Come unto Me

Matthew 11:27-30
“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28″Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Come unto Me

We have a gift and an inheritance that so relatively few have. The Lord has made Himself known unto us and has drawn us to the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit which has quickened the reality and truth of Him to our spirits. What the Father has given us is life and just as we came into this natural life and drew our first breath we have come into the spiritual life of God and have drawn our first spiritual breath. Now we live and move and have our being in Him. We didn’t labor to enter in, but someone else labored over us. They travailed that we might be brought forth in Christ. It was not us that chose Him; it was Him that chose us from the foundations of the world. He has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His harvest.
We hear Him as He speaks to us, “Come unto Me.” What He is asking from us is not a labor; it is not our works or our goodness. We are called to take upon us the mantle of His spiritual life. That calling is not about works, but about rest. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Some of us have been so stressed. We have struggled to try and please God. We have wrestled with our sin and our unworthiness. We have come to the point where we have felt failure, defeat and condemnation. The arms of the Lord are extended toward you today and He is speaking to you, “Come unto me. Come and rest in my arms, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Religion often becomes our taskmaster rather than our revelation of Christ. It so often demands of us, uses us and often it manipulates us to its own ends and purpose. We often feel that if we fail at religion we fail God. The Lord has come to lead us into His Sabbath rest. It is a ceasing of us and even our good efforts and it is a release of ourselves into His rest.
Do we do spiritual work in this rest? Yes, but it is not our work, it His work through us as we learn His voice and move in obedience to His Spirit. We want to struggle to redeem this old man, but this old man is dead. Let go of him and embrace the new creation you are in Christ. This new man is birthed in the likeness of Christ and every expression of our being; it is this spiritual man that we want to now express. We see this new creation man represented and exemplified through Jesus. Did Jesus struggle to do the work of God or did He just come into His presence and fellowship? It was there that He found the will and purpose of God for each day of His earthly travels.
If you are tired and you want to find that rest, then take His yoke upon. His burden is light, because He is your strength and wisdom to carry out His will and purpose for your life. What He has called you to do, He will enable and provide for you to do. Don’t be anxious, just rest.

Blessings,
#kent

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Tired?

Tired?

Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint. 

There are times on our journey through life that we just get tired.  We get emotionally, physically and spiritually weary; in those times our excitement and exuberance wanes.  Our desire ceases in its passion and we just want to turn away, escape and turn off all the demands and challenges that are present in our life.  

Perhaps you’re tired of fighting the battles in your life.  You know you need to get up and go, but your body is saying, “no, just let me sleep,” or your mind and emotions are saying, “I just can’t deal with it any longer.”  

Our lives have many demands, pressures and expectations placed upon them.  Some of them are of our own choosing and many just goes with the territory.  Without the proper rest, these issues and trials of life will tend to burn us out.  Maybe some of you are feeling that way even as you read this.  In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says, “Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.”  Sometimes we think, “how can this be, when it is all of this trying to live right and do right that has gotten me to this place of exhaustion.”  Maybe we are trying to be everything to everybody and we just feel spent.  I think women in particular experience this because of all the emotional and physical demands they carry with family, career, household and a social life.  

Most of us know that a lot is often riding on our being able to keep up the pace and perform our duties.  Even though we feel the strain and exhaustion we keep on pushing.  Where is our rest?

Do you ever find that even if you could rest, you can’t?  Your mind is always racing with all of the things that need to be done.  It is like juggling, you are afraid that if you rest from your concentration you will start dropping the balls and your world will fall apart.  In our drive for success we often create our own mousetraps that keep us running.  But the issue is you need rest!  

Jesus is telling us that He has not come to heap more on to our already overflowing plate, but He has come to give our life perspective, meaning and purpose.  Maybe we think we already have all of that, but when we look at all that we do in the light of eternity and what it really means to the sum of our life, how much of it is still as meaningful?  

When we come into the rest that Jesus has for us we find that place where we are not carrying the entire burden of life.  The issues and trials of life we now share with our Savior.  Our reliance is now shifted from our ability to His ability and strength in us.  The Lord doesn’t require of us what He has not provided the resources to do.  Our scripture from Isaiah says, “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.”  That waiting is the hope and expectation we have in God, in His Word and promises.  Our strength, our rest, our renewal is in laying hold of the life of Christ in us.  The Word says, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.”  The Lord is my place of rest and strength.  When I’m tired and weary, when my natural man doesn’t feel it can keep going on, it is like that story of “Footprints in the Sand”, the Lord has not deserted us, but as we come into His rest we find that He is carrying us.  When we are tired we need to crawl up on our Daddy God’s lap and just rest.  Let Him have all your burdens, all your cares, worries and pressures.  The Lord is your rest and in Him you will find the encouragement, the hope and strength you need to carry on.  

 

Blessings,

#KentStuck

The Fast of the Lord

 

The Fast of the Lord

Isaiah 58:3-11

Wherefore have we fasted, [say they], and thou seest not? [wherefore] have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as [ye do this] day, to make your voice to be heard on high Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? [is it] to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? [Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 

 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I [am]. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And [if] thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness [be] as the noonday And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 

Isaiah 58 is a good chapter to take and read in its entirety.  We have quoted enough here to give us some of the meat of what it is saying.  Many of us consider ourselves religious or spiritual. We profess to love God, we may have our set times to pray, read the bible, fast, go to church or other such spiritual activities we do in the name of the Lord for Him.  If we are doing all of these things to seek God and please Him, then we may ask, like the people of God in that day, “Lord, why don’t you hear our prayers and answer them?  We serve you, but we aren’t blessed.  How come you don’t acknowledge all of our efforts Lord?”  

He may in turn ask us, ” If you do all of these activities and things to seek and please me then why are your lives no different than those of the world around you?  Why is it you yell and argue with your family all the way to church and then come in to praise Me?  Why is it you fast and pray and then get up off of your knees to go and do your own pleasure?  Why is it you go to church, but are angry with the minister if he doesn’t get you out in time to beat the rush to the restaurant or see the sports game on TV?”   Could it be that a lot of our spirituality is phoniness and hypocrisy done more to make us feel like we have done our duty to God than doing what really pleases God.  If we want God to meet us in a greater way than He has before then it isn’t God that has to change, it is us, and more religious activity isn’t the answer.  

God takes the time in this passage to tell us where His heart is and what is meaningful to Him.  He tells us to do such things as “loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free, and that ye break the yoke?”  What does all of that mean?  Could it mean that we are outwardly spiritual, but inwardly wicked?  We talk down to people, we talk about people in a demeaning way, and we’re critical, hateful, judgmental, gossips, backbiters and controllers.  We may want to put all of our baggage, laws, rules and standards upon others when we can’t even live up to them ourselves.  How often do we do things for others in the guise of being so nice and generous to help them out and then turn around and hold those things we gave or did for them as a yoke to control and manipulate them?  There are times we give or loan things to people and they can’t pay them back.  Sometimes we need to just release those debts and forgive them even as God forgave ours.  We can be cruel taskmasters to one another and to others.  When the world looks at that, are they seeing Christ?  Could it be that God wants us to quit being above others and treating others, that don’t have what we have in areas, as inferior and as servants?  Maybe it is time we become like Christ, to use what we have, to get under them to lift and build them up, to be their servants rather than them being ours.  

God goes on to tell us if you really want my blessing then you need to care about the things I care about.  Are you clothing the naked and feeding the hungry?  Are you visiting those in prisons, nursing homes, jails and shut-ins?  Are you even really taking care of your own family and making sure they have not only their physical needs met, but their emotional and spiritual needs met?  Are you spending the time you need to with them and nurturing them?  Are we pointing our finger in judgement and condemnation of others while we ignore the other three that are pointing back at us?  

When we start getting the heart of God then will we begin to hear from God and see His blessing.  This is the true fast of the Lord.  It is not about going to church, it is about being “the Church.”  We have to become in lifestyle and practice what many of us now only pretend to be.  We have a form of godliness, but we deny the power of it.   God despises pompous, pretentious spiritual pretenders.  I have been there more than I like to admit, how about you?  If we are going to have the real thing then everything we do has be about the Lord and what honors and pleases Him.  Ouch!  That’s pretty tough on my flesh, but then I said I reckoned it dead with Christ, so what’s my problem?  My problem is always “I.”  The more it is there the less effective I can be for God, because the less of Him that is in me.  It is only the death of self that can give place to the life of God.  This is the true Fast.  

 

Blessings,

kent

The Fast of the Lord

The Fast of the Lord

Isaiah 58:3-7
Wherefore have we fasted, [say they], and thou seest not? [wherefore] have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as [ye do this] day, to make your voice to be heard on high Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? [is it] to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? [Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

The essence of what it is saying to us is this, we seek God in fasting in prayer and we are not hearing Him answer us. This chapter is addressing why we may not be hearing from God and why our prayers are falling to the ground. Many of us, myself included, often equate our spiritual service to God with our spirituality. We may pray, read our Bible, go to church, sing in the choir, serve on committees, we may even be a deacon or an elder, yet when we are seeking the Lord He is silent.
Recently, I heard a sermon from the noted minister, Charles Stanley. He was addressing the subject of knowing God’s will for our lives. The very first point he made I believe ties in with what the Lord is addressing here in Isaiah 58. He said the first step to hearing God is “Clearing the Path.”
If we are still regarding willful sin in our life it will fragment our spiritual mind and hinder us from thinking, seeing, and hearing clearly in the spirit. We have to deal with those sin issues in our lives if we are going to be in the position of hearing the Spirit.
If we are going through the motions of religious service to God as the Israelites were doing here, then we are in affect, just blowing smoke. God says this is a heart issue. “I desire obedience, not sacrifice.” A true fast of God is not about the going without food and afflicting ourselves outwardly, although I believe the Word does teach that this has it’s place. I believe it will not have the effect we desire in touching God until it is matched with the actions of faith and Christian service through true love in word and deed. As we begin to serve others in a practical way, physically, emotionally and spiritually it will, in itself, lead to a spiritual fast because it will cause us to lay down our lives and sacrifice our wills and desires in order for us to meet those needs.
This scripture talks about ministering to the needs of others but the last sentence says, ” and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.” The New Living Translation says it like this, ” do not hide from relatives who need your help.” One of the areas I find I can be most neglectful in is really being sensitive to the needs within my own family and especially with my spouse. This is one of the first places we have to address to have spiritual success in the rest of our lives. If our house is divided and our relationships are broken within our homes and among our relatives, walls are built that hinder our spiritual progress and relationship with God. It is true that sometimes there is only so much we can do from our end and having done all we can we must continue in love and faith. I am reminded of the scripture in 1Peter 3:7 that says, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with [them] according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” It is vital that we honor our wives and minister to their needs if we are to be successful in our relationship with God, hearing His will for us and receiving His full blessing. Sometimes I believe I have the mindset that if I am doing spiritual things and it is taking all of my time, my wife will understand if I neglect her, because after all it is for a higher purpose. I forget that one of the highest purposes of God is for me to be one with my wife. It is His plan and purpose that I spend time with my wife, children and grandchildren. That time spent with them is my opportunity to plant into their lives the love and ministry of Christ. It is the opportunity to make Christ real and alive to them through my practical application of loving time spent with them. Our families are one of the greatest acts of spiritual service we have and we can not neglect that if we want to maintain right relationship with the Father. They are our first order of ministry next to Him.
Recently, the Lord has been revealing to me through others, that while I may be going through spiritual motions, if I am not lining my life up with practical application through godly living the other is vanity and emptiness. It falls short in reaching heaven and my prayers fall short in reaching the ears of God. Maybe some of you, like myself, have fallen short in this area and are wondering why you are not hearing from God. These are areas of our lives we must objectively examine and judge, without justifying ourselves, but being totally honest and true before the Lord. Are we shutting up our hearts towards our fellow man, our family, and our neighbor? Are we harboring unforgiveness or bitterness? Our right relationship with God is not just vertical, but horizontal as well. If we fail to relate His love and nature to our fellow man then we fail to relate it to Him. May we learn what the true fast of the Lord is in practical daily living as His life is lived through us in true spiritual service to others.
Isaiah 58:8-14, “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.
Isa 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I [am]. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
Isa 58:10 And [if] thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness [be] as the noonday:
Isa 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isa 58:12 And [they that shall be] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words:
Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it]. ”

Blessings,
kent

The Fast of the Lord

The Fast of the Lord

Isaiah 58:3-7
Wherefore have we fasted, [say they], and thou seest not? [wherefore] have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as [ye do this] day, to make your voice to be heard on high Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? [is it] to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? [Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

The essence of what it is saying to us is this, we seek God in fasting in prayer and we are not hearing Him answer us. This chapter is addressing why we may not be hearing from God and why our prayers are falling to the ground. Many of us, myself included, often equate our spiritual service to God with our spirituality. We may pray, read our Bible, go to church, sing in the choir, serve on committees, we may even be a deacon or an elder, yet when we are seeking the Lord He is silent.
Recently, I heard a sermon from the noted minister, Charles Stanley. He was addressing the subject of knowing God’s will for our lives. The very first point he made I believe ties in with what the Lord is addressing here in Isaiah 58. He said the first step to hearing God is “Clearing the Path.”
If we are still regarding willful sin in our life it will fragment our spiritual mind and hinder us from thinking, seeing, and hearing clearly in the spirit. We have to deal with those sin issues in our lives if we are going to be in the position of hearing the Spirit.
If we are going through the motions of religious service to God as the Israelites were doing here, then we are in affect, just blowing smoke. God says this is a heart issue. “I desire obedience, not sacrifice.” A true fast of God is not about the going without food and afflicting ourselves outwardly, although I believe the Word does teach that this has it’s place. I believe it will not have the effect we desire in touching God until it is matched with the actions of faith and Christian service through true love in word and deed. As we begin to serve others in a practical way, physically, emotionally and spiritually it will, in itself, lead to a spiritual fast because it will cause us to lay down our lives and sacrifice our wills and desires in order for us to meet those needs.
This scripture talks about ministering to the needs of others but the last sentence says, ” and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.” The New Living Translation says it like this, ” do not hide from relatives who need your help.” One of the areas I find I can be most neglectful in is really being sensitive to the needs within my own family and especially with my spouse. This is one of the first places we have to address to have spiritual success in the rest of our lives. If our house is divided and our relationships are broken within our homes and among our relatives, walls are built that hinder our spiritual progress and relationship with God. It is true that sometimes there is only so much we can do from our end and having done all we can we must continue in love and faith. I am reminded of the scripture in 1Peter 3:7 that says, “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with [them] according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” It is vital that we honor our wives and minister to their needs if we are to be successful in our relationship with God, hearing His will for us and receiving His full blessing. Sometimes I believe I have the mindset that if I am doing spiritual things and it is taking all of my time, my wife will understand if I neglect her, because after all it is for a higher purpose. I forget that one of the highest purposes of God is for me to be one with my wife. It is His plan and purpose that I spend time with my wife, children and grandchildren. That time spent with them is my opportunity to plant into their lives the love and ministry of Christ. It is the opportunity to make Christ real and alive to them through my practical application of loving time spent with them. Our families are one of the greatest acts of spiritual service we have and we can not neglect that if we want to maintain right relationship with the Father. They are our first order of ministry next to Him.
Recently, the Lord has been revealing to me through others, that while I may be going through spiritual motions, if I am not lining my life up with practical application through godly living the other is vanity and emptiness. It falls short in reaching heaven and my prayers fall short in reaching the ears of God. Maybe some of you, like myself, have fallen short in this area and are wondering why you are not hearing from God. These are areas of our lives we must objectively examine and judge, without justifying ourselves, but being totally honest and true before the Lord. Are we shutting up our hearts towards our fellow man, our family, and our neighbor? Are we harboring unforgiveness or bitterness? Our right relationship with God is not just vertical, but horizontal as well. If we fail to relate His love and nature to our fellow man then we fail to relate it to Him. May we learn what the true fast of the Lord is in practical daily living as His life is lived through us in true spiritual service to others.
Isaiah 58:8-14, “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
Isa 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I [am]. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
Isa 58:10 And [if] thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness [be] as the noonday:
Isa 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isa 58:12 And [they that shall be] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words:
Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it]. ”

Blessings,
kent

His Yoke

Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

His Yoke

A yoke referred to the device which bound you or enslaved you together with another for the purpose of pulling a weight or burden.  It could also mean a pair of scales.  Yoked under the law of the Pharisees the burden of righteousness was very great and difficult to keep.  It resulted in condemnation and failure to live up to the standards of God imposed upon them by religious men.  The law yoked us to sin and death.  It exposed our sin, but didn’t empower us to overcome it, except in the strength of our own flesh.  Romans 5:20-21 says, “The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
No wonder one would become to burdened, wearied and condemned trying to keep all the aspects of the law to be righteous.  Isn’t interesting that the law was added so that the trespass might increase.  The law simply magnified our sin and burden before us.  Even today many of us as believers are trying to live under various aspects of the law, thinking that by keeping it we will better please God and find His favor.  What we don’t have a revelation of is that when we are truly “in Christ” all of the law is fulfilled “in Him”.  That’s why Jesus encourages people to unhitch their plow from the law and hitch it to become yoked with and in Him.  Jesus did all of the work of not only fulfilling the law, but taking upon Himself all the consequences of the law for all who would believe in Him by faith.
When we were weighed in the scales or the yoke of the law we were always found wanting.  We never measured up.  When we are weighed on the scales with Christ then all of the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in Him and because we are yoked with Him, His righteousness is imputed or credited unto us by faith.  Romans 4:23-25 says, “The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”  We may remember the adage that justification is, “Just as if I had never did it.”
Wow, no wonder the yoke of Christ is so much lighter.  It still represents a joining together with and a bond of commitment, but now it is not our efforts to accomplish what He has already done, but to simply enter into His rest and live out of the righteousness that He is in us.  No longer  in my strength, but in His.  My life, yoked to Him, means that He leads the team in His strength and I follow, just sharing the load, but I follow in His strength and not my own.  In Jesus, we don’t find that spirit of oppressiveness, condemnation and heaviness.  We find that under His yoke we have communion with His person and in His love.  We find encouragement, strength, hope and confidence.  We find that because, ‘He that began a good work in us is able to complete it unto the day of salvation’.  He is able to do in us, what we could never accomplish in our efforts and abilities.  It doesn’t remove all responsibility from us, but it does draw upon the strength of the One who enables us to live mightily in Him.  Our responsibility is to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood; to partake of the communion that brings us into oneness and unity with His person.  In that identity our yoke becomes one. We live out of the power of Christ in us to fulfill the will of the Father.  We labor no more as servants and slaves, but we are partakers and sharers in the household of faith as sons.  It is no longer our obligation to do God’s will, it is our privilege and delight.  Our rest is totally in Him.  We don’t get anxious or stressed, “but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6).”
What a privilege to be yoked to the one whose yoke is easy, whose burden is light
and who gives rest to our souls.  Aren’t we glad that we are so yoked with Jesus?

Blessings,
kent