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Enter His Rest

In two recent messages, we considered aspects of the glory of the Lord.
We saw how His glory reflects His character and accompanies His presence; and what an honor it is to be near. We also saw how we are now God's Temple and are to "reflect the Lord's glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18) into the world around us as we are transformed into the likeness
of Christ. Our call to reflect an "ever-increasing" amount of His glory
is an awesome responsibility.

God's Spirit resides within the heart of every believer. We, therefore,
reflect His glory as we allow the fruit of His Spirit to be evident in
our life; "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control"
(Galatians 5:22-23). As we submit to the leading of the Spirit and
allow His fruit to define the character of our life, God's glory will shine!

It's clear that our lives ought to produce an abundance of Spiritual
fruit. But where should we concentrate our effort in the process of
fruit production?

Hebrews 4:10-11
"For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as
God did from His. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest."

The first chapter of Genesis describes how God created the heavens and
the earth in six days; "By the seventh day God had finished the work He
had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all His work"
(Genesis 2:2). God did not begin His work again on the eighth day. He
was satisfied and entered His rest for all eternity; "His work has been
finished since the creation of the world" (Hebrews 4:3). God is still
intimately involved, but He accomplishes everything from a confident and
calm position of rest - He KNOWS the final outcome.

Likewise, we must not cease from doing the things God calls us to do,
but we must cease from working in our own strength and for our own
self-righteous rewards - and this takes effort! It takes a disciplined
and consistent effort to serve and grow ONLY for the sake of loving God
with all our heart: "If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear
much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

The only hope we have of producing "much fruit" is to remain in the
presence of the Lord - remain in His rest. The sparse fruit we produce
in our own strength is nothing but cheap and tasteless imitations.
Let's cling to the vine of Jesus and allow the glory of God to fill and
flow through us. Our lives will reflect His glory and produce His fruit
only as we make every effort to remain in Him and enter His rest.

Have a Great Day!

Steve Troxel
God's Daily Word Ministries

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