Today’s New Covenant nugget is from Matthew 11:28-30
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who LABOR and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find REST for your souls. For My yoke is EASY and My burden is LIGHT.”
IF IT’S HARD AND HEAVY, IT’S NOT GOD!
The Greek word translated as ‘labor’ is ‘kopiáō’, literally meaning ‘exhausting, wearisome, labor intensive toil’
The Greek word for ‘heavy laden’ is ‘phortízō’, literally meaning, ‘overburdened to the point of anxiety’.
The Lord does not want His children laboring to the point of exhaustion and overburdened to the point of anxiety. There is a sweet spot in our walk with the Lord. A sweet spot is an optimal place that gives power and effectiveness with the least amount of effort. Our life in Christ is all by grace, through faith and not of works, lest any man should boast. Living life according to our ‘sweet spot’ in Christ has nothing to do with how hard we work, but it has everything to do with relying on the Lord to bring things to pass, regardless of how hard we work.
Golfers who are skilled in playing golf know where the sweet spot of the club and the ball is… they know how to let the club do the work… they hit the ball far and straight with minimal effort… an unskilled player may be twice as strong, but after using all of their strength come up with a fraction of the result of a skilled player. Jesus wants us to learn of Him, when we do things according to His plan and in His power, what we do will always be easy and light!
MANY BELIEVERS ARE EXHAUSTED, WEARY AND OVERBURDENED TO THE POINT OF ANXIETY… THERE IS A BETTER WAY!
JESUS SAID, I WILL GIVE YOU REST! I WILL BRING YOU TO THE SWEET SPOT IN LIFE!
The Greek word for easy literally means ‘effortlessness, relaxed, calm and refreshing’… like floating down a cool river vs swimming upstream in boiling rapids.
A BELIEVER’S LIFE IN THE NEW COVENANT IS DEFINED BY GRACE, FAITH, REST, REFRESHING, EASE, FREEDOM, SATISFACTION AND ABUNDANT SUPPLY.
INSTEAD, SOME HAVE FALLEN INTO THE TRAP OF EXHAUSTING TOIL, CONDEMNATION, WEARINESS, HOPELESSNESS, FRUSTRATION, FAILURE AND BURNOUT.
Hebrews 4:9-12 - “There remains therefore a REST for the people of God. For he who has entered His REST has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that REST, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
The word for REST in Hebrews is different from the word that Jesus used in Matthew, it literally means… ‘a supernatural calming of the winds, a heavenly, pressure free tranquil abode.’ Jesus wants us to do whatever we have to do to believe God to enter into His rest, to do everything that we do under the wings of the almighty where we are sheltered from the winds of circumstances, having entered into a supernatural, heavenly, pressure free tranquil abode!
HOW DO WE ENTER INTO HIS REST?
Most people do not connect Hebrews 4:12 to the previous scriptures that specifically deal with entering into God’s rest by faith, however Hebrews 4:12 is connected and provides the answer to entering God’s rest… Hebrews 4:12 begins with “FOR”, when a scripture begins with ‘for’ it is connected to the previous scripture or passage…
Hebrews 4:12 says, “FOR the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
The powerful, living Word has everything to do with entering into God’s rest and living in the sweet spot. When we yield to the Word as we sit under it, meditate upon it and confess it, the Word immediately begins to heal us and make us whole from the inside out… starting with the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and the thoughts and intents of the heart.
You simply cannot live in the sweet spot provided in Christ as a broken believer who is without faith, stressed out, feeling condemned and heavy laden. You need to be made whole in your soul and in your inner heart. A broken person will continually implode under any pressure, and this life is full of pressure. A whole person in Christ thrives under pressure and experiences joy in trials.
AS YOU MEDITATE ON THE WORD, AS YOU STUDY THE WORD AND SIT UNDER THE ANOINTED TEACHING OF THE WORD, THE LIVING WORD WILL HEAL YOU FROM THE INSIDE OUT AND TAKE YOU TO THAT PLACE OF REST.
Our daily devotion is a meditation tool to help you enter the process of renewing your mind, prospering your soul and bringing you into your sweet spot in Christ.
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CONFESSION
“Jesus, I come to You and I receive supernatural rest.
I join myself to You, I learn from You and I find rest for my soul!
Serving You is easy and light, not hard and heavy!
Give me a revelation that serving You is easy, not hard and heavy.
If something is hard and heavy it is never of You!
As I meditate upon your living, powerful Word, it heals me from the inside out.
Your Word supernaturally takes me to the sweet-spot in life.
By grace, through faith I now enter an optimal place in Christ that gives the most power and effectiveness with the least amount of effort, in Jesus Name!”
In His amazing love, Nick
