Abide in Christ: Second Day

Abide in Christ

by Andrew Murray

And ye shall find Rest to your Souls

Mat. 11:28-29 "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."

How do we find rest for our souls?  What is the next step in abiding?

"He now not only says, 'Come unto me,' but 'Take my yoke upon you and learn of me;' become my scholars, yeild yourselves to my training, submit in all things to my will, let your whole life be one with mine - in other words, abide in me."

"...enteire surrender to Jesus is the secret of perfect rest."

"taking and bearing [Christ's yoke]...appeared to them [Christians] to require such a strain of effort and such an amount of goodness as to be altogether beyond their reach."

"...the yoke gives the rest, because the moment the soul yeilds itself to obey, the Lord Himself gives the strength and joy to do it."

On this second day:
Abiding means to surrender. "A full surrender is to obey as well as to trust, to trust as well as to obey." 

Trust and obey

For there is no other way

To be happy in Jesus

But to trust and obey

Sometimes we put emphasis on either the "trust" or the "obey" part.  But full surrender is BOTH. Faith and obedience go hand-in-hand.  To obey Christ is to place our trust in Him.  To have faith in Christ is to obey Him.  We must learn from Christ.  It is not a strain to take His yoke - "it is easy" - surrendering, in it's very meaning is a "giving up" attitude.  We do not strive to obey.  When we are close to the heart of Jesus, trusting Him to keep us and teach us, we will not struggle with life.  Think of those that you know that seem to be at peace all the time.  I am not talking about the plastic-smiley people, but the people that you get to know and see that within them, they have such a peace about things.  They seem not to worry.  They seem to have real joy deep inside.  They are resting.  They trust that the Maker of the heavens will take care of every situation.  They are abiding.

Lord, I desire to live close to Your heart today.  I fully surrender my day to You.  Guide and teach me today.  I am under on Your yoke.  Amen.

check it out:
"Abide in Christ" by Andrew Murray