From Trying to Trusting – Rest In His Love

Your life in Christ is not “try harder and do more.” It is “trust Him and be His.”

“In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah‬ ‭30:15‬ ‭AMPC‬‬

If you’re in unrest, full of cares and stress, you are wrestling. In some way, shape or form you’re trying to figure it out, fix it or force something to happen. Most often it has to do with trying to live the life you think God wants you to live, so you end up heavy-burdened with the “I should’s,” “I ought to” or “I must.”

Or, you are trying to achieve what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf. Beloved, you can stop performing for breakthroughs, blessings or approval. The blood of Jesus has already made you accepted in the Beloved with every spiritual blessing as your inheritance.

At the root of feeling obligated to do more (which never seems to be enough) is strife. Strife is an internal conflict; a struggle within. This struggle can sometimes feel as though it’s between you and God.

But it’s not.

Jesus has already dealt with and defeated anything and everything that would ever come between you and Him. The battle within has to do with wrong believing, not wrong behavior. When you don’t know or believe your ‘old man’ has been crucified with Christ, you will continue to try and resurrect him. Your old nature that tried to “get ‘er done” but could never do it, is dead and gone.

Your real self is the new self that IS Christ living in you. This new life is the unforced-rhythms-of-grace life where you abide in His love, go into peace and completely depend on His goodness and faithfulness. This means when you let go and rest in His finished work, His life will flow through you and into all that involves you.

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians‬ ‭2:20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

But it starts with surrendering your striving and settling down in simple trust. Jesus is the end of religious duty and the beginning of life lived by the Spirit.

Your Father’s primary concern is not your doing but your being. Your Lord is not interested in your ability. He is longing for deeper intimacy. Relax. Believe in His love for you. Enjoy His love for you and let His perfect love be the source of all your confidence, hope, trust and rest. He’ll take care of everything else.

“Trust him. And when you have done that, you are living the life of grace. No matter what happens to you in the course of that trusting – no matter how many waverings you may have, no matter how many suspicions that you have bought a poke with no pig in it, no matter how much heaviness and sadness your lapses, vices, indispositions, and bratty whining may cause you – you believe simply that Somebody Else, by his death and resurrection, has made it all right, and you just say thank you and shut up.”—Robert Farrar Capon