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| Photo Credit: Mary Lynch |
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. 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. Now we who have believed enter that rest… Hebrews 4:1-3
Here’s the truth.
We don’t just rest in peace when we die, friends.
We have the opportunity to be more alive than ever before in Heaven.
We find rest when we rest in Christ, alone.
When we enter into the provisional rest God provides which comes
by faith not works, nor life or death;
we experience rest for our souls through our knowledge of God.
we experience rest for our souls through our knowledge of God.
LORD, you establish peace for us;
all that we have accomplished you have done for us.
Isaiah 26:12
The fact is that we either are resting in peace now, in full complete trust in a God who provides rest or we are battling out our fleshly life in a state of unrest.
The Lord and King is the Holy One of Israel. He says,
“You will find peace and rest
when you turn away from your sins and depend on me.
You will receive the strength you need
when you stay calm and trust in me.
But you do not want to do what I tell you to.
Isaiah 30:15 (NIRV)
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:29
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,
for he who promised is faithful.
Hebrews 10:23
We start resting in peace this side of eternity because peace comes through relationship
with the Prince of Peace alone.
There is no other peace.
He is our peace.
Any other peace we can have is temporary.
Counterfeit.
It seems to me the more we know Him the more we are able to desire that
which is only possible in eternity anyway.
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:10
Psalm 46:10
Perfect Peace is found in eternal rest but eternal rest is found in Christ;
that being said, if we are in Christ we are at rest now.
We are resting in Peace.
We are resting in Peace.
We are not striving for a hope in this world that extends beyond.
We are resting not striving.
We are pressing on because we desire to be all we can be in Him.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14 (AKJV)
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Ephesians 2:14-17
Rest In Peace.
Alive In Christ.
Rest, Life.
Now or Never.
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18
2 Corinthians 3:18
I have begun my rest already as He transforms
my inner being to the image of the
Resurrected One.
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Philippians 3:20-21
I struggle with the idea of taking comfort in words that are meaninglessly strung together.
You have to wrestle with the claims of the One who
claimed Eternity
His own before you can wrestle with eternal concepts.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26
“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
Revelation 1:18
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
John 17:3
Alive in Christ is Resting In Peace.
We are at peace in His presence.
He gives us rest from the pressures of this life now.
This then is how we know that we belong to the truth,
and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.
For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
1 John 3:19
Sometimes the greatest gift He can give if we do not grasp this is to bring
this into the physical realm by taking us to Himself.
This too, is only His grace and mercy in action.
For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the
Lord of both the dead and the living.
Romans 14:7-9
Just my random thoughts as I consider the concept of Resting In Peace.
What are your thoughts?
May you R.I.P.
Now and Forever.
In life today and passing through death to life eternal.
By His grace.
Through Faith.
Alone.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
this into the physical realm by taking us to Himself.
This too, is only His grace and mercy in action.
For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the
Lord of both the dead and the living.
Romans 14:7-9
Just my random thoughts as I consider the concept of Resting In Peace.
What are your thoughts?
May you R.I.P.
Now and Forever.
In life today and passing through death to life eternal.
By His grace.
Through Faith.
Alone.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.
Isaiah 57:2
Thoughts, comments, questions?
My mind pondered after the onslaught of RIP messages tearing through
all forms of social media recently.
Enthusiastically, Dawn 
Very nice and very appropriate for me this morning; a friend's mother passed away during the night and she is so sad. Thank you for sharing.
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Nice post!
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I love the concept of R.I.P. before death…something God's been working on in me, to my delight. 🙂 I've just never thought of it in R.I.P. terms before.
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