MGD: Rest for Our Souls - 1

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

We are Pastor Indikines Kielsen from the Harvest Chapel International,

Dinyame Kumasi. We count it all joy to be coming

your way as we begin a brand new devotional series titled,

Rest for Our Souls. Let us kindly share a word

of prayer. Dear Father, we thank you for the gift

of life and the privilege of sitting at your feet.

As we open the scriptures today, open our eyes to

the condition of our hearts. Breathe your truth into our

very lives. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Let us kindly

take our confession for today from Joshua 1 the verse 8.

Joshua 1 the verse 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. Our theme for today's message

is Rest for Our Souls, Part 1, When Rest Was Lost.

Rest for Our Souls, Part 1, When Rest Was Lost.

Our scripture reading shall be taken from Genesis chapter 2,

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

the verse 1 to 3, and Genesis chapter 3, the

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

verse 17 to 19. Genesis chapter 2. the verse 1

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

to 3, and then Genesis chapter 3, the verse 17

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

to 19. I will be reading from the New King

James Version. Genesis chapter 2, the verse 1 to 3.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

The Garden of Eden. Thus the heavens and the earth,

and all the host of them, were finished. And on

the seventh day God ended His work which He had done.

And he rested on the seventh day from all his

work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh

day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from

all his work which God had created and made. Amen.

Genesis chapter 3, the verse 17 to 19. Then to

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Adam he said, Because you have heeded the voice of

your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which

I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it.

Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you

shall eat of it all the days of your life.

Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.

And you shall eat the herb of the field. In

the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. till

you return to the ground, for out of it you

were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you

shall return. The Lord add his blessings to the reading

and hearing of his word. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rest for our souls, part 1, when the rest was lost.

Have you ever had a season where you felt completely drained,

yet no amount of sleep could fix it. You took

time off from work, stepped away from the noise, and

spent hours in bed, but the moment you woke up

that heavy unsettled feeling was still there. We often tell ourselves,

if I can just get past this stressful week, if

I can just clear this hurdle, if I can just

take a break, I will finally be fine. Yet, Even

in our quiet moments, the inner running never truly stops.

That is because the exhaustion we feel today is rarely

just physical fatigue. It is a quiet restlessness in the soul.

To understand where this restlessness comes from, we have to

look past our modern schedules, our financial pressures, and our

fast-paced lives. We have to go all the way back

to the beginning. where it started. In Genesis chapter 1

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

and 2, scripture gives us a view of life as

God intended it. God brought order out of chaos, light

into darkness, and life where there was nothing. And when

his work was finished, Genesis chapter 2 tells us that

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

God rested on the seventh day, not because he was

tired or out of breath, but because creation was complete, whole,

and in perfect harmony with Him. In that unbroken world,

God placed man. Eden was an environment of total peace

and communion with God. There was no anxiety about what

tomorrow would bring. There was no shame, no guilt, and

no masks to wear. There was peace. no desperate striving

to prove one's value or earn acceptance, and there was

no fear of God's presence, only close fellowship with God.

Adam and Eve worked, but their work was not an

exhausting struggle to survive. They lived from a place of security, provision,

and peace because they were connected to their Creator. Rest's

was the very atmosphere of their existence. The tragedy of

the fall was far more than eating a forbidden fruit.

It was the moment humanity chose independence over dependence upon God.

The moment sin entered, that intimate connection was severed. When

God walked in the garden in the cool of the day,

man was no longer waiting in joyful anticipation. For the

very first time, man felt fear. For the very first time,

man hid behind the trees in shame. Notice what followed immediately,

just as we read in our opening scripture. The ground

became resistant. Pain and toil entered human labor. God said

to Adam, In the sweat of your face you shall

eat bread. till you return to the ground. In that moment,

rest was lost. The garden of peace became a distant memory,

and humanity stepped into an existence marked by sweat, striving, anxiety,

and weariness. Sin introduced a deep fracture between humanity and God,

and with that fracture came an enduring restlessness of the heart. Beloved,

that is why no amount of physical relaxation can fully

heal the weariness we carry inside. We are not just

tired because life is hard. We are restless because we

were made to live in fellowship with God and humanity

has been living outside that intended rest ever since man

fell in Eden. Precious one, where have you been feeling

that quiet toil and inner exhaustion in your own life.

Acknowledge that ache today. As we step out of Eden

in our next devotional message, we will follow the steps

of humanity to see where we began searching to recover

what was lost. God richly bless you. Let us kindly

take our memory verse for today. Our memory verse shall

be taken from Genesis chapter 3, the verse 19. Genesis

Genesis 3 · chapter mention Genesis 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, the verse 19. I will be reading from

the New King James Version. In the sweat of your

face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken, for dust you are,

and to dust you shall return. In the sweat of

your face you shall eat bread, till you return to

the ground, for out of it you were taken, for

dust you are, and to dust you shall return. Amen.

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

we thank you for your word today. We acknowledge that

our hearts are often weary from carrying the weight of

life in our own strength. Forgive us for our self-reliance.

Open our understanding through this journey. and teach our hearts

the true soul. of peace and rest. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

Thank you for joining us for part one of our series,

Rest for Our Souls. As we have seen today, the

restlessness we battled began when humanity walked away from God's

intended rest in Eden. Join us again tomorrow morning by

God's grace at the same time for part 2 as

we look at the search for rest and see how

humanity seeks for his lost rest. We also want to

take the opportunity to invite you to the second edition

of our If I Perish, I Perish 3 Days Continuous Fast,

which comes off at the Harvest Chapel International, Kumasi, from

the 4th to the 6th of September. Our theme is

Rest for Our Souls. Come join us, seek the face

of the Lord for the rest He has promised us

and our loved ones. Until we meet again, by God's

grace tomorrow morning for another episode of our morning glory devotion.

Stay connected to Radio HCI for more spirit-filled content. Have

a lovely day. Shalom.