By Pst. Shana Wise
Matthew 11: 28-30 NKJV
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 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.30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
If you are weighed down by the pressures and stresses of life, this passage of scripture gives you instructions on how to “lose the weight”.
There are many who are sleeping but few that are resting. To rest means to be at peace within your being. It looks like your mind, body, and soul are in alignment with God and his will or your life.
Jesus does not want his disciples “unrested”. He wants us to have the type of rest that only He can provide.
For many of us, we have been healed from some things, but we still need to be made whole in other areas of our lives.
Jesus has given us instructions in His Word on how to free ourselves of unnecessary weight that we have been carrying around in our spiritual beings. If we continue to carry around “extra weight” that God does not want us to have it will affect our progress and purpose in Him. It will also physically affect us because our bodies respond to what taking place from within.
Some examples of “extra weight” are worry, stress, anxiety, bad attitudes, unforgiveness, unhealed past trauma, depression, hopelessness, loneliness, addiction, living in fear, and the list goes on.
Jesus needs his disciples to be ready to effectively do His works on earth. We are in the army of the Lord, but many of us still need to go through basic training and boot camp, because it is hard to fight the enemy when you are weighed down with unnecessary baggage.
Let us examine three steps to shed extra weight:
“Come to Me.”
Jesus wants us to come to Him and be transparent. He already knows the things that we struggle with, but he needs us to acknowledge them. Some of us have been trying to fix ourselves, but we find out that we cannot. Only Jesus can help us with what weighing us down.
Coming to Jesus is surrendering our will to His. We must let go and let God do the work that needs to be done with no interference. We need to relinquish control.
“Take my Yoke.”
A yoke is an instrument that farmers use to steer their oxen while plowing the field. The farmer leads and guides the oxen in the path that he wants it to go. Jesus wants to do the same with us. However, he has given us free will to accept his leading or not. That is why he said “Take” my yoke. We must actively participate in our weight loss.
Taking his yoke also looks like exchanging what we have with him. For example, we need to exchange worry for worship, exchange our complaining for praise, or exchange our fear for faith.
“Learn of Me.”
We must know that being a disciple means that we are continual students of our teacher Jesus Christ. Learning never stops in him because he is always building our faith by teaching us various lessons of life. We often have a problem with them because pride will set in, and we think that we know it all. No student is ever greater than the teacher, because if they were, they would not need to be in the class.
Jesus is our Master Teacher. He has lessons to teach us daily, but the question is are we paying attention? Like in school, many of us fail the test and must take it repeatedly because we refuse to study and learn. A pattern leads to stagnation and slow or no progress in the Lord.
Jesus said, "learn of me and you will find rest for your souls". Resting in Jesus will bring us peace. Peace brings “lightness” instead of heaviness to our spirits.
I challenge you this week to intentionally release the weight that has been holding you down. Do what you need to do to receive your breakthrough. Pray, praise, worship, study, meditate, and obey His word. Surrender your life to Christ.
About the Author
Dr. Shana Wise is an ordained Pastor who founded and oversees Wise Choice Ministries with her husband Pastor Ron Wise. She is also the CEO and founder of The Well Christian Women’s Network. Dr. Wise is the author of Women’s Devotionals Acts of Intercession and Chief Women Arise, The Impact of Your Election, and the Basic Ministry Training Manual (all available on Amazon). She received a Doctor of Divinity degree in 2019 from St. Thomas Christian University. Her passion is to teach and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, equip others to apply the Word to their lives, and demonstrate it through the power of the Holy Spirit. She is a televangelist who appears on social media outlets. Shana is married and has four children.
For speaking engagements email: wisechoiceministries512@gmail.com.
Books available on Amazon:
Acts of Intercession
The Impact of Your Election
Basic Ministry Training Manual
Chief Women Arise
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