Christ With Coffee On Ice - when work is an idol, rest feels like a sin

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

Hey y'all ! Welcome to another Friday with CWCOI ! In this week's episode, our host, Ally Yost talks about the importance of rest. When we sit and rest in the presence of God, we experience His peace and provision. It's important that we find those restful moments that point to Jesus even in the midst of busyness.  "Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God." Exodus 28:8-10 _____________________________________________  ☆ REP CWCOI MERCH ➤ https://allyyost.com ☆ MY BIBLE (code 'ALLYYOST' at checkout) ➤ https://hosannarevival.com/collections/beautiful-bibles/products/nlt-notetaking-bible-versailles-theme  ☆ TUMBLER LINK ➤ https://allyyost.com/products/travel-tumbler ☆ JESUS FREAKS | OFFICIAL TRAILER ➤ https://youtu.be/DbbJHm0WfJg?si=ErjC8Z9_TmC5VLar ☆ EARLY ACCESS TO EPISODES AND BONUS PERKS ➤ https://patreon.com/CWCOI  ☆ GIVE TO CWCOI ➤ https://www.paypal.me/CWCOI _____________________________________________  Connect further with us ! TikTok ➤ https://www.tiktok.com/@christwithcoffeeonice  Instagram ➤ https://instagram.com/christwithcoffeeonice _____________________________________________  Connect further with Ally !  TikTok (2M) ➤ https://www.tiktok.com/@ally_yost  Instagram ➤ https://www.instagram.com/ally_yost/  ShopMy ➤ https://shopmy.us/allyyost Pinterest ➤ https://www.pinterest.com/ally_yost1/_created/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I am your host, Ali Yost, and it is a joy and honor to be here with you guys. I love you. Guys, I love you. Oh my gosh, I love this day. It's my favorite day of the week. I know I always say that, but it's the truth. Well, first off, I hope that you guys are having a great day. Happy Friday. I hope you guys are having a very blessed week. Yeah, today's just a good day. Today is a good day because we get to rejoice in this day because the Lord had made it and it's his day. It's the Lord's day and we just rejoice in that. Okay, we also obviously have our coffee on ice. I don't have my traveler, like the plastic one. We have our glass one today. So we're a little fancier today. Guys, I'm going to be

honest, I actually kind of cracked my plastic one. I dropped it and it cracked, but it's not leaking, but it's cracked. So I don't know when that, it'll just start exploding, but I haven't thrown it away yet because I'm like well I mean it still works but it's got this big old crack down the side of it oops that's okay that's how loved it is I've been using it like every single day all of our merch is still available y'all I know that I said something about us doing like a spring line I haven't worked on that at all so I don't know but I would love to like update the merch maybe add some more fun colors but all the original merch is still available including our cups which we love oh so much and then last but not least actually first and foremost we have our Christ. So thank you, Jesus, for being here. And I would actually just really love to pray. I would love to pray as we get into this

episode. I have an idea of what it's going to look like, but I'm really relying on the Holy Spirit right now to just minister to all of us, including me. Honestly, it's so fun when I kind of just have like an idea of what we're going to talk about, but then I'm like, okay, but Spirit, you're going to have to just do your thing. And it's cool because I feel like he ends up actually ministering to the very vessel that he's using, which is me. And I love that. I love that. It's like really cool. Sometimes if I'm reviewing my episodes as my editor, you know, submits it and I'm watching them over, I'll be like, whoa, like that just spoke to my literal soul right now. Sometimes I don't even remember saying it. It's like, I don't know, the spirit's just cool like that.

So I say, let's send ourselves up for some success right now, and we're going to pray before we get into this episode. I just feel we're supposed to. So let's do it. Oh, Jesus, we just love you so much, God. I love you. I just thank you for being here. Thank you for giving us another day to just learn more about your heart, God. thank you for giving us another day to commune together as a body. And Lord, I just lift up our listener

here on the other end of this podcast, God. And I just ask that you are so near to them, not only in this episode, but also just in their life, Lord. If there are any struggles or hardships that they are going through Jesus, I just pray that you give them clarity and you give them vision and you give them guidance on how to handle these things. Even if it's just simply being still and allowing you to guide them and lead them, Lord, I just pray that you give them clarity in all the things that they need clarity in God. If there are any big decisions that they have to make, Jesus, I just pray you are so near to every single listener right now, God. And I just thank you that you've made them for such a purpose, Lord. I thank you that they are here right now, that we get to just

be together, Lord. And yeah, I just bless them and their family, Lord. And I just pray that this episode ministers to every single person, God. And there's something that you have in this episode. for every listener, no matter what it looks like, no matter how different our walks all look like, because we know that they are. We are all living very different lives. But the beautiful thing is we have one thing in common, which is you, Jesus, and we love you. We honor you, God, and we just lift this episode up to you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, everybody. Well, listen, can I give you guys a little life update, actually, because something very life-changing has happened to me. It's not my hair. I got brown hair now. I got brown hair. That's not the life change.

Guys, you're so silly for thinking that. No, it's not my hair. But I will say I, yes, I colored my hair. And the reason I did so, you know, it's giving opposite. You know, like we're going dark for the summertime. It doesn't really make sense. But the inspiration was God. The inspiration was the God-given hair color that he's given me. If you've been following me for like a long time, like even BC Alley, I have always. loved changing my hair color. Just love it. Kind of giving identity crisis, honestly, once upon a time. Kind of giving I don't love myself and I need to look a different way all the time. You know, I just think at the frequency of how I was doing it and how drastic and different it was each time was giving red flag, I think. It's giving Allie does not feel secure. But that's okay. We've grown.

Anyway, I say that because I used to like really color my hair a lot. But the more consistent thing I've been doing is just like, you know, adding highlights and lighter pieces, which is not a crime. I'll probably do it again in my life. But the reason why I got rid of it is because I just wanted to learn how to love my hair color. You know what I mean? I don't know. This might be similar to what the Lord walked me through with makeup. And I've been honest about that here on the podcast. If you're not familiar with that, I was a freelancing makeup artist for so long. I just really covered myself in so much makeup. And so this past summer last year, the Lord was really walking me through almost like it was a clean slate. I wasn't really wearing any makeup hardly at all anymore.

It was so funny too because it wasn't like I was making this decision of like, okay, I'm not going to wear makeup anymore. I just felt the spirit leading me in that direction. So anyway, there was a good amount of time where I was wearing very minimal to no makeup. And yeah, I just think the Lord really was showing me how to love my face first and not love my face only when and if I was wearing makeup. So obviously I wear makeup. I'm wearing it right now. But the heart posture is different is what I'm saying. I felt like the Lord had to kind of unteach the things that I had taught myself from the world about my face, you know?

So anyway, maybe he's doing that with my hair. I don't know, but I just felt led to embrace my natural hair color. So that's my little rant, and I appreciate you guys for listening to that. And yeah, I don't know. It's not that I will never color my hair again, but I can't tell you the last time. I tried a little bit, actually, maybe a couple years ago where I had like dark brown hair. But I feel like this is the closest to my natural. I just told my hair girl, I was like, hey, listen, you can see how my roots have grown out to about.

here so can we just make it all match and so that's what she did and here we are so we're a brunette for the summer and I just want to love my hair because I know that the Lord loves my hair he's been like I love your hair color and I'm like dang God I want to love it too like I want to love the things that you love about me too maybe that's a prayer for all of us it's not just about our hair color but it's like God the things that you love about me I also want to love about me too so teach me how to do that so that's what I'm walking through with this hair color I will say it's fun I do like it I've only had it for about 24 hours so here we are Okay, but guys, stop distracting me, everyone.

The thing that was life-changing for me that I wanted to share with y'all is, so there's been this movie that I have been told of for ever since I got saved. I have been told about this movie. Actually, it was my hairdresser, Nikki. I shout out Nikki right now. Two years ago, when I first moved to L.A., and I was just a little baby, baby, baby, just starting out in my faith journey, right? Major sanctification.

And so I was just telling her about how I had recently found the Lord, you know, as we chat during a hair appointment. And she was like, well, oh my gosh, when I was younger, she's a little bit older than me, but she had gone to the theaters to see this movie with her mom. And she was like, you have to see this movie. You know, it's so good. And she said that it was called the Passion of the Christ.

And I was like, huh, okay. And I don't know if I knew what it was actually about. Like, I knew it was about Jesus, and I knew that the death of Jesus was involved with this movie. But I didn't know anything about it. I never Googled it after that. But the minute that I knew that the death of jeet, like the crucifixion was in it, I was like, I don't know if my heart can handle that.

So I just never. Like, it always stayed in my mind. And then obviously as I stayed in community, this is a movie that comes up all the time. I was even hearing testimonies from people about how they literally got saved while watching this movie. And so I know about this movie and I've heard about it so much, but I never watched it. And so a couple weekends ago, Ashley was out of town for a wedding. And I had felt the Lord encouraged me. to watch the movie by myself at like 10 o'clock at night.

And I was like, God, is this going to be like really hard for me to do by myself late and night? Like, I don't know. I was like, I just hope that I can handle this. You know, I guess that I don't know. That was my hesitation. I was like, obviously, I believe that this really happened to Jesus, but I don't know if my heart can bear really seeing what he did, you know, and like seeing it.

Right? So I was like, all right, God, I'll watch it. I had no idea that that's all the movie was about. The movie starts off and it's like, not to spoil it for anybody who hasn't seen it. I mean, we all know the story. We all know the story. What are you talking about, Allie? There is nothing to spoil.

Okay, but the whole movie is about it. The whole movie is about the last 12 hours of Jesus' life before he died on the cross. And I didn't know that. I thought that maybe it would start off kind of like the chosen, I guess, where it's like, you know, we see him breaking bread with the disciples. And maybe it's a few days before his crucifixion and then we end with that. No, it's from start to finish, right? So I'm starting to watch it.

And the very first scene is Jesus, like in the woods, kind of being tempted and tormented by the devil. And I believe this is the right before he knew it was coming where he was sweating blood and he was praying to God. Anyway, so that's how it starts off and then they come to arrest him. I'm like, I wonder if they're like going in the future and then we'll go back. I had no idea that it was literally start to finish. I will say that this movie was so incredibly done. It was so biblically sound. Oh, it was so good.

Okay? It was so good. So I'll say that much. Like, no, I'm going to say so much more. But yeah, okay, so it was so well produced, is what I'm saying. I'm locked in the whole time. But there were a lot of parts that were really hard for me to watch. Yeah, there were times I had to look away, and there were times that I had to fast forward.

And I didn't want, it was almost like there was like this guilt. It's so not from God. But I felt this guilt for not being able to like watch. all of it and I had to look away and I was like, geez, God, I just wish that I could really, I don't know, like, honor you well and watch every moment of this. So anyway, but I felt his grace where he was like, you don't have, like, honey, I'm here. It's okay. Okay, so I watched the movie and the ending is like really good. The ending is giving to be continued. So loved that. Yeah, so I watched the whole movie and sorry, guys, I'm going to be talking slow through this because I'm just kind of like processing how to

communicate this. The only thing that I can tell you is, obviously, I felt so much grief about what Jesus went through, but I felt so much love. It's crazy. I thought I was going to be like mourning the whole time. And I think what helps is that we do know how it ends. And we know that Jesus overcame everything because of this. So that helps that we know it's a happy ending. You know, it's so funny, because when I'm watching it, I know this is impossible, right? But like, as I'm watching it, I'm kind of hoping that he'll be spared. I don't know if anyone else relates to that, but I know that the movie ends the way it does because we know how it ends, because here we are saved and we're reborn. So thank God. Thank Jesus. Thank God for sending his one and only son, Jesus. But I don't know why,

but like in my tummy, I was like, dang, I really hope that they just, I really hope that they just, I really hope that they just spare him. No, but they couldn't because we needed Jesus. We needed him to do that. So anyway, I felt a lot of grief, but I felt so much love. I felt so. I felt so. much love watching this movie and I will say that this is not a movie that you're gonna watch for entertainment This is not a movie that you're gonna watch either to like I don't know I think sometimes people will be like I don't know like not to punish like Like watch this is what you did to Jesus You need to watch this like punishment it just gave me more of an awareness of how deep his love is and it's like I knew that I knew it but to physically see what he did for me the love that I felt watching that movie was like wow

Like my worship changed after watching that movie. The Secret Place changed for me after watching that movie. It was just so powerful to see that kind of love. If you ever wonder how much Jesus loves you, you need to watch that movie because he did that for you. And the other thing that I felt the Lord encouraging me to do while watching this movie was like, yes, Jesus died for everyone. But it's also, his death is so personal.

Like, it's so personal to each and every one of us that he died for you. Like, you know? For me, sometimes I'm like, Jesus died for all of us, though. Like, he died for all of us. Like, he didn't just die for me. And I'm going to share this because I believe that this is God's heart for everybody. I was kind of like having a conversation with him as the movie was over and I was like, but surely, God, you wouldn't have just done that just for me.

Like, obviously, that was worth it because you were saving everyone. And Jesus was like, Allie, even if you were the only person that I created on this earth, even if you were the only one, I still would have done that for you. I believe that's how Jesus feels about you too. It's not like God just was like, oh, well, you know, this seems worth it because we should save all. It's for all of humanity. It's like, no, he loves all of us so individually that he would have done that if it was just you on planet earth. He would have done that if there were only 10 of us.

That is how big his love is. yeah, I think also like, I just encourage you guys to watch it. And if you haven't watched it before and you haven't watched it again, watch it again and really be like, all right, Jesus, I want to believe that this is like, this is personal. I just think sometimes we forget that, that it is personal. Like he died for you and that was for you. So anyway, yeah, got to the end of the movie. I was so moved. Oh, so much more obsessed and in love with Jesus after that. Didn't think it was possible. But I love that. I love that that's just our lives here on earth. is that just as you don't think that you could love Jesus anymore, there's opportunity to love him more.

I believe that will be the rest of our lives. I don't think that there's like a ceiling to that because his love is infinite and it's endless. And so I believe that that also can be the love that we have for him too, where it's just forever. This is a forever kind of love, okay? Jesus is a forever kind of love. And so I love that I could fall even more in love with him after watching that. I love that we can do that throughout the entirety of our lives, just grow deeper and deeper in love with Jesus. So, yeah, I felt a lot of love, which I wasn't expecting. I thought it would make me feel really guilty,

and it would make me feel really shameful. Because, like, I did that. We did that to him, you know? So then after that, I'm, like, going down this huge rabbit hole of watching all of these interviews about the production of this movie. And this is where, I don't know if it's nerdy, or if it's just, I just am so fascinated. by how they accomplished and made this movie because this is coming from a place of knowing how to

produce something on a much smaller scale with Ashley and I producing Jesus Freaks. And we encountered warfare, like spiritual warfare. But I was just like, dang, at a level like this where they're basically bringing the crucifixion back to life for people to witness and see probably the most powerful movie we could ever make in the history of mankind. And I'm like, I can only imagine the warfare. So I'm Googling it and I'm like, I didn't even say anything about spiritual warfare. All I googled was what happened on set of the Passion of the Christ?

And all of this stuff comes up, y'all. Actually, I need to read some. You will be floored if you don't already know these facts. If you know them, then honestly, you really stayed knowing your stuff. Okay. During filming of the Passion of the Christ, Jim, who played Jesus, experienced several incidences, including being struck by lightning twice, accidentally whipped during the scorging scene, leaving a 14-inch scar, and dislocating his shoulder

from the weight of the cross, because there was a scene where he was actually physically carrying the cross. So Jim was struck by lightning twice during filming, once while filming the sermon on the Mount, and again during the crucifixion. So there were a couple times in the movie where they showed little mini flashbacks of Jesus' life. God, the movie is so good. I'm going to watch it when I get home after this, goodbye. I honestly, I might watch it like once a month because I will say, I'm sorry, I'm getting off track, one second, I will say that I do think that this, nothing else mattered to me after watching that movie. Nothing else mattered. And I'm not saying like I just gave up through my hands in the air and said, nothing else matters, but like when I say the things that annoy me,

the things that are inconvenient to me, things that maybe haven't been delivered in my life yet, all of those like little, and they might also be big, but like those things, the things that we worry about, the things that take up the space of our minds that just honestly shouldn't be, just worrying and being like, oh, this is so annoying. Nothing else mattered anymore after watching that movie. I was like, oh, Jesus is the only thing that matters. Like, I don't know. It just grounded me even more.

Yeah, I was like, oh my gosh. Like, what the, what am I even? He did that for me. Like, he's the only thing that matter. What am I sitting here complaining about the fact that it was 55 degrees when I woke up this morning and I had to get in my car and it was freezing? Like, what? The audacity, I don't know. Or like even sitting here and worrying about my future. Like, nothing else matters. Like, Jesus, it just, it'll really ground you. It'll really bring you back to what matters.

It'll bring you back down to earth. And I'm not saying that it, like, invalidates everything. But it's like, oh, no, this is what matters. I felt what was happening is it was setting me back on that firm foundation of like, oh, only Jesus. That's it. Only the lamb and the lamb crucified. That's it. Done. That's all that matters. So anyway, okay, but they would do little flashbacks of his life briefly, but then getting back to the fate of what was going to happen to Jesus. And so they did a scene briefly of him on the mount. So I guess he got struck by lightning then. And then also during the crucifixion when he was hanging on the cross, during the filming of the scorching scene, which is when the Romans were whipping Jesus, Jim was accidentally whipped resulting in a 14-inch scar on his back.

Jim dislocated his shoulder when the 150 pound cross dropped on his shoulder. I think they might have even kept that scene. Like, you could see where it actually fell on his shoulder, but in that, like, his literal shoulder was actually dislocated. But they kept that moment, I believe. Jim also suffered from pneumonia and hypothermia during extended filming sessions on the cross in cold, windy conditions. They were filming in Italy, I believe, and it was, I think it was,

between like, I don't know, October and like February, but like the coldest months. So kind of the wintertime is when they were filming it. And then their assistant director, set production assistant, was also struck twice by Lightning. Hence, nicknamed Lightning Boy, is, I guess they gave him that nickname, which is as seen in the credits. So I guess they put that in the credits. And then Jim had described the filming of the movie as torture. Jim is a believer. I believe he's Catholic, but he loves you.

Jesus and he spoke about that very much so in his interviews. So I'm like down this rabbit hole to one in the morning watching all these interviews of Jim. And I really believe that honestly, you could only love Jesus to play that role. I don't know, but I'm just like if you didn't have faith in Jesus and you're facing this kind of warfare and like physical pain and torture, I don't know how you could do that as just like getting it as a gig. You know, like if they were just hired for the job. Like, you actually would have to love Jesus. Because what Jim was saying is he said that it actually strengthened his faith so much because the only thing he could do was lean on God. He, like, lost a ton of weight. And he said the spirit of God was the only thing that kept me going.

So everyone just blessed Jim. And everyone who created this movie and was a part of it, after that, I was like, God, I bless these people. Listen, I know I'm 20 years late. I think they produced this in 2005. But I'm like, oh my gosh. Like, bless these people. abundantly, Lord. I pray you have so many treasures in heaven for them because the dedication that they had to make this film. And I know that it's impacted. There could be so many people who are listening right now that have crazy testimonies that involve this movie. Okay, so then the next day I wake up and my heart has grown a million sizes for Jesus. I can't explain it, but I've woken up the next day and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm in love it. I changed my... Listen, that's Jesus. I love him so much. I was just like on a different level of it. It hasn't left.

It hasn't left ever since I watched the movie. And the next day was Sunday. You know, I go to church and I'm telling all my friends because also my friends were like, you got to watch it, you got to watch it. So I'm updating them and I'm like, changed my life. I said, but there were some times where I had to look away and I just really want to watch, like I really want to watch it through and through, you know? Like, I just want to give Jesus that.

And I just want to be able to like sit through the whole movie. And so I was like, I think I'm going to watch it again today. So I did. I watched it again the next day. And the same thing all over again. nothing about it was old and I pray nothing about what Jesus did for us ever gets old amen and I could watch it through this time and I oh man the closeness I felt to Jesus it's just such a good movie so anyway I'm sorry I've ended up talking about this the whole time but it legitimately changed my life and I could not recommend that movie more and I believe that they are going to be making a sequel Jim said something about it in an interview he had said that him and Mel Gibson were going to make the resurrection continuing that so this was just the crucifixion

and then the resurrection. So that... Actually, let's Google it. A sequel to the Passion of the Christ, 2004. Initial release is 2026. Whoa, it's coming out next year. The film will explore the events following Jesus's crucifixion

focusing on the spiritual and eternal significance of his resurrection. Filming is expected to begin in 26. Okay, well, if they're filming in 20206, I feel like it probably wouldn't come out. Okay, whatever. It's the internet, so we're going to get a bunch of different things. We'll have a summer of 2025 production start.

So I think, I don't know, they could be starting it now, but it'll be soon. So that's exciting. That's huge. That's like legit 20 years later they're making the sequel. So revival is here, everybody. It's crazy. Anyway, so that changed my life. And I really appreciate you guys for letting me share that with you.

And I pray that it just encouraged someone to watch the movie because it was really powerful. Yeah, I just think it's a really incredible thing to watch. watch to just, I don't know, fall in love with Jesus even deeper or all over again. Okay, wow. So what I wanted to talk about today, and I really don't want to like run through this too quickly because this is a topic that I have felt so passionate about. It's very important to me. I think it's the Lord actually that's put the burden on my heart to prioritize it because I don't know if I've always been the best at this thing, but I believe I've gotten very good at it lately. Thank you, Spirit of God, just for conviction and holding me accountable and just giving me a heart posture of wanting to prioritize this in my life is rest and resting.

And so I wanted to talk about that with you guys briefly today about the importance of resting. And I feel like maybe some of us can be rolling our eyes, be like, yeah, I know, listen, I know rest is important and I know that God says we're supposed to rest. And, you know, even the Lord rested on the seventh day. like I know, but I don't have time to rest. Like I physically don't have time to rest. So I want to say that if that is your heart posture, I understand. I understand. And I just want to validate because I don't know your life. I don't know your life. I don't know, you know, all the responsibilities that you have. It could be that, you know, you really wish you could rest and you really like to rest, but there's just no time to rest. There are people who expect things from you. You may have children. There are,

you know, you got to take care of multiple things or people. And you could. even be a leader where you're in charge of a lot of people or you're just expected to be there for a lot of people, whatever that looks like. So yeah, I just want to validate that and I want to say, I don't know your life. But I would love for us to come into this conversation with an open heart and an open mind and just hear what the Lord has to say about it. Now, if we couldn't all know this, I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record, but if this is new for some of you, I really hope that it speaks to you. But I believe that a lot of the culture of the world, which is, and anybody who doesn't follow the Lord is quite opposite than what God tells us to do.

And it makes sense that the enemy would want us to do everything opposite of what God tells us to do, right? But what I believe that the world tells us a lot, okay? And some of these things might sound familiar to you. Something that I heard a lot was you'll sleep when you're dead, you know? Like you can sleep when you're dead. But right now we don't have time to sleep. We don't have time to rest. If you want to get it done and you want to get it done well and you want to be responsible,

you want to be successful, you have to grind, grind, grind all the time. And I don't even know if grinding is like biblical. Like, yes, it is biblical that God says we are supposed to work hard and we're not supposed to be lazy. God doesn't want us to be lazy and we are supposed to be hard workers. But when I think of grinding, I think of like you are working all the time and there's just no time to sleep. There is no time to rest. Like grinding is non-stop hard work. And I do believe that we are called to work hard a majority of the time. But there is a day of rest that we are supposed to

honor. And God encourages us to do that. And so yeah, there's just a lot in the world that's like if you want to feel as if you have fully lived your life to the fullest. You've done everything you can. You're supposed to work really, really hard. And then you'll feel. fulfilled. Then you'll feel like you've accomplished everything. Then you'll feel like you've been fully used to the best and the fullest of your person. Like you used all of you, you know, because no one wants to get to the end of their life and be like, wow, I could have done more. Of course. That's like a very real thing. We all want to feel as if we have done the very things we were supposed to do. But when you're not connected to the vine of God, when you're not connected to the

vine of Jesus, you could work until you die. And that feeling of like, unfulfilled, I did everything I needed to do will never happen because the only fulfillment that we can feel is through Jesus, right? And it's like when you're connected to the vine and you're connected to Jesus, you know that you're fulfilling every single thing he's calling you to do because he's the one shepherding and guiding and being like, okay, this is what I want you to do with your life. Instead of us leaning on our own understanding of the world and being like, well, if I'm going to feel fulfilled and I'm going to, and if I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing, it must mean that every single day on my calendar is fully booked and full.

This was something that I was not always good at because I believed, I believed in that. I believed that if I was going to ever feel fulfilled or successful or I felt meaningful, you know, was through working really hard. And I think a lot of that can also be comparison. Like you see the way that other people are working so hard or other people are really consistent or other people are able to operate like a robot and show up all the time. and like even though they're tired, they can still do it and you're like, how are they doing that? Like comparison can also, I think, play a huge role in that of like just competing maybe with one another

and being like, all right, well, I need to do that too. And I think that the Lord encourages us to rest for more reasons than we realize. If God's going to tell us to do anything, it's probably for the good of us and the good of others. It's always for good, though. It's always for good. And so if you feel defensive or offended, by the thought of maybe resting, just know that you don't have to because I believe there's so much fruit, like good fruit that God has. And he would never ask us to do anything if it was like really

unnecessary. I believe the things that he asks us to do are so necessary that it is for the well-being of ourselves and other people. And rest is one of those. Like I just encourage you guys, too, that if you are in a place where you're like, I physically can't see any opportunity to allow rest in my life. Like if you really genuinely believe that, where you're like, Like, I have way too many things going on. I don't know how to rest in this season of my life. I think that would be a really great thing to bring to God and be like, okay, God, I want to be able to honor you in this commandment and this thing that you tell us is good for us. And I want to honor everything that you tell me to do.

I want to be obedient in everything. Even resting. Because even rest is worship to the Lord. Even rest is productive. Even rest is obedience, you know? Like, it's actually not a waste of time. There was this quote that I saw on Instagram the other day, and it says, when work is an idol, rest will feel like a sin.

And so if resting feels like a sin, that is a big fat lie, it's actually a sin not to rest. Rest should not feel like a sin. It's a very thing that God asks us to do. So if you go to him and you say these things, you say, God, I want to prioritize this because you prioritize this and you expect the same of me. I need you to help me. Like, how can I make room for this in my life? are there too many things that I've committed to?

Because this is the other thing is that I think too many commitments, like I can speak from experience, I can literally speak from experience, that just because you can commit to every opportunity or everything that comes to you doesn't mean that you should. And sometimes I believe that the Lord even tests us or there's opportunity for us to exercise that self-discipline and discernment when things come to us

that look really shiny and like, really good, you know, that carrot that's being like, and it's a really good opportunity. It could even be just socializing. It doesn't have to just be about like success or money or whatever, but it's like, it could be anything that just looks really shiny and fun and exciting. But if you were to take all of that on, where are you resting? There's serious self-discipline where it's like, yeah, this would be a really great thing. And I technically probably could say yes to it. But if I do, is there room in my life to rest? And if the answer is know, then typically, I would imagine the Lord would ask you to just sacrifice that thing and say,

hey, listen, I know that this seems like a really good opportunity. I know that this seems really exciting. I know you can make more money from doing this. I know that maybe you can make more connections from doing this. I know that you could deepen your relationships by going to this thing, and I know that you really desire that. But I need you to rest. And I need you to also have faith. This is also faith. This is testing the muscle of faith simultaneously as, you know, discipline, discernment, faith because now we're going to have to say, okay, God, I trust you that you are going to bring around another opportunity for that thing because you're asking me to lay it down. I'm putting it at the altar. I'm sacrificing it. I'm not going to say yes because I feel you telling me that I'm

not supposed to because then I'm sacrificing rest. So I surrender that to you and I'm going to believe you, God, that you're going to reward my obedience right now and just trusting that God will give you another opportunity for that. Your friends will always be there. The dinner nights will always be there. The job opportunities will come. More of them will come in Jesus' name because he is in control and he gives all good things. He is the gift giver of all good things. He gives opportunities. He gives relationships. He gives relationships. He gives finances, he gives everything good. So trusting him and having faith and saying, okay, God, I'm just going to trust that another opportunity is going to come. We don't have any phomo. We're not going to have any fear of missing out on this thing. And if I don't take it,

it'll never come again. That's operating in fear and a lack of faith in your heavenly father. Evaluating that with God and being like, okay, am I overcommitting to too many things? Maybe I'm saying yes to too many things. If you're looking at your days and you're like, God, I have zero time for rest. So yes, step number one is expressing, I want to prioritize this God. I have no time. How can I make time? And please reveal to me maybe things I'm doing that is not allowing me to have time to rest. We're going to read scripture about the Sabbath, which Sabbath, oh my gosh, it's so funny, guys, I was so embarrassed. Well, I have no reason to be embarrassed, but I realized that I was speaking of foreign language. This person who was not a believer, I was like, I don't know, out in public,

where was I? I don't know. They were like, what are you doing today? And I was like, oh, I'm sabbithing. I didn't really know it. It's Jewish tradition. Even Jesus did it, so it means we're supposed to do it. But honoring the Sabbath, it just basically means honoring a day of rest. You don't have to be super religious. Technically, everyone did this, I think, starting Friday evenings and then all day to Saturday. Sabbath is on Saturday because technically it's the seventh day of the week, just as the Lord did on the seventh day, he rested. So for a lot of people, it could be Saturday, starting Friday evening into Saturday. Yeah, it doesn't have to be super religious. where it's like it has to be Saturday. Like if Saturdays are the day that you're working retail at the

store all day girl, I get it. But a day in your week that you commit to just honoring Sabbath, so that could be a Tuesday for you. If that's a day of rest where you're like, hey, I can make that day in the week my day of rest where I fully honor resting from start to finish, which we're going to get into that in just a second, because there's such thing as sabbithing, air quote, and then actually truly honoring the Sabbath and like actually resting. Okay, but there's the scripture in Exodus 28. I think it goes till 11, but it starts at Exodus 28. Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day, no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters,

your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. But on the seventh day, he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. My way of prioritizing rest was like, I would rest for a few hours one day, and then I would rest for a couple more hours the next day, and then I would rest for another, like, hour and another day. you know what, but you add all of that up and it's a full days of rest. And I just, I don't know.

I challenge you with that because, well, one, I felt a little convicted in that. I actually didn't know how biblical that was. And I didn't know how much God was like, yeah, Ali, that's how you're supposed to do it. Yeah. Break up your rest. Like, rest for a little bit and then work and then rest again. Like, that's not what God did. He took a whole day, just one day on the seventh day where he rested, the whole day. And I believe that that's how we're supposed to do it. That there's no loophole. There's no, oh, well, I'm going to rest a little bit this day. And like, you know, I'll be resting for a majority of my Sabbath. I'll have to work for at least like four or five hours that day. But then I'll rest for the rest of the day. And listen, I believe that he asks us to honor a whole

day because that's the most effective way to rest. If you are resting for an entire day, I'll say from experience, if I'm resting for a whole day, start to finish. And it doesn't mean you got to be like a lazy couch potato all day. It's whatever makes you feel rested. Like, do the thing, do all of your favorite things that day. Do all of your favorite things that day. But when I've done that versus resting kind of scattered throughout my week, for some reason, even though maybe it's technically the same amount of time rested, the full day that I rested, I actually feel the reset in my spirit, mind, and soul.

I feel the rest. When the rest is kind of scattered throughout your week, it's not really like embedding in you and you're like, oh, I'm rested now, you know? So it's really effective for resting for a whole day. It's so crazy that that scripture said to honor the day and keep it holy, the very first thing that I felt the Lord tell me about sabbithing was keeping your rest holy. Like it is a holy day. And when I say that, it means that you are not resting and consuming a bunch of worldly garbage reality TV.

That's not your rest. Like when you are keeping your Sabbath holy and you are resting, it is like you are resting in the presence of God. You are resting with God. So I believe it should look like a day where you're doing all of your favorite things and you're doing it with the Lord, but you're also like resting in his presence. It's a whole day where you are just with God and you're allowing him to pour into you and you're allowing his spirit to bring you to a place of resting. Hebrews 4-9 through 10 says, so then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God for the one who has Entered God's rest has also rested from his labors just as they rested from theirs.

I believe that if you are entering God's rest, that basically is translated to you are entering the presence of God because the presence of God is so peaceful. There's only rest there. Exodus 33 of 14 says the Lord replied, My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. His presence and rest. Psalm 4.8, in peace, I will both lie down and sleep. for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety. Psalm 91.1, whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Just have your day be all about Jesus. Have it be all about him. Let it just be you. If cooking brings you peace, you're going to be playing worship music or soaking music or listening to a sermon, like basking and soaking up the presence of God and doing laundry gives you, makes you feel right. I mean, sometimes that's triggering. Some of you were like, no. No, that ain't restful for me. Okay, I get it. But, like, if there are activities or things that you can do that is restful, and then finding a way to bring God in that is how you're going to keep it holy.

So, yeah, just don't do all the stuff that's like, okay, it's giving junk food. Like, we want to also give rest to our souls, not just our physical bodies with, like, laying on the couch all day. That's good, too. If that brings you rest, that's okay. There's no guilt with that. But, like, what brings your soul rest as well? And if you do this once a week, okay, and you bring it to the secret place, if this is something that's hard for you, I encourage you to bring it to God and say, all right, God, I want to reevaluate my schedule and my life. And I, you know, I feel like I have so many expectations of me and I have so many responsibilities. A lot of things I physically can't get out of that. Okay. But you do that and then God shows you, okay, there are four days out of your month. Four days. That's all it is, y'all. Sometimes when that day of rest comes, you're like, oh my gosh, I don't have time for this. But it's literally four days.

out of your month, four full days of you just resting and prioritizing your spiritual health, your physical health, your mental health, your heart, soul, mind, like, that is the day where you are prioritizing those things. And it's only four days out of the whole month. And then you can do as much work, all the work you want for the rest of the month. Another thing that I felt the Lord highlight to me is that you are showing up better for others and you're actually loving people better when you're rested. Like when you have rested, there is something different about what you can bring to the table because now it's like you can bring all. Not just like all you had that day because honestly you haven't been able to rest. It's like we can really show up well for people. I have noticed

I can love people so much better once I've basked in the glory of God. It's like you just are different. And if you are prioritizing a whole day of rest, you will be a believe it or not, you think that by like taking a day away from working, you're like not being able to show up better for people, but I challenge you to prioritize this for like one month, one month. Do those four days in this month where you are fully honoring a Sabbath. You are resting from the start of that day to the end of the day and just see how things can change for you in the way that you show up for people. You love people. Also, I felt the Lord show me that it actually helps keep you in a positive attitude and staying joyful. If you feel that your life is lacking joy and like positivity, I'm telling you, you're probably just feeling really overworked.

You're at the end of your rope. You are on E, spiritually, mentally, everywhere. You're on E. And that is also a fruit of resting is I believe you will actually end up having a more positive attitude and staying more joyful because you are also prioritizing rest. your craft is better. I felt the Lord say that whatever you do for a job, you will actually be better at your craft. And what you do, the anointing that God is giving you on your life,

the thing that you show up for every day, you will be better at your job if you prioritize rest. Believe it or not. I know that that's like kind of opposite than what we think because you're like showing up one less day, but you'll be able to actually master your craft better because you're allowing yourself to rest. And then another thing that I felt him show me was intention.

You are going to be 10 times more intentional with people, circumstances, situations, things. That could also be your job. But like you are going to be kind of ties in with like loving people better, showing up for them better. But like you are going to be able to be 10 times more intentional because you've allowed yourself to rest. And again, I can't imagine if you're a mom like to like toddlers and babies. You're like, I don't know how I'm supposed to rest all day.

Like I have babies to take care of. And so I have so much compassion for you in that sense. And again, there could be other situations where you're like, nope, can't fit. physically rest all day. Sometimes a prayer that I've made to the Lord is I've been like, all right, God, today's actually a very hard day for me to make this totally restful, because there are things that I just, like, I have to do, you know? And that can be so true. Like that, and God has grace for that. Like, that can be so true. Yeah, things come up in our lives that are honestly out of our control sometimes as well. And so sometimes I've prayed to

the Lord and I've been like, listen, God, I still really want to honor this day as a day of rest. So can you just give me a grace? Like, I don't know if it's a bubble of protection over me, God, where things just bounce off and I don't end up being stressed. But there are times where I've still had to do things on my Sabbath. Like, if I have no choice, I'm like, okay, this is just the way my day is going, God. Can you please help me find rest in this day? Even as you're actively doing these things, okay?

You could be taking care of your toddlers. You can be doing all of their laundry, wiping their butts, You loving them, sitting there and watching Elmo with them. You know, you're doing all these things with your kids and you're like, God, supernaturally, I need you to make this like restful. I need to somehow find rest in all of this. And I believe that his grace is so good and it's so infinite that he will. Like, you're going to be like, I don't know how I feel so rested right now, but that was actually a very restful day.

Like, yeah, I was expected to do things and like, I, you know, I had some errands that I needed to do. and there were things I had to do, but I feel rested. Like the grace of God was with me, and I believe that that's possible, too. There have been times I've had to pray that prayer where I've been like, Lord, I need your grace today because I want to honor Sabbath and I want to feel rested today. And so, Lord, can you just be with me? Can your spirit just be so like on me that I can still find rest in this day? Does that make sense, y'all?

And I know that the Lord has that for us. I do. But yeah, I think it'll be good for us to. to all prioritize rest as much as we can, above all else. I just think it's so important. And yeah, I love y'all. And if you've already been doing that, I'm so proud of you. But if you've also been like, all right, God, after this episode,

you've been like, I'm going to be better about this. And you're going to try it for a month. You should keep going after a month. But I say try it for a month because I believe you're going to see the difference in yourself. You're going to see it in your work ethic, the way that you show up for people. Like, you're going to see the difference and feel the difference. you're going to feel the joy. You're going to be like, wait, I have so much more joy all of a sudden.

So I'm proud of you if you've made that decision right now. And I know the Lord is even more proud of you. And I think also he just really wants to spend a day with you every week. Like that could also just be a day where you're like, I just want to hang out with God all day. And it could be a really sweet, intimate day to just be with God. You know, we should spend time with him every day. But Sabbath is like the best excuse to be like, I'm just going to spend time with God all day. But I love you guys.

I'm so proud of you. Thank you for listening to me. And being here today, guys, hey, can we do something cool today? Can we show somebody how cool Jesus is? Let's walk more like him, talk more like him, be more like him. Let's rest like Jesus rested. And I love y'all. I will see you next Friday. And I hope that you have such a blessed week. Bye. Are some of y'all still listening? Okay, if you're still here, that means you're a real one, which is why I'm about to share this with you. If you've already caught up on all the episodes so far and you don't want to wait until next Friday for a new one. I have really good news for you. Subscribe to our Patreon to get early access to the episodes every week, early access to merch launches or any other exciting news, and receive personalized, encouraging messages or Bible verses from

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