"Obvious Connection"

 "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own work, as God did from his." (Hebrews 4:10 KJV)

  "So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won't spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God." (1 Peter 4:1-2 NLT)

 I do believe that there is something to be thankful for when we have a chance to suffer, whether it is physical or otherwise, we are given a chance to be a testimony for the Lord. This reference to Peter's words about suffering for Christ, has a certain connection to the way we must enter into God's rest; as we are to do His will, which requires us to do as He does! 

 Having tried so hard to be faithful, it is something that seems harder to do, the closer I get to the Lord. It is really not because I am doing more things wrong, because I know that I am doing more to draw closer to God; but the closer I get to Him, the filthier I feel. 

 Again, there is this certain thing about surrender; much like what it means to cease from our own work, we must also allow ourselves to let go of our own will and desires, especially when it comes to working out the difficulties in our lives. Whatever it is, we should surrender and give it to God! 

 Yesterday I heard a small portion of a message, I believe it was Pastor Phillip. He was sharing about a certain survey that was taken on the validity of the Bible; however, the people that were putting this project together were using liberal Bible Scholars to put together their findings. In other words, they based their findings upon human knowledge and situations, instead of the Spiritual and miraculous findings that are throughout the Word of God!

 There is really no comparison between the two, whatsoever! When we really surrender our lives over to God, we will totally know what it means to cease from our own work...

"For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law - I stopped trying to meet all its requirements - so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die." (Galatians 2:19-21 NLT)