Listener: Holy Spirit has been speaking for hours in His quiet Voice…intermittently as I slept… at communion when I deviated from my normal schedule and went to the Lord’s Table as soon as I arose… and now as I begin to write while the dog still sleeps. In keeping with His message of rest, the Holy Spirit told me not to write in the Daily Bread notebook as He spoke during these hours, to remain at rest in Him and He would restore the message to me when I sat down at the computer…for His message today is Rest and Restoration. This is the message that He has been giving me all morning…even when I read the daily devotional from Charles Stanley a few moments ago, which ended with these words “Rest in God’s Love and enjoy sweet fellowship with Him.” This is what I had and am still having with Him…sweet fellowship; this is what He desires for you. He is restoring His message to me now as I write, but it is, for the most part…the essence of what He said rather than the word for word revelation that I usually record for you. I do remember that He began hours ago with these words: Listener, this is to be a time of rest and restoration for you and for those to whom you write…a time of healing…a time of preparation for the journey which awaits you…a time when you come to Me seeking only My Presence. Come in quiet waiting, in reading My Word, in prayer…not in deep intercession, not in the prayer of spiritual warfare… those prayers will come later when We resume your journey. Let your prayers in this period of rest be prayers of intimate communication with Me. Listener: He did not tell me how long this period of rest will last…perhaps only for this morning and this message, but I am experiencing such deep peace that I wish it could last forever. My prayer for you is that you may, at some time today, however brief that time is, enter into His rest and restoration. I can assure you that once you enter…you will desire to tarry. Now, as Holy Spirit brings to my mind some of the revelations that He has given me today, I will try to record them for you. He had already reassured me that the vision of healing that He gave me a week ago was not fulfilled at the Thursday night service, and this morning He told me to convey that reassurance to you. He withheld the Good, physical healing, to provide the one for whom we prayed an opportunity to come to Him in complete surrender so that he may receive the Perfect, complete healing of his body and his soul. However, even if he cannot so surrender at this time, rest in the assurance that God, in His Mercy, has granted him the Good, full physical healing. In the interim, we are to pray in faith and with thanksgiving for the fulfillment and manifestation of that which He has promised … that this healing will come quickly and to the Glory of God. Also, as we rest and are restored, we are to read, as we are led, His Word…and follow the direction that we receive there, especially any illumination regarding walking in our calling. If we have already been led to teachings related to that calling, we are to seek further instruction from these teachings as well as from Him. But, most of all, we are to seek His Presence and to rest quietly there as He prepares us to go forward. He did not tell me how long we will rest in His restoration, but I sensed that we will return to active duty shortly. In closing today, I will give you these words for all of us, words that I hid in my heart when He spoke in the Voice of the Spirit of the Lord: I Am your Shepherd…I lead you beside still waters… I restore your soul. Shalom.
