Even
if Gods words feel weighty sometimes, it's purpose is light. I have
learned that when Gods words feel heavy to us, most of the time it is
because our will goes cross grain against Gods will. Something in our
heart that still resist Him. But when we do surrender and finally submit
to God, what was before weighty to us becomes doable and light, Even A Great Joy.
Even
the word and will of God about the Cross in the garden of his despair,
was for awhile heavy and hard for Jesus to submit himself to carry. He
cried out under the weight of it's heaviness that it might be lifted
from him. Take this cup from me, Jesus prayed. That word of His Cross
and Gods will was not altered for Jesus and he had to submit and surrender his heart
and self to it. He had to conform. He prayed earnestly, and what was in him that resisted the Cross was overcome and finally he was strengthened
upward to bare it, and once that inner submission was obtained (but not
without a fight and prayer) the bible said the Cross became a joy for
Him. That was a major grace achievement breakthrough....
Hebrews 12:1-2)
vs 1) Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside EVERY WEIGHT (That which is in us that
resist Gods will) and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us
run with patience the race (the Call to submit and to serve God in
Christ) that is set before us. 2) Looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of out faith; WHO FOR THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM ENDURED
THE CROSS, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God.....The greater the demand on us, the greater Gods will is for us measures the throne of reward if we submit. Jesus submitted Himself to be the Savior by the highest demand of the Cross and God highly rewarded Him with an exaltation and the Throne of God that is forever far above all. He received the oil of gladness above his fellows. (Hebrews 1:8-13)
Friends even if the perfect will of God for us is a Cross,
if we overcome our resistance to it thru strong tears and prayer and
reach the submission grace, even that cross God will give us
supernatural imparted joy about. That word, for the JOY that was set
before Jesus is a word that means GREAT EXCITEMENT, GREAT JOY, GREAT
GLADNESS.......At the Lords first steps into that garden of submission
it was not that way (REMEMBER). Under the weight of just the thoughts of the will
of God concerning the Cross, it filled Jesus with so much weighty
anxiety and pressure that he began to pour drops of sweat mixed with
blood in the garden thru the Lambs veins under the weight of the Cross thru the warfare that was going on in his mind. It's mental weight was so heavy and pressurizing that in the
garden Jesus began right there the first phases of the shedding of the
blood of the New Covenant, and of our atonement. But after much prayer,
God in His Faithfulness broke thru and sent an angel. Jesus was
supernaturally strengthened for the Crosses task once he finally fully
submitted. What was before heavy, God turned into light and doable in
Christ, both in his mind and in His Body. He laid aside the weight of
resisting the Cross and when he finally did, suddenly we
read, "Who for the JOY (The excitement & great gladness) that was
set before him endured the Cross......
Friends, there is a Great
Excitement and Joy awaiting us that we at present know not of, not
until we are fully surrendered and submitted to Gods will, and to our
heavenly calling and to the race God has set before us....But once we
really do, we will find that life and a great joy, and a presence of the
Lord that the world knows not of, and that we had not yet tasted
......Whatever is in us that is resisting God let us enter our own
garden of submission and thru prayer overcome.....Jesus rose up in his prayer victory and in the
imparted strength and said, Peter, the cup that My Father has given me
to drink, shall I not drink it? He was no longer resisting. He was now the submitted and surrendered Lamb...Jesus was transformed within himself,
in the garden of his submission thru serious prayer.....
The world and Satan is everyday wrestling with us to keep us out of the garden of submission. Everyday he speaks to us his besetting speeches. He whispers to the mind, but LOOK at the world. What will they think of you? You don't have that kind of time. It is more fun in this life to do WHAT YOU WILL and not what God wants...Nobody wants to do that. Nobody is in to that. That's boring. Gods will is to great for you. You can't do it. You have cars to wash. Meals to cook. A funeral to go to. Kids got ball games. Grass needs cutting. Forgive? No way. Look what they did to you? Get Even......On and on the speeches keep coming at us. It is time to RESIST THE DEVIL AND BE THE SUBMITTED TO GOD....(James 4:6-10)
Church, in
Christ we are encompassed about with a beautiful garden and a glorious
cloud of heavenly glory and witnesses every day, but until we are living the life
of submission and surrender to Christ Lordship (for real), we will
continue to feel that strange constant agitating heaviness and not the
Joy God has for those who every day mean the words, Father, not my will
be done but Thine (Yours)........deno......please share freely.
