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Christianity is a relationship; one that is birthed in you, when Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, becomes your very own personal Savior, to see you know and experience Him as the Lover of your soul, who has laid down His life for you on the Cross, that trusting in Him, because He lives, you too may live. He walks with you, and talks with you, along life’s narrow way.
And, may He reveal to you what God wants you to do, as the Holy Spirit leads you forward in His good and perfect will for your life, as we continue to study the prayer of the psalmist, Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. [Psalm 143:10] God’s word to you is how it comes to pass in your life, even as you meditate, confess and walk in obedience to it, in your situation. It is how you will prosper having all that you need to do God’s will for your life, and enjoy good success, by doing His will for your life, as seen in the life of Joshua. [Joshua 1:7-9] It all begins with His call upon your life.
Call – responsibility – response:
It is God who has called you; called you to inherit a blessing. [1 Peter 3:9] But the responsibility to respond positively to it lies with you. And it is what makes the process complete. It is also much more than merely the material, as the world commonly presumes it to be. For, knowing God, to be in a close relationship with Him is the greatest blessing; and to be a part of His plan is the greatest privilege. The call of God, in your faithful confession of it, one that progresses into a willing obedience to it, is connected to the blessing of God in your life. And it is the blessing of rest that responding positively to the call of Jesus, leads you to.
The Savior’s call:
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. [Matthew 11:28-30] How refreshing it is to hear the words of the Lord, when so often, life is stressful and not restful! But the light that comes shining through the Lord’s call, pin points the fact that on accepting His invitation, to going on and learning from the Master, what will engulf your life is His blessing of rest.
And the wonderful nature of it is that, it is all about Him, as He has declared – come to Me, I will give you, learn from Me, I am gentle and humble, My yoke, My burden. The emphasis is on the Savior, a Person, and not a system, with your responsibility being solely in abiding or remaining in Him through His word. And having come to Him today, it can be your blessed assurance that you will not be disappointed, for He will in no way reject the one who comes to Him, are His words. And that His rest is connected to a person has also been revealed in His promise to Moses, ‘My Presence will go before you, and I will give you rest’. [Exodus 33:14] And Lord Jesus has promised that He will be with you, until the end of the age. [Matthew 24:28]
It is displayed also, in the connection between God’s guidance concerning the good way that leads to rest, [Jeremiah 6:16] and the Savior’s revelation of it, as He has declared, ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life’. No man comes to the Father except through Me. [John 14:6] It is He who teaches you, therefore, the way of His rest, since He Himself is the Way, and your responsibility in order to experience His rest lies in learning what He wants to teach you, as you walk with Him towards your blessed destination of rest in your soul. And the key to it is in taking up His yoke.
Take My yoke upon you:
It is here in the Lord’s invitation that the ‘yoke’ is used in a positive sense in the scriptures. For, in other places it comes with a negative connotation, as a yoke that needs to be broken, or an alien yoking that one needs to avoid in one’s life. But, taking the Lord’s yoke upon you, is beneficial to you. And it is also not merely an exchange; as you give up your yoke, to take up His yoke. There is much more to it, and three aspects of it are,
1. Accepting Him as your Teacher:
For, it is taking upon yourself, the teaching of His word, that you may believe in it, or in other words to accept Him as your Teacher. And, believing in His teaching to apply it in your life is what brings the ‘rest’ that is His word of promise to the one who takes up His yoke. And it also the infallible truth, that putting it into practice is made possible only as He comes into your life, to become the life and soul of it. It is as He promised His disciples, concerning the blessing of peace, ‘Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world does do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled; neither let it be afraid’. [John 14:27]
And describing it in it’s completeness, the prophet Micah prophesied the coming of the Messiah as, And this One shall be peace. [Micah 5:5] Indeed, He becomes your Savior, only when He comes into your life, your entire being, as you rely totally on Him to be your personal Savior.
2. Relying on Him as your Savior:
Taking His yoke upon you, is relying upon the Lord Jesus, to be your Savior, and receiving salvation, that comes from Him, and not by any self effort, but by faith in Him alone. It is knowing that you can do nothing apart from Him, and working out your salvation is doing what He has already worked in you, according to His will and purpose. Therefore, it is being still, to cease from all your fleshly striving, to let go of all your self made plans, and know that He is God. And it is by faith knowing that He has good plans concerning you, plans that are higher, that you can accomplish through Christ who strengthens you. Put very simply therefore, faith is throwing your weight totally upon God, knowing that He will never drop you!
How freeing and releasing the very image of it can be, to the soul that is weary and burdened! And yes, it is the promise of rest that comes to you from Lord Jesus, when you receive Him as your Savior in love and faith. It is then that though bad things may have happened because of circumstances that were beyond your control, or, though you may be going through trouble and distress for no fault of yours at present, God can cause all things to work together for your good, as He fulfills in you, His glorious purposes for which you have been called. It is only He who can accomplish it; and it involves from you a willing subjection to His divine reign and rule in your life, in every nook and corner of it, with nothing that is left closed or out of bounds from Him. It is the third aspect of taking up His yoke in your life, to find rest in your soul.
3. Submitting to Him as your Savior King:
One would normally think that when a problem arises, as it surely can in your life and mine, that it is only resolving it that can bring peace and rest in your life. And you look at the external nature of it, even to arrive at a solution, whether it is about finances, workplace, relationships etc. But God, who is Sovereign and King over all, looks at the eternal, for as His word declares, What would it profit a man if he gains the whole earth, and yet loses his soul. [Mark 8:36] It is also why God has declared His supreme desire for you in the words of the apostle John saying, May you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. [3 John 2]
God cares about your soul, and your peace and rest that is a wholeness in your entire being, within and without. And it is why He begins, not by dealing with your problem, but by dealing with you, to transform you from the inside out, to bring rest in your soul. It will find you approaching the problem, simply and easily, or better still, by the time God sorts you out, by removing all that is not edifying or beneficial, the problem would have sorted itself out!
Your soul decoded – thinker, feeler, decider:
Making up your soul are your mind that thinks, emotions that are feelings, and your will that decides your course of action. And the soul that acts in subjection to God, to walk in His ways, will find seemingly complicated challenges that lie ahead in your life, becoming simple. But, on the other hand, a mind that is cluttered with thoughts that are futile and negative will make even simple things needlessly complicated, to confuse you, and prevent you from experiencing the rest that the Savior has called you to.
But, it is when the Lord begins to deal with you, as you accept Him as your Teacher, and His word speaks to you in your situation to bring about a positive and godly transformation, leading you to decide rightly. It is what can be seen in the psalmists words, Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him; The help of my countenance and my God. [Psalm 42:11] He begins by being troubled in his emotions; and by renewing of his mind, that is an exchange of God’s higher thoughts for his, he is taken to a place of deciding rightly, that he would praise God knowing that He Himself is His Helper. And so, even in your life, when you are praying for your antagonistic superior in your office to be transferred, God can deal with you in such a way that sees you being promoted, instead of your boss getting transferred!
It is how He can anoint you with His strength, in your calling and gifting to shine for His glory. And in the presence of your enemies, or in your troublesome workplace, He can make your cup run over with His blessings, that you may be a blessing. And going higher, when your ways are pleasing in His sight, He can make even your enemies be at peace with you. It is the transformation that can happen in you, as God works in your mind, to bring peace in your hitherto troublesome relationships.
How long will it take?
As long as it takes! You and I are a work in progress, as God is continually at work in us. Earth is a workshop, and heaven is the show room, that displays the finished product, is how it can all be summed up. And it is a change in your mindset that He brings about in you, even as you are seated listening to His word. As in a smart phone, He is opening up it’s settings, and configuring it so that His word to you is the only notification that you receive! He is setting you up for your godly destiny. For, left to your own devices, you and I may receive and utter wrong messages. And like Job, you may have to put a hand over your mouth, acknowledging in penitent repentance, your wrong words.
And together with accepting His teaching, relying on the Lord for an outworking of it in your life, is vital, for it is only in His strength that you can do what He has called you to do. It would all be a frustrating endeavor otherwise. But in His strength the words of Paul can be yours to say, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’.
Made bold in your soul:
In the day I cried out, You made me bold with strength in my soul. [Psalm 138:3] It is how God deals with your emotions, that you may be led to make right decisions. Here it is displayed in the decision of the psalmist, in the previous verses, to worship and praise the Name of the Lord, with all his heart. When you call out to Him therefore, He answers you to bring strength in your soul. It is the word that He speaks to you, as it is made great and glorious in your life. [Isaiah 42:21] In short, scriptures bring strength. And it is the call of Jesus, that you may come to Him, to listen to Him, hear and understand His word in order to find rest in your soul.
It involves a discipline in you of paying full attention, to all that He speaks to you to teach you. For in the course of listening to a message as you are seated here in church, satan can distract you at the very moment when the word of God is coming specifically towards you. In a lighter vein, you could miss the punch line! But it is also so very true that the Lord who never gives up on you, will speak to you again and again – all because He loves you!
The journey of transformation:
The two disciples on the Emmaus road, were wearily trudging along, sad and downcast, thinking their hopes were lost forever. [Luke 24:17] But the reason for their sadness, the death of Lord Jesus on the Cross, was no longer a fact. For, death could not hold Him, and though they were initially unaware of who He was, it was the Risen Lord Himself, who came along side them to walk with them. And reprimanding them, He pointed out their lack of understanding of the truth, to then go on to rightly interpret the scriptures to them. And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. [vs 27]
And as He began speaking to them, there was a change in the disciples, that drove away their sadness, for ‘did not our hearts burn within us, as He opened the Scriptures to us’, was how they remembered their miraculous experience later on. [vs 32] It was how the Savior gave rest in their souls.
Rest – when revived by the Word:
His words are Spirit and they are life. And the more He speaks to you, the greater will be your transformation. You may be downcast and discouraged, bowed down in life right now. But the word of God that comes to you will revive and strengthen you, even as you cry out as the psalmist does, My soul clings to the dust; Revive me according to your word. My soul melts from heaviness; Strengthen me according to Your word. [Psalm 119:25,28] His prayer was not in vain, for God’s word made him arise and stand, no longer weary and burdened in his circumstances. And it is what the Savior can do in your life even now, as you take His yoke upon you, in receiving the teaching of His word, to rely upon Him as your Savior, and submit to Him as your Everlasting Lord, your Ruler and Master. He is by your side, giving you rest in your soul.
The LIVING WORD – the True Rest for your soul:
For even as the two disciples spoke to the others, about their life transforming experience, they witnessed something inexplicably wondrous, Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you”. [Luke 24:36] It is the promise that you can stand upon even in your life. For, even as you testify concerning His rest in your soul, one that has lifted you out of fear and doubt, darkness and gloom, Jesus Himself will stand by you, declaring His peace, that brings true rest. The Savior is by your side, and your life will never be the same again.
He is turning your mourning into dancing, guiding you to your divine destiny. And what He has begun in you, He will carry it through to a flourishing finish! May your soul sing like never before, as you give thanks unto the Father, for giving you His Son, and as you worship Him endlessly, now and forever.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
