Faith

Life and Peace- Part 5

“…the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:2-11

Don’t you believe the woman at the well walked away (finally) feeling yoked to something that mattered that day? Being yoked with someone is to harness ourselves with them. In 2 Cor. 6:14, Paul isn’t forbidding “all associations” with unbelievers. His command was to not be “bound together with them, in relationship that threatens the purity of their devotion to Christ, that forces them into situations of compromise. ” A yoke is a wooden bar that joins two oxen to each other and to the burden they pull. If one is tall and one short, they would go in circles.” Spiritually being yoked (one definition is hitched) to a believer is important in sharing the same values and beliefs. It is set up by God this way so that we don’t wander around, not accomplishing the tasks we were made for. You may share a burden of ministry together with your spouse. Raising children is a huge ministry. You may be in business with other believers. Me and Derek lead and walk together with the burden we pull. There are times we butt heads; we are both stubborn. God has to get our attention especially if we’re not giving our 100% attention to Jesus. Being yoked to Him individually, will make the relationship that much stronger when we join together. There are certain burdens that cannot be carried alone. Aside from being yoked with another in beliefs, we have our very own sacrifice that can be given to God at the start of each day. Romans 12:1 says “…offer your bodies as a living (lifestyle, livelihood, occupation, habit) sacrifice (surrendering/offering), holy and pleasing to God- this is your true and proper worship.” (vs. 2) …be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” It’s not just a song on Sunday or that one thing we did last week that helped someone else. It’s going to take all of you. Think about any sport, business, job, exercise group, etc. They expect your 100%. Normally, they don’t want just one day of you. Why would Jesus want any less than your all? You may be wondering how your life can get back on track. You might question how the dark night of your struggle is going to become bright. If there are challenging things you’re facing and trying to overcome, my suggestion is to start early in the day. Ask God for a life that is “on cue” with His timing. Every season will bring change for us to adjust to. Right now, we have a high school senior about to graduate! We are flowing with God’s timing, not our own. It is critical to go with supernatural timing instead of resisting, especially when we’ve prayed and left it with our Maker. It is a beautiful thing to embrace Jesus’ knowledge about us and His love toward us. We can walk away from a quiet prayer (or reading and pondering over a few verses), feeling cared about to the deepest degree. Think about how your life can be on God’s timing as 5:50 a.m. is. When I get still around this time, I can hear one bird chirping. Then a few more make the song louder. Around 5:53 or so, the duck that likes to sit on our pier, flies off into the creek. At 5:57 a.m., it’s clearer outside and then at 6:00 a.m., an alarm goes off and then it seems that the whole world begins waking up and beginning their day. The sun, that bird, nor the duck, have a clock to look at and report to but they are all on schedule.

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