Brother Sikes wrote:
As mentioned, the “God Thing” can never get done as long as we are doing “our thing,” or said differently, God starts when we stop, and God stops when we start. When we violate the boundaries of the Spirit, we enter into doing our own thing, and it is here that we again face John 5:30, “By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” When our true motive is not “to please ourselves,” we will begin to hear with clarity. When we can honestly say that we have been removed as the source of our direction, then the Spirit of God is free to direct us with specifics. Why? Because now our sole focus is obedience without interference from outside motives of self. Obedience is strong within us because the desire to glorify God, through our obedience, is greater than the desire to please self. When we launch into this condition of heart, we launch into the rest of God, because now my sole purpose is to glorify God through my obedience. My will, my way, my wishes are now secondary to God’s.
What I am learning, as first taught by Arthur Burt, is that “the greater always includes the lesser.” The greater, my obedience for God’s glory, always includes the lesser, my needs being met. Why do we take into our own hands what God intends to give us anyway? Because we have left the rest, because we have again become our own source and resource!
There are measures that can and will quickly tell us when and where we have left the rest of God. The following little phrase has been around for years, but honestly pegs the question of rest. The amount of stress in one’s life is directly proportional to the areas Jesus is not Lord over. If Jesus is made to truly be Lord over a situation, we will not stress over that situation. Testing is the time that determines whether or not we have truly entered the rest. The battle has two fronts: restlessness on the outside created by circumstances, and restlessness on the inside created by doubt and fear. True rest will produce victory on the inside and is the best way to insure victory on the outside. “So as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, During The Time Of Testing in the desert” (Hebrews 3:8). The time of testing is the time of revealing what is really in us. As we have stated many times, “Circumstances do not make the man, they simply reveal him to himself. A test will reveal one of two things – rest or restlessness!
REST REMOVAL FACTORS
What will remove or prevent you from the rest of God quicker than any other factor? SELFISHNESS. The KJV in James states, “Where there is envy and strife there is confusion and every evil work.” Envy is a vicious form of selfishness. When we exalt and put ourselves above anything or anybody else, it is guaranteed that the rest and restoration of God will be lost. What will get you back into the rest the quickest? Putting God and others first; putting others ahead of self (I Corinthians 10:24). A willingness to do this is a sure sign of release, which spontaneously puts you back into the rest, which ultimately produces restoration. What produces God’s miracles and favor the quickest? Selflessness through obedience FOR GOD’S GLORY, which will always spawn God’s favor in your life because THE GREATER ALWAYS INCLUDES THE LESSER. From personal experience, the lesser is abundantly beyond what you can even imagine. I have seen a number of financial miracles that spawned as a result of putting others ahead of self. What started as a selfless acts ended in financial miracles. This continues in my life today. “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others” (1 Corinthians 10:24).
Self-interest is a peace robber; selflessness is a peace giver. Selfishness will eradicate rest and deny restoration very quickly. As stated, what I have learned in business, which I am sure applies in other areas of life, is that selfless acts based on fairness and putting others first, will bring God’s hand and favor into the deal in incredible ways. If you are a businessman, lose the naïve notion that you must use your great skills and intellect to make money for the Kingdom – God doesn’t need your skills or your money, He needs your yielded heart! Forego the World’s System for your reward and gain the Kingdom’s method of receiving. Being yielded will require being selfless, which will result in God’s immediate favor and restoration.
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by the good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or DENY THE TRUTH. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly (a product of the World’s System), unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest in righteousness” (James 3:14-18).