1 John 5<\/p>\n
Today John again wants us to understand what it means to love God and to love one another.\u00a0 We love God by keeping His commandments.\u00a0 John adds that His commandments are not grievous; they are not heavy and burdensome.\u00a0 God\u2019s commandments are\u00a0not burdensome and hard for people who have overcome the world through the Spirit of God.\u00a0 God\u2019s commandments are hard when we want to hold on to the world and live in the flesh and not in the Spirit of God.\u00a0 When we walk in the Christ, and\u00a0we allow\u00a0Christ\u00a0to do the work,\u00a0keeping His commandments are natural and\u00a0preferred.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew 11:\u00a028\u00a0<\/sup>Come unto me, all\u00a0ye<\/i>\u00a0that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a029<\/sup>Take\u00a0my\u00a0yoke\u00a0upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a030<\/sup>For my yoke\u00a0is<\/i>\u00a0easy, and my burden is light.<\/p>\n There should be rest in Jesus.\u00a0 Why do we not find rest?\u00a0 Two reasons\u00a0are given here in 1 John and in Matthew; first we do not learn of Him or\u00a0we have not kept\u00a0His commandments that we have learned.\u00a0 We are not doers of the Word as James puts it.\u00a0 Secondly we do not find rest because we are not in the yoke of God.\u00a0 The yoke is made for two animals not one.\u00a0 It tied the two together so the work was easier for both.\u00a0 When one person has a yoke on that is built for two, especially when the second person is Christ, the yoke becomes heavy and hard.\u00a0 So find your rest by listening to God and going the ways of God.<\/p>\n Confidence comes from working with Christ.\u00a0 And we know God will give us anything we ask if we are working for Him, and with Him.\u00a0 When we have set ourselves free, (really when we have allowed the Spirit to set us free) from the things of this world and the things of the flesh we find supernatural power in and through prayer.\u00a0 Our prayers will change everything and move mountains.<\/p>\n The chapter ends with Christ giving us truth and understanding.\u00a0 Walk in that truth and keep yourself from idols.\u00a0 Idols are anything you put before God.<\/p>\n What an awesome little book!\u00a0 The key to power and victory can be found by implementing the truths found in 1 John.\u00a0 If you find that you have time, reread it and allow the truths to consume you.<\/p>\n This weekend we will read 2 John as many times as we can.\u00a0 Read and reread the book meditating on what God is trying to communicate to us.\u00a0 Ask the Spirit to show you truth and allow your Spirit to feed on this amazing spiritual food.<\/p>\n Share how the reading is going as well as any questions or concerns with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":1167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1050,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions\/1050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbcnewhaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}