Called to Reign: Living and Loving from a Place of Rest

by Leif Hetland

earth. The Father, Son, and Spirit wanted the fellowship and environment of heaven to fill the earth.

God created man first

This paragraph is a good summary of Adam's experience.

The first full day of Adam’s existence was the seventh day of God’s creation—a day of rest. Adam began his existence not in a place of doing or having but simply in a place of being. He began in a resting place.

Then God put Adam to sleep. It’s amazing what happens when we find a place of rest.

God brought Eve to Adam (Genesis 2:22), which means she had some time alone with the Father before she was united with Adam. She, too, saw the face of her Father,

She didn’t need anything; she was already complete, made in God’s image, and at rest in the resting place.

Neither was more important—

Religion focuses on the failure of human beings rather than on the faithfulness of God.

Sin made us fall short of the glory we were designed to express and experience, but that’s why Jesus came—to restore us back to glory.

It is more than a matter of semantics that God says, “Be fruitful,” rather than “Bear fruit” or “Do fruitful things.” Their first assignment was to be. They received the blessing of fruitfulness and dominion from their Father by just being. Adam and Eve had not yet earned anything. They had only received.

God didn’t want robots, so He gave them a choice.

If they ate from that tree, they would no longer be able to see His face, hear His voice, experience His presence, feel His love, and enjoy the intimacy that comes from identity as a son or daughter. Something in them would die.

Creation began with a family and ends with a family—from Father, Son, and Spirit to a family from every nation, tribe, and tongue (Revelation 7:9).

You are filled with His love, joy, and peace because you become what you behold,

REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. How would you explain the concept that our starting point for a relationship with God begins with an understanding of His glory? 2. How does a religious mindset differ from Kingdom family mindset? 3. How would you describe your inheritance from God? 4. What is your understanding of the statement “You only have authority over what you become and what you love”? REFLECTION Take time to reflect on the culture of heaven as it is illustrated in the perfect covenant relationship between the Trinity – the forever love union between Father, Son and Holy Spirit that Jesus brought to earth for us to embrace – allowing it to draw you into the place of a beloved son or daughter of the Father.

His love went to the deepest roots of fear in my life that caused me to live from an orphan spirit.

said, “Leif, you are Mine. You are My beloved. I love you. I like you. I delight in you. You don’t have to do anything. We will do much together, but I don’t value you for what you do. I just want you for you. Come home.”

“This is the way I want you to treat the world. I have forgiven you; forgive them. As I’ve loved you, go and love them.” He sent me out to change the environment in the same way the environment inside me had been changed.

well. I may know about His love, but I don’t really feel it. I am trying to live off of my own energy and power and end up drained and fatigued. Instead of the Dove, I have pigeon religion! When I get squeezed, something other than love comes out—anger, frustration, bitterness, or something else that doesn’t feel very good.

In that place, you will continue to be restless, striving to perform and become, but wearing yourself out.

Those in Chair 2 are overwhelmed by circumstances; those in Chair 1 are overwhelmed by the Father’s goodness, kindness, love, beauty, and splendor.

This paradigm creates a church that loves the world because we see it as God sees it, and love as God loves. When self is not in the center, everyone benefits (including self). The gifts of the kingdom do not need to be achieved; they are simply received. Everything is a gift.

This became the first nation I asked for, not as a problem to solve but as a gift to be received.

we listen to the Holy Spirit and unwrap the gift that is right in front of us.

There is a difference between having Christians everywhere and having sons and daughters who know how to bring heaven to earth everywhere.

A Chair 2 lifestyle can be exhausting. If your value is based on what you do, you will always be doing because what you do will never be enough. The Father is inviting you into a resting place, where you will be empowered to soar like an eagle, roar like a lion, and love like a lamb. You don’t need to achieve in this place; you can simply receive. You can move through this anxious, restless world without any restlessness at all.

He has not given us a spirit of fear.

We were born for face-to-face encounters and intimate conversations with God. He wants us to fully experience His love, attention, and pleasure, to see or sense His facial expressions as He adores us and interacts with us. We were created to experience His fullness by knowing the height, depth, length, and width of His love.

circumstance. The closer you draw to the Father’s burning heart of love, the more it will change your inner environment, equipping you to change the environment around you. Instead of constantly being impacted by the world, you will be the one doing the impacting.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. How would you explain the statement “be a thermostat that sets the temperature instead of a thermometer that takes the temperature”? 2. In what ways does a religious mindset differ from Kingdom family mindset? 3. Explain the difference between treating people according to their history versus treating them according to their God-given destiny. 4. Imagine if you were constantly overwhelmed by the Father’s goodness, kindness, love, beauty and splendor rather than by circumstances. How would that change your life? REFLECTION Reflect on Psalm 2:8 - “‘Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession’,” thinking about how it would feel to make this verse part of your prayers.

– identity, intimacy, inheritance, and destiny.

ACTIVATION Make a list of the areas of your thinking that need to give way to the love of God for your heart and mind to be transformed. Go back through chapters 1, 2 and 3, highlighting those places in need of focus in your life. Reflect on where you are in your understanding of each of the four areas - identity, intimacy, inheritance, and destiny - in your life.

pleasure. If you don’t have this kind of relationship, you may find yourself in the Father’s house, but you will never feel as if it is your home.

places. When you have deep intimacy with the Father, you don’t hope you’ve been good enough; you are good enough.

The relationship with the Father is based on covenant, and He is a covenant-keeping God. There is no lack in His covenant family. His goodness is a life of intimate fellowship with Him.

We are meant to live in that atmosphere all the time. It’s what your heart—and every heart in the world—has always been looking for.

You have God’s full attention as He smiles at you, laughs at your jokes, listens with compassion to your stories, and shows His pleasure in you. You don’t even have to ask Him if He loves you; it’s obvious that He does. He never hides His affection. This is the safest place in the universe.

You are part of the family and you begin to feel like it. You can be yourself. You can share your true feelings. You experience so much of your Father’s love that you can’t help but love Him back. You even start to see yourself the same way He sees you.

There are always more gifts than you can count under the Christmas tree—more than anyone would ever need. They are freely distributed,

You’ve seen others take them and develop them into something more. You want to invest in the Father’s business too. You love what He does and want to be a part of it.

A spiritual orphan’s heart is always looking for security, affirmation, love, acceptance, value, purpose, and significance because it has never experienced those things from the Father.

Many are even beginning to trust in fear and believe in it. It doesn’t matter to them if 95 percent of their fears never manifest; the “what ifs” are big enough to keep them captive and unsettled.

We were created to find rest in Papa God.

Our identity does not come from what we do but from who we are.

We may know in our minds that we have a Father, but we are not truly living as His children.

The resting place is there, available from God anywhere, anytime. As we will see, you were created and designed to live in it, not once in a while but always. It’s where we thrive, receive the promises of the Father, and reign with the Son. It is God’s desire for you.

If you have rest in your life, you can become a resting place for God—a place of habitation for Him.

This book is about both—experiencing everything God wants for us by finding a resting place for ourselves and becoming a resting place for Him.

Ecclesiastes 10:10 immediately came to mind: “If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but wisdom brings success.” I realized it would be much more productive to live wisely from a place of rest than just reacting from a place of busyness.

individual. In my opinion rest is seen and experienced in two specific ways. The first is having rest or peace of mind; the ability to carry rest with you into any situation or circumstance that might try to overwhelm or distract you.