I have been soaking in something that God is breathing into my spirit lately. There are two seasons that we as believers function in.

Season of Hibernation
In this season we are active in a state of rest. Not much is going on in our lives. We may not feel very productive or benifical to those around us but do not under estimate this season.
Example:Plants grow the most during the winter. Why? During the winter all the energy of the plant is underground establishing deep root systems. With out this season of growth the plant will not be able to sustain during the active growing season of blooming.
When we do not allow for seasons of Rest to come to our lives we shorten the depth of the root systems that God is trying to develope in us so that we are truely strong, even in storms. It has been my exspierience that in this season God births things in you that you can not recieve any other way. You can not work for it, earn it, nor do you deserve it but through Jesus you get it by Resting in Him.

Season of Blooming
During this season we are active in growth, we are doing things and producing a lot of fruit. Scripture says that the faith is forceful and the violent take it by force. Our faith in action is violent b/c when we use it, it by nature pulls down darkness and destroys strongholds on peoples lives. In order for someone to get a breakthrough of any kind they are getting broken free from something. How do you get a breakthough with out getting broken free? The very thought of you needing a breakthrough suggest you are in bondage thus needing help. The violent part of this is not a bloody battle but it is that through the blood of Jesus shed for us over 2000 years ago we can stand in the authority of Jesus and command that strongholds be broken and captive be released thus satan has to submitt to our commandment of authority bc it lines up with the will, purpose, and plan of God in His Kingdom.

We need both of these seasons in our lives. There is a time to grown and go then there is a time to sit quietly and recieve. I was asking myself the other day what the difference between complacency and rest was and this is what God showed me.

When you are in a time of rest it will feel like you are being complacent but do not be decieved into thinking that you are. The way you can tell the difference is that when you are in a time of REST I will be speaking something into you and when you are in a time of complacency I will not. If you are being complacent then you will be setting around in the name of REST but you will not find me in anything that you are doing. Complacency has no productivity to it but REST does!

Facebook | Brian Holamon

Facebook Brian Holamon

Relationships

Most of what we need in life will be brought to us but what we want we have to go get.

We need to know the seasons in our life, this is wisdom. There are seasons to rest and one to grow and go. Many of us want to coast through life riding on someone elses coat tail. We want them to make a way for us so that we do not have to. It is fortunate yet un fortunate for us that what we express in our lives on earth is reflected in heaven as a staple school of thought.
We want God to do something for us but we do not want Him to involve others in it. We want Him and Him alone.
Just you and me God.
With God I do not need anyone else.
He will meet all my needs.
He will see me through.
He is all I need.
I remember a time in my life when I lived like this, this was me. I was fustrated with God because I fealt like He was giving me the short end of the stick. I was not getting what I wanted and I was seeing others getting things that I was asking for and fealt I needed.

Think On This:
He places us in positions to rejoice with those who rejoice and morn with those who morn because it is in those times that we can appriciate what others have, are recieving, and what they are going through. Connecting with humanity and placing others ahead of you is what the Kingdom of God is all about.

Many times you will get your breakthrough while rejoicing or mourning with someone else in thiers. Everything in the Kingdom of God hinges off of relationships which in biblical terms is LOVE...

It is interesting how many times we want this or that and do not get it but the person across the hall, across the street, across the pew or across town does get what you want. Many times we get fustrated because they got what we wanted and what we thought we deserved but they didn't. Ha. We say we love God yet we hate our neighbor (hate - treat as less than or to treat with contempt) yet we say we love God?

The Realm of the Kingdom of Heaven always produces manifestations of itself as it connects with the realm of the kingdom of earth. This is what the bible calls signs and wonders, heaven causes us to wonder about the signs and impressions that it leaves on earth as it connects with it thus it's intention is to awaken us to its reality and lead us to the creater and owner of that Kingdom.

Lab Exsperiment:
Think of what you want and find someone else who wants or needs that then begin to help them get what they want or need and watch what happens.

Resting in God Produces Fruit

I was lead to passage of scripture the other day that I have read many times but have never seen it in the light of rest. It seems that since God has spiritualy crucified me with Him I have been able to enter into His rest and now I see through the eyes of rest rather than the eyes of performance.

I Corinthians 2: 1-5
When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Greek word study
eloquence - excellence, elevation, superiority, authority
superior wisdom - intelligence, knowledge, all learning, management of affairs, being able to impart spiritual truth
testimony - secret, mystery, hidden things, not obvious to the understanding, secret will, hidden purpose or counsel
persuasive words - enticing through mental intelligence, ability to persuade
demonstration - manifestation, prove to be true, establish with fact, to show off
power - strength, ability, miraculous power, explosive force
faith - assurance through persuasion, convictions, system of religious truth, belief system,
might not rest - exist, to be present, to happen
mans wisdom - intelligence, knowledge, all learning, management of affairs, being able to impart spiritual truth
power - strength, ability, miraculous power, explosive force
God - trinity

Paul was a leader of the religious law and had a top notch education, he was one of the best of the best. Today he would be in the whose who of society but after God came into his life and Paul entered His rest everything changed. Jesus taught Paul how to enter into the secret place of God's rest and we see this manifesting itself in this letter to the church at Corinth.

Paul did not choose to come to these people with things he learned through his efforts, his learning, his education, his religious training, his talents, his abilities, his capabilities, his experience, his position, his authority or even his divine revelations from Jesus.

So then what is left? Paul emptied himself of everything that was him. So what was left? What did he have left to give? What would other people want from him since he had nothing to offer them? No wonder Paul was was afraid and nervous when he went to them. He had been emptied of all the things that made him who he was through resting in God. God was the only thing alive in Paul and he was so at rest that he did not want to use his abilities, talents and authority to develop faith in these people.

So what was going to change these people if Paul did not have a plan, a motive, a ten step process of soaking in worship, a five step prayer process in order to connect with God or an awesome three point message that would position the people of God in a place to receive power from God.

Rest seems so wimpy yet is so powerful.
Rest appears to be so uneventful but is incredibly full and overflowing.
Rest seems to be a waste of time yet increases times potential.
Rest appears to make you miss out on the world around you yet it actually connects you with it in a more power way because of the powerful spiritual connection you bring to it.

What was Paul's secret?
What was the secrete that God had showed him that created the potential in him to have God flow through him in the demonstration of God's power without any effort?
Was it that Paul was so well liked by God?
Did Paul have a higher calling on his life so God showed him more favor because of that calling?

Here is the simple answer.

Paul entered into the rest of God by faith on a daily basis until it became a lifestyle and identity. He realized that living in God's rest is the high calling of our salvation. Therefore, he began to live from God not for God.

As Paul rested in God through Christ he simply did whatever God told or showed him to do. Paul was released from all the rules and regulations of the religious law and the demanding world. Paul was set free from the desire to please God based on his own efforts and to change the people of God based on his performance in spiritual truth. Rest will always lead us into action but not into human effort and performance.

Paul said the only thing I did was come to you with the demonstration of the power of God. Paul in rest went to them and did what God showed or told him to do then God manifested His Kingdom on earth and lives were changed which caused people to give there hearts to Him and place there faith in Him.

The coolest thing about this is not what happened while Paul was there but what happened after Paul had left.

The people relied on or trusted in God's power and God's ability to do what no one else on earth could do for them. In self reflection I now see that I have spent most of my christian life training and mentoring others so that they would grow closer to God but rely on me. I was so bound in performance and insecurity that I needed them to rely on me so I could have a since of being valued and needed. No wonder I never saw God move through my life with the demonstration of his power.

I plead with you today to enter into His rest. It will be the greatest step of faith you have ever taking in your life but it will be the most difficult. I did not realize how bound up and busy I was until I began to enter into God's rest.

Quest for Rest

Society is filled with humans seeking rest. Rest from illness, rest from daily demands, rest from spiritual bondage, and rest from conflicting stressful relationships. These only represent a grain of sand in the desert compared to the extent at which humanity searches for rest from. Who will bring the nations rest? How will rest be delivered? What does it look like? How do you make it yours so that you can eat of its fruit?

After years of searching, performing, and pretending I have come to the conclusion that we can not enter into rest on our own. It requires a spiritual move of God in our hearts and this begins with communication to God about what you want and why you want it. Jesus does the rest which gives you REST...

In Luke 4:18-19 we see Jesus making a deeply profound declaration. Jesus told us that this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. That means that what Isaiah spoke through prophecy was now fulfilled (had come to pass) on earth. Isaiah saw into the realm of the Kingdom of Heaven and spoke that this was coming to earth then 1000's of years later Jesus stood up and said I am hear and what Isaiah said is now completed.

This powerful prophetic word is still longing to unfold itself in the hearts of humans who believe in order to fulfill the mandate of God, What is His mandate?
Profoundly simple...to make the kingdom of our world look life the Kingdom of His World (Heaven).

Luke 4:18-19 states, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Hebrew word study
The Spirit - breath or wind
of the Lord - Supreme God
is upon me - on me
because has anointed - to be smeared with, rubber all over with
to preach - bring good news, declare, announce God's kindness that pertains to salvation
poor - beggar, destitute of wealth, helpless, needy, afflicted, lacking anything, one who is distressed
to preach - publicly proclaim divine truth
captives - prisoner of war
deliverance - freedom, pardon, liberty, forgiveness, release from bondage or imprisonment, freedom from the penalty
blind - mentally, physically, to be in a fog or in smoke
to set - allow to depart, drive away, send off, to dismiss
them that are bruised - crushed, broken, shattered, to be in pieces
at liberty - same as deliverance definition

If we were to look at this verse again broken down into modern language from the original Hebrew here is who it could unfold into our lives.

The breath of the Supreme God is on, smeared all over me and covers me because He wants me to tell this good news to the poor, to the beggar, to the one destitute of wealth, to the one who is helpless, to the needy, to the afflicted, to those who lacks anything, and to the one who is distressed. We need to publicly announce to the ones in prison, the ones locked up as a prisoners of war that they have been set free, free to be released from bondage and live in forgiveness. We are to speak to the people who are blind spiritually, physically and mentally. We are to tell them that they can receive their sight and no longer walk around in a fog of confusion. We are to proclaim to others that they can be healed from their broken, shattered, crushed life that is in pieces. They can be restored and can move into freedom, forgiveness as they are released into a new life.

Is Rest a Cop Out from Reality?

We are so limited in our understanding and so set in our traditional ways, we will even do something over and over again even if we are getting results that hurt us. Some of us spend years of our life doing this yet do not change.

In 1 Corinthians 15 we see Paul telling us that he had preached to these people what he had received from Jesus and that they were to stand firm in their faith. He then reminded them of what the gospel was, it is that Jesus was alive as a man on earth then died, was buried, and then raised to life on the third day. He appeared to many people and some of them were still alive. He then tells us that Jesus appeared also to him who he felt was the least of all the apostles. Then he goes into this insightful passage in verse 10.

I Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them, yet not I but the grace of God that was with me.

Greek word meaning
Grace is Charis and it means to have a divine influence upon the heart
Vain is Kenos and it means to be empty

Paul was saying that because of this divine influence of the gosple (which is the fact that we can rest in knowing that our debt has been paid and we can not do anything to earn it) he was passionate to do things for God but they were done out of the heart of rest not performance. He says I have entered into a divine influence of God upon my heart through His works not mine and now I rest in Him. This rest that I live in causes me to take action on my faith and it is not empty or void from producing fruit. I work and do a lot of things for the Kingdom of God but I do it out of a state of rest not performance.

Rest is a great paradox in the Kingdom. It stands tall on the mountain of God, right up there with if you want to find your life you must lose it and if you lose your life you will find it, if you want to receive you must give and through giving you receive. It is so true to me that the Kingdom of Heaven functions on a set of principles that are much different from the world so my passion in life is to learn to live here on earth functioning by Kingdom of Heaven principles.
What is your passion in life?

We will either grow stronger in this earthly kingdom or in the Heavenly Kingdom, you will live a life from your soul or from your spirit. Heaven desires to transform earth to look life it as it was in the beginning. God desires to manifest His kingdom on earth because in so doing it transforms it to life like Him and His Kingdom, this brings Him glory and draws all men to Him.
What Kingdom are you building?

Jesus said that two structures were built, one on the rock and one on the sand. They both looked good, they appeared to be strong and dependable. They were both livable and felt like home but one day a storm came and it began to rain relentlessly. During this storm is when regrets began to rise in the heart of the builder but it was too late. His foundation began to wash out from under his base structure and the concrete began to crack then the wall became un level. Sheet rock walls began to bulge, crack and split. What was once smooth and finished was now uneven and rough, the house was no longer enjoyable to live in. Many of us have lives like this.
What foundation are you building your life, house, ministry, family, and career on?

As a contractor I have had many instances where after a structure was set in place it became obvious to me that it was not right so I had to take it apart and redo it.
Is it hard? yes!
Is it beneficial? It is worth every frustrated hour of labor?
Does a faulty foundation reflect just the building? No, it reflects the character of the builder more than the structure itself.

Called to a Life of Rest

When we hear the word rest we think of doing nothing. No spousal to do list, no children functions, no work expectations, we imagine ourselves on auto pilot from life. However, we are not living the Walgreen's commercial of a perfect life, we are in the real world and this world places demands on us because it is part of living and being alive.

Chances are, if you are going somewhere with your life, if you have plans, desires, and passions that you are pursuing then you have demands on you. These demands create a need for us to rest so that we can recharge our bodily batteries, focus our minds and refresh our spiritual connection.

In Exodus we see our forefathers in Egypt due to a world famine yet they were living in the fruit of labor that Joseph had provided. However, Joseph had died and a new King who did not know Joseph saw the fruitfulness of the Israelite's as a curse not a blessing. God's blessings was causing our families and our labor to multiply like crazy. However, this type of lifestyle blessing that gave glory to our Creator caused others to rise up against us.

Exodus 1: 6-11 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them. Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. "Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country." So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

I want to connect an earthly story with a heavenly reality. Just as King Pharaoh of Egypt was task masters over us in Egypt so Satan desires to be a task master over us in our world of modern day Egypt. Here is what this looks like...

Salves to the world
We enslave ourselves to our jobs for money to pay our bills, support our families as well as purchase things we want in life. Our task master (Boss) works us hard expecting great productivity out of us with a small if any lack of appreciation.

What about the stack of paper work that never ends, the appointments and meetings that never stop. What about the work load that always seems to increase due to growth of economy. We work harder for the task master thinking surely we will get to the point were we can become a management task master over others and relieve ourselves of hard labor but in all this effort we fail to realize that we will always be under the hand of a task master.

Others have poured years of labor into our task masters organization thinking there is now a since of loyalty only to be shaken to the realization that you just received a lay off notice with your final pay check. Where are ethics, respect, compassion, since of right and wrong? The system of a task master can never be pleased and will not even lend you a helping hand in the efforts you make to fulfill the duties of the task master. How about that? You are expected to do something but not even a helping hand will be given to you in order to help you do it?
You have labored, served, and slaved for years and for what?
Where is your rest?
Where is something more than a yearly vacation and 8 hours of sleep at night?

The curse in this is that you always come up on the short end of the stick. You never measure up. You never get to truly enter into rest because of all the demands on you.

Slaves to religion
Yes, I meant to say that. Slaves to religion. Many of us are slaves to a world system in the name of God. We attend church services weekly, bible studies occasionally and small groups regularly but still feel empty. We beat ourselves up over not reading our bible enough, we do not pray enough nor hard enough, we do not serve our church or community enough, we do not give enough, and do not even get me started on how ministers abused people from the pulpits of America in the name of Evangelism!

We make people feel guilty because they do not share their faith, they do not tell others about Jesus, and God forbid you do not bring visitors to church. If you are a person of authority in the church please check your heart and ask God if you have turned into an Egyptian taskmaster working in the name of Growing God's Kingdom.

How about those of us who strive to be good enough for God. We try to act good enough to deserve His blessings. We try so hard to live a Holy life because we want the gifts of the spirit to flow in our lives. Nobody knows about this secret life you live as you try to please the system of the taskmaster of this world because you always are dressed nice for church and have the christian four letter word (FINE) memorized as well as mastered. We force our smile through years of pain, falseness, and regret in order to say, "I am FINE" when someone asks us how we are doing.

Why do we pretend everything is okay when it is not?
Why don't we be open and honest with ourselves and others?
Why do lie to ourselves?
There is a solution to solve this crazy, busy, overwhelming cycle.

This is evidence that we are in bondage to a taskmaster, Christ came to set us free but we have enslaved ourselves to religion in the name of God. Is this twisted or what?