See and Rest
Posted in Everyday living, Faith, Prosperity on Aug 01, 2018
Hebrews 4:1-3 KJV (1) Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. (2) For unto us was THE GOSPEL PREACHED, as well as unto them: but THE WORD preached did not profit them, not BEING MIXED WITH FAITH in them that heard it. (3) For we which have BELIEVED DO ENTER INTO REST, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
There is rest for every child of God in Christ Jesus!
God has provided rest for us and all the bible admonishes us to do is to believe and enter into the rest. There is rest from financial hardship, insecurity, injustice, sickness and pains. God’s plan is not for you to go through what the world goes through.
The Amplified translation of verse 1 says, “... lest any of you should think he has come TOO LATE and has COME SHORT of [reaching] it.” God doesn’t want you to throw in the towel and disqualify yourself through unbelief!
Don’t feel like you have wasted your time or you’ve squandered several opportunities because God still has great plans for you and He is unveiling it to you through the Holy Ghost today if you will only believe His Word.
The Rest Is In Believing
The Word of God is powerful. It is pregnant with miracle power. The Word can change and transform any situation regardless of how long the situation might have lasted. All that is required of man is to simply believe and rest in God’s Word. From our text we see that what makes the Word of God unproductive is unbelief. Unbelief is when you refuse to mix God’s Word with faith.
The children of Israel failed to believe God’s Word while in the wilderness. Whenever they encountered any problem, they were quick to murmur, complain and blame their situation on someone – who was always Moses! This unbelieving attitude is what made God swear that they wouldn’t enter into His rest. (Psalm 95:10-11). God cannot do anything about a man’s situation who is not persuaded about His Word. God’s Word cannot work in a man or woman’s life that has refused to believe it.
Unbelief made God swear that the children of Israel that left Egypt will not enter into Canaan but the goodnews however is this: the same way that God swore that they wouldn’t enter His rest because of unbelief is the same way that God is swearing to everyone that believes that rest is sure. (Vs. 3) God is bound to bringing His Word to pass in the life of the one that believes.
The bible says, “For we who have BELIEVED do enter into rest …” Our rest is in believing God’s Word!
Labour In the Word
If there is any labour for the believer, it is the labour to put God’s Word in one’s heart and believe it.
Hebrews 4:11-12 says, “Let us LABOR THEREFORE TO ENTER INTO THAT REST, lest any man fall after the same EXAMPLE OF UNBELIEF. FOR THE WORD OF GOD is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…”
What verses 11 and 12 are saying in a nutshell is simple: “For the word of God is QUICK, and POWERFUL, and SHARPER than any two-edged sword … so labor to put it in your heart.” Your only labour as a child of God is to put His Word in your heart and believe it. Do whatever it takes to put God’s Word in your heart and believe it! If it means shutting down every other source of information so that the only thing you hear is the Word concerning that situation then do it.
I always tell believers, “It is not what is happening around you that matters but what you are putting into your heart as a believer.” If and when God’s Word gets into your heart, you will begin to see things change QUICKLY, POWERFULLY and SHARPLY. You will see your health turn around, the business will begin to grow, your client base will begin to increase you and you will be having good business deals where other are barely trying to get by.
One of the ways we know we have started believing is that we begin to ‘see’ what God is saying because believing is seeing! When you believe God’s Word, you will SEE what God is saying! If you can’t see what God is saying, then you haven’t started believing. Like Brother Dominic Gusah rightly puts it, “Stay with God’s Word until it is the only thing that you see!”
Completed and Prepared Before Time Began
Hebrews 4:3 (AMP) (3) For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those [who did not believe] should not enter when He said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest; and this He said although [His] works had been COMPLETED AND PREPARED [and waiting for all who would believe] FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.
What if I told you that everything you need to succeed and be everything that God wants you to do is been made ready and waiting for you right from the foundation of the world and the way to enter into it is by believing! The reason God calls it rest is because He has finished it. There is nothing that concerns your life that God hasn’t provided for. A lot of times when believers worry and are burdened all that God wants them to do is to simply be still and listen to Him.
Imagine I go to a car dealer and buy a car in your name. After paying for the car, I come to your house and meet you so worried. I ask you, “What is the problem?” You answer, “I’ve been trying to get a car loan from a bank and I seem to be hitting a brick wall!!!” I simply smile and tell you, “Please come with me, I just got you a car…”
All I expect from you is to simply calm down, hear me out, believe me and follow me! If you refuse to hear and believe me but rather chose to doubt, you will not get the car. The reason I asked you to follow me is because the car is there and paid for. If you believe, you will rest and cease from looking for a car loan.
My brother and my sister, if there is anything that God wants you to see; it is this simple truth that He provided a solution to every problem you are facing or will ever face. Everything that concerns your life, family, ministry and business has been completed, prepared and made ready from the foundations of the world!
Revelations 13:8 tells us that Jesus – the Lamb of God – was sacrificed for man’s sins even before the foundations of the world. This means that before Adam and Eve ever sinned in the Garden of Eden, Jesus had been slain. “How possible is that?” You may ask. Let me explain!
God doesn’t live in a 3 dimensional world but we do because of our physical bodies. We are bound by space and time but our spirits are not. God is a spirit and He doesn’t live in time and space like we do. With God, yesterday, today and tomorrow are all before Him at the same time. In this three dimensional world that we live in, things happen in a linear manner and as such, one event paves the way for the other, and then the next event. Time thus becomes the reason for yesterday, today and tomorrow. With God however, it is different. Before God, events do not unfold in a linear manner because they are all happening all at once. Everything - Yesterday, today and tomorrow – is happening right in front of Him all at the same time. I will illustrate this using a movie producer.
When a movie, let’s say a thriller, is scripted, the producer, director and actors can all tell the end from the beginning because they all know how it is going to end even before it is acted. We can say they know the end from the beginning. After the movie is produced and you are watching it, since movies are pictures moving in slides and sequences (linear progression), you are actually the one who is waiting for the next thing that will happen, not those who produced the movie. Nothing in the movie will keep the producer in suspense. You might even think that a particular character is going to die but he’ll end up surviving. While you might be filled with suspense, the producers aren’t in any way because they finished the movie before they started. God spoke through Isaiah and said, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10).
There is nothing that concerns your life that surprises God. Even when it seems like there’s no way out of that situation, God isn’t surprised because the works concerning you were finished from the foundations of the world (Hebrews 4:3). When you see things from God’s perspective, nothing in this life will cause you to panic in any way. Faith is that rest that you have when you see things from His perspective!
Believing is Seeing What God has done!
Hebrews 4:3 AMP (3) For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those [who did not believe] should not enter when He said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest; and this He said although [HIS] WORKS HAD BEEN COMPLETED AND PREPARED [AND WAITING FOR ALL WHO WOULD BELIEVE] FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.
Since God has finished everything from the foundation of the world all that is left is for the believer is for his/her eyes to be opened to see what God has done. When you see what God has prepared, you have believed! Hebrews 4:3, “… [His] WORKS HAD BEEN COMPLETED AND PREPARED [and waiting for ALL who would BELIEVE] FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.”
Focusing on your situation and your ability will block your vision to what God has completed and made ready for you. When you see what God – the director and executive producer of your life’s movie – has done, you’ll have every cause to believe.
Revelation 3:8 says, “I see what you have done. NOW SEE WHAT I’VE DONE. I’ve opened a door before you that no one can slam shut,” (MSG). God wants you to see what He has done. Concerning that dream, vision and project, God finished it before you ever dreamed it and doors have been opened to you that no one can shut. He has arranged people, things and materials waiting for you to locate.
In Exodus 14, the children of Israel found themselves in a very ‘tight’ situation after they left Egypt. It was a deadlock. The ‘angry’ army of Pharaoh was chasing them from behind and right in front of them was the Red Sea. To compound issues, the children of Israel weren’t making things any easier for Moses because they were all complaining and murmuring. Moses lifted up his voice and cried unto the Lord and what amazed me was the answer that God gave him. God said to Moses, “…. Wherefore criest them unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel THAT THEY GO FORWARD.” (Exodus 14:15)
In the past when I read this passage, I was always tempted to ask God: “Father where were you planning for them to go when you told Moses to tell the people to go forward? The Red Sea is in front of them!” Well the Lord answered me and showed me from scriptures that before they got to the Red Sea, He had already made a way! Psalm 77:19 says “YOUR WAY [IN DELIVERING YOUR PEOPLE] was through the sea, and Your paths through the great waters, yet Your footsteps were not traceable, but were obliterated.” Glory to God! I saw it!!!
Before the children of Israel ever got to the Red Sea, God had a way for them in the great waters! Praise God! All they needed was to rest (believe) in God because He had already finished everything concerning their deliverance and they were just a revelation away from it!
Apokalupsis – Revelation!
Ephesians 1:17-18 (17) That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and REVELATION in the knowledge of him: (18) The EYES OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
In verse 18, Paul prayed that God will give the Church in Ephesus, “...the spirit of wisdom and REVELATION in the knowledge of him (i.e. Jesus)...” The word ‘revelation’ is the word apokalupsis in the Greek which means ‘disclosure’ or ‘to take off the cover.’ It means to remove the veil covering something in order to see what is there.
The greatest need of the believer is not money, a wife, children, the government or even location, it is a revelation of what God has done.
The government is not your problem! The economy is not your problem. Your location is not your problem! Your problem is you not seeing what God has done.
In Christ Jesus, everything that concerns our lives has been accomplished. It is not about what He is ‘going’ to do but it is about what He has ‘done’. Everything concerning your prosperity, healing, safety, protection, family, finances e.t.c has been finished and accomplished in Christ Jesus waiting for you to see and take. Revelation unveils those things to you.
He is Jehovah – Jireh!
In Genesis chapter 22 God asked Abraham to offer Isaac – the son of promise – as a burnt offering on the mount of Moriah which is an adumbration of the finished works of Jesus – a type of God offering His Son Jesus for the world on mount Calvary.
Genesis 22:4 (4) Then ON THE THIRD DAY Abraham lifted up his eyes, and SAW THE PLACE afar off.
The bible says that on the third day Abraham ‘saw’ the place; this means he had a revelation of the place. The place had always been there but it was revealed to him. It was revealed to him on the THIRD DAY. In the bible the ‘third day’ refers to resurrection and the bringing forth of life. Jesus resurrected from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3). The earth began to produce plants and seeds on the third day (Genesis 1:11-13). Jesus turned water to wine on the third day of the wedding which was the first of miracles that manifested His glory (John 1:3; 11). The third day typifies life! It represents the finished works of Jesus! When we ‘see’ the finished work of Jesus, we see possibilities, miracles and breakthroughs. Thank God we are in the third day!
Genesis 22:7, 8 (7) And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but WHERE IS THE LAMB FOR A BURNT OFFERING? (8) And Abraham said, My son, GOD WILL PROVIDE HIMSELF A LAMB for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
When Isaac asked Abraham where the lamb for the burnt offering was, Abraham gave a very answer prophetic: “… My son, God will PROVIDE HIMSELF A LAMB for a burnt offering...” Isaac couldn’t see the lamb yet Abraham understood something – he knew that God had gone ahead of them and provided a lamb. The Message translation says, “… Son, God WILL SEE TO IT that there’s a sheep for the burnt offering,” because the word ‘provision’ actually ‘to see.’
In the past when I studied this passage of scripture, all I usually focused on was Abraham’s obedience until the Holy Ghost drew my attention to what Abraham ‘saw’! His obedience is predicated on the fact that he SAW something about God. He saw God as a provider. He knew that God will not instruct him to go where He hasn’t made provisions. Revelation makes obedience a thing of joy. It is called the obedience of faith.
Romans 4:17 says, “… as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he (Abraham) believed—God, WHO GIVES LIFE TO THE DEAD and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;” He knew that God gives life. Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac but he also knew that somehow he was going to come back with Isaac because “… God gives life to the dead). Genesis 22:5 tells us that he told the servants, “… Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there to worship; THEN WE’LL COME BACK TO YOU.” He knew they were coming back! He knew that the Lord will provide Himself a lamb.
Genesis 22:11-14 KJV (11) And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. (12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. (13) And Abraham LIFTED UP HIS EYES, and looked, and BEHOLD BEHIND HIM a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. (14) And Abraham called the name of that place JEHOVAHJIREH: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD IT SHALL BE SEEN.
As Abraham was about offering Isaac up, the angel of the Lord spoke to him and Vs. 13 says that Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. Glory to God! As he looked again, there was an unveiling. He ‘beheld’ the ram BEHIND him.
God had planned for that ram to be caught in that bush right from the foundation of the world but Abraham had to lift up his eyes and see it. Remember the bible says in Hebrews 4:3 that God’s works had been finished from the foundation of the world. When your eyes are lifted up to God, you will see your job, your house, your wife, your children, your companies. You may not know ‘how’ it will manifest but you know it is there.
Abraham saw the ram BEHIND him. For the ram to be ‘behind’ him, it means he had passed that place without seeing the ram.
Why couldn’t he see the ram?
He couldn’t see it because the Word of God hadn’t come to him. When the Word came through the angel he was able to SEE the ram! The ram had always been there but he needed God’s Word to ‘SEE’ it because the Word of God is what reveals. Psalms 119:130 says, “The entrance of YOUR WORDS GIVES LIGHT; it gives understanding to the simple.” It is the Word of God that gives light and when light comes there is illumination.
Abraham called the name of the place – ‘Jehovah Jireh;’ which literally means “The Lord that sees” or the “Lord that provides” (vs. 14). The word ‘provision’ comes from two words: ‘pro’ and ‘vision’. ‘Pro’ means ‘before’ and ‘vision’ means to ‘see’. If you put both words together you have, ‘TO SEE BEFORE.’ What this means is that before Abraham ever got to that mountain and before God ever asked Abraham to offer Isaac, He had gone ahead of him, seen the need for a ram and positioned it there.
God saw a need and provided. On mount Moriah all God did was open Abraham’s eye to see. Revelation came to him when, “…Abraham LIFTED up his EYES and LOOKED and BEHOLD behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horn...” (Genesis 22:13). Glory!
I believe that on this mount called Zion – the church, we have entered into seasons of revelations. As God’s Word is taught in all its purity with the Holy Ghost working with us, the eyes of believers will be open to see. We will see business ideas and concepts. We will see abundant provision of resources. This is the wealthy church!
I boldly declare that God has gone ahead and has made abundant supply available for us in every area of our lives. As we pray in the Holy Ghost and fix our eyes on the Word of God, we will begin to see Jesus and what He has done and once we see Him the revelations will begin to pour forth. We will literally go to places that we have been before and there will different results. It is our jubilee season and we are experiencing abundant supply of everything that God has provided.
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