“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take me yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For me yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
If there could be a theme for Personal Worship Trainings this year it would be Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus' call for sinners to find their rest in him has been the unofficial main point of many of the talks that discuss the spiritual disciplines that we can practice to grow in our personal relationship with God. Throughout these talks, speakers have been encouraged to earnestly try these disciplines as apprentices under Jesus. Examples of these disciplines include prayer, memorization and meditation, fasting, and the Sabbath.
In these disciplines, much of what is being practiced is contentment. The Sabbath’s days rest, fasting from food or other good things, meditating on Biblical truths for fifteen minutes or more in the morning, all are examples that call us to give up time and energy that could be spent elsewhere. This time that we are giving up does not go to waste as we proclaim, “all we have is all we need.” We are reminded of our need for God, our need for rest, our need for food. In these disciplines God shows us more of Himself in our faithful following and imperfect apprenticeship.
Through the Personal Worship Trainings we are encouraged to gives these disciplines a try in order to experience their value for ourselves. We can implement and try these practices knowing that Jesus freely offers us rest. We can earnestly practice these disciplines with freedom knowing that our relationship with Jesus is secure. It is our ultimate joy in seeing more of God’s faithfulness in taking time to slow down and rest in His steadfast love.