Be Still and Know
From The HeartPublish date: 08/13/2006
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Psalms 46:10-11 NKJV
BE STILL! KNOW that HE is GOD! Men and women, all over the world, are working and striving to come to know God their own way. There is a way to know God, but it is not man’s way, it is God’s way!
You can never know God by trying to figure things out in your mind – your carnal mind is enmity against God (Romans 8:7). Your senses can be trained to know God, but you can only come to know God with your heart. You must be still - cease from your efforts - and allow God to direct you into His ways. It is only when you still your mind, stop trying to figure everything out, and cease from your works program, that God can begin to reach you. God is always speaking and showing Himself to mankind, but men are so busy doing all the talking and doing that they cannot hear or see Him. It is time to BE STILL so God can have His way in and through us! God has all the answers – it is up to us to still our own minds, with all our own solutions, and hear what God is saying to us.
So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God; 10 For he who has once entered [God's] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own. 11 Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell].
Hebrews 4:9-11 AMP
BE STILL! There is a rest reserved for God’s people. It is a rest of faith. People struggle so hard with faith in God and His promises, because they think that the answer comes only by their work and effort. Whilst it is true that faith requires corresponding action, God says that faith is a rest. Unbelief and disobedience will keep you from that rest. Some people think they have faith toward God, when in fact their faith is actually all in their own efforts. They have faith in their own works. The rest of faith is faith in God alone – stepping back and allowing God to do it. Some people think that faith is the same as determination – if they mentally commit and decide that something will happen, that it will. They believe that they can make things happen through sheer force of will, but they are bound to be disappointed. You can’t make something happen with your own mind. While it is true that you can accomplish some things through your will and determination, there are just some things that will never happen without God’s intervention. Some things will never come to pass without faith in God and His ability.
You can only have faith in God for something He has promised you – either in a general sense as a promise in scripture, or as a word spoken directly to you by the Spirit of God – not just in something that you want. Anything God promises you will always line up with His word. Once you know what God has said, you place your trust in Him to bring it to pass. You do your part, but you allow Him to lead and guide and open the doors along the way. You pray and then you begin to rejoice – you praise Him and you thank Him until you see the end result – and then you praise and thank him some more! No matter how challenging the circumstances, there should be a peace in your heart! We have a saying in our ministry: If you have to force it – it’s not God! If we are heading in a direction and are blocked at every turn, then we back off and allow God to change our direction. If God is the author of it, then He will fulfill it.
It is important for us to cease from the weariness and pain of human labors and to be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter God’s rest. Don’t work at carrying the whole load - work at entering His rest. How do we do this? We must pray like it all depends on God and work like it all depends on us. Some people pray like it all depends on them and work like it all depends on God. God will not do your job – He will not do what you can do – and you cannot do His job, so don’t even try. Everyone knows that you can work better when your heart is at peace. Even your work then becomes a joy and a labor of love, instead of a life-draining, joy-killing drudge! Take a spiritual vacation!
BE STILL! Being still means: that you recognize God and His Lordship over your life; that you know that He is in charge and in control; that you have cast your cares on Him; that you know that He will see you through! Even in the middle of chaos you can be still on the inside. Take time to step back and plug in to heaven. If you feel like your world is coming undone – switch it off for a moment and focus on God and His word. Allow His word and His Spirit to minister to you and He will refresh you and renew your hope and your spirit.