MGD: Rest for Our Souls - 6

Shalom beloved. You are warmly welcome to today's Morning Glory devotion.

We are Pastor and Deaconess Kielson from the Harvest Chapel International,

Binyami Komwase. We are deeply grateful to God as we

come your way with the sixth and final episode of

our devotional series, Rest for our souls. Let us kindly

share a word of prayer. Dear Father, we thank you

for how far you have brought us in this journey.

As we conclude today, anchor our hearts deeply in your

truth and give us grace to enter your perpetual rest.

In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

Amen.

Let us kindly take our confession for today from Joshua

Joshua 1:8

chapter 1 verse 8. Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 This

Joshua 1:8

book of the law shall not depart from my mouth,

but I shall meditate in it day and night, that

I may observe to do according to all.

That is written in it. For then I will make

my way prosperous, and then I will have good success. Amen.

Our theme for today's message is Rest for Our Souls,

Part 6 The Assurance of Rest Rest for Our Souls,

Part 6 The Assurance of Rest Our scripture readings shall

be taken from 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8 to

1 Peter 5:8–9

9 and Hebrews chapter 4, verse 9 to 10. 1

Hebrews 4:9–10 1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

Peter chapter 5 I will be reading from the New

King James Version. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary

the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking him

he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing

that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in

the world. Amen.

Amen.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 9 to 10. There remains therefore

Hebrews 4:9–10

a rest for the people of God. For he who

has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his

works as God did from his. The Lord add his

blessings to the reading and hearing of his word. Thanks

be to God. Amen. Amen.

Rest for Our Souls Part 6 The Assurance of Rest Yesterday,

we established that our new Eden is found by actively

dwelling in God's presence. However, as we conclude our series today,

there is a dangerous misconception we must address. Dwelling in

God's presence does not mean an absence of troubles. Remember

the first Eden? Adam and Eve were dwelling in the

perfect presence of God. Yet the devil still slithered in

to tempt them. Even Jesus, after fasting and praying for

40 days, was tempted by the devil in his most

vulnerable moment. If the enemy had the audacity to tempt Jesus,

he would certainly come at us. The devil will try

to plant fears of the unknown. He will bring loud

accusations from your past life. He will give you laudable

reasons to feel like you are missing out on what

the world is enjoying, testing your convictions to push you

into sin and break your fellowship with God. But does

the enemy's attack mean we must lose our rest? Absolutely not.

To maintain our rest, we must do exactly what Adam

and Eve failed to do, to stand firmly on the

word of God. We must remind the enemy of what

God has said. This is exactly what Jesus did when

the devil came to tempt him. This is where spiritual

maturity matters most, requiring us to build our faith through

studying the word, diligent prayer, fasting, and remaining in Christian fellowship.

One of the most subtle ways the enemy attacks our

rest is by whispering that God's grace is not enough.

He tries to convince us that to truly find rest,

we must depend on ourselves, go the way of the world,

or cut corners to secure our future. This is exactly

what he did in the first Eden. He did not

come with a sword. He came with a lie. He

whispered to Adam and Eve, Did God really say you

would die? No. If you eat this fruit, you will

become as wise as God. He brought the temptation of self-dependence,

convincing them that if they just did this one extra

thing and cut corners on God's command, they would secure

a better life for themselves. Beloved, The devil still uses

this exact strategy today. He pushes into our minds the

heavy burden of self-dependence, suggesting that we must strive and

hustle outside God's will to earn the peace and future

we are looking for. But beloved, to fully enter and

secure God's promised rest, we must do the exact opposite.

We must cease from our own works. You cannot earn

God's rest by cutting corners, or relying on your own strength,

or doing things your own way. Jesus invites us to

take His yoke upon us. Taking His yoke means yielding

our will, walking in humble obedience, and depending entirely on

His instructions than our own calculations. To have rest for

your soul does not mean we will sit idly doing nothing. Rather,

we stay readily obedient to God's voice, doing only what

he asks us to do. When we reach this place

of total submission, our rest is made complete. We become

so resolute that no matter what great difficulties or storms

come our way, we know of the truth that God

is with us. Beloved, as we bring this six-part journey

to a close, let us remember how far we have come.

We saw how rest was lost in Eden, when humanity

chose self-reliance and broke fellowship with God. We watched humanity

endlessly scavenging the earth, chasing milestones in a fruitless search

for rest. We learned the disappointment of relying on earthly breakthroughs,

realizing they can never sustain the soul. We heard the

tender call of Jesus and took the first step by

looking entirely in His direction. We stepped into our new

Eden by dwelling actively in God's presence. And today, we

have discovered that true lasting rest is secured by standing

firm on God's word, rejecting the devil's lie of self-dependence,

and ceasing from our own striving. Precious one, the storm

may rage around you, but remember that Jesus is in

your boat, so cease from striving and enter His rest today.

God richly bless you. Let us kindly share our memory

verse for today. Our memory verse for today is taken

from Hebrews chapter 4 verse 10. Hebrews 4 verse 10

Hebrews 4:10 Hebrews 4:10

I will be reading from the New King James Version.

For he who has entered his rest has himself also

ceased from his works, as God did from his. For

he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased

from his works, as God did from his. Amen. Let

us kindly share a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this beautiful journey into your rest. Give

us deep roots in your word so that we may

stand firm against the doubts, accusations and lies of the enemy.

We choose today to cease from our own striving, self-reliance

and our fears. We reject the temptation to cut corners

and we take your yoke upon us, resting in your

absolute assurance that you are always with us In Jesus'

mighty name. Amen.

Amen. God ruthlessly bless you for staying with us all

through this six-part series, Rest for Our Souls. We trust

that your life has been deeply transformed and that you

have finally found the lasting rest that only Jesus Christ

can give. Yesterday was an awesome time in God's presence

for the one of our If I Perish, I Perish

Fast at the Harvest Chapel International, Diname Kumasi. Join us

today for another marvelous encounter with God, in person or online,

as we wait on Him in prayer, fasting and worship,

under the theme, Rest for Our Souls. Come and you

will be blessed. Join us on Monday by God's grace

at the same time for another episode of our morning

glory devotion. Stay tuned to Radio HCI today for more

spirit-filled content. Have a victorious day and stay blessed. Shalom.