Some of the most comforting verses to me that Jesus said was Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to Me, all you who are weary & burdened & I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you & learn from Me; for I am gentle & humble in heart & you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear & my load is not hard to carry."
When we carry our own yoke & plow in life, it can be very lonesome & difficult. When we COME TO JESUS, He is there. He sees the difficulties each person faces in life & desires to help us find REST for our souls. To find that we must yoke up WITH JESUS. Now the burden is SHARED with Him. Now I can go each day, side by side with our Lord and LEARN from Him. A new ox or plow animal is often harnessed in with a mature animal.
At first the younger, weaker one fights the yoke but soon learns to work with the experienced animal which pulls the weight of the yoke & is the much stronger one. Suddenly the rows become straighter & easier to plow. The soil gets broken up & prepared to make a good crop. Suddenly I notice the sunshine & what is going on around me & my neighbors, who I can smile & wave at & help them if they need it. I turn to the Lord, smile & say THANK YOU! I can't wait until tomorrow! Suddenly it dawns on us: I am experiencing the peace of God in my life! Hallelujah!
Make it a habit in your life to start each day WITH Jesus in a devotional time. Take your Bible & work through it a little each day, seeking to hear from the Lord. (You can read a Proverb a day to gain wisdom; read 5 Psalms to gain a heart for God & a chapter a day in the New Testament, to learn how to abide in what Jesus taught.) Commit your life & day to Him & YOKE UP with Jesus. Now as you go through the day, He is there to teach you how to walk in step with Him & You will learn from Him. Keep a running conversation with the Lord throughout the day. Start each day fresh because we can only live one day at a time. I Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares for you."
Three prayers, confessions that we all say every week in our church fellowship is this:
Our confession & being cleansed by the blood of the precious Lamb of God:
Oh most merciful God, we have sinned against you by thought, word & deed, by the things we have done & by the things we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ have mercy on us. Forgive us, strengthen us & renew us, so that we may delight in Your will & walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Holy Name, Amen
I John 1:3ff What we have seen & heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us & indeed our fellowship is with the Father, & with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. This is the message we have heard from Him & announce to you, that God is Light & in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him & yet walk in the darkness, we lie & do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another & the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful & righteous to forgive us our sins & to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It is wonderful to start each day clean before God & others. It is like taking a hot bath or shower & getting clean & feeling refreshed, ready for the day. He does indeed forgive & cleanses us. Don't let the devil accuse you & seek to burden you with guilt. God keeps His promises! Believe Him!
The Apostle's Creed: confessing our Christian faith & a reminder of what I believe in & proclaim to others, that they might repent & believe also & enter into the fellowship with the Lord & with other believers.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven & earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit & was born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died & was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven & is seated at the right hand of the Father & will come again to judge the living & the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body & the life everlasting. Amen.
And sometime during the day, I can remind myself to pray in a similar fashion to how the Lord taught His disciples to pray. You can even sing it if you know a tune to it.
Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us THIS DAY our daily bread & forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom & the glory & the power, forever & ever, Amen!
I will be praying that you will find a Bible believing & Bible teaching church fellowship where the Christians there love one another & serve one another & their community, growing in their faith.
