For thought and meditation

[rl69]

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me… MATTHEW 11:29
“Whom the Lord loves He chastens…” (Hebrews 12:6). How petty our complaining is! Our Lord begins to bring us to the point where we can have fellowship with Him, only to hear us moan and groan, saying, “Oh Lord, just let me be like other people!” Jesus is asking us to get beside Him and take one end of the yoke, so that we can pull together. That’s why Jesus says to us, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Are you closely identified with the Lord Jesus like that? If so, you will thank God when you feel the pressure of His hand upon you.
“…to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29). God comes and takes us out of our emotionalism, and then our complaining turns into a hymn of praise. The only way to know the strength of God is to take the yoke of Jesus upon us and to learn from Him.
“…the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Where do the saints get their joy? If we did not know some Christians well, we might think from just observing them that they have no burdens at all to bear. But we must lift the veil from our eyes. The fact that the peace, light, and joy of God is in them is proof that a burden is there as well. The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God living within the human spirit; it creates an inner invincibility.
If your life is producing only a whine, instead of the wine, then ruthlessly kick it out. It is definitely a crime for a Christian to be weak in God’s strength.

[GhostHawk]

This I can say with perfect honesty. I used to worry, I used to fear. Then I heard the Lord telling me to lay down my burdens. Take up his yoke. It is light. Surrender to HIS will.

I have found peace, happiness, contentment. But you have to set all those worldly concerns aside first. Not easy. Not for most. But doable if you work at it.

Trust in the Lord.

[Blackwater]

Ahhh! The yoke! Most of us are "too busy" (read that "too lazy" or just not concerned enough at the moment) to take up the yoke of Christ. And mostly, we just LIKE doing our own will rather than His. But His yields SO much more rewards! If we were truly rational creatures, we'd do a lot of things differently than the way we typically do them, though. As long as our will dominates, and our sensibilities prevail, we will be a burden to the Lord and He will be a "burden" to us. But when we work together, it's like a crippled plane that's slowly headed to a crash, that suddenly finds itself restored, and we can again soar among the heights, and get so much more done, and feel so much better about the results we yield. It's really a no-brainer, but unfortunately, many (most?) folks use their hearts to decide what to do, rather than their God-given minds. Are we humans not a strange and contradictory type of being, or not?

[Boaz]

Good lesson . His yoke IS light when you actually accept it and really seek the Holy Spirit to lead you through your heavenly father you are free in this fallen world . Works and spreading the gospel show commitment honoring GOD .

So many are chained to the ways of this world that torments and breaks them . Christ who teaches us releases us to real freedom and understanding . Fools cling to ways and offerings of this world . Don't be a Christian in name but in commitment . Call GOD's name often and practice discipleship .