Azusa Now Impartation #2: The Lord Wants to Give You a Baptism of REST

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Azusa Now Impartation #2: Baptism of RestWhen I was at Azusa Now last weekend, I was TIRED.

I mean bone-deep, soul-level, mind-numbing tired. The kind of tired that makes you want to curl up in a ball and cry, but you’re too numb to cry. The kind of tired that makes you want to say “no” to everything, including eating, and hide in bed under the covers and sleep for about two years.

The tiredness came from years of a too-rigorous schedule, plus a tremendous amount of stress from various things that week, plus a three-hour time zone change with an extremely late-night flight out, practically no sleep in two days, and more. I was just tired.

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    You know what I mean? Anybody else ever been there?

    I was really excited about the day, though, and I was there with some of my dearest friends on the planet. It was awesome just being together, and being at an event at that magnitude made it even better. And all day, we worshipped and praised and it was great.

    But there were a few moments, I’ll admit it, when we were all corporately pressing into God, and I worshipped not so much because I was feeling it, but because we were supposed to, you know?

    (Probably no one other than me has ever felt like that, I know. But I’ll just keep on.) 😉

    And there’s nothing wrong with choosing rather than feeling. Choosing God is actually 100% right, all the time. We HAVE to choose to worship when we don’t feel like it. We have to choose to praise when we don’t feel like it. Some of the biggest breakthroughs in my life have come during worship, when I chose to worship God because it’s the right thing to do… even though I didn’t feel like it. And if we put our feelings over our choices, we are worshipping the idol of feelings.

    Related: I used to be the worst about worshipping my feelings. Read how I used to worship my feelings here, and how God brought me out of that here, in How to Stop Lifting Up Your Soul to Idols.

    But feelings are nice too, if they are godly ones. God meant for all of our mind, will, and emotions to be filled with Him.

    And I was too tired in some moments to feel very much. (Not all moments; just some moments.)

    But at one point, I was taking a break out in the courtyard area, and I heard the sounds of one of my favorite songs drifting out of the stadium: Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips, Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips!

    And I leaned my face against a block wall and cried like a baby.

    That song is the cry of my heart. I love Him so much, and by His grace I will choose to love Him and praise Him the rest of my days. And as I was leaning against that wall and whispering those words to Him, just between Him and me, He touched me so powerfully. All of a sudden, it was like the lid of “numb” came off my soul and I could  just pour out my weakness and emotions and need to Him through my tears. They were healing tears and I felt better immediately.

    After a few minutes, I went back inside the stadium and found my seat. Everyone was worshipping and it was great, and I stood up to worship just like everyone else.

    But the Holy Spirit said something very unexpected to me. He said:

    “Sit down.”

    Right away, I thought, “Why, Lord? I want to give You my best. You’re worthy of standing up for.”

    But He said three words to me: “Baptism of rest.”

    I had never heard that phrase before, but I was all for it … whatever it was. So I sat down while 100,000 people worshipped around me.

    And you know what? At that moment, in that time, the condition I was in, I actually found it easier to worship with my whole heart while sitting down than I did while standing up. Because I had been so tired that I had to force myself to stand up, and all the energy of my heart was being poured into keeping me upright on two feet.

    But when I sat down, I was suddenly able to pour all the energy of my heart into focusing on my Father.

    And suddenly, sitting there hearing 100,000 people around me singing “Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the power, Yours is the glory, forever amen,” I was undone.

    I started crying again, but again it wasn’t bad crying. I was crying because Papa was holding me. It was like He pulled me into His arms and tucked me tight into His chest and hid me under His robe. I felt Him. And I felt Him healing my soul and body in all those numb, tired places that I had been keeping going strictly with adrenaline.

    I cried and cried and just rested there. I sensed His presence and affection so strongly, and the rest He was giving me was a deep, liberating rest.

    He poured out a baptism of rest. And it changed me.

    (Note: This is not a treatise on how we should worship sitting down. Actually, I usually worship more deeply standing up. But this was something special and unique that was about me receiving from Papa, not me pouring out to Papa.)

    The next day, I was still in His rest. The day after, same thing. Today, I’m still resting. I feel so much more peaceful.

    And it’s not like rest was a new concept to me. I’ve studied rest for years, and I have learned to rest in God, and about the difference between hustle and striving. (Read my blog series entitled Rest in God, Reach Your Destiny here for more about that.)

    But this wasn’t that. This was something totally new. This baptism of rest was not where I rested in God, but rather where HE touched me with a deeper kind of rest than I had ever known before. It was like He took a supernatural rest and did heart, soul, spirit, and total-body surgery and placed His rest inside me at the deepest level.

    It was an impartation of rest. A baptism of rest. I went in one way, and came out another.

    And I believe He wants to release this same baptism of rest to you today too.

    At the prayer meeting I lead at my church this last Monday, the Holy Spirit brought us to a place at the end where I could feel Him sitting down with that rest. So I asked everyone to please sit down and receive His rest.

    And as soon as we did, it was like the Holy Spirit laid a thick, sweet blanket of peace over the whole room. It was heavy. He poured out His rest on us, and you could feel the difference.

    So this baptism of rest is on His heart right now. He sees you right where you are. He knows how tired and overwhelmed you have been. He sees how you want to cry but can’t; how you want to hide from the world, and how you’d give anything just for some mental space with no pressure, no job, no responsibilities.

    But right now, He can pour out His rest on you and it will bring you the soul peace you desire.

    I’m going to pray for you now:

    Father God, in Jesus’ name, I ask You to touch every person who is reading this article. I ask You to pour out Your baptism of rest right now. I pray that, as they have read my testimony, the story of what You did for me would produce faith in them for the same thing and more. 

    Father God, baptize every reader in rest today. Fill them with Your Holy Spirit, and give them peace at every level. Thank You, Father. In Jesus’ name, amen.

    Does this message speak to you today? Can you identify; do you need a baptism of rest? If so, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you!

     

    11 Comments

    1. Thank you so much for this…
      After 2 nights with Pastor Benny Hinn in South Africa (17-18 April)…worship, impartation, healings…in the intense Presence of God (I worship kneeling often), I was so tired as we praised & worshipped God as w stand in unity…i also had to transport 2 people to their place after the event; before i went home so i was sleeping after midnight both nights (However, i enjoyed so much with all my heart).

      The 2nd night as I stood with others to worship, Holy Spirit said “sit down”…I was halfway to kneeling, but no, i was to sit on the chair, not kneel. With my hands on my face bending my face towards my knees, the echo of the songs just enveloped me and I sang with my heart and had the best moment. It was like Steffany Gretzinger’s words in 1 of her spontaneous songs, “This is for You; And no one else; IN A CROWDED ROOM, ALL BY MYSELF, I’ll worship You…”

    2. Laurna Tallman says:

      Very timely, Jamie. For the past week I have been under tremendous pressure to the point of sleep deprivation and heart palpitations like I’ve never experienced before. Our son who had the stroke last August was operated on again Monday to replace the “bone flap” removed in the first surgery. He was given morphine, which is fairly standard, but it knocked out his left-brain dominance, which awakened his former cravings. He had put such drugs behind him years ago, but now he was unsteady. After he got home, he took two pills and, although they had been prescribed, soon caused a seizure. His partner managed to protect his incision and grossly swollen head, but she was distraught. He was taken to emergency. The doctor there said he never should have been given morphine for this sort of procedure because morphine lowers the resistance to seizures. Furthermore, he could have gotten by on something like Tylenol that is not addictive. Is there anything more difficult than discerning between differing medical opinions? But that doctor put him on another drug that commonly has terrible side effects that I happen to know would do even more damage to his ears, which control consciousness and rationality. He was observed, sent home, and is refusing to take the new drug, which seems best to me. But it’s still a “wait and see” situation needing constant prayer. God gave me the ability to step back Wednesday night and just sleep for 10 hours. I was “good to go” for the next day, when the Lord was able to get through to me. “I have blessed you and I will bless you again.” There is a Peace that the world cannot give.

      1. Laurna, I’m so sorry that happened to your son. What a nightmare. I’m so glad He filled you with His peace in the midst of all that. I pray that Papa will bring calm to this storm very soon, sister, and that He would reward you for your faithfulness.

    3. Leah Harper says:

      You have no Idea how God is using you to speak to me. This morning I was on Pinterest and up popped Jon Thurlow’s “Fountains” that you had pinned. Then I went back to find it and I couldn’t ….this baptism of rest popped up instead. Both came exactly when I needed them and both of them flow together beautifully. Today I am asking the Father to let you know in a special way that your posts are reaching the people that need them.

      1. Leah, dear sister, thank you so much for telling me that. It really encouraged me because I prayed this morning also for Papa to bless His people using this post and to please show me that it’s touching somebody. And I was a bit discouraged today because sometimes it seems like Pinterest, Facebook, etc do everything they can NOT to let your content get seen. And then you sent this. Thank you. It is an answer to my prayer. I pray Papa would pour out so much of His deep soul rest on you today that you would also be totally rejuvenated and renewed. <3

    4. YES!!!!!! THIS is so what I needed to hear. Thank you Jamie.
      And The Lord just spoke “Rest” to me about 2 hours ago(and he’s been speaking that to me for awhile now), so to hear this again just now is a real, “lol” moment with the Lord right now. I really can relate. It’s been such a wilderness season for me.
      ( Also, I commented about a month ago, and you mentioned the song from “Jon Thurlow” Strong love”, and I wanted to also say that yes, I have loved that song for years)
      THANK YOU for your obedience to Jesus and your yes to him. The courage of others always allows the rest of us to be bold ourselves. Jesus is so worthy, and oh so beautiful…. <3

    5. Tiffany Thomas-jones says:

      Jamie, such a powerful testimony on how God gave you rest and rejuvenated you spiritually,physically…God is awesome, I was taken out of work (26 years) in September due to medical concerns one being exhaustion and anxiety , God spared my life… found out I also had an enlarged heart! I am finding rest in Him, trusting in His holy name…Worship is so essential to my daily life, can’t move without it! Went to a service on last night and I was crying out to the Lord for His goodness and mercy…what came before me was a image of lit candles and people putting them out…showed people being rebellious about receiving the Holy Spirit so freely… so much bondage was in the atmosphere, it hurt….. my soul cried out whom the Son set free is free indeed. … Lord I am looking to You from where my help comes. Freedom in resting in God.

    6. Dear Jamie. This message was a God sent. I really felt like I wad breaking down. I know God loves me. God always give us what we need. Thank God for the prayer. GeMayne

    7. Rebecca L Jones says:

      I love this! The baptism of rest, both God and Jesus are seated. I am not criticizing praise and worship but sometimes the intensity is overwhelming, I think maybe our pure praise and worship is in rest and the warm tears of joy.

    8. CarolAnn Adams says:

      Jaime,
      I so need this. I am soul and bone weary from years of bad health and yet another new painful problem. m Also my adult son who is disabled has been going through terrible times physically. Dealing with the medical community can be so wearying too.
      This may sound silly but my son’s cat is seriously sick and it would mess him up so much emotionally if this cat does not make it. For now he is better, (long story).
      What I need is rest. I feel like I have lost my spiritual footing this past week and can’t get it back. I feel numb right now. I got some encouragement from a pastor at my church today in not giving up in prayer. To keep asking.
      So tomorrow night I will go to a healing service at one of our sister churches. I want to be blessed with the healing of rest along with physical healing.
      I have not been able to keep up with your emails as there has been so many trials going on.
      Thank you for writing this.

      1. Laurna Tallman says:

        I am praying for you, for your son, and for his pet cat. I don’t know what your son’s disability is, but I, too, am dealing with medical people who have made bad decisions about one of our two disabled sons. I am praying for your peace and rest. I believe God wants us to use our abilities to heal on animals and the environment. I could tell you stories . . . . I am praying for your son.

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