Chapter 11

THE THEOLOGY AND EXPERIENCE OF REST

Rest is two things: It‟s a theology and more importantly an experience. I

don‟t just want to know the theology of God‟s rest, I want to experience
the living reality of it. The theology is there to bring us into the expe-
rience. It‟s not just about knowing that you are righteous in Christ. It‟s
about continuously experiencing the peace that this revelation brings.
Rest is about knowing where you are seated and why you are seated
there. You are seated with Christ on his throne because you have be-
come his perfect and complete righteousness. You are not standing and
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working but are seated and resting. The Holy Spirit doesn‟t just want
you to know where you are, he wants you to experience where you are.
There is such rest in his presence. Often we‟re too busy to wait on him
and experience his presence but when you do, it brings you into the ex-
perience of rest. People say, “Well I never experience his rest.” That‟s
because they don‟t know the theology of rest. You will find it hard to
experience his manifest rest in your life until you believe in the theology
of his rest. This chapter is about helping you experience his empowering
rest by giving you a theology of the perfect complete rest we have in
Christ. He is our rest.

A WORKING COVENANT VS. A RESTING COVENANT

After God had finished his six days of work in creating the world and
universe he rested on the seventh. That means he stopped all his work,
as it was finished, and rested. Adam and Eve got to live in that rest for a
while right up until the point when they fell. That brought the curse
where Adam would, “Work by the sweat of his brow.” Later on, Israel
entered into a works-based covenant with God that required them to ful-
fill laws in order to be righteous and blessed and avoid curse. This was
the Old Covenant and it was a “six day” covenant. It was a working co-
venant. Israel had to perform continuous religious acts of righteousness
every week for six days and only got to rest on one day of the week, the
Sabbath. That one day was a shadow of grace. It was a taunting foretaste
of what was to come: The New Covenant where people would enter

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permanently into the rest of being righteous before God and no longer
have to work for it.
“For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his
own works, as God did from his.11Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
- HEBREWS 4:10,11

According to this scripture, if we are to enter into the rest of God‟s

righteousness then we must cease from our own working-to-be-
righteous. The only work we are required to do is to enter his rest. The
only way we enter that rest is through faith. The way we fail to enter
that rest is through unbelief which is to continue in our own working-to-
be-righteous.
In my opinion the six days of creation is actually symbolic of the
law. God‟s law is perfect and beautiful. It represents his impeccable na-
ture of righteousness. It is so high and extreme that only he can fulfill it.
Just like only he has the power to create. God could have created every-
thing in a split second but rather he makes a point that later he would
use to describe Israel‟s attempts at being righteous. Because Israel re-
jected a righteousness by faith that was their inheritance through their
father Abraham, God then allowed them to enter into a covenant that
affords them the opportunity to see if they can do what only God can do
– be righteous. They fail miserably again and again. What a surprise!
How arrogant to enter into a covenant that is based on them being as
righteous as God and to think they could pull it off. God allowed this to
show the world the futility of relating to him through self-righteousness.

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When it comes to righteousness only God is righteous, no one else!

(Romans three) God never intended for us to be righteous of ourselves
but, by faith, to enter into the rest of being made his righteousness.
That‟s why when Jesus walked the Earth he fulfilled the six day cove-
nant on man‟s behalf. He fulfilled the law for us. He did the work. And
once fulfilled he said, “It is finished.” and then laid his head to rest.
He sweated drops of blood from his brow to break the curse. His
body was lashed open for our healing and bled for our forgiveness. The
punishment that was on him was for our peace. He became our sin so we
could become his righteousness. He took our poverty so we could re-
ceive God‟s riches. His death was our victory. He is our perfect and
complete salvation. We cannot add anything to it but simply believe it
and rest in it.
The New Covenant is a seventh day covenant. It‟s a Sabbath cove-
nant. It‟s a rest covenant. Israel wasn‟t allowed to perform any religious
acts on the Sabbath. This was to show that once we enter into the Sab-
bath covenant we are no longer required to perform religious acts in or-
der to be righteous. Instead we stop our work and rest in his.
If we are ever ruled by a feeling of not being good enough or worthy
enough, or simply weighed down by guilt and condemnation it‟s a sign
we‟re not living in his rest. We are trying to work off the guilt, we‟re
trying to make ourselves feel worthy and we often do this by some kind
of religious activity. It‟s not about asking for forgiveness over and over
or making all kinds of promises to God. It‟s about believing that you are

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forgiven and made perfect before him already and about believing the
promises he has made to you.
The whole point of grace is that God does the work on our behalf and
then credits us with having done it all perfectly so that we can just enter
into a relationship of rest. What is rest? It is, “Work finished – now sit
down and enjoy me!”

SIT DOWN!

After Jesus had fulfilled the law and became the perfect sacrifice for
sin he sat down on the throne. Job complete. By entering his finished
work we are all made perfect and holy in him and therefore sit down
together with him on his throne. The law is a standing and working co-
venant but grace is a sitting and resting covenant.

“And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes

the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the
right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever
them that are sanctified.”
- HEBREWS 10:11-14

Now there is no more sacrifice for sins required because his ultimate
sacrifice dealt with every sin from the start of time to the end of time.
That means our work has finished. Grace says, “Stop working and just
believe.” Jesus said, “This is the work that the Father requires - to be-
lieve on the one he sent.” Not to keep the Ten Commandments. Not to

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try and be holy. Not to focus on sinning less or trying to win the world
for Jesus in order to please God. The only work that we are required to
do is to, “believe on the one he sent”. The only thing that pleases God is
faith (Hebrews 11: 6). Anything beyond that to get rid of sin and guilt,
or make yourself more righteous, or earn God‟s blessings and love, or
avoid his punishment and curse, is simply unbelief in the finished work
of Christ!
Any good work we do now flows out of what he‟s made us into (a
new creation) and not to earn or avoid blessings and curse.

STOP CARRYING FALSE BURDENS!

God wants to lift off the false burdens that we carry. You may have a
passion to live for Jesus and to serve him, but be aware that the enemy
can get behind that and say, “You are not doing enough. You need to do
more.” He tries to drive us and get us carrying false burdens. Things like
thinking that God requires us to be more holy, to change and to do more.
Many Christians believe that God wants them to change. But I believe
God is saying, “Stop trying to change.” God doesn‟t want you to try and
change. Stop trying to change yourself! I don‟t know if I even have a
theology of changing! So much emphasis on changing in the body of
Christ! God doesn‟t want us to change. He has already changed us. He
just wants us to see who he has changed us into and to just believe that
you are that person, your true identity. The more we see him and who
we are in him and where we are seated in him, the more we‟ll begin to
live from that place. We don‟t need to change. We just need to see him

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and therefore our true identity. Jesus is our new identity and the more
we see that, the more our behavior will represent that.
Sanctification is not about trying to sin less and less, it is about living
from your true identity in Christ more and more. We have already been
sanctified (Hebrews 10:10) and set apart in Christ. Living a sanctified or
holy life now is about living by faith in your true identity in Christ. Liv-
ing unholy is not having faith in Christ and who you are in him. Sinful
behavior is simply the consequence of not believing that. The more you
believe that the less you will sin.
The religious world is putting pressure on pastors to preach more on
holiness, obedience and resisting sin. That actually just makes people
more carnal. It replaces their true identity with their performance to
create a false identity. Your identity is not your performance, it‟s Christ!
Get your focus off yourself and onto Christ! Stop trying to complete
your holiness and righteousness by trying to be holy and righteous! Stop
trying to complete blessings and approval from the Father by your ob-
edience. You have got it all already, now just cease from your works
and rest. You‟ll be amazed at what flows out of rest! You‟ll be amazed
at what you do from a place of rest. When Israel did enter the land of
rest they did great exploits for God by resting in him.

WON’T GRACE LEAD TO PASSIVITY?

“Ryan if you preach that, then it‟s going to lead to passivity. It will
lead to fatalism! Christians won‟t want to do anything.” Actually grace
says, “If you never did another thing for God for the rest of your life

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then he would still love you and approve of you and be pleased with
you! God is not relating to you based on your performance, he is relat-
ing to you based on Christ‟s performance. You are in Christ and he is
pleased with Christ, loves Christ and is happy with Christ.” You are in
Christ and are accepted fully in Christ. You don‟t have to do another
thing for God to get him to accept you or love you. He loves you com-
pletely.
We live with this thing in our mind that if we are not praying enough
or winning the lost enough then God is a little bit displeased with us.
That is a lie from the devil! The truth is that if you never read your Bible
again or prayed another prayer for the rest of your life or never tried to
win one more person to Christ then God would still fully love you, ac-
cept you and be pleased with you! That‟s true grace. People often quote
that grace is God‟s unmerited favor yet would have a problem with what
I‟m saying. They contradict themselves. God‟s favor toward us is either
earned or it is not.
“But then won‟t Christians just not want to do anything?” Well, just
because you may coerce a Christian into working for God doesn‟t mean
that they want to do it. True grace actually frees Christians from all the
“have-to‟s.” I don‟t want to live my life according to someone telling
me, “You have to do…” That is the Ten Commandments again. That‟s
the Old Covenant of externalism. The New Covenant is about an inter-
nal desire and motivation that comes from a reborn spirit. Your reborn
spirit wants to serve God! When you take all the “have-to‟s” off a Chris-
tian then all the “want-to‟s” begin to come out. Grace awakens your spi-

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rit to all the goodness that God put in there at the point of salvation and
draws those things out. Ephesians 4:23 tells us that we have been
created after the very nature of God. My spirit has got the nature of God
in it. Too many people preach that, as Christians, we still have a sinful
nature. This is simply just bad teaching. Colossians 2:11 tells us clearly
that our heart has been circumcised of that sin nature. Now my spirit is
part of the new creation order, meaning nothing from the old got put
back into my spirit. When my body dies and I go to be with the Lord
then my spirit will be instantly with the Lord and nothing will change in
my spirit. It‟s already part of the new creation order. So nothing has to
change in my spirit. Nothing of the old, no evil or sin or unbelief is in
my spirit. My spirit is made perfect in Christ. When you take the “have-
to‟s” off a Christian then all of those good things that are in their spirit
can have freedom to manifest. The nature, love, joy, peace, passion,
power, patience, kindness, faith, humility and goodness of God are all in
there and want to come out! Grace awakens those things to come out.
A lot of legalism in the church is simply because of bad theology.
When you haven‟t seen your salvation and what God has done in your
spirit then you feel like you have to move Christians into action. “Do
this, do that, or else!” The church is full of these clever manipulation
techniques that seek to move Christians to action. But they are wrong!
The only thing that should move us into action is the Spirit of God on
the inside of us awakening our true identity. Grace moves us. Unmerited
favor moves us. Not external pressure. God took off external pressure
and external restraint and put it all internally in our spirit.

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“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind.”
- 2 TIMOTHY 1:7

We don‟t have a spirit that is moved by fear but a spirit that is moved
by his power, his love and his perfect mind.
Believe it or not, a born-again Christian doesn‟t want to just go out
and sin. They actually want to get rid of sin. Their new nature struggles
with sin and doesn‟t like sin. The flesh and mind still like sin but your
spirit doesn‟t! Sin is foreign to your spirit. The more we live by our spi-
rit the more we can overcome sin. If you are putting “have-to‟s” on
people then you are not teaching them how to walk by the Spirit but by
external rules and laws that are not based on faith and which lock up the
new nature.
Often churches and denominations have their own set of rules that
people have to conform to in order to be seen as good Christians and
righteous people. These rules usually violate people‟s own conscience.
For example:
“Christians are not allowed to drink alcohol. If you drink, God will
not be pleased with you, because you are sinning by drinking.”
But no one has the right to tell another Christian that they are not al-
lowed to drink alcohol. Maybe God told them not to drink alcohol. But
if they say to another Christian that they are not allowed then that is ex-
ternal manipulation. If that person bows the knee to that then they didn‟t
do it because the Spirit led them to but because someone put pressure on
them. Likewise, no-one can say to you, “You need to pray every morn-

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ing for one hour.” God might have told them to do that but he might not
have told you to do that. They have no right to put that on you, no mat-
ter how good their intentions are.
God is trying to take false burdens off us and get us to move by the
Spirit and not by the pressure of man. God doesn‟t want us living and
moving by the pressure of man but by our re-born spirit in fellowship
with the Holy Spirit. That is rest.

BUT I FEEL LIKE I’M SUPPOSED TO CHANGE!

Some say, “Well I am not happy with myself. I have still got this
problem and that problem that needs to change.” Or perhaps someone
else is putting pressure on you to become better. God says, “Get your
focus off that and stop trying to change. I am not even putting pressure
on you to try and change. All I want is for you to see me!” That is all
God wants. Just see how good he is and how awesome and loving he is.
See how happy he is with you. Do you know that God has absolute de-
light in loving you? We all hear that God loves us. Some think that God
has to love them because he saved them. Actually God has delight in
loving you. It brings God pleasure to love you and he enjoys doing it.
Have you heard that in your spirit? “God delights in loving you. God is
happy with you!”
Lots of people believe that Christians should live with a sense of God
not being happy with us and if we have that then it will move us to live
in such a way as to make God happy with us. They insist on Christians
living with sin-consciousness because then they will be moved to get rid

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of sin. This is not how God operates in the New Covenant. If all you are
preoccupied with is what you have to repent of then your entire focus is
on how short you have fallen from God and how useless you are and
how unhappy God must be with you. That is awful. We should be fo-
cused on how perfect we are in him and how right we are with him.

YOU NEED GRACE REFERENCE POINTS IN YOUR LIFE

Once you get grace reference points established in your heart then it
will be hard to move you from grace no matter what distorted scriptures
are thrown at you by legalists. People can try to put any clever slant on
Scripture but you will always live in a place of knowing that God is
happy with you, likes you, and that you are 100% righteous in him.
The three most foundational reference points are; total forgiveness of
all sins past present and future, the teaching about the gift of righteous-
ness, and that the believer is no longer under the law.
You have to understand total forgiveness: That God has already
poured out all wrath and punishment on Jesus. That means he will never
judge or punish a believer. Some people say you are sick because you
did this sin or that sin. That is rubbish! God will never punish you again
because he fully punished Jesus in your place.
The teaching of the gift of righteousness says that you are 100%
righteous in Christ forever! God doesn‟t just see you righteous by turn-
ing a blind eye to your sin. No! He has made you righteous. Your righ-
teousness is now made of the same substance as God‟s righteousness. In
fact it‟s not a different righteousness, it‟s his very righteousness. We

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need to see ourselves 100% righteous because that is how God sees us
all the time.
Thirdly, you need to know that you are in no way under or account-
able to the Mosaic Law. People who still believe that they are under the
law even slightly will never fully grasp grace. You know those people
that you have tried so many times to help catch this message of grace
and yet they just don‟t seem to come fully into it? It‟s because at some
level they still believe they are under the law.
Unbelief in these truths brings you out of rest. When you fear that
somehow you are still under the law and not totally forgiven and not
100% righteous and are therefore still facing God‟s judgment and pu-
nishment then it‟s hard to be in rest. But once these reference points are
established in your life you will not be moved from rest.

REST LEADS TO GREAT EXPLOITS!

How many programs do churches run so that Christians are doing

something and not wasting their time? Programs that aren‟t spirit led or
inspired by faith. Instead they are motivated and driven by unbelief.
You‟ll hear, “You need to be a good steward of your time.” as though
that‟s supposed to fill you with passion to do great exploits. God says,
“No, enter my rest and I will give you supernatural initiatives.” You are
not being a good steward of your time if you are doing things that you
don‟t even have faith for. When all the “have-to‟s” are off and you are
walking by the spirit, then God can awaken his dreams in your heart.

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God personally gave me an assignment in a dream that has literally

set the course of my life! The assignment is to show Christians their sal-
vation. It came to me in a dream while I was asleep and at rest! I wasn‟t
striving to be obedient or to fulfill my duty to God. God can drop busi-
ness ideas or evangelism strategies into your heart through dreams and
visions or simply just inspired ideas. I have never done so many things
for God before in my life since coming into this revelation of rest and it
doesn‟t even feel like I‟m trying! I wait for God to give me supernatural
initiatives, and when he does, I just follow them. I like doing those ones
because he‟s all over them and it‟s not me trying to work something up
in the flesh! More of this to come in the following chapter but for now if
you‟ve never experienced the reality of rest then allow the theology of
this chapter to sink in and empower you to walk in his presence of rest.

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MORE GETS DONE WHEN YOU REST!

“…thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”

- PSALMS 23:5

Ever feel like you‟re missing the sweet spot in life? Feel like there‟s a
better way you‟re meant to be living? A way that‟s easier, more effec-
tive and enjoyable. The sweet spot on a tennis racket is where the most
power comes from. It‟s where the racket is most accurate and where less
energy is required to produce that power and accuracy. It‟s such a satis-
fying and enjoyable feeling when you‟re hitting in the sweet spot. When
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you‟re not, the ball doesn‟t go where you want it to or as fast as you
want it to and it‟s just frustrating.

Well, God‟s rest is that sweet spot and it applies to our lives. When
we‟re not living in the sweet spot of resting in the finished work of Chr-
ist, life seems harder, ineffective and frustrating. But when we live from
a place of rest we find life becomes increasingly more enjoyable and
effective. God wants us to live from the sweet spot. He wants us to enter
his rest and live from that place.

REST STOPS A WHOLE LOT OF USELESS ACTIVITY!

When you rest in the revelational reality of the gift of righteousness,

it will not only improve your relationship with God, it will also cause
you to stop doing a lot of pointless and energy draining activity. When
you live from a place of peace and intimacy between you and God your
life gets sweet. No matter what you walk through, your perspectives are
larger than life. You stop complaining to God about the size of your
problems and you start talking to your problems about the size of God.
You stop worshipping your problems by talking about how big they are,
and you find yourself thanking God for all that he is, has done and is
going to do.
When you rest in the gift of his righteousness you stop trying to get
righteous and holy by doing lots of religious activities. You don‟t try to
maintain your righteousness by religion. You also stop suffering under
the crushing weight of condemnation and trying to rid yourself of it

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through works. Condemnation will cause stress and agitation in your life
that will rob you of rest and get you out of the sweet spot.
When you rest in his righteousness you also realize that you don‟t
have to do anything to make God love you more. You realize he loves
you completely, unconditionally, undeservedly and eternally. You don‟t
try to do anything to earn his blessings. They‟re already yours! You
don‟t get caught up in the enslaving cycle of fearing God‟s judgments or
trying desperately to avoid them. In fact you realize there aren‟t any.
Jesus took them all for you!
Faith brings you into rest and faith is how we walk. When we walk
in faith in the finished work of Jesus and our perfect righteousness in
him then we walk in rest. Sometimes to stay in rest though, you have to
fight for it. That‟s why it‟s called the fight of faith.

REST IS SOMETHING WORTH FIGHTING FOR!

Living from rest is something worth fighting for. It‟s something that
doesn‟t just come naturally. The enemy is against it. If you want it
you‟ll have to determine to get it. There is an ugly spirit that is against
rest. It‟s an agitating spirit that comes to get you out of rest. It cunningly
seeks to distort and cheapen the revelation of rest. It tries to make you
feel like you‟re being irresponsible when you‟re living in rest. But that‟s
a lie! Rest is from God. He wants us to walk in it. If there‟s one thing
that‟s worth fighting for it is rest. If the enemy has been intensifying his
attack against you in this area, don‟t throw in the towel. Many people do
and just settle for getting through life. If you do that then what will hap-

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pen is that years will go by and you‟ll realize you‟ve lived life stressed
out, not in the sweet spot, striving in the flesh, unhappy and unfulfilled.
You‟ll have missed out on the things that God had for you because of a
lack of peace and stress. Fight for rest. It will keep you walking in the
things of God and in his overflow. You will walk in, “The Lord is my
shepherd and I shall not want!” It will cause your life to be effective and
powerful because you‟re now tapping into God‟s resources and not liv-
ing from your own.

WORKS VS. GOOD WORKS

God wants to bring you into a new dimension of rest. He wants to re-
gear your life for the future. For the next ten to eighty years. He doesn‟t
want you going through life stressed out and robbed. He doesn‟t want
you to die prematurely because of stress. He doesn‟t want you to miss
out on what he has for you. When you live in rest you won‟t.
Rest doesn‟t mean passivity and inactivity. Rest means; “being led
by the Spirit”. It means you are not striving in the flesh. You‟re not try-
ing to make something happen. You‟re not under pressure and missing it
but you‟re operating from a place of rest: A place where you can hear
the voice of the Father and you can feel the promptings of the Spirit.
Rest actually means “great exploits” for God. God has prepared “good
works” for you and I to do (Ephesians 2:10). “Good works” are works
of faith. They are works that flow from a place of rest. “Works” on the
other hand is just us striving in the flesh. But “good works” are his
works. They are the works that he has prepared for us.

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So rest means walking in the Spirit, walking in the things of God and
walking in your destiny and calling. If you want to walk in your destiny
and the things of God then find that place of rest.

THE SECRET TO BEING CONTENT IN EVERY SITUATION

Paul said, “I have found the secret to being content in every situation.
Whether hungry or well fed. Whether poor or with everything.” He
found the secret to walking in the sweet spot. He found the secret to
walking in rest. It was his secret to reigning in life even when he had
nothing to eat or when he had no money. His hope and his confidence
were not in money or food or possession. It was in Jesus and his finished
work. It was in the grace of God. It was in the gift of righteousness. It
was in God‟s abiding presence. Even when Paul had lots of food and
money, he didn‟t put his hope and confidence in those things. He just
kept it in God and the abiding presence of his grace. Paul says in Philip-
pians 4: 6–7:

“The Lord is near, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by

prayer and petition and thanksgiving present your requests before
God. 7And the peace of God that transcends all understanding will
guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus!”

Often we misunderstand that scripture by thinking that the thing that

will stop us from being anxious is our prayers. But actually the thing
that will stop us from being anxious is knowing that, “The Lord is near.”

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When you know that God is near and that his resources are available to
you through the finished work of the cross you won‟t be anxious!
“The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing.”

MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU

Do you know that Paul the apostle got out of the grace of God three
times? The very guy that says in Romans 5:17 that we reign in life
through the abundance of God‟s grace and the gift of his righteousness.
The guy that said, “I have found the secret to being content in every sit-
uation.” Three times he stepped outside of the grace of God. When was
that? Remember when he said that he had been given a thorn in the
flesh? (2 Corinthians 12:7) This was a messenger of Satan to buffet him
day and night with hardships and persecution for the sake of the gospel.
Paul cried out three times, “Lord, take this thing away from me!” yet the
Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” He didn‟t say, “My grace is
just enough” or “It will just help you to get through.” That‟s usually our
thinking. “It‟s sufficient. It‟s just enough.” Actually the original Greek
word “arkeo” implies, “To raise a barrier; to ward off and to avail.”
God‟s grace isn‟t just enough, it‟s more than enough! It enables us to
reign in life and over every situation. But Paul had lost sight of that and
cried out, “God take this thing away from me. I can‟t handle it! I can‟t
cope!” It‟s funny how Jesus didn‟t just bail him out of the situation. He
reminded Paul of his grace: “My grace is sufficient.” His grace is more
than enough! It‟s super abounding. It‟s empowering. It will cause you to
reign through situations in life.

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You might be going through a situation at the moment and are feel-
ing like just bailing out. Your breakthrough is not in bailing out or run-
ning away. God won‟t bail you out either. God didn‟t bail Paul out. He
allowed him to go through it, and he said in the situation, “My grace is
sufficient for you.” Your breakthrough in the situation is in finding the
grace of God! It‟s finding that rest. It‟s finding the surpassing sufficien-
cy of his grace.
Hebrews four tells us to strive to enter his rest because anyone who
enters his rest ceases from his own work. Then it goes on to talk about
Jesus who was tempted in every way just as we are and is able to sym-
pathize with everything that we go through. And then it says he is now
at the right hand of the Father interceding for us as Melchizedek our
mediator, and then it says in verse sixteen, “Therefore let us approach
his throne of grace that we might find grace to help us in our time of
need.” There is enough grace to help you through your time of need. Not
so you can just make it through but so that you can reign through it.
There is enough grace for you to reign in life through every situation.
Amen!

MY YOKE IS EASY AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
- MATTHEW 11:28-30

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A classic example of a false burden is when we put ourselves back

under law and performance. It‟s when we don‟t rest in our position. We
don‟t rest in the finished work of Christ. Jesus is our rest. He‟s done the
work for us. That‟s what the yoke is all about. Oxen are yoked together
to pull a plough and to do hard work. Jesus said, “Take my yoke.” Why?
Because the work is already done. Rest in your position that is in Christ.
In terms of your holiness and your righteousness and the forgiveness of
your sins, rest in the finished work of Christ. The work is done. You are
holy. You are righteous. You are fully forgiven. In terms of sickness, we
don‟t pray to try and get healing. We rest in the healing that is already
provided for us by faith in it. When you pray for the sick, we‟re not try-
ing to work and do something. We‟re praying from a place of rest. This
sickness has been paid for, and we‟re administrating the work of the
cross.

JESUS IS THE SABBATH REST!

If you know your theology then you‟ll know that Jesus created the
heavens and the Earth. All things were created by him and for him and
unto him (Colossians 1:16). He was there in the beginning (John 1:1).
He created this planet and the stars and the sun. He separated the light
and the dark. The six days of creation was Jesus‟ work, then it was fi-
nished and so he rested on the seventh. He called that day holy, a Sab-
bath. Then when Jesus was on this planet he was under the six day co-
venant, the Law Covenant. And he fulfilled it for us by doing all the
work it required. He kept it all on our behalf. Then he hung on the cross

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and was punished for us, and once the price was paid he said, “It is fi-
nished!” Work, “It is finished!” Six days, “It is finished!” Then he laid
his head to rest. Enter into rest.
He is our Sabbath. He is our rest. We are not called to work for our
righteousness and holiness and blessings but to rest in him.

AUTHORITY FROM REST!

You are a son. You have authority in him. When you pray you don‟t
have to try and get authority. You rest in the authority that you have be-
cause he has all authority in Heaven and Earth and you are in him
(Ephesians 1 & 2). You are fully in him, the one who has all authority
and you come from a place of absolute authority.

REST FOR YOUR SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY

Rest is most effective when you walk in it in your spirit, soul and
body. You can be going well spiritually but if you‟re overdoing it physi-
cally then you will get tired and wear out. You‟ll struggle with sickness
and it will start robbing from you spiritually. You could be powering in
the spirit and feeling physically fit but mentally you‟re laboring under
stress. Your mind is over active. You don‟t know how to switch off.
You‟re worried about lots of different things. That will start robbing you
spiritually. It will start robbing you of physical life as well. There is
something about not just resting spiritually but also physically, mentally
and emotionally. Now this doesn‟t mean inactivity. There are things in

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life that we just have to do and want to do and are called to do. I believe
in working and working hard. But I also believe in working smart and
working efficiently. A major part of that is dealing with stress. Stress
will keep you working even when you‟ve stopped working. It releases
adrenaline in your body that, if not addressed, will cause your body to
wear out and age quicker.

DRINK MORE WATER!

Some people‟s breakthrough is to drink more water! When you don‟t

get enough water your system struggles. Your cells can‟t process nu-
trients properly. Your organs can‟t function the way they‟re supposed to
and there is this drag on your whole body. You get headaches. You can‟t
sleep properly. We‟re looking for some awesome breakthrough but God
is saying, “Just drink more water!”

SLEEP!

You can be powering in the spirit but if you‟re not sleeping enough it
will catch up to you! Our bodies were designed to sleep at least one
third of our life! You need at least six to eight hours of sleep every night
in order for your body to function properly. It needs time to recover and
rebuild. It needs time to rejuvenate. People who don‟t sleep enough age
faster! People who sleep enough are generally happier. Your body re-
leases serotonin into your brain when you sleep. That‟s the hormone that
makes you feel happy! Anti-depressant drugs largely consist of this in-

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gredient. Some Christians don‟t know why they are struggling so much
spiritually and are always unhappy and are looking for some big break-
through. God says, “Sleep!”
“Ah, I‟ve got too much work to do, I can‟t sleep!” Maybe sometimes
you can‟t avoid that but it should not be a continuous lifestyle of over-
working and not getting enough sleep. If it is, you need to sort that out.
You need to come into a place of rest, literally.
Sometimes it‟s the physical things that can have the most profound
effect on us spiritually. Get the breakthroughs you need in the physical.

WASTED EMOTIONS ARE ROBBING YOU

Oh, how many wasted emotions people suffer when not in rest!
Wasted emotions are a thief. Unnecessary emotions waste our energy
and take from us. They come to rob from you. For example: Overreact-
ing. It is a waste of emotions. Someone cuts in front of you in the traffic,
“Raaaahhh! You bad stinking *#@& son of a #&*@....!!!” Or someone
doesn‟t pay you your money on time so you overreact. What is the point
of all that wasted emotional energy? What does it accomplish except to
drain you and get you out of peace and rest?
Unforgiveness is a waste of emotions. You‟re expending all this
emotional energy that is taxing and robbing you and it‟s pointless. Of
what benefit to you is not forgiving someone?
Bitterness is a waste of emotion. Self pity as well. “It‟s so unfair.
Poor little me. Boo hoo.” You know what? It probably isn‟t fair. But it‟s

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not doing you any good just moping about it. It‟s depleting you. It‟s
dragging you down. It‟s stealing from you. It‟s robbing your rest.
We need to get control over our emotions. Most of these wasted
emotions come because we lose our perspective. We lose our state of
rest in knowing that our Father is with us. Our eyes are back on our-
selves instead of on him. We‟re striving in ourselves rather than striving
to enter his rest.
I believe that there is an anointing of rest that we can walk in every
day of our lives. But sometimes there‟s a demonic agitation that we
can‟t seem to shake no matter how we try to get a good perspective and
determine to rest. It‟s those times you actually need to go into prayer
and break that thing in the spirit. You know if you keep trying to labor
through it you‟ll spend the day out of rest. You just have to do what
needs to be done and sort that thing out spiritually with the authority you
have in Christ. Get that grace from his throne all over you and walk in
the tangible reality of his supernatural rest.

REST ISN’T JUST A FEELING!

We‟re not after a feeling! “Am I in rest? Aren‟t I in rest? I can feel it.
Why can‟t I feel it? I‟ve got to make sure I‟m in rest!” No, we‟re not
chasing a feeling even though it will overflow into a feeling. The feeling
of rest is good. But it‟s firstly a truth and it‟s an attitude or a resolve that
you have. Listen to the way Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 4:7–9:
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of
the power may be of God, and not of us. 8We are troubled on every

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side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;”

We need to have the attitude, like Paul, of resting in our position, an

attitude of victory.

MAKING YOUR DECISIONS FROM REST

Is pressure making your decisions? Is the pressure of man making

your decisions? Many believers in church struggle with feelings that if
they just went somewhere else then everything in life would just start
happening and opening up for them. Of course God does move people
on to new places to fulfill and open up their destiny, but often that feel-
ing of just having to go somewhere else for breakthrough is a lie that‟s
trying to rob people of their destiny. Most often the breakthrough is
where you are! If you‟re chasing the pot on the other side of the rainbow
you‟re setting yourself up for a cycle of frustration and disappointment.
People think if they can just go to a place where many others are walk-
ing in the things of God then it will release them into those things. But if
you go to any of those places you will also find people who are fru-
strated and disappointed and feel like everyone else is walking in it ex-
cept for them! Somewhere along the line, sooner or later, you have to
get your own personal breakthrough and not ride on the breakthrough of
others. Sometimes it‟s just a matter of stepping out and breaking
through fear.

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What‟s putting the pressure on you to make a decision? There are

things that come to put pressure on us to make a decision and often we
don‟t make our decisions from a place of stillness where we can hear
that still quiet voice of the Holy Spirit that leads us into our destiny.
Sometimes it‟s just frustration, stress, impatience, disappointments,
comparison to others, feelings of falling short and so on. Don‟t give in
to that pressure. Don‟t make your decision out of that pressure. Don‟t
make your decision out of confusion, when you‟re not sure and you‟re
just confused. Often that‟s a demonic thing. There‟s darkness trying to
confuse your mind. When you make a major decision for your life you
should make it from a place of peace, rest and clarity and a knowing in
your spirit that God is with it and in it. Those are generally the good de-
cisions we make in our life that are fruitful.

I hope this book has brought you into a greater rest and helped you to
see the beauty of Christ and the wonder of his grace. I pray that you will
allow God to raise you up as a voice of grace amongst those you are
called to, that grace would flow like a river of life out of you and sweep
so many out of slavery and into destiny. Inside of you are the greatest
riches this world has ever known. The world is waiting for the New
Creation Sons of God to manifest. This is your life, this is your time.
Arise and shine for your light has come.

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KEYWORDS AND SCRIPTURES IN CONTEXT.

This chapter is more of a study tool to help you unlock certain scriptures
rather than a read-through chapter. It focuses on a number of words that
usually get interpreted incorrectly and explains their proper meaning.
This chapter isn‟t thorough or in depth but will certainly assist you in
your own studies by triggering helpful patterns of thought.
 Extra Virgin Grace

KEY WORDS

Faith; obedience; pure heart; pleasing God; works; purge; lusts of the
flesh; sin; holiness; fear of God.

FAITH

Total trust in the grace of God through the finished work of Christ.
Adding nothing to it especially not the works of self/flesh in keeping the
law! Also includes not trusting in idols, false gods, traditions, practices
and other beliefs. To trust in Christ and other things is really not to trust
in Christ. Genuine faith is faith that only trusts in Christ and his finished
work.
Galatians 2:16,21; Galatians 3:1, 2, 5-9, 11-14, 18, 26, 29; Galatians
4:23,30; Galatians 5:1; Galatians 6:14-18; Ephesians 2:8,9.

OBEDIENCE/OBEY

Submitting to the truth or simply believing in the truth of the gospel

which is the finished work of Jesus, adding nothing to it. To add to the
gospel is to disobey Christ. To obey Christ is to believe Christ. Faith is
obedience. To have faith is to obey. Unbelief is disobedience to the truth
of the gospel of Christ.
Romans 1:5; Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Romans 2:8; Gala-
tians 3:1; Galatians 5:7, 8; Hebrews 5:9; Romans 6:17; Hebrews 3:17-
19.

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PURE HEART

A heart that has faith in Jesus and nothing else. An unclean heart is a
heart that believes in other gods, idols and traditions other than Christ. A
holy heart is a heart set apart unto faith in Christ. An unholy heart is a
heart that mixes Christ with other gods, faiths, idols, etc.
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.”
- HEBREWS 4:12

His word is truth and divides what‟s in our hearts whether Christ or
a mix of other things. A heart full of faith enters into his rest but a heart
that is mixed with unbelief takes you out of a place of rest. Let your
heart stand in faith in Jesus because he is our great high priest who has
entered into the heavens for us! Let the Word of God fill your heart
bringing you into faith, bringing you into rest. In other words let Jesus
fill your heart because he is the Word of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19, John
1)
1 Thessalonians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 3:17-19, 2 Timo-
thy 2:22.

PLEASING GOD

Only faith pleases God so refers to anything done out of faith. If re-
ferring to actions then it‟s actions that flow out of faith in the finished

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work of Jesus as opposed to actions and practices that flow out of unbe-
lief in the finished work of Jesus which are evil actions.
Hebrews 11:6;1 Thessalonians 4:1; Romans 8:8; Hebrews 13:21;
Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5; 1 Corinthians 10:5.

WORKS

Refers to actions or deeds that flow out from either faith or unbelief.
Good works and pleasing works are works or actions of faith or the life
of faith. Evil works are works of the flesh; that is unbelief in the finished
work of Jesus. Evil works are the actions of self-justification and self-
righteousness by the law/flesh/performance and include faith in other
gods, idols and practices. Workers of evil are those who distort the
gospel and try to bring people back into the works of the flesh/
performance/ law.
Rewards of God are according to works of faith. Only that which is
of faith will be rewarded.
John 6:29; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; Hebrews 6:10; 2
Thessalonians 1:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:17; Romans 14:20; Philippians 2:
12; Hebrews 13:21; 2 Corinthians 11:13; Philippians 3:2; John 14:12;
Romans 9:11; Romans 13:12; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 5:19; 2 Timothy
2:20,21. James 2:18-24.

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PURGE

To get rid of, in your thinking or belief, any mixture of Christ with
other gods, faiths and practices.
2 Timothy 2:20,21.

LUSTS OF THE FLESH

Commonly mistaken to mean the physical desires of one‟s body but

in actual fact refers to the desires that spring up from unbelief in the fi-
nished work of Christ. Flesh often refers to the activities that one desires
and feels they need to partake in when they don‟t have faith in the fi-
nished work of Christ. These things include worship of false gods, legal-
ism, idolatry, religious practices, self-justification, self-righteousness,
guilt and shame, condemnation, etc.
Lust of the flesh often contextually refers to a desire to prove your
righteousness by your flesh because you don‟t believe you are perfectly
righteous. When people don‟t have faith in Jesus then naturally their
belief is in themselves or other things. The result of that is a desire or a
lust to prove themselves by what they do. That is called “flesh”.
People not born again are “in the flesh” (Romans 8) and people born
again are “in the spirit”. It‟s a position. However people in the spirit can
go back to the flesh by losing sight of the gospel of the finished work of
Jesus. This doesn‟t mean they lose their salvation, it just means they are
living way below who they truly are in Christ. If you‟re in the spirit and
born again you can never be “in the flesh” but you can live like someone

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who is. That‟s what Galatians five is all about. Paul concludes it in verse
25 by saying that if we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. In
other words, “You are in the spirit so don‟t walk as though you are in
the flesh because you are not! Those who are in the flesh are not born
again and will perish in hell. But you are not in the flesh you are in the
spirit so walk in the spirit and don‟t put any faith in the flesh. You walk
in the spirit by walking in faith.”
Paul was always warning against going back to the law and relying
on the flesh because in those days (and today) there were always false
apostles and Pharisees putting pressure on Christians to go back under
the law and trust in their flesh.
Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:3,10,12; Galatians 4:3,9,10,21-31; Gala-
tians 5:16-18,24; Galatians 6:8,12,13-15; 1 John 2:16,1 Corinthians
10:6; 2 Timothy 2:23; 1 Peter 1:14-18,24; 1 Peter 2:11;1 Corinthians
1:29-30; Ephesians 4:17-24; 2 Peter 2:9-22; Romans 7:5,25; Romans
8:5,9,13.

SIN

Not always but often in the New Testament, sin refers to “unbelief”
in Christ and not “moral sinning”. Sin that is filthiness, uncleaness or
impurity often refers to mixing Christ with other gods or covenants.
Touching that which is unclean or unholy is to put hope in anything oth-
er than Christ.
John 16:8,9; Romans 14:23; Hebrews 3:17-19; Hebrews 10:26; He-
brews 12:1-4; 2 Corinthians 6:11–7:1.

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HOLINESS

Is to live from your heavenly position by faith only in Jesus. It

should never be defined as living without sin, unless it‟s referring to the
sin of unbelief in the finished work of Jesus. God is holy and to be born
again and come into God is to become holy. Adam‟s sin made us sinners
and separated us from God. It wasn‟t the sin that was unholy, it was the
separation from God that was unholy. A state of separation from God is
a state of unholiness. Jesus offered a perfect sacrifice to make us righ-
teous and bring us into God. We weren‟t made holy when we were
made righteous, we were made holy when we came into God! Sin is not
unholiness, it‟s the byproduct of unholiness or you could say that it‟s the
byproduct of not living from your position in Christ. If we lived 100%
from our position in Christ we would never sin while in our condition
here on Earth. To live holy is to live in your earthly condition from your
heavenly position. To live unholy is to live in your earthly condition
from your earthly condition. Your heavenly position is that your spirit
has become perfectly righteous in Christ. Your earthly condition is that
your body and mind are catching up to your spirit but haven‟t been
made perfect yet.
Demons are often referred to as “unclean spirits.” Not meaning sin-
ning spirits but spirits that are not from God or not of God. They are
separate from God. But “holy angels” are angels that are of God and
from God. The Holy Spirit is God the Holy Spirit. He is of God from
God and is God. That‟s why he‟s holy: Because God is holy. When God
says, “Be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15,16) he doesn‟t mean to

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live without moral sin. He is saying that because we are in him, we are
holy and therefore don‟t need to try and get holy. Just be holy because
you already are holy because you are in him. Let all your actions flow
out of that place and that revelation. Holiness is not about what you do,
it‟s about where you are. Where you are will affect what you do.
Holiness in your flesh is to live by your spirit and not your flesh. If
you live from your spirit it will affect what you do in your flesh. Your
spirit will lead you in who you truly are in him, but your flesh will lead
you in natural carnal desires. Hebrews 10:10; Romans 6:19, 1 Thessalo-
nians 4:3-7.
Having a holy heart is a heart that is separated unto Christ only and
no other faiths, religions, gods, idols, practices, etc.
Ephesians 1:4; Colossians 1:22; 1 Peter 1:15,16.

FEAR OF GOD

New Covenant fear of God is not about fear of punishment or what

bad thing God can do to you, but about a realization of who he is. To
fear God is to recognize and see the magnitude of his being and to as-
cribe that greatness to his name. It‟s to agree with his greatness. A part
of his greatness is his goodness. We are not good in ourselves but he
makes us good with his own goodness and then relates to us through his
own goodness in us! You could say then that a part of fearing God is to
recognize his goodness and ascribe glory to him because of his good-
ness. If you can‟t recognize his goodness then you don‟t fear him! But I
would go further to say that truly fearing God is not only recognizing his

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goodness and ascribing glory to him because of it, but fearing God is
being able to receive and walk in his goodness! If you can‟t receive and
walk in his goodness then you don‟t fear God! Self-righteousness says,
“I can be good enough.” or “If I‟m not good enough then God will sort
me out.” Humility and the true fear of the Lord say; “I can never be
good enough by anything I ever do to earn his love and acceptance and
ongoing relationship with him, I need him to make me good (righteous)
and believe that it is his good pleasure to do that as he has already dis-
played through the finished work of Christ!”
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind.”
- 2 TIMOTHY 1:7

We need to keep this scripture in mind when we talk about the fear
of God. God doesn‟t want us to have a fearfulness of him. Our relation-
ship with him, and consequently our relationship toward others, is one
of power (God‟s empowerment), love (God‟s love) and a sound mind (a
supernatural sound mind).
“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in
17
love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made
perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because
18
as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that

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feareth is not made perfect in love. 19We love him, because He first
loved us.”
- 1 JOHN 4:15-19

According to this scripture it is wrong to fear God‟s judgments. If we

fear God‟s judgments it means we don‟t understand his love.

“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us

have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear: 29For our God is a consuming fire.”
- HEBREWS 12:28-29

Let us have grace to serve God acceptably. What‟s acceptably? It‟s

in faith. It takes faith to acknowledge who he is. A reverence and a god-
ly fear is about seeing God – the magnitude of his being and ascribing
that greatness to his name. It‟s not taking the greatness for yourself and
it‟s not playing down who God is. That would be the opposite of grace,
that is self-righteousness.
The fear of God that the self-righteous have is that God will judge
them for not being righteous enough. The fear of God that the Christ-
righteous have is that God has qualified them to share in the Kingdom
and that he is on their side and they therefore cannot be shaken or
moved and that this awesome God will judge their enemies with fire!
It‟s not saying let us serve God because if you don‟t he will judge you
with fire, but let‟s not be afraid to serve God because God is on our side
and will judge our enemies!

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The context of Hebrews 12 is that the saints were being persecuted

for their faith and feeling like giving up because the opposition was too
much. But the writer is saying, see who God is, how great he is, that he
is on your side, that you‟re in an unshakable kingdom, that your God is
a consuming fire.
You‟ve got God and Heaven for you, backing you. When you see
that, you will have the boldness to serve God the way that he has called
you to serve him, with boldness and confidence in his grace and power
and authority. To see this is to “fear God.” To not see this is to have no
“fear of God.”

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