When God created the world, He put such a tremendous force of power and energy into that creation that it kept going by itself. God does not have to wake up in the morning to make the sun come up. The sun will come up because it is part of what He created. God simply entered into a Sabbath rest while everything of His creation continued on. But if God had not worked, there would be no rest.

We live in a day where we are laboring to enter God’s rest. We put a lot of energy into it, but our labor will stop when we enter His rest. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to keep yourself on course, to not get diverted or stumble into sin. I know salvation is a free gift of God, but after you get that gift, you must keep working at it and buffet your flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7, KJV). You need to take dominion over yourself to control your spirit, and it is work. You may think, “Why is this so much work?” Remember, God Himself worked for six days before He rested (Genesis 2:1-3). However, do not see your walk with God as just a lot of work. Realize that you are working to enter His rest.

The Israelites experienced a time of rest under Joshua but that was not the rest God was looking for (Joshua 21:44). David also proclaimed that there remains a rest for the people of God (1 Chronicles 23:25). The author of Hebrews added, “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9-11).¹ We must be diligent to enter His rest and not walk in our own energy. We need to move quickly, make every effort, and apply ourselves. But we are not just zealous to work hard; we are zealous to enter into His rest.

Entering God’s rest is like jumping into a moving river. Once you jump in you are swept away. You do not labor to go downstream. It just happens. This is a picture of what God is talking about. Our labor stops because we are riding on His energy. The Spirit is the motion, the energy, and the power. That is the
rest of the Lord. When you enter the Spirit, you are swept into the will of God. I know we have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but I am talking about entering His rest. There is a difference. We need to help each other and encourage each other. We need to walk through this together as long as it is still called today (Hebrews 3:13-14). Only one thing is lacking—we need to jump into the river of God’s energy.

When we enter into the Spirit, everything will change (John 3:6-8). The power of the Word exists in His rest. We are not praying for God to come and do something. We are casting ourselves into Him. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). The energy is there;
we just step into it. When we enter His rest by the Holy Spirit, there is going to be an explosion that changes everything.

¹ All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).