Yokes broken - Mountain Movers

But you have an anointing from the Holy One
[you have been set apart, specially gifted and prepared by the Holy Spirit],
and all of you know
[the truth because He teaches us, illuminates our minds, and guards us from error].
(1 John 2:20 AMP)

It’s interesting how the Bible can show us different ways of looking at the same object. In Bible times a yoke was a reasonably heavy wood contraption that laid on the shoulders of oxen or other work animals in order to keep them working together and guide them. Yet, Jesus tells us, “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.” (Matthew 11:29-30 NKJV). The people of that day would have understood the heaviness of the yoke the oxen wore for work, and the irony in how Jesus’s definition of yoking ourselves to him was a “light and easy burden” resulting in “rest for our souls.”

Have you ever felt like you had a heavy weight on your physical, mental, or emotional “shoulders” that needed to be removed? I was reading a book on worship recently, and was struck by a verse I’d heard in various contexts but hadn’t really spent time with. Depending on the translation, Isaiah 10:27 says:

And it shall be in that day that the burden…shall depart from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck. The yoke shall be destroyed because of fatness [which prevents it from going around your neck]. (AMPC)

It shall come to pass in that day That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil. (NKJV)

“Poverty and lack are a yoke, sickness is a yoke, defeat and failure are a yoke, depression and fear are a yoke. All of these are yokes that we are redeemed from. If we are to live in Heaven’s blessings, we must learn to worship God long enough for the anointing to come, for then it will break off every yoke that tries to trouble our lives and we will walk in total freedom and the victory that belongs to us!” – Nancy Dufresne*

When we fellowship with and worship God we become filled with his strength and with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Just like a too-small yoke can’t fit over a too-large ox’s shoulders, when we are full of God, the negative spiritual yokes we carry are broken off of us because they simply can’t fit over God’s Spirit. Plus, when we have ONLY Jesus’s yoke on our shoulders, there’s no room/space for any other yoke! When we carry his light and easy burden and live in his fullness, then we have freedom from those things that once held us!

Jesus,

In this day and age we are so far removed from some of the agricultural imagery in the Bible, it’s hard to always understand what you are trying to tell us. Give us a hunger for studying your Word and going deeply into the meanings you have for us. Then show us how to apply those things to our own lives. We crave your rest and peace for our souls. Show us places where we are carrying spiritual, mental, emotional or physical “yokes” of this world. Help us to desire you, to worship you, and to allow you to replace these earthly yokes with your light and easy burdens of Love and Grace. You said that your “yoke” was easy, so give us deep trust and abiding faith in you and your Word so that we take up your yoke and learn from you. We ask these things in Jesus’s name, AMEN.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly. (Matthew 11:29-30 MSG)