What You’re Looking for Is Not Upstream… It’s Downstream

What you’re looking for is not upstream—it’s downstream.

We’ve been taught that struggle is noble. That working hard and long, praying hard and long, somehow proves our devotion or earns us breakthrough. But that kind of thinking is rooted in toil—not truth.

Toil is part of the curse, not the blessing.

“Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.”

—Genesis 3:17 (NKJV)

Yes, work is good—it draws out our God-given gifts—but God is our Source. Not our labor. Not our hustle. Not our striving.

Jesus even rebuked long, performative prayers:

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.”

—Matthew 6:7 (NKJV)

Toiling in prayer, or in life, is like swimming upstream—you’re fighting the natural current of grace. And what’s the result? Exhaustion. Frustration. Fear.

Yet Jesus told us plainly:

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

—Matthew 6:28–29 (NKJV)

He said not to worry—but we do it anyway.

He said to rest—but we sit up all night anxious, playing out every scenario in our heads.

He told us we can’t even add a single strand of hair to our heads or a cubit to our stature by worrying:

“Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”

—Matthew 6:27 (NKJV)

So why do we still do it?

Because, deep down, many of us don’t have confidence in His promises. We’ve prayed, but we didn’t really believe it was done. We spoke, but we doubted.

But here’s the truth:

We have to REST.

We have to KNOW it’s done when we pray—and we have to EXPECT it.

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

—Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

It’s not upstream. It’s not in the struggle.

The provision, the peace, the promise—it’s downstream, carried by the current of faith and REST.

All He’s asking you to do is trust Him enough to stop fighting the flow.