A relationship with Jesus will transform your life and bring rest to your soul! Join Dawn and Steve in the Morning for a devotional from Blackaby Ministries International about the difference between practicing religion and having a relationship with HIM.
And we're glad you're with us on this Thursday morning. And it's been an exciting Thursday morning already. We are glad that you are here. You know, computers are fantastic when they when they work, right? That is the thing. When we have built so much of our lives around the computers and software and it is simplified and automated things, man, that's fantastic when everything just goes so smoothly. But you know the problem with computers?
Yep.
Every once in a while now I don't know why they glitch.
They glitch don't know why.
So if you're just saying, hey, wait a minute, this is like the star of the show. What's been going on in the past few minutes? Hey, here we are. And we're glad that you're here. And if. Well, I was going to say, if you went somewhere and you've come back. Thank you for coming back.
Yes, yes, it's kind of funny. Yeah. What have we been doing the last five minutes? Yeah. Look at each other going, huh? And talking to one of our managers who got us back up on the air. I'm not quite sure. I'd love to tell you the details. I just don't know. All we know is computer didn't work. Now it's working and we're here. And we're glad you're here on this last day of November. Yeah, as we put it all, all out there is what.
Today was national stay at home because you're well day.
We just should.
Have been at home today.
That's what I.
Think. It's because we kind of broke the unofficial rules of that. That we had the computer problems.
That's true gnosis. It's not you, Wendy. In Illinois this morning, you thought that maybe it was you an operator? Nope, nope, nope. We're here. And Chris, thank you for your text from Virginia. And you have told us that it is National Computer Security Day. So, you know, you might think maybe that was the issue, but but no, we're not exactly sure what it is, but we're putting it all back together, which is the good thing. Yeah, that people with a higher knowledge of things than me or you, I guess when it comes to computers.
Oh, absolutely. I safely say that. Yeah, for sure.
I know nothing are on it and putting us all back together. So I tell you though, let's do the devotional here in a minute. Okay. Let's get in to Zach Williams. He's got go tell it on the mountain. And then in just a few moments we'll head back into the word because of course that is the place we want to start. Always.
It's Steve and Dawn in the morning on Moody Radio.
14 minutes after the hour. How are you doing today? Thursday. It's the last day of November. Hey, Steve Hill or pay day?
That's always a welcome thing.
Come on.
The bank likes that too.
Yes, everybody tends to like that. I'm very thankful the day has arrived and the day has arrived. Where? We're looking at something that I think we could all really relate to. And that is fatigue, tiredness. It's, you know, you kind of go through seasons where you ramp up and you've got the energy and you know, you're serving the Lord where you're in, where he's called you to be. And then there are other times where we may have put ourselves out, inserted ourselves into something that we are very capable of. But maybe the Lord didn't call us to it. And so it just becomes busy work, and we don't understand why we're kind of falling apart where we. We're not sure how to do this anymore.
Been there, done that.
I'm telling you. And it's good things, right? It's. It's ministry is taking care of the family. It's it's just spending all the plates. And we're so twofold comes to my mind because we had this conversation yesterday.
Right? Kerry Schmitt was with us during the 7 a.m. central time hour yesterday. And yeah, that was such a relevant conversation for some of us.
And our devotional is going to go there here in just a moment to drive home the point, because clearly, maybe it's you that needs to hear it. I need to hear it. We need to be reminded what it really looks like to follow Jesus. And work definitely is part of it. And yet it's discerning. Lord, did you call me to this? Did I call me to this? Because there's a really, really big difference. Following Jesus includes rest. What?
Nuh yeah. What?
And we have lost such side of that. We think following Jesus means go go go go go, be busy. Do all the things. Make sure that your schedule is full.
And it can be okay to run hard I think. But we have to run hard with Jesus. And I think sometimes what we can inadvertently fall into is I'm running hard for him, but not with him. And there's a big difference in that with a lot of times we know that God has called us to do something, and so we do that something and we may end up doing that something eventually in our own power because we develop a skill set. Maybe we even kind of get good at that thing. And we're no longer asking for his help and needing his dependence and whatever. And so next thing you know, you're busy doing stuff for God. And when's the last time we spent time with God? And that right there, I think, has been one of the things that was kind of like that two by four upside the head for me, that went like, yeah, you've been really busy doing things with when are you going to slow down long enough or doing things for when are you going to slow down long enough to spend time with?
And our devotional today may introduce even another question. We'll see what we come up with when you head to Matthew 11.
So we're going to go right now Matthew 11 verses 28 and 29. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. If you find that Christianity exhausts you, is draining you of energy, well, then you're practicing religion rather than enjoying a relationship. Because Jesus said that a relationship with him would bring rest to your soul, and your walk with the Lord will not make you weary. It's actually going to invigorate you. It's going to restore your strength and energize your life. You know, hard work or lack of sleep can make you tired. And this kind of fatigue, that kind of tired, that can usually be remedied by some good rest. Few. Good night's sleep makes a world of difference. But then there's this deeper fatigue. There's this one that goes beyond just physical tiredness. It's this emotional exhaustion, and it comes from experiencing the heavy burdens and all the draining, draining crises that we face. There's this tiredness that's kind of like deep within your soul, and it comes from carrying the weight of others, the needs of others. And you can think, okay, I just need to get away for a little bit. I need to go on a vacation, going to sleep a bunch, and I'm going to be okay with that. And you can go on that vacation, but your soul is not going to be restored. Maybe your body is going to catch up on a little bit of sleep, but your soul will not be restored and refreshed. This condition, that weariness of the soul that can only be rectified by finding rest in Christ. You know, there are some zealous Christians who want to do all they can to serve Christ, and they exhaust themselves in the process of doing that. And it was to these that Jesus extended his invitation to go to him. Come and learn from me, he said. Jesus spent most of his most of his earthly ministry surrounded by the needy multitudes. He faced relentless opposition. He often prayed throughout the night. He rarely had any privacy. Yet he always received the rest and the strength that came from his father. It was not that Jesus didn't have hard work to do. I mean, he certainly did. But Jesus knew the path to spiritual rest. So if you find yourself not just tired, but you find yourself weary. Go to Jesus and let him give you his rest, because his rest will restore your soul like nothing else can. If you want to copy this morning's devotional, we'd love to get that to you. Simply text the word devo dev to 800 555 7898. That's (800) 555-7898, or you'll find it linked on our Facebook page, which is Don and Steve in the morning. There is no sparkle on me this morning.
Well, there's just supposed to bring the chill. Yeah, let's just chill. Well, chills. Good.
I forgot to turn the lava lamp on.
Oh, that'll be better.
It's going to be more chill now.
It has just been one of those mornings. Hilarious. I mean, comedy of errors around here. And you kind of got a chuckle because, you know, nobody good to get frustrated or aggravated. And resting is one of those things, especially in the circumstances. You can't. And I mean, I say that I realize it's harder to do oh, yeah, than to speak. And yet this morning was one of those examples that, okay, how are you going to react to this? You could be frustrated. You got to like be aggravated. It won't help the rest of the day.
It doesn't help at all. You just got to roll with it.
You do do.
The next right.
Thing, the next right thing. You have done the devotional Matthew 11. And it's got me thinking this morning we had a conversation yesterday with Carrie Schmidt, and I would encourage you to go grab that and Steve Dawg through the Moody Radio app. Yesterday's date, Carrie Schmidt, and he's written a book called I Sent It Away, didn't I? Steady, steady stream. There it is. Steady strength. We he's written this book, and it's talking about the dangerous drift toward depletion that we tend to have when we don't rest. And then you talked in Matthew 11 about rest, and it's got me to thinking how we do that, spiritually speaking. Oh, yeah. Not just, you know, the intentional rest.
Because there is a difference. I think the devotional brought this point out that there is tiredness like this physical tiredness that can be remedied by sleep, and then there is weariness where our souls are depleted. Sure. And there's a difference because you can go on vacation or you can go to bed early and you can kind of take care of that physical tiredness that can be remedied by slowing down a little, few more extra hours of sleep, a little vacation, whatever. But that weariness, that soul weariness. I mean, from personal experience, vacation doesn't fix that. No, you can go away on vacation and you can feel good. You can come back and dive back into work on Monday morning. And by 1030 that feeling is back. And so that's when we talk about rest and tiredness and weirdness. Like I think there is a difference between those two things. And if we use those interchangeably then I think sometimes we're not. Kind of clear on exactly what we're talking about.
Oh, I totally agree. And yet I do think they go together. They are two.
Different.
Yeah. And yet if you are not physically rested, your spiritual life is going to be weary by default. And then you add the doing. Yeah. And you've got this perfect storm of Lord, what? What am I even doing? Like you, you are my. You're my focus. I want others to see you through my life. And yet I got nothing right now because I've just worn myself out. So I go back to the Sabbath. The Lord gave the Sabbath to the Jewish people. And I know some folks do put a Sabbath into their lives, because they realize that our bodies have to have this rest, and that's physical rest and spiritual rest. So there you've got him together again. He he did that for us. What was the Scripture like? The Sabbath wasn't made for man.
Man was made for the Sabbath.
Yes. Did I have that right, or do I have it backwards?
I think I think you got that right.
Okay. All right. I'm looking at my at our at our Briggs keeping me on track here. So you've got both things going on with the design of the Sabbath. And then, of course, the New Testament church comes and we go, oh, okay, let's just blow that out of the water and be as busy as we can be on our worship day. And and we're all tired and we're all weary. There's the distinction between the two. And I think back and I asked the Lord sometimes, what is it that we find so difficult to trust you with when it comes to physical rest and emotional rest and spiritual rest? Why? Why do we have to complicate things? For my I'm asking myself, I'm asking the Lord.
I think big part of it is cultural expectations. You know, there is this, I'm going to say, almost twisted sense of pride in how busy we can be and all that we can accomplish. And if you were raised in an environment where hard work was rewarded and there was this culture of performance and, you know, look at all the things that we're doing and how hard we're running. And that was affirmed and rewarded to slow down and to not accomplish or feel like we're accomplishing as much just rubs us the wrong way. It goes against the cultural norm and maybe even doesn't have to be culture as a whole. I think it is. But it can even be the subculture of maybe your family, your church culture, your whatever culture that is. And so it can feel as if I'm missing it. I'm not doing the right thing by not running hard. And aren't we called to serve and aren't I'm supposed to do this and that and all these things and we can, for a season, do those things in our own power. But again, I go back to when we're doing them for the Lord and when we're doing them for other people, and we're not doing them with him. We're not doing them from his presence. Man. That is where the I think the physical. We burn ourselves out physically and then it leads into that just absolute weariness. And it leads into that place of just feeling so, so empty. There's a lot more that we could say about this, and maybe we will throughout this hour. You want to jump in and join the conversation? I'd love to have you. You can call you can text 805 5578 9 to 8. The number that's (800) 555-7898.
Yeah, we love it when you do that. When you call text, join the conversation. Tell us something that's going on in your life. Share your prayer requests with us. We do try to lift every single one up that comes in. And I'm so thankful that the father knows we're just talking about rest and spending time with him and what that looks like. The busyness of life, the busyness of ministry. And do we interrupt that with spending time with the father and knowing him? And you were just sharing with me, Steve, that knowing the father, that's Jesus. He always set that example like he did nothing apart from what the father would tell him, right, and direct him to do. And I think about how, you know, for the most part, because he was in he's he was Jewish and part of the Jewish culture and what God had set up for that people group being the Sabbath. And we see occasionally he's working on the Sabbath, he's doing ministry on the Sabbath. But you figure he kept the Sabbath because God had instituted that. He also would take these 40 days and go out and spend time with the father and evenly leave the disciples so that he could only have 40. Can you imagine taking 40 days and going and spending time with the Lord? You'd be a transformed human.
Oh, absolutely.
When you came back to what we would call real life, I would argue, too, if we took an hour, a day or an hour a week, it is. I'm going back now to the Sabbath to spend time only with the Lord. The phone is nowhere near you now. I'm just preaching to myself, going to tell you that right now. I'm not preaching at you or to you. I'm talking to Don May right now. I do wonder if we implemented these things, what would happen with our walk? And in order to implement them, most of us would have to let something go. Sure. Yeah, that's a challenge.
It is a challenge, especially when we're so busy doing things for God, if you will, for family, for our employers. We're doing a lot of things for and not necessarily doing things with. And I think the pattern of taking the Sabbath, taking some time is hugely important. But also you think it's carving out time every day. Yeah. Or as with intentionality, I understand. I don't want to make it a whole legalistic thing, sure, but with as much intentionality as we can to carve out quiet time with the Lord, expecting to hear from him, expecting to be in relationship with him, because otherwise it can get super easy to just practice religion. It can be super easy to just be ticking the boxes and to go through the motions. Even the good motions, right? Right. Even the good things that God has given us. But if we're not slowing down long enough to hear from him, expecting to hear from him, listening for that still small voice, expecting the spirit to speak, then that deep weariness that you may be feeling, I don't think that's going to be fixed. It's only in his presence, really, that I think we really find that true rest that our souls are longing for. And so not just a matter of opening your Bible, reading your little verse, and moving on with your day. I've checked the box, but are you expecting to hear from God?