REST AND WORK, WORK AND REST
“God of glory and grace, who calls his people to do his will on earth, always goes with them as they obey his calling. When he sends you, he doesn’t give you a bunch of stuff to help you along the way. He always gives you himself because he is what you need” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, Sept 27th).
“He knows that we cannot keep the law which He has set before us. Yet for the exercise of our faith, and for the testing of our duty and obedience to Him, He will always have us to aim at it. And although we come short of that duty and obedience which He requires at our hands, yet He will accept and reward our good endeavor” Henry Smith (ref#225, Nov 18th).
“It never works to ask people to do for you what only God can do. It never works to wait for God to do what he has clearly called you to do. God promises to provide, but he calls us to labor, pray, and give. God alone has the power to save, but he calls us to witness, testify, proclaim, teach, live, and preach. God not only determines outcomes, but he rules over the means by which those outcomes are realized. [T]he life of faith is all about rest and work. We rest in God’s presence and constant care, and we toil with our hands, busy at the work we have been commanded to do. We rest in our work and work in our rest. At times, we work because we believe that God who is at work calls us to work. At other times, we rest from our work because we believe that the work that needs to be done only God can do. So rest and work and work and rest. It is the rhythm of the life of faith” Paul David Tripp (ref#190, June 2nd).
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking –around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you” (Rom 12:1-2 MSG).
“[W]e have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him” (Eph 3:12 ESV).
“I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic” (Acts 2:22-28 MSG).
“[T]he joy of the LORD is [my] strength” (Neh 8:10 ESV).
Bonnie's Prayer Affair 