There is always something to do. My calendar is filled with people to visit, lesson plans to prepare, gatherings and meetings to attend, emails to check and respond to—it is a never-ending cycle of tasks that can feel very overwhelming, especially if I take no time to rest. How can I stop working and letting the hustle and bustle of life pull me right and left when there is always something to do? I have to come realize that the answer is INTENTIONAL REST!  

Rest has to be integrated as part of our lives. We cannot live cycles of burnout after burnout and expect to keep our head above water. Here are four steps each of us can take to experience intentional rest:

# 1. REMEMBER the sabbath day of rest. Exodus 20:8 is very clear in letting us know what God thinks of rest. That passage says: “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (NIV). Sabbath is a period of 24 hours of rest that we are commanded to observe, preserve and consecrate. Why is that time of rest sacred? Because God—our Heavenly Father—made it holy and on that very day He rested, after a busy six days of creating the universe, He rested on the seventh day. God showed us that while it is good to work, build, create, do very good things, it is also important to rest. 

# 2. PRIORITIZE the sabbath day of rest on a weekly basis. God showed us that for six days we should work but on the seventh day we should rest (Genesis 2:2-3). We are invited to rest. Sabbath rest is a gift that was established for us to enjoy. It is not a burden. That is why when religious leaders, in Jesus’ time, condemned people for not following their sabbath rules (which was a counterfeit sabbath of God’s original sabbath), Jesus reiterated to the people that the Sabbath was created for man (Mark 2:27a). In other words, it was created for man’s benefit, so he may enter a period of rest. For this reason, we should enter that weekly scheduled time of rest with joy for our spirit, soul, body and mind to pause and recharge.

# 3. PRACTICE the sabbath day of rest consistently. To build the muscles in our body, we need to work out consistently. If we do not work out consistently, the muscles weaken, but the more we work out the stronger we become. So it is with rest, it has to be consistently integrated as part of our life. If it is not scheduled, if it is not expected, it will lose its place in our life. We need to learn to walk away for at least 24 hours for that appointed time of rest and remain consistent with it. The more consistent we are, the stronger it will be rooted as part of our lives. 

# 4. TRUST GOD FOR YOUR PROVISION and rest on the sabbath! Just as God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness and provided them a double portion of manna bread on the sixth day to provide for the seventh day, so they could rest on the sabbath (Exodus 16:21-30), God will provide for your needs. Just trust Him and rest. Rest allows us to pause and remember that I do not have to work every single day of the week to provide for myself and my family without any rest. If I choose to honor and obey Him, God will bless me. I can work six days but I have to take one day of rest and trust God that He will in fact provide for all my needs, even while I take one day of rest to revitalize myself. Remembering that provision comes from God allows me to pause and accept that I am not a machine, but I am a human being that God created with a need to take time to rest at least once a week.