Creating from a Position of Rest

part 1: resting in the presence of the King

resting has become a dirty word in the American imagination. rest to many screams of laziness or as an ideological rebellion against a corrupt capitalist society. but these conceptions of rest come from a worldly definition of rest. one definition of rest demonizes the action and ideology as a lack of action, while the other conception elevates rest to be a survival mechanism, rather than giving it its proper positioning in our lives. neither of these definitions explores how resting in God’s presence is a necessary aspect of this walk of faith, nor what rest entails when viewed both spiritually and practically.

before we explore how essential resting is in this faith walk, we must define what rest actually is. is rest falling asleep in God’s presence? is resting deciding that lying in bed is better than putting effort into daily life? is resting something deeper, a way to resist the systems that the devil has had control over, by deciding to boycott every system, since we are being forced to work in these systems? does resting then look like protesting and taking back the power from the government because of the forced labor that the world claims is capitalism’s fault? does that look like criticizing the systems at hand? or have we misconstrued what rest truly is?

what is rest?

resting in the Lord is something not rooted in rebellion to systems; it is not a reactive survival tactic, and it is definitely NOT laziness. resting means being still in the presence of the Lord.

rest is not always the absence of activity. sometimes the body needs sleep. sometimes the mind needs quiet. sometimes the soul needs to grieve. sometimes obedience requires us to keep moving. but underneath these different forms of rest is a deeper spiritual posture: trusting God enough to stop treating ourselves as the one responsible for holding everything together.

to understand something more fully, we sometimes must first look at its more common use. there is a saying that goes, “there is no rest for the wicked,” and what shook me to my core was finding a Bible verse that gave me a deeper clarity about how rest and peace are intricately linked, especially when looking at the Hebrew etymology breakdown of the words in the following verse:

“‘But there is no peace for the wicked,’ says the LORD.”

– Isaiah 48:22 (New Living Translation)

peace (שָׁלוֹם) is described as completeness, soundness, welfare, and peace in the Strong’s Concordance, which are all different aspects of what Jesus promises to have when we abide in Him. Jesus is also described as the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6) and Jehovah Shalom, which translates to “The Lord is Peace” or “The Lord is Our Peace” (Judges 6:24).

the breadth of this word helped me understand that biblical peace is deeper than simply feeling calm. it encompasses wholeness, welfare, completeness, and peace. therefore, to experience true soul peace, we must be resting in the presence of the Prince of Peace.

this holy communion is what furthers our spiritual transformation and is the driving force behind us co-creating with Our Maker.

in a post titled Rest is Not the Absence of Work, It’s the Presence of the King, written by Elizabeth Trotter, she beautifully describes rest as “[abiding in] the reign of God, the rule of God.” when we take up our regular rhythms, while knowing that the battle is over, and the King is on His throne, we can live as “people whose King is on the throne.”

perhaps this is where the deeper meaning of rest begins.

if the King is on the throne, then I do not have to behave as though I am the king.

if the King is on the throne of my heart, I do not have to carry what belongs to Him. I do not have to control every outcome, understand every circumstance, respond to every offense, or produce something simply to prove that I am worthy of producing it. resting becomes an act of trust because I am acknowledging that God is God and I am not.

resting has a purpose in this conception of it. being in God’s presence brings divine peace, mental soundness, an inner spiritual completeness born from Jesus, and faith to know that God has equipped us to have welfare, essentially that He is the one ensuring we reach a basic standard of living.

it reminds me of Psalm 23:1 (AMPC) that says, “The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.” in other translations, it says “I shall not want.” resting in God means trusting that our Shepherd knows what we need and will faithfully provide what He knows is good for us.

resting and creating from abundance

resting, especially as a creative, is essential to moving in a sound and intentional manner. rather than one moving in the world based on feeling, reacting to every single thing, and taking it on one’s shoulders. resting in the Lord is an invitation to lay down all your cares and worries at the feet of the Father, to lay it at the altar, and to freely receive these free gifts of divine stillness, better known as peace, mental soundness, spiritual completeness—even when in a transitory period in our lives—and having complete confidence that God cares about our welfare.

creating from lack is creating from our own understanding. it is creating to fulfill an obligation, creating because we believe we do not have enough, creating because we are afraid that if we stop, something will be lost.

but abundance is found in God’s presence because He is infinite. His love, His peace, His understanding—these are what should saturate what we create in order to bring Him glory and flow in this creative state.

creating from a receptive place also fights stress, because it is creating from a place of receiving rather than carrying the demonic weight of perfectionism. God calls us to excellence, but being excellent does not require sacrificing our wellbeing.

to produce what God is calling us to produce, the dream has to be incubated in His presence.

there is a difference between striving to create something and allowing God to breathe life into something He has already placed within us. one is trying to manufacture an outcome through our own understanding; the other requires us to receive.

this is why rest does not mean that we stop working. it means that we stop working as though everything depends on us.

rest is not spiritual emptiness

this also gives us a different way to understand spiritual practices that encourage us to “let everything go.”

resting in God is different from meditating on the universe and letting everything go into a void of nothingness. this is not meant as definitive proof that every form of meditation produces the same result, but as a thought experiment: what exactly are we surrendering to, and what are we becoming receptive to?

if “the universe” is treated as an impersonal force, what does it actually mean to surrender ourselves to it? if we empty ourselves, what are we filling ourselves with? the language of “universal energy” can be so broad that it becomes difficult to discern what spirit is actually being welcomed into your heart and spirit.

from a Christian perspective, I would rather rest in the presence of Someone than disappear into the presence of something.

the difference matters.

letting go is not inherently the problem. surrender is actually at the center of the Christian walk. the question is who are we surrendering to?

if you empty yourself of your own experiences without filling yourself on spiritual food you can discern, you can become vulnerable to half-truths that lead one to believing they are far superior to others spiritually, deluded into thinking you’ve let go of much, when in reality you have simply avoided what needs to be confronted.

resting in God is not dissociation from ourselves. it is an invitation to become honest about ourselves before God.

“Do not be conformed to this world (this age),
[fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs],
but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind
[by its new ideals and its new attitude],
so that you may prove [for yourselves]
what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God,
even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].“

– Romans 12:2 (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)

rest does not mean emotional numbness

since our souls are made up of our mind, will, and emotions, we as individuals need to have a deep connection to our souls to differentiate between what the (Holy) Spirit is purifying and redeeming, what aspects of discipline our flesh still needs, and any demonic spirit oppressing or trying to stay in our temples—our bodies.

if we understand the soul as encompassing our mind, will, and emotions, then resting in God cannot mean disconnecting from those things. there are pieces of our souls God wants to redeem and make whole, but that means we must do the work of surrendering it all to the Lord, so He can show us what mindsets and thoughts to let go of and what new mindsets He wants us to adopt.

this also means He shows us which decisions we have made in the past out of our so-called need for comfort, and which decisions to stop making with our FREE will so we can fully come into alignment with His will.

lastly, He shows us how we have let emotions control us, and how to use emotions to better intercede for others by helping us understand spiritual atmospheres, provide compassion to others, and travail for others in deep prayer.

rest does not mean that we stop feeling.

Jeremiah, one of the youngest prophets in the Bible, was known as “the weeping prophet” because his ministry was defined by intense emotional sorrow, grief, and tears over the persistent sin of his people and the certainty of God’s coming judgment. he had to share a devastating message of doom to his home country, and his deep love for his fellow people and desperate hope for people to come to repentance spurred him in his intense travail.

prayer in hard seasons can be done through tears at times when words seem impossible to share.

therefore, resting in God is not becoming emotionally detached from the world. it is surrendering our emotions to the One who can teach us what to do with them.

creating from abundance rather than lack

through this, we start to create not out of a place of lack, striving for more because we don’t have enough, but rather from a place of divine abundance, granted to us through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

when we acknowledge that all good things in our lives have been GIFTED to us rather than earned, our egos are crushed, and we stop doing things out of a place of performance and trying to keep up an image.

we are no longer creating to prove ourselves.

we are creating because we have received.

we are working because we have been given something to steward.

we are resting because we trust the One who gave it to us.

and this is where rest begins to change our relationship with work itself.

“…we are biologically prewired for love…our physical bodies respond best
when we choose Love (God), which is what renewing the mind is all about.
The neuroplasticity of our brain means WE have the ability to change
our memories by building new ones and destroying unwanted ones….
the goal is to replace every lie with Him, the Truth.
This is “working out our salvation” and aligning our soul (mind, will and emotions)
and physical body with the Spirit.

The degree of our alignment = the amount of power (Him) we can channel through us.
It hinges on our desire to re-present Him in the earth by
co-creating with Him as elohim and being overcomers in all things!
(including physical death), which IS His hope of glory.”

–The Science of Renewing Your Mind – All Things Restored. (2020, June 4). Allthingsrestored.org. https://allthingsrestored.org/the-science-of-renewing-your-mind/?doing_wp_cron=1772300108.0167169570922851562500
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part 2: the work of renewing the mind

becoming a born-again believer doesn’t mean that you will automatically gain everything listed in the Bible, because the process of sanctification is intimately tied to the renewal of our minds.

resting in God requires us to learn how to recognize the things that keep us from resting in Him.

our brains are like computers with different programming involved. the programming has been an amalgamation of four different things, broadly speaking:

1. MEDIA: the phrase, “you are what you eat?” aptly encompasses how influenced and swayed we are to think of the world in a specific way, depending on the media consumed and that we continue to consume daily—films, television, video games, streaming, social media reels, etc. if we consume without critically thinking about what we are ingesting, it will inadvertently subconsciously shape the way we interpret everyday life. even if we engage content critically, at times, when it appeals to our flesh, we will hunger for more of that type of media and ideology, which can mean media can be either a stumbling block or a way to express and explore life through a God-centered approach. most media created is meant to generate traffic and popularity, which means much of it is catered to be emotionally stimulating, provocative, or attention-grabbing. what we repeatedly consume can therefore influence what we repeatedly think about.
2. UPBRINGING: our upbringing and the psychology we have learned from whatever authority figure we may have had in our lives—whether we were directly related to them or not—can influence how we understand ourselves, God, work, relationships, and even rest. did you move a lot? were you able to travel and see places outside of your hometown, or is your home the only place you have ever known? what did the people around you teach you about work? what did they teach you about worth? did you learn that being productive made you valuable? did you learn that rest was dangerous because something bad might happen if you weren’t constantly prepared? these are questions God uncovers the answers to at a gentle pace, so we don’t get overwhelmed as we’re psychologically unraveled.
3. TRAUMA: trauma can teach the body and mind to remain in patterns of protection long after the original circumstance has passed. what once helped us survive can eventually become something that prevents us from receiving. sometimes what we call “discipline” is actually fear. sometimes what we call “rest” is avoidance. sometimes what we call “obedience” is an attempt to control an outcome. this is why the renewal of the mind requires discernment, which isn’t exercising wisdom in any situation, which can be camaflouged by feelings of paranoia. we have to allow God to show us not only what we believe, but why we believe it at His timing, not ours. sometimes in trying to face the trauma head-on, when we don’t have the spiritual and emotional grounding we need in God’s word and God’s presence, we can worsen the wound. a wound that scars over is different than one that is continually opened to be inspected. one requires a surrender to the process that God has placed us in and the other is blind confidence in our own capability to handle the darkness we have faced all on our own.
4. SOCIAL CONDITIONING: we are also shaped by the communities and systems around us. culture tells us what success looks like. social media tells us what beauty looks like. capitalism tells us what productivity can look like. our families can tell us what achievement means. our peers can tell us what is acceptable. none of these things have to become our ultimate authority. this is why Paul tells us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. the goal is not to become mindless. the goal is to become discerning. we are not called to reject everything in the world simply because it is worldly, nor are we called to accept everything simply because it is culturally normal. we are called to allow the Holy Spirit to transform our minds so that we can discern what is good, acceptable, and perfect in the sight of God.

“The DNA becomes unzipped by the signal that says
‘WAKE UP.’ I need a response from you to build this memory;
then mRNA photocopies the DNA code
so it can be replicated and create something.”

– Dr. Caroline Leaf. (2013). Switch On Your Brain. Baker Books.
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the scientific language surrounding neuroplasticity can help illustrate something Scripture has already been teaching us spiritually: what we repeatedly think about matters.

but sanctification is not simply learning to think more positively.

it is allowing God to expose the lies we have believed, surrender the patterns that have governed us, and replace them with His truth.

this is why rest is not merely something we schedule into our calendars. it is something we learn to receive.

receiving while knowing we did nothing to deserve it is a humbling experience for a person who has built their significance around being needed.

our true value isn’t in what others obtain from us, but from the mere presence we carry. the presence of God, being children of God made in His divine image is what brings is true confidence based in something eternal, rather than something that changes with the seasons.

one season, we may have more capacity to give. in another we have more capacity to receive. and in another we may have a new balance of both. every season is needed for growth inwardly and as a community. every season is not proof that we have lost our value. tough seasons don’t make us any more deserving that seasons of ease, and vice versa. each season teaches us to be content in every situation, making space for the grief found in any transition, and bringing an inner stability that cannot be shaken by the opinions of others or the accusations of the Enemy.

the blood of Jesus speaks a better word.

the King is on the throne.

and when the King is on the throne of our hearts, we can finally stop living as though we have to hold the entire kingdom together ourselves.