Scriptures that I got from my Sis Chantelle @ TDLC

Hebrews 6:7-12 God has promised a rest for those who believe in Him. That rest has 2 elements: here & now & hereafter, meaning we were meant to enter into & experience it now, in this life, & also in the life to come. Rest, however, does not mean absence of work, but the absence of earning. It means that while we must work out our salvation, we must not forget that salvation is a free gift, the gift of God in Whom we are to rest, trusting that He does not require (& therefore will not accept) what He has not freely given us. In other Words, the rest comes in knowing Him & believing that we don't have to produce something on our own, only use what He's equipped us with to the fullest measure possible. At the end of the day, we should be able to sleep well, knowing it was His supply, His direction, & His result which we applied our hearts to. If we have done our best with His best, we are sure to meet with success & approval. We can have 2 possible responses to this promised rest: earnestness, which implies active faith & patience, or sluggishness,  which implies unbelief & a lack of cooperation with what God has intended. A misunderstanding of rest can lead to sluggishness because we will sit & wait for God to do what He has already done but which will only be realized as we put our hands to the plow. God ordained 6 days for Adam to work the land which was created for him. And on the 7th day he was to rest, recognizing that the reward & result of His work was not his own but Gods. On the opposite side of the coin, we can misunderstand earnestness, working with all our might to produce because our work is not rooted in the faith, therefore there is no rest, but rather constant effort & little yield, leaving us weary & bitter. All of this takes us back to a very simple solution: relationship. Obedience is the key to the door of rest (4:10-11),  & obedience was not meant to be toward a law, but toward our Father. Every road, then leads us back to His heart, so that if we will submit as sons & daughters (which necessities discovering & accepting such identities), we can't help but enter into His promised rest for our souls. Relationship= rest. In humanity, that equation doesn't make sense. In heavenly equation, it's all that makes sense. We've tried everything else & are still worn & torn. Why not try His way? It's time for the sons & daughters to return home & dwell in the rich love & sufficient grace of the Father.          

Titus 1:4; 2:14; 3:8, 14- Three times in 3 short chapters. Paul tells Titus to remind those he is leading to be zealous for & remain devoted to good works. Ephesians 2:10 says that we were created to walk in good works means to do that which God created us to do for the growth of His Kingdom. It means to live our purpose, to serve the church & to be the world of Gods grace through the gifts, talents, & callings He has given each one of us. There are 2 major hindrances to our walking in good works, however. The first is that so many of us are ignorant of our gifts & callings. We have no idea why God made us & what we are supposed to be doing. Sometimes this is simply because we haven’t prayed & asked God. Sometimes its a deeper root of fear &/ insecurity because we have been so wounded & haven’t sought healing so that we can walk in newness & purpose. Instead, we remain stuck. If that is the case in your life, may I urge you to appeal to God & to seek Godly counsel for healing & direction, because walking in your purpose is not optional. God has made us each & gave us a purpose to be lived out, & we need to be able to say at the end of our lives that we finished the work He gave us to do. The second hindrance, which is really the more primary one, is that good works must flow from sonship/ daughterhood, & most of us have had such painful & messed up experiences of Fatherhood that we are, on some level, disconnected from our identity as sons & daughters the way God meant for us to understand these roles. Both Titus 1:4 & Ephesians 1:5 establish that the understanding & identity which flow from sonship precedes the command to walk in good works. Sons & daughters are identified by obedience to a person, which is the Father, Who is safe to trust. So obeying the Father’s daily leading as a child. When we attempt to fulfill our purpose / walk in the good works we were created for before we have learned to trust/ submit to/ walk with the Father as sons & daughters, works & purpose then become our primary focus & are by default rooted in the flesh & led by a self-serving agenda, even if we are blind to it. The moral is that, while we are created & expected to walk in our purpose, which means we must first identify it, that has to come secondary to walking in our identity & fight through strongholds which have been established through the devils manipulation of our earthly fathers & their failures. If this is out of order, we will be in bondage to a spirit of religion, which will lead us to try & access & produce Gods promises on our own, in our own ways. What we birth thru that will bring strife & bondage instead of life & peace. Time to pursue the Fathers heart!

Philemon v.21 Paul had confidence in Philemon’s obedience, enough so to know that Philemon would do not only what Paul asked of him (to forgive someone who had seriously wronged him)- but that he would do even more. So often, especially with commands like forgiveness, we begrudgingly do only what is required, agreeing to pardon the offense & not seek revenge, but our hearts maintain a calloused wall toward our offenders. Paul knew two things about true forgiveness, however, that we must remember & put into practice if we desire to see the fullness which God intended to flow through it. First, Gods forgiveness through Jesus’ death on the cross was complete, not just pardoning offense, but making room for & seeking out restored relationships. Second, real relationships with God through Jesus are based on more than mere obedience to commands. What we obey is the heart of the Father, Whom we trust, that naturally beats within our own hearts, which is all about the compelling of love which is greater & stronger than our own desires, so that, ultimately, forgiveness is the fruit of love, not just a difficult command to obey. Paul had confidence in Philemons obedience to go beyond what was required, because he had confidence that Philemons relationship with God was real & would therefore produce what God intended. Love always & gladly exceeds expectation. Anything less than perfect love will struggle with what’s required. The answer, then, to our struggle with certain commands, is to draw closer to the heart of God, our Father, seeking to know Him & His perfect love. Where are you today in this love?