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Summary
This conversation focuses on moving from striving in the soul and mind into the rest of God that is already available through Christ. The speakers emphasize that believers do not have to work their way into God’s presence because Christ has already opened the way to the Father. The struggle comes when the mind and soul try to understand, control, or produce what only the Spirit can bring forth.
The discussion points to a simple, childlike trust in the Father. Instead of constantly striving to know the Lord by human effort, there is also the truth that the Father wants to know us and reveal who we are in Him. Mary and Martha are used as examples of the difference between being distracted by many things and being focused on ministering to what is on the Lord’s heart. The conversation closes with the thought that this is a growth process, where the Father forms us as His workmanship and brings forth the new creation within us.
Show Notes
Living from the Spirit, Not the Soul
Ken opens the conversation by pointing out that the mind and soul life are not where believers truly live now. The real place of life is in the spirit.
Christ Has Opened the Way to the Father
Mike emphasizes that Jesus’ purpose was to bring us into the same relationship with the Father that He has. Through the cross, that door has already been opened.
Rest Is Already Available
The speakers bring out that rest is not something we struggle to attain. Because Christ is already in the Father’s presence, believers have access to that rest now.
Moving Beyond Striving
Ron talks about the long-standing drive to know the Lord, but also points out the other side of the relationship: the Lord wants to know us. True relationship with God is not built by anxious effort, but by trust and rest.
The Simplicity of a Child
Ron describes relaxing in the Lord like a child. A child does not carry the burden of trying to figure everything out, but simply lives and trusts.
Mary and Martha
Mike uses Mary and Martha to show the difference between distraction and true ministry to the Lord. Mary focused on what was needed in the moment, while Martha was pulled in many directions.
Becoming His Workmanship
Ken closes by describing this as a growth process. The Father works uniquely in each person, bringing forth the new creation as the old nature is laid down.
Quotes
“Your mind is not your friend. Your soul life is not your friend. The spirit is where we live now, not on the soul plane.” — Ken
“Jesus’s drive was to get us to the Father.” — Mike
“It’s not a struggling and striving, trying to get there.” — Mike
“We have access to His rest anytime we want it.” — Mike
“The Lord loves us right where we’re at.” — Ron
“There’s a flip side of that coin. The flip side is the one we always ignore, is that He wants to know us.” — Ron
“How do I relax? Like a child.” — Ron
“People don’t know how to rest.” — Ron
“Are we gonna be a Mary or a Martha?” — Mike
“You just have to do the number one thing, is trust.” — Ken
Scriptural References
Resting in the Father Through Christ
John 14 (6) — Jesus is the way to the Father, and through Him the relationship with the Father is opened.
John 17 (21–23) — Jesus prays that His people would be brought into the same oneness He has with the Father.
Hebrews 4 (9–11) — There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, and believers are called to enter that rest.
The Finished Work of Christ
John 19 (30) — Jesus declares, “It is finished,” pointing to the completed work of the cross.
Hebrews 10 (19–22) — Through Christ, believers have confidence to enter into the presence of God.
Not Striving, but Trusting
Matthew 6 (25–34) — Jesus teaches not to worry about food, clothing, or tomorrow, but to seek first the Kingdom.
Psalm 46 (10) — “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Proverbs 3 (5–6) — Trust in the Lord rather than leaning on human understanding.
Mary and Martha
Luke 10 (38–42) — Mary sits at the Lord’s feet while Martha is distracted with many things; Jesus says Mary chose the better part.
John 12 (1–8) — Mary ministers to Jesus by anointing Him before His death.
Being Known by the Lord
Matthew 7 (21–23) — Jesus speaks of those who did works in His name, yet He says, “I never knew you.”
Galatians 4 (9) — Paul speaks of not only knowing God, but being known by God.
Becoming His Workmanship
Ephesians 2 (10) — We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
2 Corinthians 5 (17) — Anyone in Christ is a new creation.
Galatians 3 (28) — In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.
Romans 8 (29) — God’s purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son.
Takeaway
The rest of God is not reached by striving, struggling, or trying to force spiritual growth through the mind. Christ has already opened the way to the Father, and His presence is available now. As we learn to trust like children, lay down the soul-life, and live from the Spirit, the Father forms us as His workmanship and brings forth the new creation within us.
Transcript
Resting in the Father’s Presence
Ron:
Welcome to Life Behind the Veil. Today we're talking about learning to live from the spirit instead of striving from the soul and mind. So often we try to reach into God through our own effort, our own understanding, and our own drive to know Him. But Christ has already opened the way to the Father, and in His presence there is rest.
In this conversation, we look at what it means to stop struggling to get somewhere spiritually and begin trusting that Christ is already there within us. The Father is forming us as His workmanship, bringing forth a new creation and teaching us to walk in the simplicity of a child before Him
Ken:
Your mind is not your friend. Your soul life is not your friend. The spirit is where we live now, not on the soul plane.
Ron:
We all have weaknesses. Our souls, our minds, at least right now, are not our friend. They will be. That's changing.
Mike:
The Lord is right there with us 'cause He's right there in us. We need to tap into the Father's heart.
Jesus's drive was to get us to the Father.
So we could have that relationship with the Father He has. He did it in John. He did it by what He did on the cross. It's done. It's finished. We have that open door always in, in the Lord. And when we're in His presence, we're in His rest.
It's not a struggling and striving, trying to get there.
We automatically are there because Christ is there every day, and all we need to do is shift this thing between our ears and tune into that fact, believe it, and rise up to that level. And He's right there to minister to us in ways beyond what this thing comes up with. Our spirit's recognizing is there with Christ right now.
We don't have to work our way up there or anything else. It's right there in the presence of the Father, which means we have access to His rest anytime we want it.
Ron:
The Lord loves us right where we're at. Ever since we've come to know the Lord, there's always been this striving to know the Lord. I wanna know the Lord. I wanna know you more, Lord. And that's all true, but the Lord knows that. He knows that drive that's in us. There's a flip side of that coin. The flip side is the one we always ignore, is that He wants to know us. The problem with Him knowing us is we don't know us because we've always been driven to know Him.
What I'm trying to get at is the whole relaxing thing. If you can come into the thing of relaxing in the Lord, how do I relax? Like a child. A child's not getting up and going, "Now, what does the Lord want me to do? I'm gonna go play with my friends." It has to be that simple. And yes, the Lord leads us in all that, and He puts it in our hearts and our minds to do things, but we don't do it.
We don't put it in our hearts and our minds, and we don't worry about it. If you get the spirit behind the Beatitudes, Christ actually was trying to impart that to people. Don't worry about what you're gonna wear. Don't worry about what you're gonna eat. It's the rest of God that makes no sense, especially to the religious mind, but it has to start making sense to us.
People don't know how to rest. I don't believe they even know themselves, who they really are. Not, I'm not God, just period. They don't know who they are 'cause they're always either striving for something, especially if they're in God. They're striving to reach into God, they're striving to know the Lord.
And all those things are good things. They have to come from the Lord. They can't come from us. When they come from us, it doesn't produce what He's looking for.
Mike:
Are we gonna be a Mary or a Martha?
Mary focused on the thing at the moment of imparting love to Christ and preparing Him to go to the cross.
That's what He needed. She ministered to His need at that very moment. Martha's running around hither and yon and this and everything else, totally distracted from being able to focus on the thing that was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. What's the judgment where Christ speaks? "Depart from ye, ye workers of iniquity, for I never—"
"Knew you." That hits me every time I hear that. I wanna ask the question, "Lord, do you know me?"
Dale:
A lot of what we're talking about is a growth process. There's a transition in that growth process. We become His workmanship, that it's the Father's attention to us. We are His workmanship, and He takes us through grace, through the things that's uniquely to us, in you being His workmanship.
To me, it's a rejoicing because it's difficult in your own mind knowing where you're at. You just have to do the number one thing, is trust. And it's very difficult for our human mind to understand that new creature is coming forth now. As we shed being Jew or Greek, or we shed as being male or female, we shed our human nature and take upon us His nature.
It's a whole new ballgame.
Ron:
Thank you for listening to Live Behind the Veil. The rest of God is not something we earn through striving. It is something we enter in by trusting the finished work of Christ and learning to live from the Spirit. As the Father continues His work in us, may we lay down the anxious labor of the soul and come into the simplicity of a relationship with Him.
He knows us, He loves us, and He is bringing forth His nature within us. Let us walk each day in that rest, trusting that we are His workmanship.