Richard Ellis Talks

We can get as much or as little physical rest as we choose, but ultimately, it won't matter if we don't give our souls rest, too. And the only way we can do that is by coming to Jesus. He offers us spiritual rest -- the opportunity to shed our weariness and our burdens, and trade them for His peace.

Are we giving God all that we've got, or are we withholding ourselves from Him? Jesus gave His very life -- all that He had -- so that we could be saved. Now, He asks us to do the same. We get the opportunity to be a living sacrifice for Him, and that requires yielding our lives entirely to His will in order to bring about our greatest good and His greatest glory.

Who lives inside us is of far greater significance than what we look like on the outside. When we choose to follow Jesus, He cleans us up from the inside out. Our relationship with Him and the life transformation He wants to complete in us matters more than simply trying to follow all the rules and modifying our behavior for the sake of religion.

Marriage is designed by God. More than that, marriage is a picture of His love for humanity. But for our marriages to display His Lordship to the world, we first have to let Him be Lord of our lives individually.

When it comes to our spiritual development, baptism is the "A" in our "ABCs": it comes first before anything else can fall into place. Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? And if so, have you taken the first step of obedience by being baptized?

God promises to provide for our needs -- but that doesn't always look the way we'd expect. There are things in this life that we want to hold on to, that we don't want to surrender to the Lord. He calls us to release our grip on those things and trust Him to provide everything we need.

Your worst day with God will always be better than your best day without Him. Living in obedience to Him -- even when it involves suffering -- is better than living for ourselves knowing it'll only end in pain. God rewards our faithfulness with a fullness of joy that can't be found anywhere else, and it's contagious to the people around us.

Sometimes, God works in miraculous ways that leave us "shook". But more often, we overlook the greatest miracle He's already performed: bringing each of us from spiritual death to life. Scripture tells us very clearly that there will come a day when we'll bow before Him. Are we going to spend our time from now until that day wishing He'd perform miracles the way we want Him to, or marveling at the miracle it will be to experience eternal life with Him?

How full is your spiritual cup? Is it half-full? Three-quarters? Or maybe running on empty? Living for the Lord comes with a promise: He will supply us, not with "just enough", but with more than enough. Out of God's goodness pours an overflowing abundance of His riches, mercy, and grace. As we surrender our lives, we make room for His Spirit to fill us with more of Him.

Prayer should be a regular part of our regimen to seek the Lord and His mighty power. But fasting is the greatest ammunition we can use in our pursuit of life change. The next time you feel like you've hit a wall when it comes to getting answers from God, seek Him through fasting -- and then be prepared to watch Him work in mighty ways.