Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:11
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I want to make your life beautiful, the most beautiful life ever lived and when you have arrived at that place of beauty it is a rest in Me but to enter that rest and abide therein takes perseverance.
Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12.
I crown you with glory and majesty and that is the way I planned your life to be from the beginning for you are in My image and according to My likeness.
What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! Psalm 8:4-5.
But because of Adam’s abdication of that glory whereby he turned from being fruitful in producing goodness to producing nothing but evil, he became naked and exposed to fear and shame. He transferred from the Kingdom of light to the realm of darkness and gave his dominion authority to another created being who was of a lower rank than he and took himself down to the flesh level and no longer persevered in the spirit.
But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Hebrews 10:38-39.
He had stepped out of My rest into a life of toil and pain. Apart from Me there is no good, no true beauty, no true majesty and glory. Why? Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:16-17.
Because Adam gave his leasehold interest in the earth that I had entrusted into his hands over to the devil, he gave him the legal right to be here till that leasehold expires and Jesus returns to enforce My ownership of the fee. Until then you will have trials in this life due to your adversary. But Jesus assures you that you can enter the rest of His peace even in the midst of trials because, if you abide (persevere) in My Words and My Word abides in you, you will know the truth and if you remain in the truth it will set you free.
These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.
Jesus overcame the world which Adam put under the dominion of Satan by making you a citizen of another Kingdom, the Kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, yes, My Kingdom of Light. And all who receive Jesus as their Lord, have within Him the gift of eternal life by being born again from above by receiving My imperishable, incorruptible, eternal Word into their hearts so that theirs spirits are no longer dead to Me and alive to sin but alive to Me and dead to sin.
The world and the “god” of the world system as it is now, will try to keep pulling you into strife, fear, and the works of the flesh and the tactic is deception and continual bombardment with his fiery darts, but on your part, if you persevere, you can get to a place of complete peace, that passes understanding of the worldly, even though the trials are not gone. The difference is, you will know how to respond and tread right over the trial on the highway of holiness, which is the Way, the Truth, and the Life even now. You will get in the flow of the Holy Spirit that can carry you successfully through anything that comes you way. You have become “bullet proof.”
What is that place of rest in Me? Doing My perfect Will in your life. Once you are in the flow of My perfect Will, it carries you along the path that I walked already and prepared for you in advance.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10.
It is the plan for your life that I had written in My vision for your life before you were born.
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. Psalm 139:16.
Your adversary, the devil, is roaming about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to deceive and devour, but if you persevere in My Word, which is the truth, you will tread him down beneath your feet.
Perseverance is being consistently constant in doing good, which is equivalent to being consistently constant to doing My Word. It is refusing to abdicate the glory. For glory is the exercise of My power in you in love, producing goodness and eradicating evil. Evil cannot stay in the glory. And by imitating Me as My dear children and exercising your dominion authority in love you become fruitful in producing good, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit produced in your spirit in fellowship with Me as a branch on the Vine of Christ.
Perseverance is not giving up. It is persistence and tenacity, the effort required to do something and keep doing it till the end, even if there is opposition. It means to abide by your commitment to Me strictly. Persistence means obeying My Word whether it is in season or out of season.
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:1-5.
To My prophet Ezekiel I revealed many truths about events, times, places and the development of the spiritual life. I will now share with you perseverance onto the rest when you flow with Me by My Spirit and all is shalom even in the most violent storm. My apostle Paul was at that place were he had learned to be content and at peace, able to sing praise, in every circumstance whether adverse or not.
This is a vision of how deeply of the river of life that flows from My throne you are partaking.
How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; and You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light. Psalm 36:7-9.
How much are you drinking, drawing, and flowing in each day? Now let us look at what I showed you by the vision I gave to Ezekiel.
When the My house lay in ruins, burned to the ground with fire by the Chaldeans, and My people had been taken captive to Babylon, I took Ezekiel back to the land of Israel in a vision and I set him on a very high mountain and on it, to the south, there was a structure, a beautiful city that was Mine. And I sent My messenger to show him around and give him the dimensions. And during this vision he saw My glory come like the rising sun from the east and fill the house, the very place of My throne where I would dwell among men. Ezekiel 43:1-7. And in the light of My glory Ezekiel fell on his face in worship, heartfelt genuine amazing worship, caught up in My glory, as one day you all will be. Ezekiel 44:4. And then I showed him something amazing. I showed him the river of water flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east from the south side of the altar. Ezekiel 47:1. But at first the water was only a trickle, but as Ezekiel walked back and forth in it, guided by the man with the measuring rod who I sent to guide him, it soon reached his ankles, but he could still step in and out of it, but the man kept leading him and measuring off a thousand at a time, and next it reached his knees, he measured a thousand and led him back in and it reached his hips. He again measured a thousand, and it was now a river that Ezekiel could not ford, he now had to swim in it. Ezekiel 47:2-5.
And I then showed him more about this amazing river of delight, that made trees spring up with healing in their leaves for the nations and made everywhere it came fresh and new, teeming with life. But let Me stop here a moment at the bank of the river. Ezekiel 47:6. And there, as Ezekiel sat on the bank of the overflowing river, his guide asked him if he had seen what I had showed him.
Have you understood?
There is a stream, clear as crystal, flowing from My throne in Heaven and the throne of My Son in Heaven. Revelations 22:1. And it is the river of the water of life. Revelation 22:1. It is the river of My delights which I give My children to drink. Psalm 36:8. In Me is the fountain of life and in My light you see light. Psalm 36:9.
And My Son told you about this river, and He died to give you the right to drink of it. John 7:37-39. And when He had done the work of your salvation and returned to My throne in glory, He received from Me the promise of the Holy Spirit and poured forth that river of living water on those who receive My Son as LORD. Acts 2:33.
“If you but knew the gift of God,” My Son told the Samaritan women, “you would ask Him for a drink and He will give you living water, that will become in you a well of water spring up to eternal life.” John 4:10-14.
But let Me go back to Ezekiel’s vision, for it is for you too. As he followed the lead of the one I sent to him in the vision at first the water was only a trickle, it would hardly wet his feet. This is the spiritual life of many today. They mentally assent to believing in Jesus but they are more of the flesh than of the spirit. You really can see no difference in their commitment to Me than that of an unbeliever. They are skirting around the power that can change them. They would rather stay in the rut they are in. No Word, no prayer, no worship.
Then there are those who are enthusiastic but not fully committed. There is still sin in their lives. They are involved in immoral relationships, and other practices of the world, and yet running to prayer groups and professing faith in Me. They like the power but cast My discipline behind them. They wade in the Spirit but keep stepping out to the world, they do not want to go too deep and change things they are comfortable with. Never get comfortable with sin. It will destroy you in the end. The wages of sin is death and the devil will enforce that for you.
The next group will get in up to their knees. Then there are some that have dared to go as high as their hips. But this group has not learned to lean on Me and abide in My strength yet. It is difficult to walk in knee deep water when you are pulling on your own, but if they will persevere in going deeper in the spirit they get up to their hips and the buoyance begins to lift them and they get a taste of life in the Spirit and they want more.
But do you know whom I am looking for? What are My eyes roaming the earth to find? The one who has jumped in and is swimming and floating right in the middle of My perfect Will and has found the river of delights to be their heart’s delight. And that is the one who has made the commitment to stand with My Word and obey My Word in season and out of season, in abundance and in famine, on the mountain tops and in the valleys, in the sunshine and in the storm. And, like Daniel, even in the lions’ den, John in exile on the island of Patmos, and Paul in a jail cell chained to the floor or in a raging storm on the sea, they are not brought down or giving up but resting in Me and watching their deliverance before their eyes.
And in abundance or want, Paul had learned the secret of being content. How? He knew he could do all things in the One who strengthened him. That river of grace that filled him was sufficient. He counseled everyone to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When you are, you are filled with that river of life, that will carry you by its current to My City, and right to My throne. And when it is flowing in and through you, everyone who joins with you will be caught up in the glory, the healing of that river of life. From your fullness, they can also drink, grace upon grace. Offer My Word to a thirsty world.
But most people are only in as far as their ankles so that they can keep wading out back to the world. You cannot serve two masters. You will love one and hate the other. I will not share My glory with another.
Like My prophet Elijah told the people of Israel, you cannot straddle the fence and serve Me and other gods. You have to make the commitment and persevere in it. You are all Mine or you are not Mine. I will not share your heart with another god, with an idol.
And when do I know that you love Me? When you keep My Word. John 14:21, 23. When keeping My Word is more important to you than all the things in the world which are not of Me– the life of lust, greed, selfish ambition, and darkness. My beloved John, who was in the river all the way so that his feet could not even touch the ground, and never left it, wrote thus to you by My Spirit: “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:15-17.
Yes, forever, the river of life. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. Revelation 22:17. And that is the final invitation I give in the Bible.
Swim in it, drink it, long for it—the river of the water of life. Make the commitment. You are either in or out. Why not just jump in? You will find it is much easier to swim and float then to hike. And if you like to paddle, it is so much easier to paddle with the current of the river of the water of life than to go against it. Selah.
Follow your guide, the Holy Spirit will guide you to all truth and to the springs of life giving water. Your good Shepherd will lead you beside restful waters of peace. Psalm 23:2.
The more you know about Me the more you will love Me, and the more you love Me, the more you will know Me, and the more you know Me, the more you will love Me, and it never stops for you can never exhaust who I am, it never runs out because there is always more, ever increasing, ever going higher as we get closer and closer. As you draw close to Me, I draw close to you, and it is ever going another step closer until we are as one, unique but one in thought, word, and deed, I in you and you in Me and that is the place where our joy is complete and that is the rest. When you know you have the best, your soul is at rest. There is nothing else you are seeking when you are completely filled with goodness and with love. It is then that you rest in My house forever.
I love you. Do not leave the river, let it carry you through life. That is My rest, it is a never ending flow. You will never thirst again. Too many of you have only let yourselves wade in and out to your ankles. Stop playing with the world, the flesh and the devil and go for all that Christ died to give you. But it takes a commitment and it requires you to persevere with it like a good soldier, even in armed combat, but you will be clothed in My armor of light and never lose. And know, if you stay in, you will win. It will carry you home.
Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, water was trickling from the south side. When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me back to the bank of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh. It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” Ezekiel 47:1-12.