Yoked

 

Matthew 11:28-30

"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.”

This passage of scripture is quoted so often, but do you really understand what it means? The Lord gave this scripture to my wife as I was learning how to produce music, she came downstairs into our basement and heard the music and started singing the lyrics and the melody! Truly a song from Heaven! It started out as just a short one minute song, but it turned into a full blown three minute song with a video! I was thinking small, but God was thinking much bigger!

Jesus is telling us take HIS yoke upon you, because His yoke is easy and His burden is light, as compared to a yoke of Oxen, who carry on their shoulders a big eighty pound, or heavier, wooden yoke that binds the two of them together, while many times pulling a big plow behind them! That is certainly hard and burdensome! Now contrast that with the words of Jesus, His yoke is easy, and don't we humans like to have things made easy for us? We sure do! His burden is light, not a heavy yoke to bear, why not? Because the Lord of Glory is walking with us! And even when we grow weary, HE GIVES US STRENGTH, to keep walking! Oh glory!

The Lord Jesus empowers us, and helps us to overcome, sin, satan, this world, our enemies, and our own flesh! He gives us power to become sons and daughters of God! Isn't it much better to be yoked together with Jesus? To carry His burden? Of course it is! Which is why the Lord says that to whosoever will. 

When we are joined together with Jesus through the baptism in water and the Holy Spirit, we become one with Him!

1st Corinthians 6:17

"But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him."

Your call today is to yoke yourself with Jesus and really walk together WITH HIM, let Him help you, and teach you, allow Him to correct you when necessary, pick you up when you fall, and even carry you when you're too tired to keep walking.

In Jesus Name,

Tyrone

Is It Hard For You To Obey?

Jeremiah 7:21-26

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

One of the biggest, if not THE biggest root problems of mankind is obedience! Whether it be obedience to the laws of God, or the laws of man, it's just not the nature of human beings to obey! Many people have a problem with the word 'obey', itself! So what does 'obey' mean?

Obey: 1: to follow the commands or guidance of

Example: He always obeys his parents.

           2: to conform to or comply with

Example: obey an order; falling objects obey the laws of physics. (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Now that we know what obey means, we can apply our understanding to what we know of  the many situations that have occurred over the last decade with African-Americans, and European-American or any, law enforcement officer. From what I myself saw on video or read in an internet article, I can understand that when the officer gave a command, it was NOT immediately obeyed! Thus, causing an escalation of what should be a routine traffic stop, but ended in a senseless death, or serious injury.

The majority of the times that I see someone get shot or killed, was because the situation escalated when the commands of the officer, were not immediately obeyed, or the suspect tried to flee. And that is, and will continue to be a huge problem for mankind!

Now if you profess to be a Christian it is our #1 duty to OBEY THE COMMANDS OF GOD! And where do we find the commands of God and His Son Jesus Christ? In the bible! How many of you read the written and inspired word of God, say amen, but don't DO WHAT IT SAYS! 

Jesus Himself said: "I ALWAYS DO  those things that please Him". He also said this in John 14:15

“If you love Me, keep My commandments."

Jesus even LEARNED OBEDIENCE through His sufferings!

Hebrew 5:8-9

"though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,"

It started all the way back in the garden of Eden and continues to this day! Human beings, with their fallen nature, have a very hard time obeying any commands, whether it be from law enforcement officers, a company supervisor, parents, or God Himself!

Even as I write this blog post, another young African-American man was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop!

When will we learn to obey!

In Jesus Name,

Tyrone

Is The Seal Of God On Your Spiritual Forehead?

 

Revelation 9:4

"They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads."

Do you have the seal of God on your forehead? Are you sealed by the Spirit of the Living God? If you are not, then these plagues, woes, and the wrath of God will be poured out upon you!

The scriptures say that those who are stung by these locusts coming up from the bottomless pit will sting those who are not sealed by God and torment them for five months and they will seek death because of the pain, but even death will flee from them! 

We can't really imagine what this will be like, but these end-time judgments of God will become a reality one day, the scriptures will be fulfilled, that's for sure! And our responsibility is to be prepared right now! To be ready for whatever comes, spiritually or physically!

When God judged Pharaoh and his people, all the plagues were sent upon the whole land of Egypt, including the house of Pharaoh! The city of Goshen was not that far from the center of Egypt, in the land of Rameses, and God's judgments went through the entire region of Egypt, which contained at least ten cities! 

God's judgments don't just fall upon the wicked but the righteous too! So we must be covered by the blood of Jesus, the cloud of His presence, filled and sealed with His Spirit, in order to be protected by God when His judgment falls!

God said that He would treat the city of Goshen differently than the others, because His people lived there!

Exodus 8:22-23

"And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be."

And of course we know the last judgment of God upon Pharaoh and the land of Egypt, was the Lord God Himself passing through, to kill all the firstborn, but the Israelites were protected because the blood of the lamb was on the door posts of their houses! Oh how much we need the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus the Christ to be upon the doors of our hearts and minds today!

Exodus 12:12-13

‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This was a very strong judgment, hitting right at the heart of the Egyptian people, their firstborn children, after this judgment a great cry went up from all the cities of Egypt and Pharaoh let God's people go. Let us humble ourselves before a mighty God that we be protected from all pestilence, disease, plagues, judgments, and His great wrath!

When the great judgments of God fall upon this country and the countries of this earth today, may the God of Heaven and earth see the blood of His Son Jesus upon us and pass us by!!!!

Humbled In God's Sight,

Tyrone

The Greatest Love Of ALL!

We've all heard Marvin Gaye's song "What's Going On", and the lyric in the song that say's 'only love can conquer hate', and that's absolutely true, but Marvin didn't give us the whole truth! The word of God tells us that love NEVER FAILS! Wow!

Whitney Houston sang the song, "The Greatest Love Of All", and in that song she said 'the greatest love of all is easy to achieve, learning to love your self is the greatest love of all'. Well I'm here to tell you that God's love is the GREATEST love of all! And there is nothing greater! God's love was made manifest in the body and life of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. 

Romans 5:8

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

The greatest Love of all took upon Himself the sins of the whole world so that we might be able to have a connection with God again, that we may be forgiven of our sins and commune with our Creator. Jesus faced the devil and every evil of His present day and love triumphed over it all! Only Jesus could be hanging on a wooden cross after having been beaten beyond recognition, having His beard pulled out and a crown of thorns beaten into His head and be able to say, 'Father forgive them for they know not, what they do'. Only through the genuine and pure love of God could that be possible. 

The greatest Love that stood before His betrayer and called him, 'friend', even knowing that Judas would betray Him long before it happened, Jesus still loved him until the end, even washing his feet! Are we able to love like that? Is it possible for a human being to love like Jesus did? I believe so! Would it be easy to love your betrayer? Or forgive those who were about to murder you, or a family member? Of course not! Only the love of God filling up your heart, could make that possible.

Jesus said, in John 15:13 

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends."

And we know that's exactly what Jesus did! Not only for His disciples, but for the whole world!

Truly the Love of God is most assuredly the GREATEST love of all!

John 3:16-17

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." 

In The Love Of God,

Tyrone

It's Easy To Do Wrong, And Hard To Do Right!

 

Genesis 4:7

"If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

I have been meditating on Genesis for a while now, and it has truly helped me to learn the root problems of the human being. The Spirit of God has helped me to see the spiritual battle that all humans face with good and evil, sin and righteousness. We are born with a fallen nature, disconnected from God and easily swayed to do wrong, to commit sinful acts, and please ourselves, giving in to the lusts of the flesh and the carnal mind.

The only way to change our lives and our circumstances is to be re-connected to God and become a partaker of the Divine Nature of God. And that is only accomplished by believing in Jesus Christ, applying His teachings to our lives, and being baptized in water and the Holy Spirit. There is no other way for a soul to saved!

God created man with free will, a mind to choose to do what is right or what is wrong. As God said, if we do wrong there will be consequences, sin will enter your soul, you will be corrupted by it, you will be oppressed by it, and you will give satan a foothold in your life, to ruin it and ultimately cause you to die in your sins and enter Hell, to await your final judgment. But all that can be avoided IF you do what is right! And it's certainly not easy to go against billions of people all doing wrong, your family members, friends and co-workers. Most everyone looks at those who do right, as a "goody two-shoes", "holier than thou", etc.... and will not want to be around you, because you don't do what they do, and you don't live like they live. But the Lord calls His people to come out of the world and be separate!

If we do what is right we will be blessed in whatever we do, God will be with us. But if we do wrong we separate ourselves from God and He becomes our enemy, and if God is your enemy you have no hope! Which is why we all need JESUS! We need help to overcome this world, our fallen nature, and the devil who deceives the whole world!

We must fight against evil, and doing what is wrong, we must consciously choose to do what is right every single day! The Lord promised those who believe and follow Him, that He would never leave or forsake them, so today if you hear the Lord's voice don't harden your hearts and keep doing what is wrong, stop and listen to the voice of God and choose what is right!

In Jesus Name!

Tyrone

The Sin Within!

Genesis 3:8-10

"And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

The problem of mankind can be traced all the way back to the garden of Eden, I love this testimony in Genesis because it helps me to understand the core issues that have plagued us since God blew His breath into the dust that was Adam and gave Him life.

The issue is obedience to God's word or the serpent's word, who also deceives the whole world. The cards are really stacked up against those who want to do what is right, to obey the voice of God and not the devil's or man's voice. It's really pretty simple, if you do what is right you will be blessed, if you do what is wrong you will be cursed, oppressed, laden down with sins and you will never know what it means to really live.

We know the story but do we meditate on it? Do we learn from it? So that we don't make the same mistake that Adam and Eve did. Because of the fall of man, we are born with a fallen nature, disconnected from the One who created us, so we need to be reconnected to our Creator and become a partaker of His Divine Nature!

After the sin of Adam and Eve (which was to disobey a direct command from God), they were separated from God and sin entered them, they were corrupted, made unclean, and evil entered into their soul. God still loved them but they had to pay the consequences for their sin, and the same thing happens today. Adam and Eve heard the voice of God and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, how many times have you ran away from the Lord? Not wanting to face correction, or judgement because of something you said or did that was wrong. Sin caused them to be afraid, fearful of a Just, Righteous, Holy, and Loving God, who just want's a relationship with His creation.

It's very easy to go along with the world and do what they do, and live like they live, as if there was no God, many try very hard to make God just go away. They don't want His Presence, His Light, His Truth, or His Love. Just like Paul prophesied, in the last days men would be lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God. Sad, but inevitable, which is why God brings His judgements!

The carnal mind cannot comprehend the level of spiritual warfare that goes on every single day for the minds of men, and what the devil does to keep people blind and oblivious to what's really going on this world.

You know the phrase, 'you are, what you eat'. Sin is like that saying, but instead of feeding your body to satiate your hunger pains, when you indulge yourself with sin you are feeding your soul pure evil. And when sin enters you it's hard to get it out of you!

You know the story of the two wolves? Here it is!

There’s a story of the two wolves in Cherokee culture in which a grandfather teaches his grandson an important life lesson.

The grandfather tells his grandson that there is a battle going on inside all of us. It is a battle between two wolves that live inside us.

He says, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ that live inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thinks about it for a while and says, “Which wolf wins?”

The grandfather replies, “The one you feed”.

If you sow to please the flesh you will die, but if you sow to please the Spirit you will inherit eternal life!

In Jesus Name,

Tyrone

Don't Let Anyone or Anything, Keep You From Your Blessings!

 

Mark 10:46-52

"Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road."

We know this testimony very well, blind Bartimaeus sitting by the side of the road begging, when he hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. What can we learn from Bartimaeus? A lot! 

When Bartimaeus starting crying out for Jesus to have mercy on him, many voices of opposition started telling him to be quiet, even warning him to stop shouting. How many times have you started to cry out for Jesus but your family members told you to be quiet? Saying negative things to discourage you from pressing on. How about your spouse or your friends, when they see you trying to change your life for the better, do their voices start warning you not to do it?

The voices of negativity and opposition didn't stop Bartimaeus from shouting out all the more! He didn't let the devil stop him from receiving his blessing! And you shouldn't let anyone or anything stop you either!

After Jesus recognized the incessant shouting of Bartimaeus, He stood still, Oh how wonderful it is when Jesus stands still for you! Because He heard your cry for help, healing, protection and deliverance! The scriptures tell us that when Jesus prayed He cried out and shed tears, and He was heard because of His godly fear and reverent submission to His Father.

Hebrews 5:5-9

"So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.” As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek”; who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him."

Vehement means: showing strong feeling; forceful, passionate, or intense.

So Jesus wasn't just praying in His mind, He was yelling out! Praying with force and intensity! 

The devil, principalities, evil spirits and wicked people, are not just gonna lie down for you, they are going to oppose you, and lift up against you, when they see you start to rise up and make a change for Jesus and start doing good instead of evil. They will try to stop you, but you have to press on through the desert, through the onslaught, through the darkness, until Jesus shines His great light down upon you from Heaven like He did to Paul on the road to Damascus! You have to press on until the Lord commands His holy angels to come down and aid you in your good fight of faith! Oh Glory!

And after your great fight, you get the breakthrough, and when Jesus calls you over and asks, "What do you want ME to do for you?" you will be ready to receive your blessing! Oh happy day!

So don't let the inner or outer voices of evil and negativity tell you to be quiet, stop worshipping, stop praising, stop preaching, or stop talking about Jesus, because it's only when you shout louder, praise more, speak more, and press on that you receive the victory, the breakthrough and the blessing! 

In Jesus Name!

Tyrone