Jaeson's Thoughts: Rest
What does rest look like? I haven't been sleeping too well lately. Probably too much on my mind, because I'm doing too much on my own. God wants us to work, but not before we rest. This past year of ministry has been fruitful. Although, I wish I had not pushed myself as hard as I did (we learn from our mistakes), God continued to pour out His mercy again and again. I am thankful for God's faithfulness, for even when we are unfaithful He is faithful. It is in perfect weakness that He is made strongest in our lives. I've been going on six years of non-stop itinerant traveling ministry, I think I need a break. This morning as I was praying and driving up from Socal to Norcal, I felt the Holy Spirit impress upon my heart the word "Jubilee" over and over again.
In the Old Testament "Jubilee" meant "freedom, restoration, favor, rest and peace" it was the year of rest. The Jubilee was the 50th year, but it was connected with the year of Sabbath which was the 7th year in a 7 year cycle for Israel. There were 6years of work and on the 7th year it would be a year of rest, restoration, blessing and favor. I believe God is asking me to take a year of rest soon as I enter into my 7th year of leadership & ministry responsibility.
But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. Leviticus 25:7,11
A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. (v.11)
A Jubilee - definition
Respecting the literal meaning of the word [ywbl] yobel, or yovel, critics are not agreed. The most natural derivation of the word seems to be from [hwbyl] hovil, the Hiphil form of [ybl] yaval, to recall, restore, or bring back, because this year restored all slaves to their liberty, and brought back all alienated estates to their primitive owners. Accordingly the LXX. render it here [aphesis] a "remission"; and Josephus says it signifies [eleutherian] liberty.
I am asking the Holy Spirit to restore my first love, to restore the liberty I once had in my walk with Him before all the busyness of ministry got in the way. Busyness kills passion. How will I find this place of rest and restoration? What is the Holy Spirit saying to me? Simple: STOP! I say, "stop what?" He says, "stop ministry!" How? I know the answer all too well, I need to learn to "rest". Quite & simple. We all need to rest. Alyson said something at Passion cChurch this Sunday quite profound, "We can't just be ones who give all the time, we also need to learn how to receive, we are good at giving as Christians, but how many of us are good at receiving?" Very true Alyson, we can only give what we have. If we don't have anything, we have nothing to give. If we don't take time to receive, we will only be giving out of a shortage, which means, we are not giving at all.
I wonder sometimes, what would it look like for me to be free from all ministry responsibilities? Speaking engagements? Prophetic assignments? For one year? That would be something :) I wonder what I would do? hmmmm....
1. Wait upon the Lord all day :)
2. Catch up on every book sitting on my book shelf
3. Make more rap tracks
4. Take an acting class & if possible...act in a movie/play
5. Play with kids :D
6. Have Starbucks with alot of old friends
7. Laugh more
8. Visit and explore castles in Europe
9. Eat alot of ice-cream (more than I already do)
10. Watch, listen & learn
11. Sleep like a baby
12. Spend quality time w/ family (especially mum)
13. Make more "moments" & remember them :)
I sense I maybe very soon taking a year off from ministry to "rest", pray that God would supernaturally give me wisdom, grace and faith to obey His leading in my life. That I learn to labor into His rest & live my life from that place of rest. Rest is not an option, it is a Biblical command. Without rest, we can't work. For all work flows from rest. It's hard to rest as human-doings. We love to find our value, worth and satisfction from what we do. But, we are not human doings, we are human-beings, created first to worship, that is, to be still and know that He is God. We want to make things happen & that's the problem "we want." But the Lord is asking us, "Do you want Me?" Do you trust me? Remember, "The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want." Because, ultimately resting in God is really trusting in God. Knowing that the battle is not ours, that we are not indespensible but despensible. He doesn't need our work, He just wants our friendship. And when He has that, then He can change the world through our lives. But not the other way around. I must learn to rest, I need to seriously take a chill pill, re-charge and do something that scares me: nothing :P
posted by Jaeson Ma @
12/18/2007 07:54:00 PM
15 Comments:
Jesus loves you. He really does.. :)
That's really good man.
Consider Hebrews 4, specifically verses 9-11. Meditate on it and pray about it. Maybe Jesus's secret was that, even in "doing" ministry, He was constantly experiencing the rest in His Father.
Love you and your blog, my bro in Christ. Peace and rest be upon you!
Yeah, Jaeson, you need a rest, to prevent you from burn-out, i guess. ^_^ we need to refill our oil to keep on burning.
maybe you can take a diving license.. it's cool to breathe under the water n see the fishes swimming around you.
merry christmas & happy holiday.
Just love God only~
Dear Pastor Jaeson,
I pray God will give you more restoration and peace in your inner man, and here is the song for you from IHOP called "RESTORATION" ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LcyQOLVS_U
And I also pray that you will have sweet dreams and Father God will hold you in His arms for He is so strong and big.. :)
PS.(Go check it out the ValleyFair Mall on stevenscreek while u are in NorCal cuz they have a lot of new stores.. heehee :P )
Hi Jaeson,
I had never heard about you until last night. Someone gave me your book: The Blueprint. I started reading it when I got home and have been very blessed, challenged and encouraged by it. I am a student at Hebrew Univeristy in Jerusalem, Israel. I pray that I will be more and more unhindered by my unbelief and desire for the temporal things of this world and use the opportunity I have to reach students who don't know Jesus with the love of Christ.
God bless you as you seek his direction and enter a time of Jubilee. I pray that God will give you rest and bless you with faith and knowledge, that even as you rest, the words and revelations that God has given you and that you have recorded in this book,will continue to bear fruit that will last!
In our precious saviour, Yeshua of Nazareth, Dana
wow, that sounds like the best thing to do in the world...I want to go to UCLA for psychiatry, and I want to see what your church is like... I'd love to get together with some of our brothers and sisters on Bruin Walk and see what the Spirit has to say...
keep up the good work and I hope more NAMESAKE comes out to make our lives a cooler place!
hey, plz take good care for urself. Our body is belong to Abba Father. Rest is important. I will keep you in my prayer. :)
yup i agree with tat. too much working leads to exhaustion, enough rest can give ur life a boost. always luv ya jaeson ;)
I am so proud of you. Totally inspired and one hundred percent proud...i think you are a prophetic sign post of where Jesus will take a lot of the leaders in the western body of christ in 2008. Thank you for your humility -- how it shows off His strength. Thank you for your trasparency -- how it shows off what true greatness really is in the kingdom. Thank you for loving Him more than ministry and modeling that. I am so proud of you.
hi jaeson- i think what you said about rest is what a lot of people in ministry are fearful to suggest or do, in the fear that it might be labeled as laziness or create a culture of laziness/complacency in their church. or they might feel guilty about resting.
i'm thinking that it might stem from the asian mindset of "do, do, do", following the hard-working model of our 1st generation parents.
but what you wrote speaks volumes - particularly the line "He doesn't need our work, He just wants our friendship". thanks for always being open to sharing your thoughts publicly. it's encouraging to know the honest, very human thoughts of someone who travels around the world doing crazy-God stuff. like, omg, hey- i can relate! haha. =D
AMEN!!! i agree, thanks for sharing. :) i like #2 on your list- foreeel. see you at ONETHING 08...may God speak through you at the azn breakout. amen!
Hey, will you 'rest' from blogging?
Don't do that, coz i'll miss it!!
Love & peace to u & yr family :)
Hey.. ya.. let's get a rest first jaeson... the Holy spirit will always lead you.. God bless... :)
Jae,
I realy, really needed that. Even in my doing nothing, I am still not resting. Just like you can be busy and accomplishing nothing, you can also be DOING absolutely nothing and still not in a place of rest. What is this all about, anyway?
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