Start each day by reading the Scripture. During this reading plan, we’ll then use the summary provided here to guide our discussion around the daily reading.
Because of the person and work of Jesus, we get to rest and rejoice in the healing, freedom, and liberty He has purchased for us.
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46 thoughts on "Rest and Rejoice"
Reading while my baby naps on my lap, I’m grateful the Lord provides in the midst of the noise of work , wife, mom and daughter responsibilities, He gives us strength and purpose
Father God you are so faithful and loving. Please help us to never lose focus on you and to rest in your presence. Please help us to be your faithful, obedient, humble servants in all aspects of our lives ❤️
This encourages me so much, both my toddlers woke up 2 hours early this morning and it took everything in me not to cry in frustration. But the Lord is so faithful in his provision when we seek his word and kingdom first.
So proud of you for seeking God during exhausting times
Thank You God for giving us rest
Thank you, Jesus
Thank you! He did and I am so grateful! Thank you for praying with me!
A day late on my reading, but had to laugh as my 3 mo old twins woke me up when I was sleeping (I was supposed to be able to get one more hour of sleep!) only to come here and read “Rest and Rejoice.” Haha!!! My rest really does need to come supernaturally as physical rest doesn’t happen often these days. Thank you Jesus we can have rest in you!!!
@Sarah D. Thank you so much! It’s been a blast! I couldn’t agree more with what you said yesterday. It’s hard to lean into the lords timing at times! Holy sounds like a great app to try. I too tried a dating app again recently and it just sucks the excitement right now of me haha. I pray we all can trust the timing of the lord. Maybe one day we will all be going to each others weddings ha ha.
@Taylor I too have felt that same feeling. If I marry somebody everything will be fixed. If I become a mother I’ll be happy. Praying for anybody who experiences these feelings we have. I’ve been praying to lean into the freedom of being able to do what I want when I want. Praying the lord will
Let us rejoice in Him. Let us feel the love of His acts and Spirit. Through our Lord’s hard work we can be restored by faith. He has purchased our healing by his love and sacrifice. He has purchased our rest in Him by the Cross.
♥️
❤️
I love that God has woven rest into the very fabric of our lives. Not just a weekly rest, but yearly rest. God even wants rest for livestock and plants too.
I love how you phrased that Jennifer. “God has woven rest into the fabric of our lives.”
@Rhonda J: praying for the newly embarked prison ministry, and chronic pain group. And less pain for your back and leg. I pray that God will give you so much grace to blossom in the places (very difficult and out of comfort zone) to glorify His name and win souls for His kingdom.
@Michelle P: salvation and life transformation for your friend Tiffany, peace and joy for your family. More grace and strength for you in hard times.
@Taylor: praying for patience and joy for you as you wait, dear girl. I used to be all or nothing too lol, funny how we think. But dang, God wanted me to be healed and completed in Him first, or else I would be a broken burden for any man. That wouldn’t be fair and merciful for that man. Though I did not think so at the time. Marriage is a sanctified union, definitely not to be motivated by fear of loneliness, but on the basis of sacrifice, daily living sacrifice in the midst of imperfections. I cried more in my marriage than in single days. And so many skills that God wanted me to have before getting into marriage, like controlling my own emotions, harnessing desires (of any indulgence that needs disciplines), living below my means to stay off debt while working 2 jobs and studying in the evening, funny how I got married to find out my husband had debt then I had to pay off that. God wanted me to grow into maturity, solve problems, and acquire many skills to run a household, bear burdens and many family obligations on both sides of his and mine, but had I not been trained through those days, I wouldn’t be able to bear it, or come out acting like Christ.
Praying for all of us to have the grace to rest from our struggles and rejoice. Be the Mary part and balance out the Martha part in you. Praise and worship God. Lay down your burdens. God is worthy, worthy of our praise!
Be blessed dear sisters.
Thank you Jesus! ♥️
Amen
Love that Jesus is our Jubilee❤️
TRACI GENDRON–I agree completely based on my similar experience. I wish, now, that I would have trusted the Lord to bring a loving Christian man into my life rather than force relationships in order to be paired with someone. Looking back, I realize that being in a relationship is not the end all/be all. Living, truly living, one’s authentic life based on faith is the key to a happy ending. Once you are content with yourself, you are open to a healthy, loving relationship with others.
Let’s proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor in our lives. Great is His faithfulness
I wish I could have been there for that mic drop… “today it has been fulfilled.” Thanks be to God!
TAYLOR – It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Maybe God is taking His time in bringing you a spouse. Letting you fill yourself with His word first. Believe me it is so much better to take your time. I got married when I was 22 (now 61). I knew it was wrong as I was walking down the isle. We were married 8 years. Divorce is not something I would wish on anyone. It is painful. It hurts so many. I also believe when you meet a guy he may feel that desperation to get married and he may run. Love on yourself. It is a time to empower yourself in God. To be content in being alone. I relished in it! So much so that when I met my now husband, I wasn’t interested in marriage at all…lol Prayers for you my sweet girl.
Rhonda J. I LOVE the enthusiasm the Lord gives you. I think you ministries sound like fun and something God has lead you to.
Blessings and rejoice in this day!!
Darci, praying right now that our heavenly Father would hear your heart’s cry and answer. May He sustain you in the waiting ❤️
Hi @Rhonda J,
Was reading your post and was able to relate as I have been experiencing chronic pain since 2021. I’m not able to work but God has drawn closer to me as I’m drawing closer to Him. God has been sustaining and providing for me and daughter. ❤ I read that you have a small group for individuals with chronic pain and I wanted to get more information if possible?
Beautifully said Christina!
Good Morning She’s!
Finding Rest in our Lord Jesus Christ! Thank goodness for his mercy and goodness anew every morning! Yesterday was such a joy! I wasn’t quite sure what to expect my first time going to prison (ministry!lol) (although the leader had told me they were hungry for God’s word), I thought they would be more broken down…BUT GOD, they were fired up, marched in ready to sing and praise God! That threw me off, but gave me such special insight of our need for him when we are at the end of ourselves. They all had their bibles and knew much surprisingly, with 2 just giving their life to Christ last week! I never thought I would be doing ministries such as this and Homeless each week, for it is way out of my wheelhouse (so I thought), But God grabs us in our uncomfortableness and grows us! It is such a gift to serve. Please pray for these 7 women, that they will be delivered from their issue, and will keep growing in the Lord, and use this mess as a message and test as a testimony to grab onto their cellmates and others, and their future encounters! Praise God He is Good! Let us rest in him today, and everyday. He is for us, not against us!
Only one gal showed up for our small group “Enduring Chronic Pain.” It was a discouragement for the guy that is leading it, yet we know God has a plan, and is going to bring more people. We pray the people that have not come yet, although they signed up, will feel well enough next week and have the courage to share their pain with the group and leave feeling well loved, by us, and more so by the One who “by his stripes heals us!
Have a great day! Off to our Elijah study, which if you are looking for a good study, this one is Amazing thus far!! Highly Recommend by Priscilla Shirer! (Sometimes when I list things like this ^, I feel like I am bragging at all I do, but I assure you it is not, with Chronic pain I don’t work a full time job, and I’m an empty nester…and before I would spend lots of time doing lots of nothing and shopping…lots of shopping…but I prayed for a church here in this new place we live so I could be more involved in using my life for God’s purpose! So…I feel a little busy right now, but not really because I love every moment that I am serving and growing my relationship with Jesus! Too many years of my own accord, no more, I live for you Lord, and to point to YOU!!
I am praying for your prison ministry and the chronic pain group’s ministry!
This study and reading all of these scriptures together not only show the beauty of the Sabbath and how it’s a reflection of God’s love, promises, and provision, it also shows us that the sabbath hasn’t changed. It isn’t on Sunday, it’s on the 7th day of the week. God reiterates this over and over in scripture. It isn’t about going to church, which can be done any day, it’s about rest, not working, on this particular day as God commanded. We’ve seen that it was established in Genesis before the law and that It wasn’t just for the people of Israel but also for the sojourner/foreigner- anyone who belongs to God. Jesus kept the Sabbath and is still Lord of the Sabbath and we read in Hebrews that there is still sabbath for us. The 4th commandment is just as valid and relevant for us as the other 9, not for religion but for relationship and not for salvation, but for obedience.
Dear Erica, praying now for your momma, Chrystal, that the doctors would be given God’s wisdom to know what is happening with her heart. Rest in Him!❤️
I love how Leviticus reminds us that God is faithful to provide when we are obedient. It’s hard to take a day off each week when there’s so much to do. But God promises to bless us and provide for us if we take the rest He has commanded.
Jesus is the fulfillment of what the old testament points to.
Lord Jesus I am so grateful for Your unfailing love and forgiveness. You have done the work and have sacrificed Yourself to set me free from this world. Thanks be to God! And thank You for loving me (us) so magnificently.
Amen
Isn’t it beautiful that the Lord puts the gospel in the Old Testament?
Isaiah 61 says He proclaims good news to the poor, frees the captives, clothes us with “the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” And Jesus Himself stands up and declared it.
I just read these words and think, “This is what unbelievers need to understand.” I just think of the heaviness my unbelieving friends carry. When they talk about life and the meaning of it, there is just this weight to their confession. Like dang, there is hope for you! I just pray right here for my longtime friend Tiffany. I know the Lord will open her eyes. I pray she receives and believes that God is good and does the work to save us. That He already loves her and she doesn’t need to do anything but receive Him and His love. Lord, please reveal yourself to our unbelieving friends. They need to know there is hope. Help us to be voices of truth in their lives.
Thank you Debbie for sharing your story. I truly believe God pursues us. I have witnessed it, too. “Surely goodness (Jesus!) and mercy (Jesus!) shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.” That right there is the truth!
Thank you ladies for your prayers and @Sarah D for your advice! I’m definitely having an “all-or-nothing” mentality about dating and marriage, thinking that if I find a spouse all my problems will be solved and life will be great – which in my head I know isn’t true but my mind likes to lead me to think otherwise. I pray I can be faithful in the waiting and trust God’s timing. I pray I will live out of the healing, freedom, and liberty that Jesus has bought for me instead of living in the chains of fear.
Will do
Oh Jesus, how I need You in every way. Thank you. Amen
I am so thankful that God is so gracious and merciful that He pursues us so that we can have His peace, joy, and freedom.
I look back on my life, and I can see so many times when it has to be God that got me through a particular time, because it sure wasn’t me!
I remember in my early 20s, we were driving through Pennsylvania on our way home from my grandfather’s funeral. I was not a Christian. It was raining and I was driving. At the top of a mountain, unbeknown to me, was black ice. I hit the ice driving as if it was rain and my car went totally out of control. I spun around several times, hit a snowbank in the side of the road which caused the car to be airborne and flip over in the air several times. We finally came to rest further down the side of the mountain when the back end of the car hit a tree.
After checking ourselves, we realized we were covered in glass, and not just able to get out of the car but we didn’t even have any scratches or pain. The car was totaled and the people at the top of the mountain told us later they thought we were dead. I remember, as I got out of the car, saying out loud, “God must still want me here for some reason…” and then only thought to myself “or I should be dead.”
That accident was from before I accepted Christ. Even so, I knew He was pursuing me!
Thank you, God, for loving us unconditionally and pursuing us our WHOLE lives! I love you, Lord!
I love God’s care for ALL of His creation- His people and His land. His commands are for our life and flourishing! Help me, Lord, to trust and rest in your provision.
I love God’s care for ALL of His creation- His people and His land. His commands are for our life and flourishing! Help me, Lord, to trust and rest
I have an unspoken prayer request that I would appreciate your prayers sweet sisters in Christ.
Thank you JESUS! I would really like to ask for prayer for my mom. She is having trouble with her heart right now and her doctors are struggling to figure out the right medication dosage that’s best for her. Her name is Crystal. I really appreciate it. ❤️
Amen!
Amen
Jesus thank You for the gift of freedom from all that binds us. Thank You that we have a restored relationship with the Father and have been given rest when we place our trust in You!