His Yoke

Matthew 11:28-30 CEV If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. 29 Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. 30 This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light.

This past week, I saw this passage in a devotional of some sort and I don't want to try and reiterate it without giving credit. Instead, I recognize that the Lord is speaking to me about His yoke because I read it again in my morning scripture time. Many times when I hear something more than once within a short time I see that I must pay attention because apparently I didn't get it the first time.
This morning as I read the scripture, it came with a new light. My family had a very difficult decision before us a few months ago to move to another town and accept a new job for my husband. We had several options at the time and wanted not just do the most lucrative thing, but what God was telling us to do. It is not an easy thing to make a decision of this magnitude. My response was to rest in Him. I immersed myself in worship and the word and just tried to remain in His presence through the whole process. In the end, our whole family was in unity about the decision and He gave us peace. Even though we liked a few of the other options, we knew in our hearts that we were doing His will.
In that experience I saw the fulfillment of Matthew 11:28-30. Without making little of the decision we were to make, I would say it was easier to give Jesus the decision burden than it is now to give him the labor burden. We are preparing our house to sell and packing for our move in just over 2 weeks and I am overwhelmed. Not just with work, but emotion of the work.
This is the only home my children have ever known. As a child I moved frequently and I've lived here for essentially 14 years. I've grown in our church family and in many ways, they know me more than my birth family. I love our kids' school and friends and community. I've invested my heart into the prayers for transformation of this area. There are many reasons that sound good to stay, but I trust that we made the right decision.
Now the work I must do physically to sell our home and move is before me. Actually, I've kept at a good pace and that in itself should not be overwhelming. I caught a nasty virus that has ailed me for about 10 days now and a few days, I was so drained that a walk across my house tired me and I would fall asleep wherever I ended up. During the height of my cold, I didn't read the Bible, I didn't turn on any music or sing, I just slept and survived.
It is beginning to sound like I'm blogging to complain about my woes, but if that is all that is conveyed, I've messed up or the reader has missed the point. The last few paragraphs explain all that I have taken upon myself. I've given Christ some of my burdens. The rest I've had recently was exhausted rest and not rest in Him. I am seeing as of this morning that God wants me to give all of these woes to Him. It is my burden that He has offered to share. His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Lately I've believed a lie that I don't have time to devote to Kingdom things because I have a lot of physical preparations to make. Oh I have time alright, and I've wasted a bunch of it on other things. The "stress reliever" game that I play on my phone is not a burden reliever. Even as I felt compelled to share this revelation on a blog this morning, my mind told me that I don't have time to devote to this, but I would at least get it started. As soon as I opened the blog, my phone rang to postpone one of my morning obligations. Even typing or writing in a journal about His revelation is time meditating on Him and giving Him the burdens. If I give Him my time, He will give me the time I need to complete each task ahead without the weightiness it formerly had.

Matthew 6:25-26 CEV I tell you not to worry about your life. Don't worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn't life more than food or clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky! They don't plant or harvest. They don't even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren't you worth more than birds?

A Lesson from My Garden

John 15:1-2 GNB I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit.

As my tomato plants began to grow, I was able to watch them and trim back some of the branches. I know that the pruning process is beneficial for plants and this really helped with early production of tomatoes. Once the plants began to produce, I held off the trimming. Hot temperatures and little rain slowed everything down and I didn't follow up with the pruning.
When we returned from our vacation this summer I found a lot of itty bitty tomatoes on a few branches and the ones that didn't produce were trimmed again. I've been home for over a month now and haven't trimmed again. My plants are loaded with green tomatoes and the branches have run amok. I got so excited about the quantity of fruit that I neglected to concern myself with its quality. So far, the tomatoes that are ripening are only half the size they should be.
I have discovered that pruning must occur not only during the early growth phases, but in latter as well. I want to bear enduring fruit and good fruit. If I want my fruit to continue to grow to fullness, I need to carefully prune each branch or I will have to settle for tiny tomatoes that will fall off my sandwiches if I slice them. Then I ask if quantity is better than quality. Well I guess that depends on who you are or how you look at it. I would rather have 5 pounds of large tomatoes that are good to the taste than 5 pounds of tiny tomatoes that are have a weak taste and texture because of a lack of fullness. Fullness.
Jesus follows up with: John 15:8-9 GNB "My Father's glory is shown by your bearing much fruit; and in this way you become my disciples. 9 I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love." Much fruit, much fruit. Well that sounds like my tomato plants right now. They have much fruit. While the translation is not clear as to quality or quantity, I choose to believe that good fruit is His goal. If we are to show Father's glory by our fruit, I don't see it as being small and dull.
I see several situations right now where it seems as if the pruning is too much and sometimes it even seems as if good things are cut off. I needed to be reminded that God's glory is to be reflected in the fruit. So when I feel as though I've lost a valuable part of me like confidence and it was lopped off, I may then realize that it was really pride. He must become greater and I must become less. Apart from Him, I can do nothing. (John 15:5)

The Only Way

John 10:1-5 1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

There are many who cry out to God asking Him to save them, but they deny His son.  Jesus is the only way to the Father.  There is no other way.

John 10:6-9 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them.9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture."

A Life Hidden in Him

I remember hearing of David Wilkerson years ago and read The Cross and the Switchblade in my youth.  My heart grieves for his family and rejoices in his meeting Jesus face to face.  As far as I know, this man's face was not plastered over the covers of books, newspapers, magazines and television.  Oh sure he may have been on a magazine or two, but his name was not commercialized and yet his obedience to the Lord has rescued numbers beyond my imagination and impacted even more.  I've gone with my parents when the ministered at Teen Challenge and saw the transformation of lives.
Last night in prayer, I was challenged by the Lord about my motives.  When I clean the bathrooms at church, do I go about telling everyone what I've done?  If I do, I am lifting my own name up.  That doesn't do anything for anyone, not even me.  Jesus said that if He is lifted up He will draw all men unto Himself.  It's all about Jesus and His Kingdom.  David Wilkerson was so radically changed that He couldn't help but lift up the Name of the One who transformed his life.
It's all about a wedding to come.  There is a royal wedding about to take place and not the one in England.  It is the one where the Bridegroom King is coming for a pure and spotless bride.  The bride must lose her own identity to take on His name.  She will not only take on His name, but she will bear it in all ways.  Her former identity will be hidden in Him as they become one.  Are we ready?  Getting ready isn't just cramming for His appearing at the last moment, but changing our ways.  Until I change my ways, I am not truly changed.  I must die to self and hide myself in Him now.
Lord, may everything I do be as unto You!

David Wilkerson Killed in Car Crash

David Wilkerson Killed in Car Crash