The Rest Your Soul Longs For - Your Nightly Prayer - August 22

The Rest Your Soul Longs For
Your Nightly Prayer 
by Britt Mooney 

TONIGHT’S SCRIPTURE 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28

SOMETHING TO PONDER 

“I need a vacation!” People share pictures on social media, showing the beach or the mountains, expressing their longing to be there instead of work, school, or daily life. The everyday rut brings stress and hurry, obligation and pressure. We long for a break, time to rest. A getaway would solve the stress, right? 

But we’ve all had vacations that haven’t felt restful. Problems occur. Conflicts arise in the family. Things happen. We return home and realize the break didn’t help. Maybe the true rest we long for isn’t a vacation. 

To be clear, the Bible isn’t against taking time to rest. However, God promises a deeper rest, not dependent on our situation. If our idea of rest is contingent upon circumstance, then we never find it. Perhaps we get a moment’s relief, but we were created for something greater. 

God created humanity on day six. The next day, rest. The Lord gave Adam and Eve a purpose and mission, things to do—tend the garden, name the animals, have kids and spread sacred dominion across the earth. Yet they didn’t act to get rest and peace. They began with it, working from rest. 

The Fall reversed that. In a corrupt world, we work to get rest but never really get it. 

Jesus returned to break the curse and return us to the design. We were created to work from rest, and that’s what we long for. In his love, Jesus calls us to himself to find that life, moving and acting from rest instead of striving to get it. The rest we’re looking for? It’s in Christ, separate from our temporary circumstances. 

In fact, the Bible only tells us to strive for one thing—to enter Christ’s eternal rest (Hebrews 4:11), which already exists, and we can’t earn. 

So let’s go there. It’s available to all who believe. 

YOUR NIGHTLY PRAYER 

Heavenly Father,
I often strive, trying to seek rest. But vacations and getting away can’t satisfy my soul, as good as they can be. You created me to live from rest, not to chase it. In your Son, you offer real, eternal rest, free and available now. I choose to come to you for my rest. Teach me to exist and live in your love and peace. Quiet my heart. Help me live each day grounded in you and find rest for my soul.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen. 

THREE THINGS TO MEDITATE UPON 

1. Have you ever been on a vacation and realized you didn’t achieve rest or peace? 

2. How would living from rest change how you do all your daily activities? 

3. How would living from rest change the way you take vacations?

Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Rafal Jedrzejek

Britt Mooney lives and tells great stories. As an author of fiction and non-fiction, he is passionate about teaching ministries and nonprofits the power of storytelling to inspire and spread truth. Mooney has a podcast called Kingdom Over Coffee and is a published author of We Were Reborn for This: The Jesus Model for Living Heaven on Earth as well as Say Yes: How God-Sized Dreams Take Flight.

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