I am excited to start this journey with you on “Getting To Know God”. Some of you reading this have not made the decision to follow the Lord yet and some of you have been following Jesus for many years. Some of you made the decision to follow the Lord but somehow the worries of this life have gotten in the way of making God number one in your life. I am here to tell you that all of these scenarios are OK. That is because as we try to Get to know God,
God ALREADY KNOWS YOU.
I do not want this series to be like a high school or college classroom. I am not trying to fit anyone into a mold. My purpose here on this earth is to have you have a desire to know the One who created YOU. Isn’t it amazing that YOU were created in the image of God, Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”. Since you were fearfully and wonderfully made YOU MATTER, Psalm 139:14. A lot of times in our lives we can get discouraged and downright depressed when people either don’t like us or our performance does not meet their expectations. Part of this series will be seeing how God sees and values you. If you can grasp this then never again will you fret over what people think of you.
The verse last week we used to start this series is
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.”
We all desire rest for our souls. But most of us try to find our rest in the most unusual of places. When Jesus says to “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me” we need to do that. This is not a question this is a command. So what does this verse mean?
Jesus bore all of our sins so that we might be redeemed. There is no way to heaven except through Jesus. A “Yoke” for oxen is a burdensome device. Doesn’t sound like this makes much sense to take the yoke of Jesus. But you see a “Yoke” for oxen directs that oxen in the way he should go. Without a yoke that oxen would not plow or even know where to plow. The oxen would probably just eat all day and do no work at all. Being led in this life is not bad when the leading is from Jesus. But a lot of times when left to our own desires we fail and fail miserably. So the “Yoke” of Jesus is restraining but in a good way. You may be thinking “but I don’t want restrained by anyone or anything, I want to be free”. The truth is if you are not yoked to Jesus then by default you are yoked to Satan. A scary thought isn’t it?
A lot of new people are on the Daily Devotional and we welcome you. If you are unsure if you have a relationship with Jesus or would like to know how you can be saved then please click on this link to our website. It will explain how you can know for sure if you are going to heaven.
http://www.theultimatedecision.com/howtogettoheaven.html
For today’s lesson we are talking about "Taking the yoke of Jesus upon ourselves” because when we do we will find rest. Over the next week we will be going over all the ways that we can take the yoke of Jesus and feel freedom instead of feeling tied down. We will see that everything the world has to offer comes with a price. Jesus offers a free gift with no strings attached. I would like you to learn and memorize this verse from Matthew. Remember we fight with the word of God that cuts to the heart not by a physical sword.
Maybe share what you have been “Yoked” to in the past and how your desire to be set free. Tomorrow we will be going over how to be set free from the worlds yoke and start to see how we can wear the Yoke of the Lord and not be burdened anymore. The challenge for today is to memorize this verse and then pray this prayer. “Lord I have chased after many worthless things. I am tired, worn out and need rest for my soul. Please help me increase my faith Jesus and to truly trust in you and you alone. Thank you for setting me free and putting my feet on firm footing. Please help me to live without doubt in my soul.” Amen
Have a great day and we will see you here again tomorrow.
Brad
