Labor Out of Rest

Dutch Sheets says, “We don’t wait well. We’re into microwaving; God, on the other hand, is usually into marinating.”[1] The writer of Hebrews tells us that there is a “rest!” that belongs to us (Hebrews 4:1; 9-11). He calls us to enter the rest of God. Yes, there is a dimension of prayer that involves labor – even warfare (Ephesians 6:12, 18). It is intense and fierce, battling both the flesh and the devil. But that kind of prayer, though legitimate and essential, is not the heart of prayer. You have not prayed until you have prayed yourself to peace. And you cannot pray until you have peace (Philippians 4:6-8). You must enter into the rest of God in prayer in order to then labor with God in prayer. And out of that you accomplish mission by working from prayer, with a clear and certain conviction of success.

We are exhorted to “labor to enter this rest! (Hebrews 4:11)” What a paradox! We labor – to rest! What is the labor? The first business of prayer is to make whatever needs I bring or concerns that I bear, less important than His presence and rest (Psalm 27:1-4). Saint Francis of Assisi said, “When we pray to God we must be seeking nothing – nothing.” To experience God, I labor in prayer to push aside the very needs that may have driven me to prayer. How odd? Yes, it seems odd, even contradictory. We have come to see prayer as a means of acquisition. And it is – and it isn’t. Our greatest need is not to leave prayer with an answer in our hands or heads. Wisdom or words of comfort, provision or power, are not our real answers. He is our answer. A pauper leaves prayer with just enough grace to avert his crisis. A wise man leaves with the King Himself.

[1] Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer (Ventura, CA: Regal Publications,1996), 19.