was a perfect work as well. Only when He said, “It is finished” could Jesus hang His head and “give up the ghost”. While all other priests never sat down (there were no chairs in the tabernacle), our High Priest Jesus has sit down at the right hand of the Father, and is resting in His finished work. We have been saved so that we can “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

Believer, rest in His finished work today. May your only spiritual labor today be the labor that enters into rest. Have faith in His finished work and sit together with Him in every area of your life.

The Rest and the Refreshing

Acts 2:4, 11

Many things have been said against the biblical practice of speaking in tongues. It is often chided as having passed with the apostles, linked with cultic activities or even as being from the devil himself. Religion often links things that it does not want or understand, as being from the devil. John the Baptist was said to have a devil in him (Matthew 11:18), and Jesus’ miracles were attributed, by the church of that day, as being from the devil as well (Matthew 12:24).

Isaiah first prophesied that God would use tongues as a means of speaking to His people (Isaiah 28:11), and that they would deem speaking with other tongues as a “rest” and a “refreshing” (Isaiah 28:12). On the Day of Pentecost, when the church was empowered by the Holy Spirit, all 120 that were present, “began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). This is not to insinuate that one must speak in tongues to call themselves a Christian, but it does show us that this wonderful gift is available to believers because of the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

A frequently used criticism of speaking in tongues is the argument that tongues were only necessary to minister the gospel to the many people who spoke various languages. I have even heard it argued that tongues should only be used when the Holy Spirit overtakes the tongue of a missionary in a foreign land, who has no interpreter, so that he can preach the gospel in the native tongue of the land. This attack against the biblical gift of tongues is from no other source but Satan! He does not want God’s people experiencing the rest and the refreshing.

In Acts 2:11, the Bible records that all of the nationalities represented on the Day of Pentecost could hear their own tongue being spoken by the 120. They do not say that they hear the gospel, only the “wonderful works of God”. It is not until verse 14 that Peter stands up and preaches to them of Jesus Christ and His finished work, and there is no indication that he preaches this message in tongues. To argue that tongues are for the presentation of the gospel in any form is outside of the Word of God. This gift is not for gospel preaching, but for saint edification!

Paul wrote that when you speak in tongues you are not speaking to men, but to God (1 Corinthians 14:2). He further wrote that when you speak in tongues you edify, or build up, or repair yourself (14:4). He said that it is your choice, as a Spirit-filled believer, to pray in tongues or not. It is also your choice to sing in tongues, or not (14:15). He told young Timothy to stir up the gift that was in him (1 Timothy 1:6), and Jude told the church to build themselves up on their most holy faith. How? By, “praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20).

Ask God today for a fresh revelation of this truth. He will freely give His children all things (Romans 8:32), and, as a good Father, He wishes to give you liberally of His Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). A beautiful part of God’s abundant grace is how the Holy Spirit ministers in you and through you, helping your sicknesses of body and soul, and interceding for you in areas that you have no direction (Romans 8:26).

Live free in His love today!