Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your daily prayer,
Speaker 1: where we help you find the words you need to
Speaker 1: connect to your Father in Heaven. No matter what's happening
Speaker 1: in your life today, you can trust that God wants
Speaker 1: to hear from you. Right after this short word from
Speaker 1: our sponsors, we'll pray through today's prayer to reclaim rest.
Speaker 1: A Prayer to Reclaim Rest, written and read by Leah Gerard.
Speaker 1: In peace, I will lie down and for you alone, Lord,
Speaker 1: make me dwell in safety, Psalm four eight. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure why, after so many thousands of years, it seems
Speaker 1: humans are still stressing over whether there's any peace to
Speaker 1: be found in the daily struggle to survive and thrive.
Speaker 1: Even though we have the gift of biblical wisdom to
Speaker 1: explore and meditate on, we often overfill our lives with, frankly,
Speaker 1: more than we can handle physically and emotionally. Add to that,
Speaker 1: the heavy guild that comes from stewing over unfinished to
Speaker 1: do lists, and sometimes the decision to just lay it
Speaker 1: all down and rest can feel irresponsible and maybe even brazen.
Speaker 1: And because I catch myself rushing, worrying, and overextending, I
Speaker 1: need this reminder today too, I need to remember that
Speaker 1: God's ultimate plan is restoration, and you can't even spell
Speaker 1: that without rest. We see this in the very first
Speaker 1: book of the Bible. Even God himself, after performing the
Speaker 1: immeasurable and miraculous work of creating literally everything, needed time
Speaker 1: to rest. Genesis two two through three tells us by
Speaker 1: the seventh day God had finished the work he'd been doing,
Speaker 1: so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
Speaker 1: Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
Speaker 1: because on it he rested from all the work of
Speaker 1: creating that he had done. Now God is both perfect
Speaker 1: and infinitely capable, it's plausible that he would need no
Speaker 1: downtime at all, But at the start of his love
Speaker 1: letter to us, he tells a story that culminates in
Speaker 1: his choice to rest. Of course, you and I are
Speaker 1: not created to be God. Each of us is designed
Speaker 1: with a beautiful biorhythm that necessitates sleep. Science also proves
Speaker 1: that chronic stress without rest to renew our cells and systems,
Speaker 1: can foster a multitude of ailments and challenges. While it
Speaker 1: is true that our bodies will eventually fail us and
Speaker 1: that we'll live eternally in heaven, there is no reason
Speaker 1: to purposely fast track our breakdown by refusing to let go,
Speaker 1: relax or sleep. I remember a time in my life
Speaker 1: when I was between jobs in a temporary apartment and
Speaker 1: caring for my son through a painful life change in
Speaker 1: lifestyle that I did not understand, and one of my
Speaker 1: healing practices was to write scriptures on index cards for
Speaker 1: easy reference. For many nights, I would pick up the
Speaker 1: card next to my bed on which I'd written the
Speaker 1: Psalm four eight, and I'd whisper it aloud to God,
Speaker 1: in peace, I will lie down and sleep for you alone. Lord,
Speaker 1: make me dwell in safety. Because of this truth, I
Speaker 1: knew I was allowed to unclench my grip on all
Speaker 1: my fears and worries. I reminded myself that God would
Speaker 1: watch over me and keep me safe. If you struggle
Speaker 1: to fall asleep at night, or to sit and do
Speaker 1: nothing because your body is asking you to, or to
Speaker 1: let something go undone so you could take a breather,
Speaker 1: maybe Psalm four eight can help you too, Or maybe
Speaker 1: Psalm twenty three can encourage you that God invites you
Speaker 1: to lie down in a green pasture and relax beside
Speaker 1: quiet waters and why does he offer these things to
Speaker 1: refresh your soul? Reclaiming your God given requirement for rest
Speaker 1: involves shifting your energy from striving to trusting. Remember, he
Speaker 1: asks you in One Peter five seven to cast your
Speaker 1: cares on him. He invites you in Philippians four six
Speaker 1: through seven to present your requests to him and trust
Speaker 1: that He will guard your heart and mind. God doesn't
Speaker 1: intend for you to overfunction without refreshment, but he does
Speaker 1: require your participation. He wants you to seek his peace
Speaker 1: and release your exhaustion into his loving hands. Through Jesus.
Speaker 1: He gives you the everlasting invitation in Matthew eleven twenty
Speaker 1: eight through thirty. Come to me, all you who are
Speaker 1: weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Rest
Speaker 1: is where you can know you are loved just as
Speaker 1: you are, not for your works or your achievements, but
Speaker 1: because you're a beloved child of God. Let's pray fear God,
Speaker 1: help me remember that rest is an intentional gift from you.
Speaker 1: Remind me that I'm not proving myself to you. Rather,
Speaker 1: I'm celebrating your goodness. Show me how to ease the
Speaker 1: pressure I put on myself and make room for the
Speaker 1: restoration that my heart, mind, soul, and body need. Please
Speaker 1: inspire me with ideas for relaxing that let me enjoy
Speaker 1: unstructured time, naps, or sleep without guilt. I know you
Speaker 1: desire what's best for me. Help me not stand in
Speaker 1: the way of the sweet refreshment you provide. Show me
Speaker 1: how to reclaim rest in Jesus' name. Amen. Your Daily
Speaker 1: Prayer is a production of Life Audio and Salem Media.
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Speaker 1: nightly prayer, you can be sure that your day begins
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