Rest for Our Souls

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." ~ Matthew 11:28-29

Has your soul found rest?

It's one thing for our bodies to rest. It's quite another thing to find rest for our souls.

How do we find this rest?

Well, this passage of scripture tells us we can only find it in Jesus by exchanging our burdens for His yoke. He says by making this exchange, we can walk lighter and freer in our souls.

This is the type of freedom that God brings. Rest, peaceful, contentment, security. If we're not experiencing this today, perhaps we need to revisit this scripture. Perhaps we're taking on more than God wants us to bear.

God bless,

J.W.

Free Will to Choose

 

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” ~ Joshua 24:15

The concept of free will is all throughout the Bible. Here, God instructs us to choose who we will serve. 

Similarly, Revelation 3:20 says that Jesus stands at the door and knocks waiting to be let in. We then have to choose to let him in.

The key in serving God is not about feelings or emotion. It's about making daily choices to do so.

May God bless you today fam.

- J.W.

Train Up A Child (Part 7)

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” - John 8:32

Many people misquote John 8:32 and/or take it out of context. Most often, you hear people say "and the truth shall set you free" and that's it. But this scripture reveals much more than just that.

If we look at John 8:32 in context, we see in the preceding verse that Jesus talks about people becoming His disciples. A close reading of John 8:31-32 reveals that it's only after becoming a disciple of Jesus that one is exposed to the truth. Exposure to the truth then makes us free.

In other words, there's a whole process to attain freedom. Simple truth doesn't make people free. It's by becoming disciples of Jesus that we come to know the truth and become free.

In other words, Jesus instructs us to become disciples (Matthew 16:24) - that is, to become students or "studiers" of His Word. He tells us to train by abiding in it (John 8:31).

And just like any trainer, He says we can't get the results without going through the process.

So, the real question is, if you truly want to be free, are you willing to go through the process to get there?

How are you training today?

God bless,
J.W.

Independence Day

This Independence Day, I celebrated more than just America's freedom from British colonialism.

In many ways, for me, as an African-American, the Fourth of July always comes with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I love being an American and truly believe it's the greatest country on earth. On the other hand, I know this day doesn't truly represent freedom for my people.

But there WAS something to celebrate this past weekend.

The Bible says in Romans 6:6-7: "for we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been freed from sin."

See, because of what Christ did for us on the cross, we are now free from the chains of bondage called sin. Therefore, Jesus promised us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10).

So, as you go throughout the rest of your days, rejoice in the fact through Christ you can experience true liberty and freedom. That's what life is all about.

God bless,
J.W.