In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength (Is. 30:15 KJV). Again and again I find I must turn away from striving and return to rest. Only as I cease from all inner activity can I find inner quietness and confidence in the wisdom and power of God to save me, for, you see, pride presumes to tell God what we need and what God needs to do in order that we may have what we need to become what we want. Pride simply has a greatly inflated image of self-importance.
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord (Lam 3:26 KJV). My hope is in Him. Faith says, "I can trust Him to bring to pass all that He has promised, as well as all that He has not shared with me of that which He will do." Therefore, I quietly wait upon the Lord. I quietly wait. Many times I find no peace and cannot find God's presence, and through labor and the direction of the Spirit, I find myself coming back to a place of quiet waiting. I then can finally look up to heaven and smile in the face of my Father as I quietly tell Him, "I am just waiting on you. I trust you."
He is pleased with this still, quiet, confidence in Him, for this is faith, and it is impossible to please God without faith (Heb. 11:6). In this quiet waiting upon God, His grace is allowed to flow, and therefore, access to His presence is gained because God gives grace to the humble (I Pet. 5:5).
The trek up the mountain can only be accomplished through humility. The only way up is down. Pride doubts God's wisdom, willingness, and power, and tells self that self must tell God what to do, he must be convinced to do it, and He must be helped by our insistent prayers. This leads to immediate exclusion from fellowship with the Father, for God resists the proud (I Pet. 5:5).
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God (Ja. 2:23 KJV). God has given me promises and shown me what He will do, and my necessary response is to believe Him. God is allowing me no inner strivings or anxiety about the matter. He is requiring me to "labor" or to be diligent, and it is labor to enter into that rest, for it requires resisting the activities of self by humbling myself before God (as well as resisting the opposing forces of the enemy). Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time (I Pet 5:6 KJV). In other words: go down, and He will take you up.
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you (John 15:16 KJV). For it is God who works in you (Ph. 2:13 NIV). Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2 KJV). He started our faith and He will finish it, for we are confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Ph. 1:6 KJV).
Go to God in prayer, look up and quit all inner strivings and anxieties, for you did not choose Him, but rather, He chose you, (John 15:16) and the work is His. Humble yourself by recognizing your own inability to even know what you need, and when you have entered into rest, tell Him you are waiting on Him. When He gives grace, begin to pour out your love to Him, and after a time in His presence, then you may plead with Him as the Spirit leads.