For a season the Lord calls us to sit with Him in the living room of spiritual fellowship. It is there we come to know the peace and tranquility of the stillness of the being.

He whispers to us and shows us his way of day-to-day fellowship; the simplicity of being aware of his presence and walking in freedom. It’s a freedom that comes as the Lord severs our ties to the work-centered faith.

It’s a time of undoing that places us firmly on the Couch of Completion.

It is there that the Lord reveals to us all that has been accomplished in His finished work. It is in this fellowship that the Lord reveals the Father’s heart toward us: LOVE SO AMAZING… SO DIVINE!

It is on the Couch of Completion that we learn of the Lord’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:10-21). We learn that the Lord desires a spiritual house that begins with Him finding His home within you.

It is here that we have come to know that in Christ is hidden all wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:2-3). Our searching is over.

It’s in this place that we first know Christ is enough. We have come to realize that our identity and purpose is only found in knowing Him. Knowing Christ from the couch is evident in several ways.

For starters, you no longer feel that the weight of the world’s salvation is dependent upon you. You also have recognized that you are not called to correct everyone’s doctrine and “fix” the ills of the church.

The way of man is power-over control through human authority. The way of Christ is long-suffering and enduring love. It’s a spiritual authority earned through sacrifice and a life of altruism.

You know you are touching the Lord on the Couch of Completion because you no longer move before having first received a revelation from the Lord. You are learning how to be sensitive to the Spirit instead of being driven by your own desires to serve and force the Lord’s hand in ministry.

We have not been given a work, we have been given a Person. We have not been called to further a movement, propagate a teaching, or even save souls.

We have first and foremost been invited to sit and recline with the Lord on the Couch of Completion.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Jesus (Matt. 11:28)

Until we have sat and learned what it means to “sit” we labor in vain. We can’t walk with Christ, and we most certainly will not be able to stand, if we fail to recognize the cross of Christ leads us to the couch.

New creation comes after a period of rest.

Couch to Couch

In His time, our Lord will go with us from the Couch of Completion into the field to work. Yet this work isn’t like anything we have known before. For we have reclined on the couch of His love and have known the fellowship that brings freedom.

In the past, we believed the Lord was telling us to leave the living room in order to go out and work for Him. We heard him say, “Get out there and build me a house!” Our relationship with the Lord was not known as friendship, but as lowly servant (Jn. 15:15).

We must learn that the Lord calls to us work with Him. He has gone out into the field with us. To be more precise, we are going out to join Him and His work. And His work is always done free of religious obligation and duty.

There is no burden involved in the Lord’s work. We do not “burn-out” in the Lord’s ministry. When ministry is born out of intimacy with Christ, we sing in jail and rejoice in our sufferings.

His work is done in response to His love. It becomes a matter of fellowship among friends. That’s where He is and that’s where we want to be. If we are called to work it is because He is already working where He is calling.

There is freedom in this sort of laboring.

We do not go out to work on the house because we believe it to be a good idea or even because it is something expected of us. No, we do it out of response to His fellowship.

We must understand this. We may be presently working tirelessly for the Lord, building a house in our own strength and using our own blueprint, only to discover that the Lord is waiting in the living room…

calling us to the Couch of Completion.

We can rush into building for the Lord before we have received the proper spiritual knowledge and the experience that only comes from reclining with the Lord for a season.

Furthermore, it is right to acknowledge that this preparation does not come from principles and formulas learned in a book, it is the Lord’s knowledge and wisdom born out of trial and error. It is born out of time and experience with the Lord and His people.

The work of ministry ought to be an overflow of the relationship that began in the living room with the Lord. Indeed, we never leave the living room of our faith. As the seasons change, we are continually brought back to recline with the Lord. It is there we are reminded of His goodness and that we are to place no confidence in the flesh.

Our journey is one that moves from couch to couch. It is because of us having rested upon the Couch of Completion with Christ that we can know the yoke that is “easy” and the burden that is “light.”

In this rest, we can truly know the experience of Christ being in all and through all. Rest in him today. Amen.

D.D. Flowers, 2009.