“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:30
My whole Christian life I have heard preachers and churches put huge burdens on their members. Sermon after sermon they talked about how weak the flesh is, how sin reigns in our bodies, how people need to pray more, read more, work more, it is never enough. Condemnation and fear may have not been openly flaunted; however, they were always the underlying message. The only time a person received any positive feedback for the way they lived was when they were dead. I mean during life they were constantly falling short, yet now that they were lying in a coffin, we were told to pattern our lives after their godly example. This never seemed to make any sense to me. And then God showed me through His Word who we are in Him and it all fell into place.
I knew I could never work enough, pray enough, witness enough, or believe enough to walk like Jesus. I would read in the Word that I should be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect, Matthew 5:48. I would read that I can be used by God to do the same works as He did through Jesus and even greater works, John 14:12. I would read that I should walk even as Jesus walked, 1 John 2:6. I remembered all of the sermons that taught there was no way, we are just men, we are weak in the flesh, we could never do greater works than Jesus, or even the same works. I thought to myself, be perfect as God, you've got to be kidding, I can't even make it one day without messing up. But then God showed me all of these scriptures that we have studied together, and the many more we are going to study, and then my Father empowered me to see the Truth, and the Truth of God’s Word sanctified me. There was now no condemnation for me, through the power of the Holy Ghost God had led me into His rest. I was no longer being destroyed by a lack of knowledge. My life was no longer hindered because of me, because of my actions, my life was now enriched because of the power of my Father, Dad had led me into the paths of His righteousness. The Holy Ghost was teaching me, and the Word that He was using sanctified me. The works began to happen, but not because I willed them into being, but because the Word had set me apart for God’s holy use and God was now able to work through me! Works do not sanctify us. We are sanctified by Jesus so that we can be used by God to work! The yoke of sanctification is easy because it is our Father sanctifying us and He knows exactly how to do it! We are now and forever more strong in the power of His might, not our own!
My whole Christian life I have heard preachers and churches put huge burdens on their members. Sermon after sermon they talked about how weak the flesh is, how sin reigns in our bodies, how people need to pray more, read more, work more, it is never enough. Condemnation and fear may have not been openly flaunted; however, they were always the underlying message. The only time a person received any positive feedback for the way they lived was when they were dead. I mean during life they were constantly falling short, yet now that they were lying in a coffin, we were told to pattern our lives after their godly example. This never seemed to make any sense to me. And then God showed me through His Word who we are in Him and it all fell into place.
I knew I could never work enough, pray enough, witness enough, or believe enough to walk like Jesus. I would read in the Word that I should be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect, Matthew 5:48. I would read that I can be used by God to do the same works as He did through Jesus and even greater works, John 14:12. I would read that I should walk even as Jesus walked, 1 John 2:6. I remembered all of the sermons that taught there was no way, we are just men, we are weak in the flesh, we could never do greater works than Jesus, or even the same works. I thought to myself, be perfect as God, you've got to be kidding, I can't even make it one day without messing up. But then God showed me all of these scriptures that we have studied together, and the many more we are going to study, and then my Father empowered me to see the Truth, and the Truth of God’s Word sanctified me. There was now no condemnation for me, through the power of the Holy Ghost God had led me into His rest. I was no longer being destroyed by a lack of knowledge. My life was no longer hindered because of me, because of my actions, my life was now enriched because of the power of my Father, Dad had led me into the paths of His righteousness. The Holy Ghost was teaching me, and the Word that He was using sanctified me. The works began to happen, but not because I willed them into being, but because the Word had set me apart for God’s holy use and God was now able to work through me! Works do not sanctify us. We are sanctified by Jesus so that we can be used by God to work! The yoke of sanctification is easy because it is our Father sanctifying us and He knows exactly how to do it! We are now and forever more strong in the power of His might, not our own!
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