Just Out Back Ministries

My eldest daughter spent her high school years singing in chorus, going to state competitions, and perfecting her technique with a few hundred other young men and women her age. It was a beautiful sound when the timing is right, the soloist hits their mark, and the annunciation is honed and practiced.

As good as that is, I stand in a room filled with untrained, unrefined, and I dare say mostly musically inept like myself. In that chorus of a few hundred men and women of all ages reaching with their voices towards heaven to grab the attention of the Lord, there is no more beautiful sound.

It brings to life scripture that Psalm 100 calls a joyful noise that we should make unto the LORD. Bless His holy name and all that is within me praise His holy name.

Thank you Jesus for giving me voice to utter beautiful noise to you.

Rest.

We need it. As a culture, we do not believe in it. We believe that time is too important to waste on rest. What we are really saying is we do not trust things to be done right, or done at all, if we rest. Our phones have made that situation worse. We are slaves to busy rather than following a rhythm of work and much needed rest. In music, there are spaces of rest written into the flow of the chords not because the music needs it, but because the musician needs a breath, a pause, a small respite from the constant movement of noise.

Similarly, God took an entire day to rest. Just like the music, He didn't need it, but He wanted to example a time where His people could rest. He paused from all work and just let the Creation function without Him for a day. Genesis 2 starts with His completion of the host of Creation, and then He rests. In the next verse He would bless the day and even further when the Law is introduced He will declare it holy, set apart. A time to honor the Lord and all He has done including Creation.

What would it be like if you were recognized for some great achievement and society threw a party for you in your honor, but you refused to stop working long enough to receive your reward? God does not need a reward for what He has accomplished, but we need His blessing.

What is going to happen in eternity if you take a day out of seven to rest?

What impact to ceaseless time will your lack of work create?

Do you want God's blessing?

Rest.

How many of us really understand the war we are in? Entertainment tries to mimic the scenes of war and battle, but the few people I know who have fought on a battlefield, urban or otherwise, rarely speak about what they witness. One of my favorite books on the actual warfare believers should be engaging in is by Jamie Walden. This is not an advertisement for his book (I do recommend it), but it brought to light the intensity of actual warfare and the mentality we should be equipped with in the spirit realm.

Genesis 2 begins, "thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished." The word host (ṣāḇā') is more often used to describe the army of the LORD than any social responsibility at home. In that vein, once God had created Man and the task of Creation was complete, why does He say "all the host of them?"

The battle rages in the spirit realm. Scripture says the enemy prowls around seeking who he may destroy in 1 Peter 5:8. God warned Cain, "sin lies at the door" waiting for the turning of the heart away from God. The battlefield was set at Creation. The war will play out on the earth. "All the host" will engage in the battle. Deuteronomy 20 says, "the Lord is he that goes with you, to fight against your enemies, to save you."

The war will be difficult in the eyes of man. Revelation paints pictures I do not want to witness. However, Philippians 2 reminds us that "at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and on the earth, and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord, the glory of God the Father." There is no challenger to His throne, but the host of Creation is finished and we would do well to remember our armor every day.


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