Cease and Desist From Striving
Beloved, cease and desist from your striving. There is a better and more effective way to walk out your life. You cannot add one hair to your head by striving. When you struggle to do things your own way, frustrations abound and you do things I have not called you to do.
All this self-effort causes self-inflicted burdens that weigh you down with guilt. These burdens have the power to remove your joy and the victory of walking in daily purpose. Before you know it, you have entered into a place of doing and not being.
Do you find yourself agreeing with the prognosis of your circumstances, those contrary words spoken by men or the enemy? Do you fear disappointing men more than you fear disappointing Me? Do they determine the walking out of your destiny? Or do I?
There are many times the constant contemplation of negative attitudes creates the very thing you long to be free from. Your biggest enemy is your own thought life. When you contemplate your negative attitudes they come out of your mouth and release words of death. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Negative attitudes and words of death create blinders on your eyes. They become like sunglasses, obscuring My beauty and the true colors of My love for you.
If pessimistic thoughts are dwelt on long enough they can lead to a tendency to blame Me for the circumstance. This creates much frustration and leads to walking according to the flesh, not the spirit. Simply stated, it leads to unbelief. Therefore, let your contemplations be on My Word and not on wrong thinking or what you see, hear or feel. Let Me and My Word have the last word in every area of your life.
It is time for a new set of glasses, a new way of seeing. I am coming to open the eyes of your heart and free you from your self-defeating ways. I love you too much to let you stay where you are. Not only am I going to deal with your own self-assessments, I am going to deal with those infiltrating from the outside as well. So?look up and see?I am shining on you.
See, Marvel, and Fear Not
Beloved, I am coming to deal with the words of men in your life. I am going back into what you consider the past. Remember, in Me there is no past. All is set before My very eyes. I can see assess and declare the beginning from the end all at the same time (Isaiah 46:10). Nothing is hidden or escapes My notice (Hebrews 4:13). I put even the most complex into simple order. Look at the universe. See, marvel, and fear not.
Some of the words of men have left you with a defeatist attitude in certain areas. When you feel defeated it is hard to realize and experience My love. You were created to be loved and give love. It is to be your supreme joy above all things. It is time for your natural circumstances to change and come in line with all I have already planned for you.
Contrary words of men who walk without understanding are insidious. Deceptive words of the enemy demand self-attainment, hopelessness, doubt, and unbelief. My word releases the spirit of truth, producing freedom, rest, joy, trust, victory, and deliverance from trouble (John 16:13).
Do you endeavor to please men, for seemingly all the right reasons, just to find yourself having a hard heart because you have been motivated out of wrong attitudes? Beloved, when this happens it causes you to withdraw from doing good. Many times servants do things because they feel they have to. True servant-hood is born out of friendship and love. Love compels one to serve and becomes the only reason to do so. What you do can never determine your worth. Who you are, My friend and heir to the Kingdom, determines this. Have a right attitude in all you do and serve to love, not to prove.
Do not be driven to accomplish things in order prove your worth. I have made you worthy and gifted you to do certain things. I am not saying to disregard men. I am saying come to Me for your worth and find My truth in the Word, enabling you to walk out your destiny. Come into a place of quiet rest in My presence and I will deposit My very essence into the empty places of your heart, into the empty places of lost desire and hope. My hope will never disappoint and I will give you My very self in a real and tangible way (Romans 5:5). Come and be filled. Come and be loved.
Pleasers of Men or Pleasers of God
The Word is my gift to you, penned for your instruction. I send the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you into all truth (John 14:25-26). He will bring the revelation needed for your edification. I give men to: edify, exhort, encourage, equip, deliver and heal and not to determine your destiny or the race you run. I give them, at times, a message for you.
The messages you receive should always line up with the word and confirm things I have already planted in your heart. My spirit will witness with your spirit, through these messages. I simply use those I connect you with to run alongside you as I lead both of you. Pleasing all men is impossible, therefore you must endeavor to walk in My peace, a peace not determined by what you see or feel, no matter the circumstance (Hebrews 12:14-15).
There is no other way, no other path you can walk and be successful. There is no other avenue to take that will lead to the peace and happiness you are searching for. I am sending angels of war to slay all hopelessness in your life, from the miniscule to the gigantic in proportion.
Remember, you were created by and for Me. Pleasing Me is contrary to the spirit of the world (Galatians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:4). I never pleased all men. I only obeyed the Father’s voice. I knew the Father’s voice because of time I spent with Him and was not dissuaded by the cries of men or the temptations of the enemy. The Father’s heart was and is contrary to the heart of unbelieving men.
Beloved, I have come to release you from all desire to please man; to sever every residual tie left by the words of men. Every shackle produced by the enemy is shattered today. All specters of past failure and the need for self-attainment are dissolving like fog in the midst of a rising sun.
I am your rising Son and I am igniting coals within your heart and causing it to be consumed with a fiery passion. Will you receive it regardless of feelings or attitudes? Can you receive it just for no other reason than because I love you and want to give it to you? I hope so. My hands and heart are fully loaded with extraordinary graces. Seize the day.
Gratefulness Equals Rest
As you discipline yourself to sit at My feet, passion will be released and consume you. This release will cause you to cease from your striving. You already know in your heart what separates you from a desired life of rest? what impedes your walk with Me. It is a lack of self-worth, doubt, unbelief or the unwillingness to discipline yourself to have time in My presence. These things, by their very nature, create an atmosphere of anxiety and guilt, demanding that you strive to achieve. Your salvation did not come from striving and neither will anything else (Ephesians 2:8).
Take time to remember the many occasions in your life where I have demonstrated My faithfulness in so many ways. Do not concentrate on what you think has not been done. If you only think on places of lack, you will develop a hard heart and walk in unbelief. I desire for you to know the power of a thankful and grateful heart and its importance to rest (Psalm 103:2). Striving leads to performance based on fear. Pride, fear and unbelief are always at the root of striving and self-achievement.
Performance is what matters to the world. Success and rest will be a result of your submission to Me. Submission creates an assurance of success. Rest and time with Me is contrary to the programming of the world. It contradicts the belief that the more you do, the more you are. You are because I Am. Self-determination along with self-achievement is the way of the spirit of the world. It erases the tender mercies I put in your heart, producing a hard heart toward others. This is the hard way. Put first things first and everything else will function and work out as it should. Enter My rest and see My right hand move valiantly on your behalf.
You are O’ So Beautiful To Me
I am the river that flows through your days, always reminding you to move in sync with Me. Come sit at My feet, rest in My presence, and I will redeem the time. Time spent with Me multiplies and expands, giving wisdom to accomplish more with less effort.
Even now I am bringing the tangible realization of My presence. Your heart will soften as you let your guard down, allowing Me to penetrate the depths of your being. The Spirit of Rest is upon you and I am enfolding your heart into Mine. Let go in this place of tender mercy and goodness. Let go of the things that prohibit rest and produce strife. Let very breath of My life create waves of peaceful instruction and great faith.
Beloved, I created you to live in a garden but Adam and Eve forfeited the birthright I desired for all My children. My desires have not changed, therefore I am changing you into a garden, an oasis of rest for your own edification, an edification which builds confidence and brings freedom to others. There are so many who need the restful spirit I am producing in every aspect of your life.
Therefore, rest in Me is imperative. Bow your head, beloved. I am reaching down to remove every heavy yoke and placing them on Me, the only one capable of bearing such loads.
The time has come for you to rest in My love, a love flowing with complete acceptance and adoration. Open your heart with anticipation and fear will flee as I come. Peace is flooding your being at this very moment. Let it fill you and all prohibitive assaults and assumptions will take flight in the light of My glory and grace. Sediments of past cycles and inclinations are swept away.
O’ you are so beautiful to Me and all I have done for you gave Me pleasure before you ever were. Now that you ARE, My anticipated pleasure does not compare with the reality of our experience together.
My heart is bursting with restorative blessings and guidance. They are yours right now. I release words of rest over you. Come and lie down in My green pastures. Walk with Me beside still waters. Let me lead you by the hand along paths of righteousness for My names sake. Enter into My rest and you shall never lack?. I am here.
Prayer
I cease from striving and worrying. My own frustrations have seemed, at times, to be much bigger than You. You lead and guide my every step and I need not fear. Words of men do not matter to me. They do not hold the final authority in my life.
Lord, you have given me men and women of God to encourage me, equip me and to confirm promises already spoken to my heart. I walk in pathways of peace and I am not moved by what I see or feel. I do not move by my own might, or by my own power. Every movement I take is by the spirit of the Lord. I declare it so.
I hear my Shepherd’s voice and I do not follow another. I have a disciplined heart that loves to sit at the feet of the Lord. He is my great desire and the love of my life. Above all other things, I am consumed with passion and desire for the Lord. In His presence there is fullness of joy and striving has no place in me.
My worth and value are found in Him, for I am a son of God. All doubt and unbelief are shattered and have no power in my life. The right hand of the Lord is moving on my behalf; therefore I am secure in Him. A restful spirit is being formed and permeating every aspect of my mind, will and emotions. Sediments left over by past failures are now swept away as I bask in the adoration and acceptance of my Lover King. How I joy in our experiential relationship, a relationship bursting forth a fountain of blessing. Ah . . . I come . . . I come and lie down in green pastures, beside still waters. I enter into His rest where there is no lack. Amen.
Reflect and Journal
…for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:10-12 NIV).
- In what areas or ways have you been more afraid of displeasing men than displeasing the Lord?
- What words have been spoken over you contrary to the promises of God?
- Take authority over these words and break their power off your life with the blood and name of Jesus.
- Have you found yourself pleasing men and taking on too many things He hasn?t asked you to do?
- Have you allowed your service to the Lord in any area to be motivated by need for self-worth or given without a heart of true love and compassion? When service to others flows from His indwelling love, pressure to perform and hardness of heart cease, enabling you to operate as sons and friends of God.
- Do you need passion in your life, in your heart for the Lord? He is willing to give you the very thing He desires for you to be. Nothing is by might or power. He even gives the desire to obey and then gives us the ability to do so. All things come from Him. What do you need to have this passion in your life?
- Reflect on the fact that He gives just because He wants to. This ?wants to? is born out of perfect love. In what areas of your life and heart do you need to receive more of this love?
- Close your eyes and focus on His beauty, His nail-scarred hands. What graces do you see Him holding for you? Reach out and take them. Reflect on the many times the Lord has been faithful, even in little ways, in your life. Write these down and spend some time developing a grateful heart.
- In what things, such as anger, retaliation, criticism, manipulation, self-justification, self-determination, etc. have you depended on to solve or handle situations?
- Let go of all pride, fear or unbelief and confess the faithfulness of God over your need.
- Bow your head, and use your sanctified imagination to see the yokes you carry being removed. What are they?
- The Lord finds great pleasure in the experiential relationship He has with you. Reflect on this and what it means or should mean to you. Take some time to experience Him. Let the reality of this experience challenge and transform your life.