The bible says we should labour to enter into rest and to fight the good fight of faith. The good fight of faith is when you hold fast your confession of faith even in the face of opposition, conflicting results or reactions. After some time you will surely enter into what is called the rest of God. This is a place where you cease from your own works. It is the point where the situation does not bother you again because you have an assurance in the word of God. You have stopped seeing the issue as a problem at this point and this is because you have moved from the labour phase to the rest phase of faith. The labour phase is where you are fighting the good fight of faith i.e. a point where it is literarily a struggle as you confess the word. From there you move into the rest phase where you cease from your own works and you find peace within.

The dynamics of this is properly demonstrated in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. In the death the flesh is crucified. When you start your confession and contradicting things begin to happen or you are struggling with things, just know that the flesh is being crucified with the word of God. What is happening is that you are simply putting to death the deeds of the flesh and that is the labour phase. After a while, even though there is still no change on the outside, you move into the burial stage. This is the stage where everything becomes quiet. There is still no change on the outside but there is total peace and tranquility on the inside of you. That shows you have entered into the rest of God. You have ceased from your own works and from that point God takes over.

The bible says the kingdom of God is as if a man will cast seed into the ground. The seed is the word of God and the word cast means to forcefully put into the ground. Once the seed has entered the ground you automatically come into the place of assurance, rest and peace even without having any visible change on the outside.
The word works if you will work the word. There is a time when you will hear the word but then the word goes through a process on the inside of you for it to eventually manifest on the outside. There is a labour phase when you are saying it and everything around you is screaming that this thing does not seem real. Your feeling and the circumstances are screaming for you to do something about it on the outside so it can change. But you have chosen to hold fast your confession without wavering. The reward for holding fast your confession is not direct manifestation but entering into the place of rest and tranquility. At that point there is an assurance and that is when the word of God has entered into you. The bible says in returning and in rest shall you be saved, in quietness and assurance shall be your strength. This means when you keep returning and practicing the principle you will enter your rest. Therefore, keep struggling and keep confessing until you enter into the rest of God.
Once you enter into the rest of God you are now at peace with yourself. This place I believe is more powerful than even the place of manifestation. That is the place that people who are in a hurry for manifestation do not get to enter into. They instead go from the place of anxiety into the place of result rather from the place of anxiety into the place of rest and from the place of rest, effortlessly, results begin to come.
In conclusion, Jesus did nothing to raise Himself from the dead, God did that by His spirit. Always find out what the word of God says about any situation you find yourself in. Get that word on your lips until it enters into your heart and you get into a place of total tranquility, peace and assurance. From that place you have what is called the operation of the faith of God where the power of God is released and that begins to release the resurrecting power for the change of everything on the outside. This is the process of the death, burial and resurrection that the word of God goes through in order to produce results in your life. Don’t forget that what is heard and not said does not produce result. In the same way whatever is said that does not go into the heart does not bring tranquility and peace. It is after you say it that it gets into your heart. This also shows it is coming from a place of abundance from the outside and power is made manifest within your life. Therefore, when you get to that point where you find circumstances and things begin to evolve on the outside, just know that God is at work, bringing about powerful and massive things that He wants to use to create opportunities on the outside for you.

Pastor ‘Poju Oyemade