Psalms 27:4-6 – “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple. 5 For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. 6 And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.” NASB

The longer I live, the more things I encounter in life, and the more experiences I have with and in the Lord, the more I recognize the times and need for God to occasionally take me from the front lines of battle and hide me in His Pavilion Tent. 

In the battle, the King would have a tent in the middle of the Battlefield, and he would take the weary there for strategy.  God does that in our lives spiritually.  There are times, we are so battle fatigued, weak, discouraged, disillusioned, and even depressed that we need to an infusion of fresh vision and that’s where we find it.  He takes us from the “heat of the battle” into his Pavilion Tent and “refreshes us”. 

We are concealed from the enemy, untouchable by the powers of hell and from there we receive the infusion of strength, power, courage, and anointing to go back out into the battle and win the victory.  Sadly, sometimes we don’t hear the call to come aside for rest and try to be martyrs and push ourselves beyond the limit when He is calling for us to come inside and “rest”.  

Some feel guilty, saying – “There is too much to be done,” and “I must work while it is yet day for the night comes when no man can work.” They press on until exhaustion takes over and we lose our strength and are overcome by the forces of hell.  That’s not God’s way and never has been.  Burning out for Jesus is a good sounding statement but not very productive.

Learn to listen to your body, your mind, your spirit, your heart, and hear the voice of the Spirit of God inviting you to come into His Pavilion Tent and be refreshed.  The time spent there if it is an hour, a day, a week, a month, or a year will prove to be far more valuable than staying in the battle when you are no longer at your optimum.  Don’t let the devil shame you into thinking that you are somehow being lazy or slothful but realize that it is the Lord’s design to “refresh” you to make you “better than ever” for the battle. 

If there is one thing that I have learned is that we need to enter the rest wherein the weary are made to rest and when we come out, we are not only refreshed we are emboldened and empowered in a new way.  That is part of learning to lean on Jesus. 

Therefore, as you go into the rest of this week I suggest it might be that now might be a time you need to “rest in the Lord” and allow the battle to rage without you in it.  You will have the opportunity to reenter and to do so with renewed vision, strength, grace, anointing, and power. 

Blessings in your labors for the Kingdom!  Have a spectacular week!