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.  Matthew 11:28-30

This is one of those “so familiar” verses that we often read right through it, assuming that we fully understand it.  Those are the verses in which it is often best to slow down, read word by word, and ask the Spirit to give you an additional revelation.  So I wanted to do that myself tonight.

The first phrase is an emphatic invitation.  Many Greek concordances translate it with an exclamation point next to it.  It might be translated, “Come to me now!!!  The word “come” can also be translated as “follow.”

The ultimate goal of most of us…especially as we grow older is to find peace, rest, or renewal in our lives.  Over the months and years, the world nibbles away at our souls.  If we are not careful there will be an accumulation of stress, anxiety, regrets, losses, and a longing for something we have not yet found that robs us of peace and joy. Life and even ministry can become a burden.

Jesus recognizes that condition with the words weary and burdened.One suggests the tiredness and exhaustion that comes from a long march or days of hard labor with little to show for it. There is a sense that those who are weary are on the verge of quitting.  Remember, Paul tells us to not grow weary in doing good because eventually there will be a harvest (Gal.6:9).  He is encouraging believers at Galatia not to quit or give up because they have labored hard but have not yet seen any harvest. His call is to keep going because God has promised a harvest that will surely come if we keep believing. Sometimes staying faithful seems like labor.  You serve, you pray, you cry out and have yet to see a breakthrough. You begin to question the promises of God or your own faith because no fruit , no answered prayer, is yet discernable.  Those can be hard days.

The word burdenedcalls to mind a heavy load. Some translations call it “heavy laden.”  Caring for a special needs child or a spouse with a long-term disability can begin to feel like a heavy burden where the responsibility weighs you down.  Maybe a child torn by addictions or a marriage in which you feel like the only one trying can bear on your soul. On those days, the road seems too long before you get a break.

Jesus has a remedy for the labor and heavy burdens. He calls it rest.Rest can b translated as relief, recovery, renewal, or restoration. Remember David’s 23^rdPsalm where he says that the Lord restores his soul by making him lie down in green pastures and leading him beside still waters.   This is the same thought.  I think it is closely akin to peace.

Jesus declares that this rest is available, but he is the only provider.  Come to me!!! He declares and no one else. You come, you follow, and I will give it to you. The promise implies relationship. You can’t just drop by the corner pharmacy and get a box of tablets that make you feel better as you continue to live for yourself and follow you.  That is where the emptiness comes from in the first place.  It is only found in him.

He then describes the process of gaining rest.  It is not sitting down and ceasing to serve but it is yoking ourselves to him and learning how to live in the abundance and peace of the kingdom. Yokes tie two animals together, who then labor together.  The untrained animal would learn how to pull and plow by being yoked to the one who was already trained for the task. Simply doing what he saw and felt the other do trained him.  Being yoked with Jesus in a relationship and as a co-laborer in the kingdom teaches us how to live and how to trust in kingdom resources to get us through hard times. Trust is the forerunner of rest.

Jesus doesn’t train us with a whip and harsh words.  He encourages us and brings us along at the pace that fits us. He is gentle and humble and even though he is King he will not lord it over those who come to him. His yoke is easy and his burden is light because he shoulders most of the weight.  Once again, scripture reveals God as a God who wants to partner with his people, co-labor in the kingdom, and grow close by doing great things together.  Intimacy and training in how to live in the kingdom while still on planet earth is what restores our soul.

Too often when we have labored long and carried a weight, we want to run away from the call God has on our lives.  We want to ditch our responsibilities ands chase the promises of the world that offer peace, love, and significance at a minimal cost…but those things truly only come through Jesus. The key to rest is to press in, not to pull away.  In fact, weariness and burden bearing are hints that we have already drawn away and are trying to face life in our own strength. When you feel the weariness and the burden, remember the words of Jesus – “Come to me…I will give you rest!”

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:15-19

The idea of being filled with the Spirit is an important and consistent theme throughout the New Testament. Apparently, it is not a steady state in the life of a believer or Paul would have no need to admonish the church to abstain from drunkenness and instead be filled with the Spirit. Although the Holy Spirit is always present within a believer, we are not always “filled with the Spirit.” Not only that, but since Paul commanded the church to be filled, we apparently have a part to play in that filling or refilling. So what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit and what is our part?

I don’t know that I fully understand everything having to do with being Spirit-filled. In fact, I’m certain that I don’t. But I would like to share some thoughts on the subject. First of all, I am led to think about the symbols of the Holy Spirit in scripture. He is likened most often to fire, to wind, to oil, and to water. We typically think about being on fire rather than being filled with fire. We think of being blown by the wind or overpowered by it rather than being filled with it. We think of oil being on us rather than in us. But Jesus likened the Spirit to streams of living water pouring out of us (Jn.7:38), so I think water may be the thing we think about when attempting to understand being filled.

Water is powerful, cleansing, refreshing, and life giving. No water, no life. No Spirit, no spiritual life. When filling a vessel, water intrudes into every nook and cranny of the vessel but does not truly fill it unless it is empty of everything else. For instance, we ordinarily speak of filling an aquarium with water but that language is inaccurate. The truth is that the aquarium can still be half full of gravel, plants, coral, and fish. Accurately, it is only half-filled with water. To be fully filled with water means that everything else has to be removed. Most of us, as believers, are only partially filled with the Holy Spirit while our container is still significantly filled with self, worldly desires, and sometimes an occasional demon or two. That, of course, is the average condition of most new believers. The idea is for a new believer to begin to let the Spirit displace and push out everything else so that we become Spirit-filled. In the New Testament, men and women who showed exceptional boldness or who operated in signs and wonders were said to be filled with the Spirit. It didn’t take years for that filling to occur. It only took faith and surrender and could happen in a few minutes if the heart was right.

That idea of being Spirit-filled is still somewhat vague so let’s define it in practical terms. Being filled with the Spirit is about the degree to which the Spirit manifests his character and power in us which ultimately depends on the level of control we turn over to him. When we are filled with the Spirit, the Spirit is leading and manifesting his presence so that the works of Jesus might continue through us. The more of our life we release to his direction, the more the old man and the demonic is displaced. Both the old man and the demonic are all about self-sufficiency. The lure of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was the capacity to obtain wisdom without God and in doing so to become like God ourselves. To become God-sufficient removes self and Satan so that the fullness of the Holy Spirit can be expressed through us.

Jesus expressed this condition when he said that he could only do what he saw the Father doing and could only speak what he heard the Father saying. I believe he chose that condition daily. Jesus was so submitted the Spirit that he waited for the Spirit to initiate his actions, his words, and his decisions. When we willingly become an extension of the Holy Spirit he will fill us and then we will do the works of Jesus. So how do we move in that direction?

A great deal of the ground we take in our effort to be Spirit-filled will be gained through prayer. The first baptism or filling by the Spirit occurred at a prayer meeting on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). We can safely assume that those gathered together in prayer were surrendering their hearts and lives to Jesus not offering up a shopping list to satisfy the natural man.

First, we must maintain a sincere desire to be filled with the Spirit – to be fully directed by the Spirit and to manifest his character, his values, and his priorities. Inviting him to take the lead, to reveal our self-sufficient strongholds, to change our hearts, and to give us a sensitivity to his leading will likely need to be a daily prayer. Fasting will help break the power of the flesh and the Word will feed and shape the spiritual man.

Secondly, obedience to the directions and urgings of the Spirit will be paramount. Jesus said that if we love him we would keep his commandments. We simply exchange our agenda with his on a day-by-day basis. Sometimes we resist this kind of surrender because we fear that we will be lost in the process and no longer have any identity or significance. This surrender of control isn’t giving up who we are but rather discovering who we were meant to be.

Gifted athletes engage coaches and them give up control of their diets, workouts, and strategies to the coach so that he can help them to become everything they can be as an athlete. It is the coach who through an objective eye can see faults that the athlete himself could never detect. It is the coach who will push the athlete to run one more lap or do one more set of exercises that the flesh of his client would never be willing to do. By giving up control to the “expert,” the athlete will become much more than he could have ever become on his own. God has carefully and uniquely made each of us and does not want to erase us or our individuality, but rather to maximize who he made us to be in partnership with the Spirit. Our part is to fully cooperate in that enterprise.

When we willingly and consistently surrender to his leading, then the Spirit can radically transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. He can entrust gifts, spiritual power, and kingdom responsibilities to us that will be world-changing. When the Spirit is directing us we can walk in boldness knowing that we are on an assignment from God and that he will resource and protect us as we complete his assignments. When we begin to experience the fullness of the Spirit then revelation will flow our way because we will be living in intimacy and friendship with Jesus who will tell us all things because we have become friends and not just servants.

Paul commands us to be filled with the Spirit because to give up control and dominion is an ongoing decision of the will. Being “filled” is a constant goal of every mature believer. In reality, the flesh works to erode our dependence on God and push us back toward self-sufficiency. Some days the flesh will win a few battles and we will have to retake that ground. However, if our heart is sincere in seeking and surrendering to the Spirit, then he will do marvelous things with us even when our “spiritual aquarium” still has some rocks, plants, and coral in it. As we persist in prayer and obedience to the Spirit, the debris in the aquarium will diminish year after year. Our goal is for only water to remain. When that occurs, then we will have truly become like Jesus.

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.      But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down…Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” Rev. 12:7-12

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2

The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into a battle that took place in the heavenlies at some point in the far distant past. Satan, desiring to be on the throne instead of God, formed a rebellion and was cast out of heaven and hurled to earth along with the angels who had sided with him. He is described as the accuser of the brethren who accuses them day and night. In this text, he is said to accuse them before God but one of his primary strategies is also to accuse the brethren by accusing them in their own minds day and night. Satan is a master at bringing up the past and framing our weaknesses and mistakes as things that disqualify us from serving God or from receiving his blessings.

As a strategy, every time life happens to a believer and a challenge arises or a painful moment comes our way, Satan jumps in to accuse us and plants the thought that we are being punished for our misdeeds or rejected for our weaknesses. In a flurry of thoughts, he loves to heap condemnation on us and reinforce an identity of being a gross sinner, a target of God’s wrath because of our evil hearts, an abandoned child because of our misbehaviors, and a hypocrite who should be ashamed for even posing as a follower of Jesus.

Not only do those condemning thoughts rob us of our security but they also take away our joy and our peace. In addition, they prompt us to become accusers of those around us. Since accusation is based on performance, we find ourselves wanting to point out all the faults and failings of those around us in an effort to level the playing field. If you are prone to fault-finding in others or blaming others for the problems in your life, you are likely living with law as a reference point rather than grace.  You are trying to relate to God on the basis of your performance rather than his grace. Paul points out in Romans 8:1-2 that condemnation thrives in an environment of law in which a record is kept of every violation. Satan has the most success with those of us who still tend to view our relationship with God as a relationship defined by law rather than grace.

Law defines my relationship with God as a relationship based on performance. Under law, I am always asking the question, “Am I good enough or have I done enough to be loved, forgiven, and blessed by God?” Under law, our Father in Heaven becomes a perfectionistic parent withdrawing his blessings and affection every time we fail to live up to his lofty standards. On the basis of law, everything is open to accusation and condemnation. Under a mindset of law, Satan is free to accuse us not only of blatant sins but even of our attitudes by degree. Where we have repented, he will suggest that we did not repent enough. When we think about our love for God, he will accuse us of not loving God with all of our heart. When we acknowledge a weakness he will call us hypocrites for pretending to love Jesus when we still fail so often. When we give generously, he will always suggest that we should have given a little more. The accusation and feeling of condemnation is never ending….day and night.

The only escape from the devil’s scheme is to absolutely know that there is no condemnation in Christ because the blood of Christ has removed us from a system of law and placed us in a relationship based on the unfailing love of a Father who does not love and bless on the basis of performance but only on the basis of his heart. You must know that Jesus became sin for you that you might become the righteousness of God. You must know that you have been given positional righteousness in the eyes of God based on what Jesus did, totally apart from your own righteousness or your own spiritual performance. The good news is that God does not love you because you are perfect, but because he is perfect.

The proper response to the accusations of the devil when he brings up your past or even present weaknesses and whispers that you are falling short of God’s standards is, “Of course, I am falling short. So what? That is why Jesus died for my sins and because of that, God does not hold my sins against me. I live in a condemnation free zone by the blood of Christ and by the grace of God. Satan you have no power here and your accusations have no weight. My past has been blotted out. My present is in process and my future is secure. I am justified in Christ and it is you that are condemned. Now go away!”

When accusation comes, don’t brood but respond with God’s truth. When condemnation raises its head, dismiss it as a lie. When Satan runs up the flag of rejection, ignore it because that sign has no meaning in the kingdom of God. Too many of us believe that punishment motivates us to change. If that were true, there would be no repeat offenders in prison. Too many of us believe that accusation, condemnation, and self-loathing will prompt us to do better and so we agree with Satan’s accusations.

But accusation, condemnation, and demeaning criticism only solidify our identity as broken and worthless. When the prodigal returned, he was given no lecture, no condemnation, no probation. Instead his return was celebrated and he was immediately given back his identity as a son. His true identity as a respected son of a proud Father was reinforced and that is what will bring our own growth and transformation. So remember, when the devil knocks on the door of your mind, post your Condemnation Free Zone sign and send him on his way.

Most believers do not practice agreement between themselves and the work of the Holy Spirit. They can be soulish, led mostly by their feelings, and heavily influenced by rationale thinking. They do not live by the Spirit because they usually use logic to talk themselves out of the spiritual dimension. But God rarely employs a logical plan. Often, He tells us things that simply do not make rational sense. While it resonates with the inner man of our spirit, it offends the soulish nature of our own mind. Our brain then spends the next few minutes talking us out if the plan. (Graham Cooke, Manifesting Your Spirit, p.27; Brilliant Book House).

I have to agree with Mr. Cooke. I know what he says is true because I have often experienced it in my own heart and I suspect that you have as well. We want to think of our faith as rational because our culture and even the church values what is rationale, logical, and scientific. But think about it. How rational is sending a wanted criminal back to Egypt at the age of 80 to lead a nation out of bondage? How logical is it to command an army to march around a walled city for seven days without saying a word and them to simply blow trumpets to bring down a massive stone wall? How logical was it for a young shepherd with no training and no armor to charge an armored veteran who stood nine feet tall with a slingshot? How rational was it for Jesus to raise the dead, impart sight to the blind, walk on the Sea of Galilee, and submit to utter defeat to secure victory?

It’s not that we have no hard evidence for the reality of our faith and the historical Jesus, but kingdom principles are usually in opposition to the principles of the world. In the kingdom, the first shall be last, the servant of all will be the greatest, the meek shall inherit the earth, and we are to give more away than we are being sued for. God doesn’t operate by earthly principles or perspectives but our rational minds do when they have not been renewed.

Paul instructs us not to conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom.12:2). To have a “renewed” mind means that we have learned to think as the Holy Spirit thinks. We think first in kingdom terms rather than in the natural realm. We exercise spiritual logic rather than our unrenewed logic and we don’t let our natural man talk us out of our Spirit-led impulses.

Agreeing with God begins by acknowledging that his ways are higher and more authoritative than our own and that we are ultimately spiritual people who need to live fully by spiritual principles. The Holy Spirit should rule over our thought processes rather than our natural man ruling over the Spirit’s leading. Then we should get busy learning God’s perspectives on every crisis, every challenge, and everything we encounter. We should then make a decision to begin to say what God says about those things, regardless of how illogical or unscientific it may sound to those who are not led by the Spirit of God. We should then ask the Holy Spirit to give us a revelation of those truths at a heart level so that God’s truth frees us from the narrow range of possibilities we perceive with our natural mind. Remember, Jesus said that all things are possible with God.

Agreeing with God is what unlocks the heavenly realm for us. It will be a process. We will agree with God on some things but then discover our faith failed as our natural minds overcame the leading of the Spirit. When that happens, repent and move on with a greater determination to believe God for all things. As we move into 2016, I encourage you to make this your Year of Agreement! May you be richly blessed in this coming year!