Yoke is Easy, Burden is Light

"So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of
which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give
you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of
all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did
not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not
plant" (Deuteronomy 6:10-12). Moses spoke these words to the
Israelites before they entered the Promised Land.

Many years later, almost these same words were uttered in a prayer for
those who had returned from captivity in Babylon. That portion of the
prayer was: "They captured fortified cities and fertile land; they
took possession of houses filled with all kinds of good things, wells
already dug, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance.
They ate to the full and were well-nourished; they reveled in your
great goodness" (Nehemiah 9:25).

These two passages present a beautiful picture of the freedoms
believers have when we walk in the Spirit. When we walk in the Spirit,
we are freed from the burden of making decisions because we are living
a life of response to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

The life of the church following the day of Pentecost reveals to
Christian leaders that they could be free of the burden of
"motivation." That is the work of the Holy Spirit. We easily and
joyfully lead people to salvation when the Holy Spirit has prepared
them for the experience.

These are a few of the freedoms we have when we walk in the Spirit.
Our "yoke is easy and our burden light."

-David Kuykendall Ministries 10/31/11
Visit their web site at www.livingbygrace.org.

An Eternal Perspective

["He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put
eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work
that God does from beginning to end." Eccl. 3:11]

"We have abandoned a self-conscious allegiance to the reality of
eternity that structures the way we think about and approach the here
and now. The functional philosophy of the modern person is simply
devoid of eternity. Forever isn't a topic written about much in our
newspapers and magazines. It isn't a topic of interest in our popular
entertainment media. It isn't a serious topic of interest in the
university or in the halls of government. The thought of forever
simply isn't a thought many of us carry around anymore, at least not
in a way that makes much differenc people who have lost sight of
forever."

["For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
Rom. 8:18]

- Paul David Tripp , Forever (Zondervan, 2011). p. 20

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

"'There is no fear in love', writes the apostle John, 'but perfect
love drives out fear."[ 1 John 4:18]

'He goes on to point to the source of that perfect love: 'We love
because He first loved us". In other words, the cure to fear is not a
change in circumstances, rather a deep grounding in the love of God.
I ask God to reveal His love to me directly, or through my
relationships with those who also know Him--a prayer I think God takes
great delight in answering. When I get depressed about my present
failures, I ask God to remind me of my true identity: one who will be
made perfect and has already been forgiven. '

"You''ve got to go deeper'," ... my burned out pastor [was
counseled]. "'Sink the well into a water table that never runs dry'."

Thomas Merton conceded that everything in modern city life conspires
against such surrender. We worry (fear) about money, about what we
need to have and to know, about whom to compete with and what is
slipping out of our control. (He) found the secret to true freedom:
If we live to please God alone (the One who loves us), we set
ourselves free from the cares and worries that press in on us."

-Phillip Yancey

Quoted by Dr. Tom Wood, Church Multiplication Ministries

Facing Pain Together

Pain is not something most people like.  That is why we run from it as fast as we can.  That is also why we aren''t free.  Jesus hardly ever goes to those places where we run.  When pain comes (or when we fear that it will come), don''t run away.  Run to it, and you will find you have run into the arms of Jesus.  In other words, buck up, face it, embrace it, and know that you and Jesus can deal with it.  Then you will laugh and dance in the freedom and the reality of God''s sufficiency and the power that becomes awesome in your weakness."

Steve Brown, A Scandalous Freedom

- http://www.gracedagain.com