* Tethered To God (1)

For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. 

(Matthew 11:30)

 

Tether, as defined by the dictionary is a line to which someone or something is attached in order to restrict movement.  Likewise, it is also defined as a line to which someone or something is attached to for security.

 

When we look at this from a spiritual perspective, we definitely want to apply the second definition to our lives.  It is God's desire that every yoke of sin, self, and man; every weight in our life be broken. It’s His desire that we take His yoke upon us.  That we be tethered to Him for our security.

 

It is necessary if we are to see His vision for us and the world properly, embrace His sovereignty and most importantly agree with His plans regarding us.

 

Before I talk about the tethering that Jesus invites us to take hold of, let me just explain a little bit about the various yokes of bondage that needs to be destroyed in our life.  The various ways that what we are tethered to can restrict our movements toward God and in God.

 

We are all under a yoke of some type. We are either tethered to the yoke of bondage or we are under the yoke of God.

 

The yoke of bondage is three-fold. We can be in bondage to either sin, self, or man.

 

The yoke of sin:  In the bible, Egypt is representative of the yoke of sin. We must have the yoke of sin broken in our lives if we are to come under the yoke with Jesus. 

 

God broke the bond of unrighteousness for the children of Israel:

 

I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright. (Leviticus 26:13)

 

The yoke of self:  The yoke of bondage can be a bondage to self:  Apostle Paul makes it clear that being tethered to our flesh causes us to do things that if we’re tethered to God, we wouldn’t do.  Allowed our flesh to minister and manage us results in us wanting to do what is right, but end up doing what our moral instincts condemn.

 

For that which I do I allow not; for what I would, that I do not; but what I hate, that do I. (Romans 7:15)

 

Selfishness and pride are examples of the yoke of self; being enslaved to our self-nature, never or rarely being able to say no to our self-nature.  Allowing flesh to manage our actions

 

The yoke of man:  The yoke of man is bondage put on us by others:  

 

The yoke of man can include the bondage of guilt, tradition, denomination,

 

For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. (Matthew 23:4)

 

or impossible standards of behavior imposed by others of the world.

 

The three-fold yoke of bondage of sin, self, and man speaks of imposed labor, heaviness, and restlessness.  Laden down by these various yokes make it impossible to take Jesus’ yoke.  He’s already told us we can’t serve two masters.  One will be underserved and we know that God requires our all. 

 

The good news is that God has the power to break every tether that restricts us in fulfilling our God-given purpose.

 

In one Old Testament account, Israel was surrounded by the enemy army of the Assyrians. God spoke to Israel and declared:

 

The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: Then shall His yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. (Isaiah 14:24-25)

 

God’s plan was to break the yoke from off the neck of Israel. But His purpose extended beyond Israel to the nations of the world:  

 

This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: And this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. (Isaiah 14:26)

 

His purpose was that the yoke of bondage be broken first from the neck of the Israelites and then off the nations of the world.

 

A few chapters later it is recorded that:  

 

The angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses. (Isaiah 37:36)

 

Just as God did it then, He can do the same today!  We must allow God to do the work.  God wants every yoke in our life to become as a dead corpse. He wants the sinful yoke destroyed in order to bring us under the yoke with Him.  It is only through the power of God that we become untethered to the yokes of bondage.  Know this:

 

√        It will not be destroyed by smooth talking, snazzy preaching. It will not be destroyed by educational degrees.

 

√        It will not be destroyed through organizations or Denominations, sects, cultural beliefs or traditions.

 

√        But, it can be destroyed by the anointing of the Holy Spirit which is the power of God.

 

. . . and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. (Isaiah 10:27)

 

But, just like with the Israelites, God’s purpose for breaking the yoke extends beyond our life.  He wants the yoke of bondage destroyed in our life to enable us to fulfill the vision of breaking the yoke from the world:

 

This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: And this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.  For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? (Isaiah 14:26-27)

 

God wants us to:

 

. . . to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?  Isaiah 58:6

 

Yokes are broken for a purpose.  The results of the breaking of the yoke of bondage are:

 

®          We will know the voice of God. We can call on Him and He will respond, "Here I am.” (Verse 9)

®  We will be successful in the fulfillment of our vision. Our light will rise in obscurity which speaks of success. (Verse 10)

®  The Lord will guide us continually. (Verse 11)

®  He will be our provision. (Verse 11)

®  We’ll be reproductive.   We’ll be like a watered garden which is fruitful. And those we produce in the spirit world will be reproductive. They will rise up to rebuild the old structures on the right foundation.  (Verses 11-12)

 

This is what the bible says regarding the broken yoke:

 

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say Here I am...   Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day; And the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.  (Isaiah 58:9-12)

 

God promised Israel in the natural world:

 

And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke . . .   (Ezekiel 34:27)

 

The same is true in the spirit world. The breaking of the yoke results in spiritual productivity.

 

The old way; the way we try to do things in our own strength is inadequate, broken, and empty. The ‘old’ refers to how the old man handles life.  The ‘new’ refers to God’s way.  The old way can’t accommodate the abundant harvest. The old yokes of tradition, denomination, self-effort, and unconcern have to be broken. New strategies based on the original foundation are necessary to bridge the gap between sinful man and a righteous God. The vision will only be fulfilled by men and women who have experienced the anointing or the infilling of the Holy Spirit – without the Holy Spirit, we are just beings with good intentions and mostly unsuccessful efforts. 

 

So how do we break the yoke so that we can become what God has called us to be?

The bible tells us:  Let go of every weight and sin yoke that tethers us and grab hold of the yoke that Jesus offers us.  He says:

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

- to be continued . . .

Biblical Studies