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Matthew 11
28. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30. for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
As I was in my quiet prayer time today I heard these words over and over in my heart. I know when this happens that Father is trying to teach me something. Most things that have been revealed to me from God have been this way. He loves teaching and he keeps repeating something he wants me to know until I give in and learn what he is wanting to teach me.
I am so glad that our Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit are patient and kind and keep teaching us. I love all the ways he teaches me and especially when he teaches me from scripture. I think we will forever learning the depth of all the scriptures. I know they still study the bible in heaven and even there it hasn’t been fully exhausted yet, and it probably never will be.
When Father speaks scriptures into my heart I always look them up and study all the passages around them to keep them in context. I know that Jesus is our Sabbath rest and he is our hope and our strength so as I began to read these scriptures I began to understand just what we need rest from. If we go back just a couple of verses we can keep this message in its true context.
If we go back up to verse 25 we find the following:
25. At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him
The laboring and the weariness come from searching for wisdom and searching for answers. It’s the same today. People search the scriptures trying to find wisdom and trying to find the way the kingdom works. People study their whole lives trying to find God when the only way to find him is by Jesus revealing him to us.
Wisdom doesn’t come from hours of study although there is nothing wrong with studying. Wisdom comes from revelation and that comes from spending time with Jesus in fellowship and prayer. That is why he said to come unto me. We have all been guilty of searching the scriptures and listening to hours of teaching and asking every person we know with any prophetic insight trying to find answers, and yet it is so simple. Jesus said “come unto me.”
In verse 29 Jesus tells us how we get that rest when we come to him. He says,
“29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30. for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
When we lay aside all of the habits we have learned by the western world’s way of learning. When we stop spending hours with our noses in books and just come to Jesus and ask him to teach us then it works much better. His “yoke” or his manner of teaching is easy and his “burden” is light. Meaning that it’s not hard to learn when you learn from him.
The apostle Paul dealt with this same problem when he wrote the Galatian church as it written in his letter to them in chapter one. They had the same problem. They had learned about the grace and the cross of Christ and then some of them were falling back into legalism and Judaism. This happened because some teachers were teaching that Jesus wasn’t enough and they must still keep all the rules and regulations of the law instead of following the law written in our hearts. Let’s read what he had to say about it:
Verse 6 says:
6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. 7. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
10. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
11. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
This is the way of the true gospel. Those of us who are teachers are really only pointers. We can only share our experiences and teach you to go to Christ for your answers. Paul said he didn’t learn this gospel from any man but learned it by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Also if you remember he said that everything he learned before he had to throw away so that he could know Jesus. He was a brilliant scholar and studied the scriptures from the so called great teachers of his day, but all that learning didn’t bring him to know Christ. He only comes by revelation.
This is what Jesus meant in the verses we just read. Yes he appointed apostles, prophets pastors, teachers and evangelists but they are no substitute for going to him and taking up his teaching and learning of him.
As a teacher I can only teach you about him. I can’t transfer my fellowship I have with him to you. You must get your own. I can tell you all about my wonderful, glorious friend but that doesn’t make him your friend. You must go to him and become friends with him on your own. My goal is to let you know how wonderful he is so that you will start your own relationship with him. You can’t know him through me. You can only know about him through me.
So here is a plan. It’s working for me so I’ll share it with you. Go to him first. Ask him to teach you. He is still called teacher in heaven. He still loves to teach because that is who he is. His yoke is easy. You don’t have to have a BS degree or PhD or even an E I E I O. You just have to have a heart that is teachable and be ready to learn from him. He bypasses those who consider themselves wise and teaches those who humble themselves as children.
He makes learning easy and fun because he can reveal things to your heart and bypass your head. The important things in creation belong to the heart and not the mind anyway. He can teach us things we have never studied and give us wisdom far beyond our natural abilities.
So go to him first and he will lead you to study if he wants to. Often with me he just speaks and I take notes. I know from personal experience that every little thing going on in life is a lesson. Oh if we were paying attention. God is the greatest teacher and the universe is his chalkboard.
So pay attention to every little thing happening around you. All good things come from God and all bad things don’t but through the bad things we can learn of him also. The good things are him showing you he loves you and the obstacles are opportunities to know him.
In this we can learn to always give thanks. In the good things because we are blessed and in bad things because he can reveal himself to us through them.
For example:
If I had never been poor I would not know him as provider.
If I had never been sick I would not know him as healer.
If I had never been lost I would not know him as savior.
If I had never been orphaned I would not know him as Father.
If I had never been sad I would not know him as my joy.
If I had never been dead I wouldn’t know him as resurrection life. In every situation in our lives, he is the answer.
Please think on these things and thank you so much for walking with me down this road. It is my great joy to share this road with you and thank you to all of you who share what you learn with me.
I hope you are encouraged by these words.
Until next time,
Grow Rich in His Grace.
I love you all
michael
Please think on these things and thank you so much for walking with me down this road. It is my great joy to share this road with you and thank you to all of you who share what you learn with me.
I hope you are encouraged by these words.
Until next time,
Grow Rich in His Grace.
I love you all
michael
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