Your Launching Pad

When I was young, whether through peer pressure or just wrong teaching, I thought going without sleep showed that you were strong. Often I prided myself on how little sleep I needed. But as I look back on my life, I realize how many struggles I had because of that mentality. My algebra class was right after lunch in high school, and I usually slept through it and consequently almost flunked it. When I was in Bible College, my Old Testament survey class (the easiest class of all) was also after lunch, and it was the only class in my entire life that I flunked. One day, as the whole class gleefully looked on, my teacher woke me up by throwing wadded-up pieces of paper at me. When I awoke, I had drool running down my face and onto the desk I was sleeping on – how embarrassing! A memory I will never forget.

It is only in the last ten years or so that I have truly begun to understand the powerful value of rest and proper sleep. Proper rest can empower you to do things you would not have been able to do before. Why? Because now you have the energy and vision to do it. When you feel excellent, it gives you the power to tackle those things that were not a reality before. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.” It is only when a person sleeps that they dream. Spiritual dreaming comes from faith and causes a person’s vision for their life to come alive! Oh, yes! Nothing will empower your life more than the faith that causes you to rest in God!

In Mark chapter 9, when the disciples could not cast the demon out of the boy, the father came to Jesus and begged him, saying, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for the one who believes.” Mark 9:22b-23. Jesus made it clear that the only thing this man needed to do the impossible was faith. Someone once said, “If you can see the invisible, you will do the impossible.” Greatness is never the absence of weakness but instead the decision to live by faith and overcome.

I am convinced that the faith that causes rest is the launching pad for true significance and success. It is rest that produces productivity. When you get good rest, you feel like conquering! Those who rest in God and his righteousness are those who live the powerful life of grace. King David declared, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” Psalm 23:4. Those who come to God by faith will step into the power of rest. Jesus said, “Come to me all who are weary and burdened down, and I will give you rest.” Mat 11:28.

It is possible to go to church every Sunday and miss the grace of God. Many people are lured into trying to do all the right things instead of truly trusting God.

Heb 4:1-3a Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did, but the message they heard was of no value to them because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now, we who have believed enter that rest.

Faith alone is what causes a person to tap into the extraordinary life of God! God loves it when we believe him because “to him who believes, all things are possible!” Mk 9:23. Most people want to experience a life of success and true significance, but I can assure you that without faith, it is impossible! This is why it is faith that pleases God! Yes! If you want to go to the next level, you will dive into the world of the faith that causes rest because it will be…

Your Launching Pad