Whispers of Rest
in the Storm
Matthea Browning Glass
Energion Publications
Gonzalez, FL
2019
Copyright © 2019, Matthea Browning Glass
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
The cover image is a painting by the author. All interior illustrations are from Pixabay.com.
ISBN10: 1-63199-687-8
ISBN13: 978-1-63199-687-0
eISBN: 978-1-63199-092-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019940513
Energion Publications
P. O. Box 841
Gonzalez, FL 32560
energionpubs.com
850-525-3916
Dedicated to my children
Katherine, Carter, Caleb, Christian, Kai, and Karis-Lynn
Through...
Through the storm,
A whisper.
Through the night,
A shaft of light.
Lingering there in the heavy air,
A promise.
This is not the end.
A beginning dancing,
Just out of sight.
Introduction
This devotional is written for anyone who needs to learn to rest. Our nature protests rest, especially in times of upheaval. We must make a deliberate, conscience choice to walk in the Spirit by learning to rest in God. This is true for the business woman, the new mom, the woman recovering from abuse, and the addict.
Ever since Eve took the forbidden fruit in hand, we have been working to make our lives better and avoid any kind of disturbance by taking the wide path of the generations that came before us. Like Eve, we staunchly resist God’s way. Think how different the world would look if Eve had said, “No! Satan, the fruit does look good enough to eat. But … I’m going to rest in the truth that God is bigger than me, and He knows the reason that we shouldn’t touch the fruit even if I don’t.”
Come along and take a deep breath with me. Each day for the next month learn to rest in God’s truth. As I walked through the valley of darkness after the death of my son, I found God’s rest. He whispered truth to my soul in the storm of grief. Much of my sorrow in my storm flowed from unbelief or wrong beliefs. I found that God is more loving and compassionate than I can ever comprehend. Now, I am even more convinced that He wants to make Himself known to me and save me from all my troubles. I learned that I need to humble myself and say, “Lord, I don’t know why, but I’m going to rest in the truth that You are bigger than me, and You know more than me. I can trust that You are good. You are Love, and I can trust in You, even in the messy middle.”
The storm you face may be different but come along with me and learn that rest is more than inactivity or ceasing work or movement. During hardships we learn that rest is learning to refresh oneself in the truth of Scripture, rather than our feelings and recovering our strength in the Lord, when we are overwhelmed. My prayer is that throughout this time of rest for your soul, you will find refreshing truths, recover your strength in areas you are weak, and cease working to be good enough for Jesus, your family, and yourself. Learn to rest in God’s rest.
In Christ,
Matthea Browning Glass
Day
1
Rest in a Prayer of Renewal
We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:9-14
Pray through these verses everyday this month.
This prayer in Colossians teaches us to know or to be aware of these truths through demonstration, not by how we feel about what is written. One of the very reasons we need to learn to rest is because of our feelings. In the middle of a storm our feelings tell us what the storm is like not what we should do about it. God created feelings for a purpose. They help us interact with the world around us. They help us to love deeply. They alert us to danger. Feelings are a thermometer. They give us the temperature; that’s it. How we feel about a situation does not give us a solution to the situation. Maybe our feelings are telling us that the situation has become unmanageable. The next step is to ask God for wisdom. We can feel very strongly and still be very wrong, but God’s way is never wrong. We must ask Him to fill us with His wisdom. When we learn to rest in God, He clothes us with all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that we may walk worthy of the Lord. What our flesh (feelings) is unable to do, God does through His mercy and grace in Jesus.
Today, we may not feel strong. Learning to rest in this prayer of renewal, leads us to wait for the Lord to strengthen us with His power. Stop trying to accomplish anything through willpower. He will give us endurance and patience with joy, but we can only live one day at a time. If we carry yesterday’s hurts and tomorrow’s worries, we will be exhausted. God gives us strength for one day at a time, sometimes moment by moment.
If we find that we are carrying yesterday’s hurts, we need to expose them to the Light. Hurts do not heal with time. When we stuff hurts into the basement of our hearts that hurt becomes foundational to our identity. We subconsciously respond to the world around us out of that hurt. God’s truth is that He has rescued us from the domain of darkness. We may not feel rescued from these hurts, but in Christ Jesus we are. Because of Jesus, we have been transferred to the Kingdom of the Son, who the Father loves! Though the storms of this life are blindingly dark, make a conscience choice to believe God will give all wisdom and spiritual knowledge for today.
What hurts do you need to bring to the Light today? What worries can you lay down? Remember this is a process of taking one step of faith at a time, and the Spirit takes every step with you.
Rest because you know that you have been transferred from darkness into the
Kingdom of Light.
Day 2 Rest in the Crucifixion
For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin. Romans 6:6
We should share the Good News of the Gospel with ourselves daily. Every day brings its own evil that we must face. As I rest in the truth that I died with Jesus on the cross, I know that the power of sin has been broken. Please pause to ponder on how different the word “know” is from the word “feel.” There are times I do not feel dead to sin, but I am!
Here’s a little of what I say to myself.
Although, I fall short of God’s glory all the time, I am justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. It’s not by works or achievement or who my parents are.