Laurie Hopkins

It doesn’t say strive and work hard and diligently while you wait for the Lord to turn the tides;

it doesn’t say worry and fret while you wait for the Lord to bring justice.  

It says REST in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him while He works out His mighty plan.  

Rest = damam = to be silent, to hold peace, to keep silent, to be silent, to be still.  

God has a plan. 

It is bigger than us.  

We don’t need to strive and fret; rather we need to learn to rest in Him and wait upon the fulfillment of the plan He has set in motion. 

And in resting and being still and silent, we will clearly hear His voice speaking into our lives. 

Can you take some time today to actively rest in Him?  

As you begin to do that, you will, in time, also learn to rest in Him even when you are in motion. REST!

Jesus did the will of the Father.  

He did nothing outside of the will of the Father.  

He spent much time alone in prayer listening for the Father’s direction.  

Why then, do we not follow suit and listen for direction from the Father? 

For the most part we make our own decisions, do our own thing and then take credit for the brilliance that it is.  

How is that working for us?  

We say we are followers of Jesus.  

We say we are doing God’s will in our lives.  

But if we are not listening, how does that happen?  

t is time to set aside our own agendas, our own self sufficiency and our own brilliance.  

It is time for us to take the time, 

in the midst of the busyness that is killing us, 

to sit and converse with the Father; 

to sit and listen to the Father; 

to aim to be like the Jesus we claim to follow and take our directions from the Father, 

rather than going it on our own. 

Oh what a difference we will see!

When Jesus came into the ruler’s house the crowd was already well into their grieving/mourning routine, playing flutes and wailing.  

When Jesus pointed out that the girl was not dead but just sleeping, He was giving them an opportunity to participate in the miracle.  

But they wouldn’t hear it.  

Instead, finding comfort in the discomfort they knew (grieving/mourning) they choose to ridicule Him.  

So what did Jesus do?  

He put them outside.  

When they were outside, He took the girl by the hand and she arose.  

Jesus gave them an opportunity to participate in the miracle, when they refused, He removed them.  The naysayers have to go.  

There are many in our circles that choose to find comfort in the discomfort of their current situations and ridicule our desire to participate in miracles. 

Like Jesus, we need to give them an opportunity to participate, but when the refuse we shouldn’t feel bad about leaving them outside the room.  

The miracle must go on without them.  

The dead things in our lives will be revived and the report of it will go out in all the land that Jesus is still Lord!