WE ARE IN A SEASON OF REST AND REPENTANCE. REST & REPENTANCE THEY SOUND CONTRARY TO EACH OTHER, DON'T THEY? BUT THEY AREN'T! LET ME SHOW YOU WHY. SINCE JANUARY, THE VERSES FOUND IN MATTHEW 11:28-30 HAVE BEEN CIRCULATING THROUGH MY SOUL EVERY DAY: "COME TO ME, ALL 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.” OVER THE LAST WEEK, HOLY SPIRIT HAS BEEN NUDGING ME TO READ THE WHOLE CHAPTER, AND NOT JUST VERSES 28-30! THREE DAYS AGO I READ ALL OF CHAPTER 11, AND MY SPIRITUAL EYES WERE OPENED TO THE CONTEXT IN WHICH JESUS GAVE THESE COMFORTING WORDS. THE REST JESUS PROMISES IS TIED TO PURE AND REPENTANT HEARTS! VERSES 18 AND 19 DESCRIBE HOW THE PEOPLE IN THE TOWNS WHERE JESUS WAS PREACHING AND DOING MIRACLES WERE DENYING HIM. THEY WERE CALLING JOHN THE BAPTIST A DEMON-POSSESSED MAN (NOT TOO DIFFERENT THAN THEY WAY THE WORLD "AND THE BODY OF CHRIST" VIEWS THOSE WITH THOSE WITH CURRENT DAY PROPHETIC ASSIGNMENTS), AND THEY WERE CALLING JESUS A DRUNKARD AND FRIEND OF SINNERS! VERSES 20 TO 24 STATE THAT JESUS BEGAN TO DENOUNCE THE CITIES OF OLD (CHORAZIN, BETHSAIDA, TYRE, SIDON AND SODOM) WHERE MOST OF HIS MIGHTY WORKS HAD BEEN DONE (YES... PART OF THE LORD'S MIGHTY WORKS ARE FOR DESTRUCTION). WHY? HE SAYS, "BECAUSE THEY DID NOT REPENT." JESUS COMPARES THESE HORRIFIC OLD TESTAMENT CITIES TO CAPERNAUM AND SAYS, "I TELL YOU THAT IT WILL BE MORE TOLERABLE ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT FOR THE LAND OF SODOM THAN FOR YOU.” WOW! THE CITIES OF OLD DID NOT HAVE JESUS IN THE FLESH. THEY ONLY HAD PROPHETS WHO SPOKE THE WORD OF GOD. BUT CAPERNAUM HAD GOD IN THE FLESH STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM! JESUS WAS PERFORMING MIRACLES, AND SPEAKING SCRIPTURE AND REVELATION FLUENTLY. YET, THEY DENIED HIM! INSTEAD OF ARGUING WITH THEM, OR TRYING TO PROVE HIS POINT, JESUS RESPONDED BY TELLING THEM THAT THEY WILL HAVE IT WORSE ON JUDGMENT DAY THAN SODOM! JESUS THEN BEGINS TO THANK FATHER GOD FOR HIDING WHO HE IS FROM THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE WISE IN THEIR OWN EYES (PRIDEFUL). HE THANKS FATHER FOR GIVING REVELATION TO THE LITTLE CHILDREN AND THEN SAYS, "ALL THINGS HAVE BEEN HANDED OVER TO ME BY MY FATHER, AND NO ONE KNOWS THE SON EXCEPT THE FATHER, AND NO ONE KNOWS THE FATHER EXCEPT THE SON AND ANYONE TO WHOM THE SON CHOOSES TO REVEAL HIM." MATTHEW 11:25-27 DID YOU HEAR THAT? "ANYONE TO WHOM THE SON CHOOSES TO REVEAL HIM" JESUS DECIDES HOW MUCH REVELATION WE RECEIVE! HE KNOWS OUR HEARTS, AND I BELIEVE THAT IS WHY HE SAYS, “THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH." MATTHEW 5:5 IT’S NOT UNTIL THIS POINT THAT JESUS SAYS THE BEAUTIFUL COMFORTING WORDS FOUND IN MATTHEW 11:28-30. "COME TO ME, ALL 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 MORNING THE LORD REVEALED MORE! UPON WAKING I HEARD HIM SAY, “PUT MY WORDS IN YOUR HEART AND WEAR THEM LIKE A NECKLACE. FOR MY YOKE IS EASY AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT.” THANK YOU JESUS FOR HELPING US TO TEAR OFF THE YOKE OF THE ENEMY. WE CAST DOWN ALL IMAGINATIONS AND SIGNS OF SORCERY! WE GIVE YOU THE CARES OF THIS WORLD AND WE CAST OFF ALL FORMS OF DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY! FOR IT IS WRITTEN, "WHEN WE CONFESS WITH OUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS LORD, AND BELIEVE IN OUR HEART THAT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, WE ARE SAVED! " ROMANS 10:9 AMEN 🙏🏻🔥❤️ WE ARE IN A SEASON OF REPENTANCE & REST! DO NOT BE SO PRIDEFUL THAT YOU THINK THERE IS NOTHING TO BE REPENTANT ABOUT FOR THERE IS MUCH! AND WHEN YOU REPENT, BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD! REST IN CONFIDENT ASSURANCE THAT HE HAS HEARD YOUR PRAYER AND IS EAGER AND WILLING TO FORGIVE! HE BLOTS OUT OUR SIN AS FAR AS THE EAST IS TO THE WEST AND HE REMEMBERS THEM NO MORE! YET, WE ARE TO STAND AS INTERCESSORS FOR THE LOST, LONELY AND BROKEN-HEARTED. THE POSTURE OF HEART ON THE GROUND IS NEVER OVER! WE ARE ALWAYS TO REMEMBER WHERE WE ARE AND WHERE GOD IS! DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THIS FOR THIS IS WHERE PRIDE STEMS FROM! Confirmation of this prophetic word came when a minister reached out to me to share that rest and repentance was spoken by the prophet Isaiah (30:15) when addressing a rebellious and obstinate nation. “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it."
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