My yoke is easy, my burden is light.” Matthew 11:30
I woke up this morning with appreciation on my heart and mind. I was at peace with God and his life he has given to me, the good and the bad parts. Because I know the yoke or burden he gives me is bearing good fruit in the future. Part of it was because of something my wife shared, which was how the wedding we will be attending this weekend, the couple got married by the judge yesterday (something you do here in Mexico before having a preacher marry you). Anyway, my wife said the bride was out in her car crying at 10 PM because of a big fight they had, on their wedding day.
This story gets better, and I have used this couple as examples before. But he is an alcoholic for sure, every time we are together , he drinks like crazy, and vapes. Not sure if he does anything else. They have had an on again off again relationship, and she has had some of her friends tell her to not get married. But here they are.
Now with my wife, I told her it is not for us to decide if she should or should not get married. Because God has a plan in everything. If God specifically tells her to speak to her (which he never or rarely does). Then she should obey. But to try to stop her because you see some serious problems in the future, is not of us to do.
The bride is on a certain path with God, she says she hears him and obeys, and there are signs she does, and many signs she does not. But keep in mind you do not learn all the lessons in one minute and the lessons we learn come in trials and test, not in a perfect happy relationship.
Which brings up another point the Lord made this morning to me, which is it is the ones who sinned the most who appreciate Yeshua the most. He who is forgiven little loves little, but he who is forgiven a lot, loves a lot. I have admitted many times I was the prodigal son in all aspects, and even on other sinful things. I love the Lord and want nothing more than to obey him and serve him and bring as many people to him and his judgment while on earth so they can repent as possible. And the reason for that is summed up by the verse, knowing I love the Lord A lot!
So back to the bride, maybe this is what gets her over the top? And maybe she brings him with her (as he has also shown signs of wanting to know God, although when the conversations get to deep he tends to really drink and zone out, seems because he knows the decisions he needs to make and repent of but does not want to and stays in them, ignoring the truth and light). When we play amature gods telling people what they should or should not do, then we actually get in the way of God. It is weird because in the flesh we want more than anything to give other people the advice we learned so they do not have to make the same mistakes we made and deal with the same dysfunction and outcomes which are never good. Where God allows these things in our life, not only by our own stupid choices, but also because of other people’s stupid choices that affect us. God uses these as trials to teach us and grow us. And he has a plan we do not understand or see when we go down these roads with him. That is the intention, to follow in faith, not by sight.
This is real faith, not a faith in something a man named Jesus did on the cross which cost you nothing. Real faith is obeying and doing as he says when it makes no sense. Any one can follow when it makes sense. If God said take this career and I will make you rich, of course you would follow. But when the path looks scary and dark and unwanted, and he says pick up your cross and follow me, will you? Because this is where the real growth and understanding comes from.
Many times I have written about Psalms 23 where it says “although I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I will fear no evil.” I have been through there, and when I got to the other side, my eyes were opened significantly to things I never saw or understood before. Things I cannot even fully explain, but then Yeshua told us that also when he said “it is good I go, I will send the helper the Holy Spirit, who will lead you into all righteousness and remind you of things I told you that you cannot understand now.” This is a couple of verses tied together.
No man can understand without the help of the Holy Spirit, and no man receives and has the Spirit living in them until they pass through the valley of death. Many believe they have the Spirit, you have no idea the number of arguments I get into because men think they have the Spirit but show no signs of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They believe they have it because of some doctrine a man teacher told them. And as long as they continue to follow this doctrine and belief there is no room in their life for the Lord to guide them down the narrow path to righteousness. The one which crosses through the shadow of the valley of death.
The funny thing is we think we need men teachers to help us find God. But the truth is it is the opposite, we need men to get out of the way and simply lead people to the Son, disciple the nations. It is the son and the work of the Holy Spirit who will do the work in you which produces the good fruit. But this cannot happen unless you hear him and obey him.
This ties in with what I said yesterday about the lies all around us. Everything is a lie, just to various degrees. And something else the Lord showed me this morning in regards to that is we feed the beast and the antichrists. We pay taxes, we give tithes. Thinking it is the right thing to do, we mostly obey the systems by going to their schools and then working for them in their jobs. Going to their churches instead of being a member of the real church in Yeshua. But the point is we are the ones feeding these people who then destroy us. They take our health, our wealth and discredit our Spirituality by making it about their church and not about Yeshua. We lose in every aspect and wonder why we are so miserable, broke, tired. We hate our job, our wife, our kids, basically our life. We mask it in different ways, by getting drunk or high. By socializing and pretending to be something or someone we are not. We pretend everything is good in front of other people, and then live a lie. Some simply just complain and seek someone to cry with about everything, after all the old saying misery loves company.
The point is there are many ways to try and support the dysfunction in our lives instead of getting rid of it. As long as we think it is normal (which this world has normalized all the dysfunction and made it where if you are not in dysfunction, and live according to the righteousness in Yeshua. You are the one who is wrong.
The Lord over and over keeps telling me to look at the fruit you and others are bearing. If it is good in your life and bad in theirs, how are you going to follow the advice they give you over mine? And believe what they are telling you is true, when it is obvious to you that it is a lie and what is keeping them in dysfunction? It really is this simple, listen to the Lord, obey him and let him lead you into all righteousness. It does not happen overnight, but step by step, day by day he transforms you into his image, as long as you keep walking with him. The great American dream does the opposite. It drags you deeper and deeper into the dysfunction. And again you see it by the fruit you bear, and they bear.
With the bride, I am still praying for her and him, so the Lord opens their eyes and they repent totally and find his perfect way to live life. I stay out of the way of God, letting them make their mistakes so they can have their form of the prodigal son and really come back to the Lord on hands and knees. The further you are pulled to the one side, the further you snap back to the other side. The side with Yeshua. My other job is to keep pointing them back to hearing and obeying the Lord and sharing with them the things God showed me, and how to live your life in him. They have to choose to follow, but that is what it means to be a disciple.
Last point, and back to the main point. This is why I wake up grateful for the life the Lord has given me. The test and the good things. In the Lord Yeshua they are all easy to bear.