MGD: Rest for Our Souls - 5

Shalom beloved, you are warmly welcome to today's morning glory devotion.

We are Pastor indigenous kiosk from the Harvard Chapel International,

Dingame Kumasi. We are humbled to be bringing you another

episode of our morning glory devotion as we continue our series.

Rest for our souls. Let us kindly share a word

of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for another blessed day.

We are happy to be at your feet. Nourish our

souls with your word in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen. Amen.

Let us kindly take our confession for today from Joshua 1.8.

Joshua 1.8.

This 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.

We bring you the part 5 of our message, Rest

for Our Souls, subtitled, Our New Eden. Rest for Our Souls, subtitled,

Our New Eden. Our scripture readings shall be taken from

Exodus chapter 33 verse 14 and John chapter 15 verse 45.

Exodus 33:14

Exodus 33 verse 14 and John chapter 15 verse 45.

Exodus 33:14

I will be reading from the New King James Version.

Exodus 33 verse 14 And he said, My presence will

Exodus 33:14

go with you, and I will give you rest.

Amen. Amen.

John chapter 15, verse 4 to 5. Abide in me,

John 15:4–5

and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit

of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you,

unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you

are the branches. He who abides in me and I

in him bears much fruit, for without me you can

do nothing. The Lord add his blessings to the hearing

and reading of his word. Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Our New Eden Yesterday, we learned that the journey to

true rest begins when we hear the invitation of Jesus.

Turn our eyes towards him and come. but coming is

only the beginning of our journey to rest. Having found Christ,

we must now remain in Him. To understand what rest is,

we must cast our minds back to Eden. Eden was

more than beautiful trees, rivers, and abundance. Its greatest treasure

was the unbroken fellowship man enjoyed with God. Adam and

Eve lived in His presence without fear, shame, or hiding.

They were secure because God was always near, dwelling daily

in His presence. It was sin that disrupted that fellowship,

and humanity stepped out of that atmosphere of rest into

a life marked by toil, striving, and restlessness. Yet, throughout Scripture,

God kept giving man hints on where to find rest.

He told Abraham in Genesis 17 verse 1 to walk

Genesis 17:1

before Him and be blameless or perfect. In the same way,

when Moses faced the enormous responsibility of leading Israel, God

did not merely promise him a better strategy. He said

in Exodus 33 verse 14, My presence will go with you,

Exodus 33:14

and I will give you rest. This is remarkable. God

did not say, when you finally reach Canaan, I will

give you rest. This means that rest is not a

geographical location or place. Rather, rest is a presence, and

that presence is the presence of God. That is why

Christ gives us that invitation to come to Him. For

in His presence, there is rest for our souls. as

long as we remain and abide in Him. So our

new Eden is not a geographical garden. It is the

restored fellowship we have with God through the Holy Spirit,

just like it was in the very beginning in Eden.

But here is a tragic reality for many. Some hear

the voice of God, walk in His directions, Yet, along

the way, they get sidetracked by the worries and pleasures

of this world, making them unable to come into God's presence.

Others manage to come into His presence, but only for

a period when they are facing a severe difficulty. The

moment their situation is solved, they go right out of it.

And sadly, some are merely Sunday-by-Sunday presence dwellers. They dwell

in His presence only during a church service or a

period of fasting, and after that, they leave His presence behind.

That is not a way for us to enjoy lasting rest. Beloved,

we cannot enjoy lasting rest in a presence we only

visit occasionally. Jesus did not say, visit me. He said,

abide in me. To abide means to remain, to stay,

to continue, to make your home in Him. Dwelling in

God's presence does not mean spending every hour inside a

church building. That is not possible. It means carrying a

consciousness of God everywhere we go, be it in the office,

in the classroom, in traffic, at home, in our conversations,

in our decisions. in the way we treat people and

even in the way we handle money and the resources

God has blessed us with, making God our priority. To

abide in Christ is therefore to live under His influence

through the person of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to

shape our thinking, to direct our choices and allow His

presence to govern our conducts. As long as the Holy

Spirit is actively taking control of our lives, we can

boldly say we are actively dwelling in God's presence. It

is right there in His presence that we can find

lasting rest for our souls. Beloved, are you merely a

visitor in God's presence or are you a resident? Abide

in Him today. Make the Holy Spirit the Lord of

your daily routine, and your soul will finally experience the

permanent rest of our new Eden. God richly bless you.

Let us kindly take our memory verse for today. Our

memory verse for today is taken from Exodus 33 verse 14.

Exodus 33:14

Exodus 33 verse 14. I will be reading from the

Exodus 33:14

New King James Version. And he said, My presence will

go with you, and I will give you rest. And

he said, My presence will go with you, and I

will give you rest. Amen.

Amen.

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

thank you for becoming our new Eden. We confess that

we have often wandered away, seeking rest in places that

would never satisfy. Today, we let go of every weight,

every sin, and every worldly compromise that keeps us from

abiding in you. Please draw us close and help us

to make your presence our permanent home. In Jesus' mighty name, Amen.

God richly bless you for staying all through today's morning

glory devotion. As we learned today, true rest is found

when we make the presence of God our permanent home.

Kindly join us again for our final episode tomorrow morning

by God's grace for part six of this series titled

The Assurance of Rest as we discover how to cease

from our own striving and rest in the eternal security

of God's love. Finally, our If I Perish, I Perish

Three Days Continuous Fast is here with us. Running under

the theme Rest for Our Souls, All Roads leads to

the Harvest Chapel International Denyami Komase, where we wait on

the Lord in worship, prayer and continuous fast, seeking the

rest He has promised us. come in person or join

online via our social media platforms at HCI Commercy and

you will definitely be blessed. See you there. Shalom.