To Lay Down In Green Pastures

Why?

To rest to feed and to drink.

Once we give our lives to Jesus as our Good Shepherd to lead us through the rest of our days He begins by saying, "Lay down and rest." Jesus is our rest. He is our peace. He wants us to feed on His presence, His love, His grace and His mercy. 


To Rest

When we cease from our self-centered state to become Christ-centered, He is letting us know that we must fall asleep to living our lives in our own strength. He awakens us to a new life. He feeds us on His promises, hope and truth. He feeds us with an abundance of good things. We rest from our efforts and then find new life. You discover His plans for you and He says, "Don't worry. I've got this." He wants us to rest or place our total trust in Him so that we can say, "Its no longer I that lives but Christ who lives in me." While you rest He adjusts your focus to become centered on Him.

To Feed

He doesn't lead us to rock and sand or to snow and ice. He leads us to green pastures. We lay down and graze on eternal life. When we are in the presence of Jesus and we feed on His fullness. We feast on what is good and true and just. We feed on those things that are virtuous and our hearts flood with praise. He wants to become our bread so that He is our source of life. He wants us to know Him as "the way, the truth and the life". While you feed He nourishes your heart and mind to know the reality of His Kingdom. 

To Drink

The more we are lost to our previous life the more we find our new life in Him. His grace and goodness are so great that they crowd out the patterns of our 'old' life to reveal the new life. We look to Jesus and He fills our cup to overflowing. He sends His Holy Spirit as heaven's wine and we drink Him in. When we drink we become intoxicated with heaven's love, joy and peace. He wants us to drink in all He has to fuel our hearts and minds with revelation upon revelation that we may be changed from glory to glory. While you drink, its as though His blood is the dominant power pulsing through your body so that His Spirit is what gives you life. We no longer drink in the temporal but the eternal. Instead of being led around by sensual pleasures and worldly aspirations we become Spirit led. 

His ultimate destination is to keep bringing us back to a Table He has prepared for us. The Communion Table is wherever we ask His blessing with thanks on mere bread and wine. When we do something amazing happens. Our Table becomes His Table. We are dining in His presence. 

When our life comes from resting in Him, feeding on Him and drinking from Him then His life becomes our life. One of His promises is that if we seek Him first in all things He will take care of the rest. Feeding on the hope of His return and great and precious promises we become partakers of His divine nature. Then we understand the meaning of "as He is so are we in this world." 

Rest in His love and just watch what happens. 

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