Making An Effort To Enter In His Rest

We continue our study on the Headship of Jesus with another aspect.

Many, many committed Christians follow the practice of tithing, of giving God a tenth of their income. I don’t believe that it’s actually commanded in the New Testament but I think it’s a very good practice. Actually, I think for the Christian the tenth is only the foundation, it’s not the roof.

What about God’s demands on Israel’s time? Did you ever stop to think about that? He demanded one day out of seven. A higher proportion than He demanded of their material possessions. How many people in the Church today really give God one day out of seven? That’s one reason why there are so many nervous breakdowns, so many frustrated frantic people, so many busy people who never get the job done.

Ruth and I have learned if we take time for God, we do much more in the remaining time than we would if we hadn’t taken time for God. God was the first one that rested. God worked and God rested. God didn’t work because He had a family to support. And God didn’t rest because He was tired. It was on a much higher level than that. God worked because He’s a creator. And why did God rest? God rested because He wanted to enjoy what He created. And if you never take time to enjoy what you’ve created, you are in a miserable condition.

Let me ask you this, too. Which takes more faith for a Christian? To work or to rest? You’ve guessed it: to rest. Do you know why Israel didn’t enter into rest? Because of their unbelief. Why can Christians not rest? For the same reason: because of unbelief. Perhaps you have diagnosed your problem now!

Relaxation comes when you know God initiated it. When we went away for our holiday, our ministry was in trouble financially. We weren’t in debt but our expenses were exceeding our income by about $20,000 a month. When we were away and waiting in God’s presence, God said, “I don’t want you to sell your materials so much, I want you to give it away. Because the people who really need that material can’t afford to buy it. They don’t have the money or they don’t have the exchange.” So we began very small scale. We chose twenty-five leaders known to us in eight nations and we said: ”We are willing to give you this teaching material, if you will promise to make good use of it.” This grew into giving away hundred of thousands copies of books, cassettes and videos to 1400 leaders in 100 nations. When we went back and told our staff, they were shocked. It took a while to convince them that we really heard from God. And while we did, we grew into a much sounder position financially than when we started. It was a step of faith but God initiated it.

I think that was a tremendous lesson for us. If God initiates, He ’ll see it through.