Because of God’s grace that is found only “in Christ” as the fruit of His Cross-work that He completed on our behalf, we can rest.

But how do we practically enter His rest?

The key is to realizing this is found … when we must cease working to control our situation and rest from striving and worrying… He does the work of Christian living through us, which could never be done under religious mind games or by force of “the Law.” (cf. Rom. 8:3)

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his REST, any of you should seem to come short of it.” (Hebrews 4:1)
“For he (the believer) that is entered into his (God’s) rest, he also Hath Ceased From His Own Works, as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:10)

We must “cease” from thinking everything depends upon us and our doing. Yes, there are doings that we must do in life, but our doings must be led and permitted by the Lord, who is in every situation we encounter in life, after all He lives in us can cares for us. To Not Cease from striving is an act of us as an Independent Self, unwilling to let go unto the Lord, come what may. He’s already promised that “all things are working” for our eternal good that we might “be conformed to the image of His Son” (cf. Rom. 8:28-30).

What happens when we become rest-conscious?

Let’s look at the secret hidden in the story of how Jesus came and healed a lame man who had been suffering on his bed, from an infirmity for 38 years… on the Sabbath day of rest.

“Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. ⁹ And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.” (John 5:1-47)

Notice that it was the Sabbath, the day of rest. God is saying when you rest, He comes and works! But the Jewish religious leaders were unhappy that the Lord had healed this man of Israel on the Sabbath.

“The Jews (leaders) therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. ¹⁶ And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. (John 5:10, 16)

There is no rest in works-based religion that says you must work and do appropriately before God gives you favor. Today they say the same, you must go to a church, you must keep the laws and precepts, tithe, you must do, do, do.

By contrast, the Lord has done all for us and He is working in us (Phili. 2:13, 1:6), so He wants us to rest in being who we are “in Christ.”

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 1:6)

We are each unique individual creations of God and that is okay to fulfil who we were meant to be with Christ now as you source.

Religion binds men in its chains, not caring for them. The very word “religion” is from the Latin ‘religio,’ which is from two words; “re” means ‘again,’ and ‘ligio’ means to “to bind.” So, what’s the connection between ‘bind again’ and ‘religion’? We were all originally bound to the will of the god of this world, Satan, from birth. Then one day we heard the gospel that liberates us from God’s judgment and the power that Sin had over us… we were freed. But for most newly saved believers it does not end there. They relish their new-found faith and peace with God. Then they go to a church, where they are often told they need to work and do in order to ‘keep God’s favor’… the saving grace they first enjoyed is taken away. They thereby go back into the chains, this time ‘the chains of  of religion,’ which is Satan’s greatest deception.

Back to our story, the religious leaders were upset because the lame man was healed on the Sabbath. They saw Jesus’ healing as “work.” To them, healing the man on a day of rest meant that Jesus was working on the wrong day! Religion always misuses and distorts truth, pulling us down with its law-keeping and performance requirements, thus missing God’s love, mercy and grace.

We can and should rest in God’s love and care, which effectually flows from the cross… as the basis of us freely having God’s favor at all times (unconditionally) … this is the very root of our security.

If you had known this man, wouldn’t you ask him, “Hey, what happened, how did you get cured?” But, the religionists said, “It’s the Sabbath; it’s not lawful for you to carry your bed.” Look, this man hadn’t walked in 38 years, but the religious leaders were only concerned that he had carried his bed on the day of rest.

This is the legalistic the fallen religious mindset that cannot see the blessings, focusing upon the problems. The last phrase “had done these things on the Sabbath” in the Greek is in the ‘imperfect tense’ that generally represents continual or repeated action. This means that it was a habit for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath. He had repeatedly performed miracles on the Sabbath.

On the day that man rests, God is able to work!