Life Walk Lesson 121: What’s in Your Yoke
"Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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."
The Complete Jewish Study Bible reads this way: Verse 28 "Come to Me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Verse 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
No one carries a yoke alone, so if we are struggling, weary, and burdened, perhaps we are in company with the wrong yoke-partner.
Get in the yoke with Jesus, Whose burden is light, who teaches us gently, and Who gives us times of rest and rejuvenation, for He knows our humanity.
Mark 6:31-38 [Complete Jewish Study Bible]
31 "There were so many people coming and going that they couldn't even take time to eat, so He [Yeshua] said to them, ' Come with Me by yourselves to a place where we can be alone, and you can get some rest.'
32 They went off by themselves to an isolated spot;
33 but many people, seeing them leave and recognizing them, ran ahead on foot from all the towns and got there first.
34 When Yeshua came ashore, He saw a huge crowd. Filled with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, He began teaching them many things.
35 By this time the hour was late. The talmidim came to Him and said, 'This place is a remote place, and it's getting late.
36 Send the people away, so that they can go and buy food for themselves in the farms and towns around here.'
37 But He answered them, 'Give them something to eat, yourselves! They replied 'We are to go and spend thousands on bread, and give it to them to eat?'
38 He asked them, 'How many loaves do you have? Go and check.' When they had found out, they said, 'Five. And two fish.'
And if you have read the account, you will know that Jesus multiplied the fish and the loaves, removing the burden of planning an event to feed a hungry and enormous crowd, and they gathered up twelve basket-fulls of left overs, after feeding more than five thousand people an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Then Jesus tells the disciples to go on ahead of Him in a boat, and while He is resting in the presence of His Father, He sees them struggling to row the boat in the storm, around four o'clock in the morning. He did not continue to pray, and enjoy the time spent with His Father, and send the word and rebuke the wind. He got up, walked on the water -- a man, filled with the Holy Spirit, walked on the water in a hurricane, and would have kept on going had they not invited Him into their yoke...or, perhaps I should rephrase that and say, that they asked to get into His yoke with Him, by inviting Him into their boat.
On the Road to Emmaus, Simon and Cleopas, grieved from seeing Jesus crucified, and feeling hopeless about the future of their nation, spoke with a total stranger, Who stopped what He was doing, and walked with them all the way home, teaching them. He even made like He was going to keep going, until they invited Him into their yoke...and He invited them into His.
They recognized Who this stranger was as soon as He broke the bread and gave thanks, because they had seen Someone do this before.
Empowered and filled with joy, (for the Joy of the Lord is our Strength to eat and celebrate with Him in His Yoke), they ran all the way back to Jerusalem, to the eleven Disciples, and told them that they had seen Jesus. He had truly been raised from the dead, just as they had been told by the women who saw Him.
Jesus is still alive. He still wants you to invite Him in so that He can share His yoke with you.
John 6:37-38
37 "Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will certainly not turn away.
38 For I have come down from heaven to do not My Own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me.
39 And this is the will of the One Who sent Me: that I should not lose any of all those He has given Me but should raise them up on the Last Day.
40 Yes, this is the will of My Father: that all who see the Son and trust in Him should have eternal life, and that I should raise then up on the Last Day.”
Who can See God?
Matthew 5:7
"How blessed are the pure in heart! for they will see God."
King David prays, in Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, God; renew in me a resolute spirit."
And again, in Psalm 73:1 "How good God is to Israel, to those who are pure in heart!”
Encouragement:
In all you do, with purity of heart, with gentleness and humility of soul, be at rest in His Mighty Hand today, and stay with Jesus, in His yoke, which is not an unbalanced yoke.
Enjoy the journey He has for you. He will equip and empower you for His Glory, and Kingdom purpose.
I believe we can See God in His Word, for the Apostle Peter -- who was on the Mountain with Christ, said, We have this more sure word -- not only hanging onto what he had seen, but even more so, what he had read.
We can know Him from all the ways He reveals Himself to us through Scripture. With a pure heart we receive the word into a loving and receptive heart, and produce a harvest of good fruit, which becomes nourishment to the nations, because we believe Him, taking His Promises as real and certain, the unbreakable, and creative truth that only He can speak -- and sometimes He speaks it through the pure of heart, who are in yoke and in agreement with Him, so that His will can be manifested in the earth. Glory to God in the Highest.
What does God Mean by Being Yoked
Numbers 25:3 [NIV]
"So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord's anger burned against them."
Deuteronomy 22:10
"Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together."
Psalm 106:27-29
"They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; they aroused the Lord's anger by their wicked deeds and a plague broke out among them."
2 Corinthians 6:14-17
"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?
Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
What harmony is there between Christ and Belial [Greek: Beliar]?
Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
For we are the Temple of the Living God.
As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.
Therefore come out of them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.'
And, 'I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty."
What we Learn from These Scriptures
*Do not be yoked with false gods, instead of, or even along with, God Almighty.
* Sacrificing to false gods, and eating those sacrifices is fellowship with the demonic realm, not God Almighty.
* There is no blessing in fellowship with the demonic realm.
* The blessing of being part of God's Own Family Kingdom is given to those who worship the One True God, and walk in Oneness with Him. [See: John 17]
* Righteousness and wickedness are complete opposites, and therefore have nothing in common.
* Jesus spent time with sinners because they needed a Saviour, and to be taught right ways of living to achieve good outcomes. He did not become one with them in their sin. He did not agree with their sins, nor did He help them to sin.
*Being yoked causes covenant agreement, and the power of agreement is divided when there is no common ground, just like falsehood and truth cannot walk in harmony.
* There is no harmony between false gods and the One True God. They do not speak the same words, nor have the same purpose, so there will never be agreement between them.
* When someone turns a light on, darkness is automatically no longer there -- the two cannot cohabit the same space, so therefore there will never be agreement between "Light" and "Dark" forces.
* An ox and a donkey cannot plow the soil together because they are not even the same kind of animal, much less the same temperament, or personality. There is only agreement with two oxen plowing together.
* Do not even touch that which is unholy, and separate yourself from it completely, for your own benefit. Even Eve knew that, although it is not written that God said not to touch the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Touching the unholy things knowingly, and on purpose, is the same as embracing the evil that they mean to God, and this makes God very angry. Repentance and returning to God fully and completely with one's whole heart, and walking away from the devil, and his ways is the only remedy to such bad choices.
In 1 Samuel 6, we find the account of the Philistines, the enemies of God and of Ancient Israel, who had stolen the Ark of the Covenant from them. The Philistines asked how to give it back so that they could be healed, because tumors and rats were destroying their country.
Beginning in verse 7, we read:
7 "Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.
8 Take the Ark of the Lord and put it on the cart..."
They chose a new cart, out of respect to Israel's God, Who they knew was the One True God. They chose cows who both had calves to come back to, and therefore they knew they would have a reason to return to them. These cows were equally yoked, and would carry the Ark faithfully, of course led by God Himself to the right destination, just as He led King David's river rock to its destination in the giant's forehead.
They go on to describe in detail all they intended to do to give back the Ark of the Covenant because there was no agreement between false gods and the God of Israel, Who had made it clear it did not belong to them, and this was the reason for their suffering.
The grace God gave the Philistines who touched the Ark and realized their mistake is amazing to me. God did not kill them for touching it, as He did the Israelites who knew better, and touched it without authority.
When anyone comes against that which God has separated out unto Himself, and called holy unto Him, they become an enemy of God Himself, the God of Hosts -- the angel armies of heaven, who defend the Kingdom of God.
It is a dangerous thing for humans to become an enemy of God. Those who take others that do not belong to them, for any reason, will face the consequence of their actions, unless they repent and ask for forgiveness for their deeds. This applies to rulers of nations, kingdoms, cities, people groups and families alike.
Some people in the earth are so demonically influenced that think nothing of taking righteous people from their families and forcing them to be part of theirs, to do evil with them.
The righteous, in that case, will pray, and God can deliver them out of that circumstance. If they are not delivered, these also can pray and ask God to change the hearts of those they are now living with against their will. Everything is possible with God, for He protects those who love Him.
God took issue with people who became like those around them who did evil, and worshipped false gods, knowing the One True God, and walking away from Him on purpose.
There are many who have been taken from their families and forced to live as spouses, where there is no agreement, and no power in that marriage to affect change anyway, so the devil has chosen poorly in this case. The Scripture "come out of them and be separate" in these cases may not be possible outside of the death of the spouse involved, in which case the righteous will immediately be in the arms of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, and Legal Advocate.
Some who marry someone knowingly, who is of a different belief, in any area of life, will find it difficult, much less if they have different levels of faith, or different belief systems.
They do not, essentially then, speak the same "language". They will not find agreement in their conversations, and therefore may experience more difficulty in communication, hence family time can be stressful.
God doesn't want that for families. God wants us to have powerful marriages, based on agreement, and therefore powerful communities, and nations, which live well, prosper and are able to bless others around them, and thereby being a light on a hill that drives out the darkness.
If you work for those who do not believe as you do, that is different from being in continual companionship with them. To chose to be part of someone who does not believe in the One True God, is to become part of their lifestyle, and this is what God does not desire for us, for it comes with all that the demonic realm does to those who follow them.
God wants to be our Father, and be the blesser of our souls. He wants to take care of all our needs. The devil has nothing to give, and his ways are only to "steal, kill and destroy" [John 10:10].
I am not saying that if you are already married and have a family, that you need to divorce your spouse now, and move away. In this case, a person needs to ask God what to do, now that they have found out what God desires. He will help them to worship Him, even as King David said, in Psalm 23 "You have prepared a table for me even in the midst of my enemies."
When you cannot separate yourself from Your circumstance, God is still with you. He will hold your hand, and lead you on the Journey He has for you, even if you must stay where you are. Take heart, and be encouraged in this knowing, that He loves you deeply, and knows your circumstance, and can help you through it, or even out of it, if that is what is necessary for your own safety.
In the case of some cultures, to make the decision to follow Jesus Christ on that Journey means certain death. This of course means instant transfer to your new home in Heaven, so be encouraged even in this, that His Arms await you if that is His way of removing you from your circumstance.
Being yoked with Jesus Christ, whether in evil circumstances or good, is the best way to achieve God-given outcomes.
The Benefits of Being One with God
God Holds our Hand so that we can be Fearless
Isaiah 41:12-14 AMPC
12 “You shall seek those who contend with you but shall not find them; they who war against you shall be as nothing, as nothing at all.
13 For I the Lord your God hold your right hand; I am the Lord, Who says to you, Fear not; I will help you!
14 Fear not, you *worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.”
*Psalm 22:6
“But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.”
Note: blueletterbible.org
"When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted. What a picture this gives of Christ, dying on the tree, shedding his precious blood that he might 'bring many sons unto glory' (Hebrews 2:10)! He died for us, that we might live through him! Psalm 22:6 describes such a worm and gives us this picture of Christ. (Isaiah 1:18)" (Henry Morris. Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Baker Book House, 1985, p. 73)
Isaiah 42:5-7
5 “Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it:
6 “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles,
7 To open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.”
God Cleanses Us
Psalm 51:7
“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”
Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
John 15:3-4
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
God Prays for Us
Jesus Prays for Himself
John 17 NKJV
1 “Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.
8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.
26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Romans 8:26-27
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He Who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
Hebrews 7:25
“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because He always lives to intercede for them.”
Encouragement
Jesus Himself is praying and interceding for us. Jesus is holding our hand, and showing us the way to walk with Him. God is our Saviour, Protector, Provider, Sustainer, and Prayer Partner in the Journey to getting to know Him.
Taking up our Cross
Psalm 55:22 [NKJV]
"Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved."
Acts 20:24 [NKJV]
"But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."
1Peter 5:7 [NASB]
"having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."
In my journey with God I have learned to pray the word in every circumstance. When Jesus was faced with spiritual war, He answered with the Word that was already written.
When Jesus was faced with the burdens of His fellow human beings, He answered with compassionate love, healing and deliverance, taking them upon Himself, ultimately at the Cross.
So what does it mean to "cast your burden" on the Lord?
King David was familiar with the troubles of life, yet on every occasion he trusted in the Lord for protection and sustenance. When his life was in danger, God showed him where it was safe to hide or travel. David behaved honorably, with integrity and loyalty, even toward his attacker, King Saul. King David waited on God for the strategies and answers he needed in order to live successfully.
We think of "casting the devil out", or even casting a fishing line into the water and expecting a catch.
The Orthodox Jewish Version says, "Cast thy burden upon Hashem, and He shall sustain thee." [Psalm 55:22 OJB]
Jesus says, in John 17:12, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name..."
And in verse 6, Jesus prays, "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They are Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
Verse 11 says, "...keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are."
Jesus makes clear, in John 15, that staying in Him is the key to receiving all things provided by Him, whether physical or spiritual. We can remain unmoved bby everything that comes against us, individually or collectively as the Body of Christ, because we are in Christ.
The first time we find God casting -- it is to cast Lucifer out of heaven. The next time it is to cast Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea.
While Jesus was on the earth, He set the example by casting the devil out of individuals. And the last time is when the devil and his followers are cast into the Lake of Fire. [Revelation 20]
So we know that every weapon formed against us shall not prosper. [Isaiah 54:17]
To cast our burden on Jesus is a daily reminder that we are in Him, and Jesus carried our burdens on the Cross so that we would not have to bear them. [Isaiah 53]
Jesus says to His disciples, "Come unto Me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest." [Matthew 11:28-29] He exchanges His light burdens for our heavy ones.
If our burden was a ball and, just like a child, we threw it to Jesus, He would not throw our ball back to us. He would exchange it for His ball, which is far easier, and more enjoyable to catch for us.
We find rest and salvation in Jesus Christ, and therefore can remain unmoved by circumstances, because we are firmly grasped in His Hand. In His name, we live and have our being, and nothing and no one can take us from Him.
When we live life at the level of a King, in the Kingdom of God, we carry His burden not ours.
What is His burden? To love as God loved us, and to relieve the burdens of others. [Isaiah 58, John 15, Matthew 25:31-40]
Jesus makes clear to "those on the left" in Matthew 25 verses 41-46, "Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink...a stranger...naked...sick...and in prison...and you did not visit Me."
God takes our faithfulness to one another very seriously. When we take care of the needs of those around us, who are in Christ, we are taking care of Jesus. Be found faithful and righteous in Him, doing the work His Father gave us. Then the glory of the Lord can't help but spill out all over the world, and cover the earth with the knowledge of God and the gospel of His grace.
[Habakkuk 2:14]
Luke 9:23
"And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.'"
John 15:13
"Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends."
