Stop Striving & Receive
Genesis 26:23–25 CSB
From there he went up to Beer-sheba, and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.” So he built an altar there, called on the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there. Isaac’s servants also dug a well there.
There’s a fighter in you that needs to be healed.
The flesh fights and grasps for that which can only be received by __________.
James 4:1–4 CSB
What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.
Romans 6:11 “So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
When striving ceases, God makes room for you.
Genesis 26:22 CSB
You have to learn to __________ in order to __________.
I may as for a picture like this: Jesus and the teddy bear
God is bringing you to a place where you can receive His word.
Genesis 26:23–24 “From there he went up to Beer-sheba, and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.””
When you stop striving, God can confirm His promise to you.
Psalm 46:10 cease striving and know that I am God.
Genesis 26:24 “and the Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of my servant Abraham.””
1 Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”
1 John 3:2 “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.”
Rest is the position of receiving.
What does it mean to be in His rest?
1. Your heart is unhurried,
2. You’re aware of God’s presence.
3. It’s the place of Knowing who God is and who you are in Him. Psalm 46:10; Ephesians 2:6
4. It’s the place of Trust: You don’t have to make it work but simply believe. Psalm 46:10
5. You believe HIs word Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24
6. You are thankful even for the smallest gifts of God. 1 Timothy 4:4; Philippians 4:6; John 11:41-42
7. It’s where you are ready to respond to what He says. James 2:17