Bite-Sized Biblecast: Finding Rest in Jesus (Matthew 11:28-29)
Episode Summary: In this episode of the True Grit podcast, I share a “bite-sized Biblecast” focused on the powerful promise found in Matthew 11:28-29. I unpack the practical steps listeners can take to truly find the rest Jesus offers, including the 4-7-8 breathing technique, verbally surrendering to Christ, and aligning our will with God’s. As we navigate the fast-paced, overwhelming demands of modern life, this episode provides encouragement and actionable guidance to help you experience the peace and rejuvenation that comes from resting in the Lord.
Key Points with Timestamps:
- Introduction to the True Grit Podcast [0:00:00] Rachel Grit welcomes listeners and introduces the purpose of the podcast.
- Explanation of the Bite-Sized Biblecast Format [0:00:17] Rachel explains the concept of the bite-sized Biblecast and its goal of providing short, encouraging scripture discussions.
- Practical Application of Matthew 11:28-29 [0:03:40] Rachel shares her personal struggle with applying the concept of finding rest in Jesus and introduces the 4-7-8 breathing technique as a practical solution.
- Additional Practical Steps to Find Rest in Jesus [0:04:16] Rachel suggests verbally surrendering to Jesus and praying for God to align one’s will with His as additional steps to experience the rest Jesus offers.
- Recap and Conclusion [0:16:16] Rachel summarizes the three practical steps and concludes with a prayer for God’s rest, guidance, and protection.
Mentioned Links:
- Free Download: Guided Journal to Find, Identify, and Eliminate Sources of Noise and Chaos in Your Life
- NIH article on 4 7 8 breathing
Supporting Verses:
All verses are in ESV unless otherwise noted.
Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Action Steps:
1. Try the 4-7-8 breathing exercise to calm the mind and reduce stress.2. Verbally surrender to Christ, giving Him control over your life.3. Pray for God to align your will with His own.
Topics Covered:
- Finding rest in Jesus
- Practical application of biblical principles
- Reducing stress and anxiety
- Surrendering to God’s will
- Aligning one’s desires with God’s desires
- 4 7 8 breathing
- Breathwork for anxiety
Related Posts and Episodes:
Episode 2 | How Comparison is Killing Your Faith (& How to Fix It!)
Transcription
0:00
Hello and welcome back to the True Grit podcast, where we are seeking, finding and living abundant life. This podcast is for you. If you’re exhausted by the noise of the world and the chaos in your life and in your brain, and you’re wanting to get authentically and sustainably closer to Jesus while cutting down that chaos in your life.
0:17
I am your host, Rachel grit. I am an ADHD year wife to my best friend, a mother of three, a multi passionate business owner, a stepmom, a co parent, a writer, and most importantly, I was a lost sheep. Jesus left the 99 to find me, and now I invite you to seek, find and live the abundant life our Redeemer promises with me, whether you are carting kids around, you’re curled up with a mug of something delicious. You’re dashing in between meetings or folding mountains of laundry, you are welcome here. Let’s dig in together. This is going to be the first of what I would like to call a bite sized Bible cast. Essentially. What that is is it’s going to be a couple minutes of me sharing some scripture with you, talking through the Scripture, and then I will pray at the end. And the idea behind this is if you are rushing around and you haven’t had time to get into the Word or you just need a little bit of encouragement. This is a small, short, bite sized podcast that you can listen to to nourish your soul. I do a lot of longer podcast episodes, so I want to make sure that there are some some good bite sized nuggets in there, especially if you are on the go or just need some quick encouragement. The first I want to talk about today is Matthew 1128 which says, Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And it goes on in the next verse to talk about how Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy, His burden is light. And this is one of those verses that’s very familiar to us as Christians. However, we don’t really have a solid handle, or at least I didn’t, and maybe it’s the same for you. We don’t have a solid of a handle on the actual, practical how to part. That’s something that trips me up a lot is okay? I know the concept. How do I apply it? So that’s something that I want to be very intentional about with my podcast, with my blog content, with everything that I’m creating with the products I’m making, all of it. So let’s talk about, how can you when you are just falling apart, or even if you’re just kind of struggling to keep it together, how can you take Jesus up on his offer to come to him and to accept the rest that He has for you? Something that’s really helpful for me is taking what is called a 478, breath, and it is exactly what it sounds like you breathe in for four counts. Hold your breaths for seven counts, and breathe out through your mouth for eight counts. That is, there’s research behind it. It is a very effective technique of calming down your fight or flight response, kind of resetting your nervous system and getting yourself into a head space where you’re able to think a bit more clearly. You’re able to kind of clear some of those emotions that are clouding your brain. So the first step that I would encourage you to do is, let’s do a couple, 478, breaths together. I am so serious right now, it might feel a little silly, but what I want you to do right now, if you are able to safely close your eyes, that is even better. If you can’t, no worries, and we’re going to breathe in through your nose. 234, hold 234567, breathe out through your mouth. 2345678,
3:40
again. Breathe in 234, hold 234567, breathe out through your mouth. 2345678,
3:58
last, one, breathe in 234, 234, hold. 234567, breathe out through your mouth. 2345678,
4:16
that is a solid first step. Whether you did it with me or not. If you did awesome, congratulations. I am literally making a high five motion right now. If you didn’t, I encourage you to try it another time. That is something that helps me when I’m in that headspace of just I am weary, I am overwhelmed, I don’t know what to do next. I can’t think and process where I am right now, let alone try to think about connecting super naturally with my savior. It’s just that fight or flight, and as moms, we experience that a lot, when you are already so overwhelmed, and then a little person is screaming, mama, mama, mama, mama, and someone else is hanging on you, and then someone else is asking you, what’s for dinner, and then your boss is emailing. Telling you like there’s just so many easy, easy ways to get overwhelmed. As a mom and we spend a lot of our time in fight or flight, so that is a solid strategy to when you want to take Jesus up on his offer, stop and do some 478, breaths to get yourself into the headspace. The next thing that I have found to be so incredibly helpful is saying out loud that I surrender. All right, Jesus, I fully surrender to you. I don’t know what I’m doing here, take it. Whatever I’m holding on to, it is yours. I fully surrender. Acknowledging that, not just in our minds, but even out loud, can be such a powerful move, such a powerful thing. And so that is something that is a fantastic next step. The third thing that I would very strongly encourage you to do is pray that God would change your will to match his as human beings, and especially at this point in society, we are so incredibly productive. We are just prized on our productive capabilities. We are doing more than any generation ever has. I’ve seen some articles and things that talk about just how fast paced our lives are now, and we just have so many more expectations, and our lives move so much quicker, and we’re taking in so much more information, and so much more is demanded of us just because of the way society is set up, we are doing more than our ancestors ever had to even The busiest man at the office in the 50s. Once he got home, he was home. He wasn’t checking his phone, he wasn’t responding to emails, he wasn’t pulling out his laptop, like for all intents and purposes, he was he was home. And with that productivity, I mean, you can’t really truly be productive if you don’t know where you’re going. So we as human beings in today’s society tend to have these strong, lofty goals. We tend to want to know where we’re going, what the purpose is, what the plan is. And we oftentimes have a plan for our lives. You know, there’s jokes about, oh, yeah, my five year plan. Oh, this wasn’t in my five year plan. What’s your five year plan? There is just this standard of us as human beings, creating our plan. I have absolutely done that so many times, taking the time to surrender yourself and then very specifically, surrender your will to God again, so incredibly powerful. So let’s recap real quick, and then I will pray us out and let you get on your cute little way. Step one, I want you to take several 478, breaths. You can count to yourself in your head, or there are videos on YouTube that you can find, or you can scroll back to the part in the podcast where I do the 478 breathing. I will link to that in the show notes. Step two is to verbally, audibly, surrender yourself to Christ, lay down whatever you’re holding on to ask God to take all of it. And then number three, specifically pray that God would take your will, change it, mold it, shape it so that it matches his will. And this is really cool for two reasons. Number one, if you are so in step with God about your desires, if the thing that you are really, really wanting is something that God ends up having for you, it is that much sweeter because you know that it is what God had for you. And on the flip side, if you are praying that God would change your heart to match his, it’s not going to hurt as much if he has to say no. If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, you can always send me an email. My email is Rachel at Rachel grit.com All right, let’s go ahead and pray, Heavenly Father. I thank you for the opportunity to come before you to lay our burdens at your feet and to accept the rest that you have for us. You so clearly in your word, prioritize rest. You show this how you rested on the Sabbath when you were creating the world. You show this when you created the Sabbath for us to use, for us to heal through and when you mandated that we needed to rest as well. You know us so much better than we know ourselves. Father, for the sweet heart. Listening to this right now, I pray that You would speak so sweetly and tenderly to her heart. I pray that you would lift her up let her know she is a daughter of the king. I pray that you would keep the enemy from whispering any lies into her ears. I pray that You would help her stand firm in your truth. I pray that You would help call her heart gently to give up anything she may be holding on to that isn’t of you and to accept your will for her life. We, thank you for your grace. We thank You for Your forgiveness and we thank you for the gift of truth. In your name, we pray. Amen. All right, that is all I have for you. So make sure you are subscribed on whatever podcast platform you’re listening on head on over to Rachel grit.com I’ve got some free resources and things that you can download, specifically a free guided journal. It will take one hour of your time, and the purpose of it is to help you find, identify and make a plan to get rid of noise, chaos and distractions in your life. You can get that at Rachel grit.com/noise journal, that’s all one word, no dashes or anything. Rachel grit.com/noise journal. You can follow me on tick tock. That is where I am most active at Rachel dot grit, and on Instagram at Rachel grit, all right, I will see you in the next one. Bye, bye.
Leave a Reply