Rest for Your Soul Tethered to Jesus

by Steven Gledhill for FREEdom from MEdom Project

Are you feeling a sense of unrest burdened by hardship? Are you tangled up in circumstances and relationships where you’re doing all of the heavy lifting? Do you feel you are going it alone, isolated in your struggle? Is the weight of it all too much to bear?

The Bible includes you in the group that are heavy laden; laden meaning burdened. Jesus promised that all who are heavy laden, when tethered—intricately linked—to him can experience rest for their souls as he lightens the burden. All it entails is a relationship with Jesus that he would love to have with you since he loves you so much that he would lay down his life for you.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18 (NLT)

What if it didn’t have to be like that, crushed under the weight of a broken heart? What if there is help for the helpless and hope for the hopeless?

What if the sovereign authority over all things in the universe, globally upon the earth, and among the lives of all people, could (and would) lighten the weight of the burden of the hardship you carry, and restore you to hope having empowered you beyond anything you are capable of?

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

The New Testament speaks to the reality that Jesus, as God, humbled himself to the point of becoming fully human, entirely vulnerable to the plight of the human condition. Jesus was subject to all of the temptation common to the human experience, yet because he depended entirely on his father in heaven, whom he publicly referred to as God, he experienced everything one can experience, including all elements of temptation, without sinning. I will attempt to explain how he did that since it is that same dependence on Jesus that empowers us in our daily experience.

Jesus would eventually be executed to death on a cross. He would experience hell for all mankind for three days and nights (the experience would be eternal until being brought out), and then be raised by God back to life (commonly known as the resurrection), fully restored as a human being with extraordinary ability and empowerment.

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:4-16 (NLT)

Jesus, the Bible says, would be elevated to the throne he once occupied, now fully God while fully man. It is known to be the throne of grace, the unearned favor of God. Jesus, in a place of sovereign authority over everything and everyone still recognizes the totality of the human condition. He knows us and understands our experience, including the full weight of pain and suffering that leads to overwhelming struggle. We have been told that we can confidently approach Jesus experience God’s favor when we need it most.

While this may not be simple to comprehend, it is the setting and context for everything written here. So, let’s back up a bit.

The Burden Jesus Carried Alone

While on earth in the flesh as a human being, Jesus was about to be arrested for charges related to his claim that he was the son of God, the one chosen to reconcile people into relationship with God as their chosen Savior and ultimately gracious king. We know and understand today that Jesus was speaking from an eternal perspective. However, from critics to those closest to him, the context of the words and sayings of Jesus were lost on them.

Judas, a devout follower of Jesus, may have betrayed Jesus for the purpose of catalyzing a military revolution that would advance Jesus overthrowing the authority of the Roman empire. Judas seemed to believe that his action of coercing a confrontation between Jesus and Roman soldiers would result in a successful coup. Jesus would have divine power over the Roman army in the way he had the power to overcome wind with words to calm a storm, to walk on water, to restore sight to the blind, to heal the lame, and raise the dead to life. Judas, it would seem, hoped that Jesus would then rule as the king of the Jewish people, and everyone else for that matter. Jesus would be a righteous king installing a system of justice that is “fair” while partial to the cause of Jews, establishing the stately rule of Israel having been restored as a nation. It is my opinion as to why Judas betrayed his friend and teacher.

But that is not all what Jesus had in mind.

Jesus would surrender to the Jewish authority sanctioned by the Roman Empire, then be charged with blasphemy, and perhaps more than that, conspiring to overthrow the government. There was no evidence for any of it, and Jesus, an innocent man, was convicted and sentenced by a mob, and then executed by crucifixion. He was publicly ridiculed and scorned, suffering horrific torturous beatings before being nailed to a cross to die. Jesus, entirely innocent of sin, would take upon himself the full weight of sin for all humankind. It would be an unimaginable experience of suffering. Knowing what was coming, Jesus said to his closest friends:

Jesus told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death.” Matthew 26:38 (NLT)

When attempting to convey to his closest followers, his friends, what his death experience would resemble, Jesus said to them…

“For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.” Matthew 12:40 (NLT)

There may be debate about what Jesus meant, saying that he would experience being in the heart of the earth, but whatever he meant, I believe Jesus experienced overwhelming dread beyond crucifixion. Jesus had been beaten and hung nailed to a cross for a number of hours before feeling utter separation from his Father, God. It seems that Jesus anticipated that suffering condemnation for sin would be his most godless experience. His lowest point.

Jesus pleaded with God that there might be another way.

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Matthew 26:39 (NLT)

Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” Matthew 26:42 (NLT)

So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. Matthew 26:44 (NLT)

Jesus experienced in his body, mind, and spirit, what it meant to be heavy laden. There was no rest for his soul, not even in death. Jesus experienced immeasurable suffering for the sin of everyone who has ever lived beyond the beatings, ridicule, and crucifixion. I do think that for three days, Jesus experienced hell for each one of us. I think that Jesus experienced in his body, soul, spirit, and mind, the guilt, shame, and condemnation, for even the worst of sinners. Jesus could have even suffered emotionally the regret and remorse for the even worst of sinners, which would have been spiritual and psychological torture as his body lay still in the tomb. In other words, in Jesus, our sin was condemned to hell.

(Note: this may not be popular among theologians in attempting to comprehend the insufferable burden Jesus carried as his physical body laid in the tomb, but I don’t care. It’s what I believe more than not.)

After three days, Jesus would be resurrected by God from death into new life. Today, we have access to relationship with Jesus, the Son of God, our sovereign king. It is in relationship with Jesus that we may experience overwhelmingly powerful support from the one who knows what it means to be isolated by the burden of the ultimate hardship, having to carry the weight of it all. Jesus, however, prevailed over everything thrown at him. Only because God is sovereign, and the plan of victory through humility and surrender to the plan and purpose of God was achieved.

Jesus did what he did to save us all from the fate of hell, whatever hell may be here on earth, and eternally speaking, by condemning sin to eternal hell and setting us free from it. The only condition is relationship with Jesus. A life with Jesus is the bright light at the end of the tunnel. The issue for you and me is that we are still making our way through the tunnel of life, which can feel quite dark and isolating at times. Heaven may the light at the end of the tunnel, but what about between now and then, here and there?

Why is Jesus central to freedom from all that produces discomfort? Why is relationship with Jesus the only way to access to God?

Jesus was asked by one of his followers, (I am paraphrasing) “We have no idea where God is,. so how can we know the way?”

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father (God) except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who God is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”” 

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father (God), and we will be satisfied.”

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen God!” John 14:6-9 (NLT)

Those are bold words from Jesus. The kind of words that got him in trouble in a deeply religious culture with those in authority with the power to arrest and charge Jesus as being a false prophet. The Jewish community was desperate for the coming of their prophesied Messiah (chosen leader) who would deliver them from the oppression of the ruling Roman Empire. Until that happened, they did not want anyone upsetting the life they had by making it worse. Being burdened by misery was familiar; comfortable in a way.

Jesus arrived on the scene declaring that he is the prophesied Messiah. While very few believed initially, Jesus was doing things that could not be explained away as witchcraft or sorcery. People were being healed repeatedly. Their experiences were genuine and life-changing.

The number of people that believed Jesus to be special was accelerating. Belief in Jesus as being sent by God, the chosen Messiah, was growing at a rapid pace. However, when Jesus declares, “When you have seen me, you have seen God,” and, “No one comes to God except through me,” he is not laying out a condition, or an ultimatum, Jesus is granting us a gracious invitation to gain access to God through relationship with him.

Come to Me and You Will Find Rest

What if you could be assured that you have a connection to God while navigating your way through the tunnel? What if in relationship with Jesus you had an advocate with full access to God through the darkest times and places in your life? What if Jesus has willfully engaged in the struggle with you, connected to you in a way that helps you while carrying the load that burdens you? What if relationship with Jesus is not only your best option, it is your only option?

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV)

Jesus was God made flesh as a human being during a time when those with whom he lived among were burdened under the oppression of the Roman Empire. The Jewish people were a nation without statehood. They dwelled in a land that today is Israel, laden by the yoke of Roman oppression that for generations was simply too much to bear.

There are so many people today in the world under intense oppression. Whether it be from governing authorities, disabled by disease, suffering with mental illness, persevering through trauma, enduring relationship dysfunction, overcome by regret and shame, surviving loss and grief, and/or overwhelmed by anxiety, stress, and fear. It is all too much to bear. To be yoked with the burden of oppressive circumstances is having to carry the full weight of it all. When discouraged, helpless, and hopeless, what chance do you have?

Speaking to a crowd of Jews and Gentiles alike, Jesus addressed the very purpose of his ministry, revealing the mysteries of God beyond their understanding. Jesus came to give hope to the hopeless. Some recognized Jesus as the Messiah, meaning the one chosen to save them. Jesus issued the invitation, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you… You will find rest for your souls.”

What does it mean when Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you”?

The word yoke is often linked to what has been referred to as the yoke of slavery and/or bondage. It was an arched device worn around the neck that kept slaves from attempting to escape and free themselves. Consider how this is still happening in the world today because of poverty and oppression, human trafficking, mental health disorders, physical illness and disability, depression, despair, and suicidality, and the rest of inescapable calamity pervading throughout the human experience.

The following are meanings of yoke is defined by Merriam-Webster as:

• a: a wooden bar or frame by which two draft animals (such as oxen) are joined at the heads or necks for working together
• c: a frame fitted to a person’s shoulders to carry a load in two equal portions
• g: a clamp or similar piece that embraces two parts to hold or unite them in position
• transitive verb: to be joined or linked

The idea of the yoke has a history of being devised for good, as well as for evil (i.e., controlling slaves and prisoners). The Greek Translation for yoke is zugos, meaning: “the balance of scales” that would occur when the yoke was applied to two oxen pulling the device that would loosen the earth in a field to cultivate the soil to plant seed for a harvest.

What would it mean to be tethered to Jesus, particularly in the context of taking his yoke upon you?

The word tether is a word that’s meaning may suggest being tied to something in order to restrict movement. A dog is tethered to something by a leash or chain. However, in the context of a relationship, to be tethered to someone is typically a good thing.

“It implies some sort of agreement to form a mutual bond of the kind that is essential for a secure, functioning relationship. However, I would also point out that a tether allows you the freedom to engage in your own activities, and then to always return to your partner for sharing and support.” ––Stan Tatkin, PsyD, for Psychology Today (2015)

My inspiration for Equally Yoked Tethered to Jesus was an excerpt I read from the Berean author, Ronny H. Graham titled, Take My Yoke Upon You. I will share my own insights gleaned from Mr. Graham’s article, which upon some additional study of my own, was revelating to me.

In this life, the weight of the burden each one of us carries varies according to our life experiences. It is in the context of our individual life experience that we our laden—burdened—by hardship. What burdens me might pale in contrast to the burdens carried by so many coming from diverse oppressive cultures. What might be considered norms in particular settings in communities and households can produce acute levels of trauma, anxiety, stress, and fear that is passed down generationally.

Measuring the Weight of the Burden

I have worked with adolescents and children in psychiatric settings in despair (and typically suicidal) who live in highly maladaptive, toxic, dysfunctional family dynamics. Being bullied physically and emotionally by parents and siblings is commonplace to the point that it is normal to them. They expect the bullying to permeate into the rest of their pathetic lives.

Diversity in one’s culture may be ethnic than lead to significant challenges due to racial profiling by law enforcement, but also racial profiling in academic settings, social and community structures and settings where prejudice leads to bullying and division. Perhaps the cultural diversity has more to do with socioeconomic challenges due to poverty that is likelier to be divisive and oppressive than racial and ethnic oppression. Privilege is a reality that is felt more when the matter is more about those who have sufficient resources as opposed to those who don’t.

Why making this point is necessary is that poverty is a direct link to oppression. Impoverished, oppressed people carry the burden of their hardship and may be more easily lured by the temptation to extend their reach for whatever remedy soothes their discomfort. When the remedy is risky and proven harmful the consequence is pain and suffering.

I have counseled incarcerated men who in group settings have been very open with their peers in prison about the torture they experienced as young children in their homes by family. Many would find solace and refuge turning to the streets and become gang affiliated while in preadolescence as they grew into adolescence and young adults. They had been accepted by their new “family” and felt a strong sense of belonging and community. From there, they were groomed into everything that goes with that.

In the population I work in professionally today, are men and women who grew up in inner city streets oppressed in poverty and doing whatever it takes to survive. But, it is not enough to survive. They want more. They have lived through their trauma, but do not recognize their early experiences as traumatic until they have hit bottom and are attempting to climb out.

Many who have experienced trauma from abuse, in turn, inflict traumatic acts against others to one degree or another. There is a great deal of shame connected to it. The remedy for shame is all too often alcohol and drug use and other addictive behaviors that add to their shame stuck in the cycle of maladaptive thinking and behavior.

I don’t know the full weight of the burden I have carried in life compared to the rest of you reading this. I suppose it depends on how one measures the weight of what it means to be heavy laden. What you carry from your life experience and what I or anyone else carries covers a very broad spectrum.

Much of the burden we carry is stored in our minds. The cumulative impact of life experiences effects us all to one degree or another. Our brains commit it all to memory. When there is a history of pain and suffering from past experiences, new painful experience tend to pile on to the misery and anguish buried at various depths. It seems that fresh experiences can bring it all up again.

“Expectation is the root of all heartache.” —public domain

We have all been disappointed by failed expectations, whether they be expectations we had of others, beginning with parents, to expectations we have had for ourselves, or failing to meet the expectations others have had of us. Whatever it is, it leaves an indelible, enduring impression on our minds for all time.

Disappointment occurs when what we have anticipated does not meet our level of expectation. People who have had little while growing up, whether it be material possessions  or a lack of love and support may be grateful when they receive more than they expected. They also may be willing to settle for less than what is essential for their growth and well-being and accept more of what diminishes them more. As someone’s values are distorted and diminished, there is typically more harm done through deception, exploitation, and oppression until feeling that much more devalued and discouraged.

Trauma will do this, of course. Victims of trauma tend to blame themselves for the horrific event beyond their control and ability to stop the event as it occurred. They tend to shame themselves and may easily allow themselves to be shamed by others as though they somehow in some way deserved what was inflicted upon them. They typically struggle to trust people and circumstances in their lives as though the traumatic event is destined to repeat itself. Burdened by a history of unshakable trauma is one way to measure ‘heavy’ when considering what it is to be heavy laden.

Life events and circumstances that lead to anxiety, worry, fear, and stress as they accumulate, take on a greater degree of risk and imposed threat. Anxiety tends to be tethered to what we cannot control, and stress tends to be the weight of the anxiety we carry. The heavier the weight of the anxiety, the greater the burden of our stress. The heavier the burden, the more stressful it is to navigate our way through it.

Distress is pain or suffering affecting the body, a bodily part, or the mind, a state of danger or desperate need, subject to great strain or difficulties. Synonyms for distress are affliction, torment, anguish, and misery. Stress and distress are not necessarily the same but they are in the same family, if you will. All of the emotions and states of mind continuing to be addressed here add to the weight of the stress we carry.

Stress is defined as a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation. As you read on about discouragement, depression, despair, and addiction, you will come to understand (if you don’t already) that it all contributes to the weight of our stress, which can cause us to be physiologically and psychologically ill. Stress can hasten someone’s demise to the point of the body breaking down until it can no longer survive.

Discouragement is defined as being deprived of confidence and enthusiasm, hindered by disfavor, and dissuaded from pursuing or doing something. Experiencing repeated degrees of failure can lead to someone feeling severely discouraged. Relationship stress, dysfunction, and toxicity can leave someone under the weight of overwhelming discouragement. The relationship can be with a mate, family member, friend, someone in authority expressing disfavor academically, professionally, legally, or perhaps something else. Someone can be so discouraged to the point of lacking incentive, intention, and motivation. The attitude becomes one of, “Why try?”

Discouragement is the onset of someone feeling hopeless, worthless, and empty. It is the onset of the experience of these things that one sinks into depression. Someone depressed might express themselves as not feeling anything—numb. They feel as though they are drowning or suffocating.

Depression is defined as a state of sadness (sorrow) and low in mood. Depression is described as a mood disorder that is marked by varying degrees of sadness, despair, and loneliness and that is typically accompanied by inactivity, guilt, loss of concentration, social withdrawal, sleep disturbances, and sometimes suicidal tendencies. There is typically a lack of appetite for sustenance, but also loss of interest and/or pleasure accompanied by the absence of joy. Depressed people usually lack the will, incentive, motivation, and confidence to do, or even try to do, much of anything. In the depths of depression is despair.

Despair is the utter loss of hope and sense of dread. Despair is often so agonizing that suicidal thoughts (ideations) may escalate into a suicide attempt. Someone can experience a sense of despair when grieving the loss of a loved one. Despair can be realized when experience the loss of anything that is critically essential, such as the loss of livelihood, however that is experienced.

It is common for discouraged, distressed, and depressed people, in order to escape from under the weight of the hardship that is crushing them physically and psychologically, to turn to maladaptive (the inability to adjust to challenging circumstances and settings), toxic behavior in an effort to self-soothe and remedy such intense discomfort. In order to experience relief from immense pain and suffering, the use of alcohol and/or drugs typically becomes an “essential” plot to the story. The objective is to feel better than… (fill in the blank here.)

Addiction is defined as compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms. However, addiction is more than that. Addiction involves a strong inclination to do, use, or indulge in something repeatedly.

(all definitions published by Mirriam-Webster)

“We don’t always see things as they are, we see them as we are.” —public domain

While the objective of addictive, compulsive behavior is to relieve pain associated with a troubled mind, it actually causes additional problems and contributes to making existing problems worse, adding to the weight of the burden of so much pain and suffering. When addiction is referred to as a disease, or a disorder, it is because the rational part of the brain is impaired. Core values are distorted and beliefs twisted by the deception driven by the emotional center of the brain. Feelings betray what is known to be most reasonable, fueling irrational beliefs that drive impulsive thinking and at-risk behavior contrary to what people value most in life.

We carry the stress of our choices over the course of a lifetime. We are not only affected by our own choices, our choices affect others, and we are affected by the choices of others. So much of what we decide throughout our days assume some degree of risk. At risk decisions can lead to positive outcomes that prove rewarding. So many other at risk decisions prove to be harmful. Harmful outcomes too often are the result of misguided decisions, whether they are our own that affect ourselves and others, or the behavioral choices of others that impact us to one degree or another.

The extent of the impact of harm varies according to the expanse of all possible outcomes and the harm associated with them. The expanse of all possible outcomes and the harm within and throughout also involves conditions beyond our control. I could have cancer in my body right now and have no idea. I could be moments shy of heart failure and have no idea. There is tragedy related to weather and natural disaster that I might be able to anticipate but cannot avoid it. I could find myself in the pathway of an object that can do serious harm and have no idea.

There is a great deal to  fear in this life. Those who fear it the most tend to be those who have already experienced the threat and pain of such an occurrence. They survived but continue to live with the internal anguish connected to the memory of such pain and suffering. It all contributes to being heavy laden.

“Everyone is not okay as they wander through life, and when we know people intimately we will find that much has been stolen from them, that many hearts have dried up and died, and that they cannot find a way out of those prisons by their own power.” —Pastor Francis Leeman

Distributing the Weight

The author of Take My Yoke Upon You, Dr. Ronnie Graham, wrote about how the yoke of Jesus is such that the weight is equally distributed between me and Jesus, as far as the outcome of work being done is concerned, but that it is easy on us since Jesus is supplying the power and strength to do the work at all. The device that is the yoke, metaphorically speaking, is attached around by neck and that of Jesus. Dr. Graham, refers to the yoke of Jesus as the easy yoke.

The work to be done—the life to be lived—is so far beyond anything that I can possibly due on my own. My life, because of all that is so far beyond by control, is utterly unmanageable. I might dictate much of my own actions, according to my sense of reason as it pertains to my ability or inability to choose wisely, but my judgment tends to be so impaired by my inclination to be selfish, that my mistakes and failures mount, adding continuously to my anxiety, stress, and overall discomfort.

I must choose to believe and trust in the process of this promise. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” Jesus lived a life under tremendous stress with the foresight of what he was to endure. He understood his need to submit in surrender to God while fully experiencing the human condition. The yoke he chose to wear was in tandem with his heavenly father as he depended on what he recognized at that time to be God.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion. Philippians 2:5-8 (MSG)

The only way in which Jesus could endure and overcome was to surrender to God, with whom he shared the yoke that he wore. It was how he remained innocent of sin, though he was tempted… so tempted to exploit the power and authority given him by God. Jesus could have vanquished his adversaries but held it together in the rest afforded him having taken on the yoke as a man subject to temptation.

That is the degree to which Jesus humbles himself now, as God, for our benefit, that our burden may be light, having by choice, taken his yoke upon us.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7 (NKJV)

What does it actually mean to rejoice in the Lord? It central to the entire conversation about taking upon ourselves the yoke of Jesus. The Greek work for rejoice in this message in the Bible is charió, (pronounced Khah’-ee-ro). What it means is to be favorably disposed to God’s grace. It means to revel in the unmerited favor of God. Due to our self-centered disposition, the constant need, inclination, and initial intent to relieve any and all discomfort, which comes from being dissatisfied, rejoicing in the unmerited favor in relationship with God is foreign to our nature. However, it is essential to being disposed to favoring God’s grace; celebrating who we are in relationship with God through Jesus.

Remember, Jesus told us that when we see him, we see God. When we know Jesus, we know God. A relationship with Jesus is a relationship with God.

Jesus is the only manifestation of God we will ever know, even on the other side of glory (the glory side) in heaven. God is spirit. Jesus is God, and he is both spirit and flesh. Jesus is the glory of God we experience on this side of heaven. The manifestation of Jesus that we typically experience is in our day-to-day experience by way of the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is Jesus living within you, alive in you, producing joy in you. If you have not yet experienced the Spirit of God that produces that level of joy, which really cannot be measured, you may know someone, or several people, who have that joy alive in them. You may found yourself wondering what it is that produces such joy.

So, here it is. Those living in the joy of relationship with Jesus have the disposition of rejoicing in the grace, the undeserved favor, that is experienced, no matter how laden they are in whatever hardship they may be enduring.

The passage from Philippians 4 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving (gratitude), let your requests be made known to God.”

That statement must be understood in its entirety. Of course, you cannot simply flip a switch and turn off anxiety and stress, even doubt and worry. Central to not being anxious with worry is to adjust your focus and energy. The Greek word for “supplication” in Philippians 4:6 is deisis or deesis, which describes someone who is lacking something in their life and is pleading strongly for their needs to be met. The Greek word, when broken down into parts has to do with lacking and the urgency to resolve what is lacking.

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” Matthew 19:14 (NLT)

Jesus tells his disciples (paraphrasing), “Don’t stop the children from coming to me! The children is what this is all about.”

Young children of loving parents know with certainty that their parents love them, and trust them to provide for them in their moment of need. The response of parents to the child that expresses their need to go to the bathroom will be to find the way to a bathroom no matter what else is going on.

This child’s need is the top priority of the parent. Not because the parent doesn’t want a mess on their hands, but because the parent would hate for their child to agonize under the pressure and humiliating desperation of soiling their garments, but because healthy parents love their children. Loving parents always want for their children to experience success as opposed to failure, which can devastate a child. The parent instinctively considers the physical and psychological discomfort that comes with such an experience. The parent responds to the child’s need out of love and kindness, placing the child’s need over their own without hesitation or apprehension.

Children are dependent on their parents relying on them to carry the weight of the burden that is not at all possible for young children to carry. Jesus said very clearly, the Kingdom of Heaven is just like that. Children take upon themselves the yoke of their parents without hesitation or apprehension because it is their only option. They have no other choice. It’s either they take upon them the yoke of their parents or be crushed by the weight of the burden, unable to get out from all that is impossible for them to handle.

What is a proper explanation of supplication? It means to approach God like a child with urgency as they would a parent. Picture the young innocent child grabbing their loving parent by the hand pleading for what is needed. It is done from a place of humility and perhaps desperation. It is done from a place of dependence for the parent to do for them what they cannot do for themselves. It is done from a place of trust that the young child’s parent loves him or her. It is done from a place of expectation for the parent to deliver, to provide. It takes energy and perhaps enthusiasm and/or intensity in the moment. Instead of investing energy into anxiety and worry, the energy is invested in the activity of pursuing the provider. This is supplication acted out.

Unmerited Credit

A loving parent, after helping their child to accomplish something meaningful, even when essentially doing the task for them, credits the child for his or her achievement. The parent does not need or want the credit. Healthy parents find gratification, validation, and satisfaction in the achievement of their children, not in what they have done for their children. Loving parents take on a humble disposition as they revel in the accomplishments of their children. “He did that! She did that!”

The parents take pride in the achievement of their children, and even though the children really don’t “deserve” the credit, having needed the help to do most of, and nearly all of the work. Loving parents cannot wait to heap praise and honor upon their child for what they achieved, as minimal as it may have been. That’s how love operates and thrives between loving parents and their dependent children.

This is the approach, the perspective, and the attitude of Jesus, from what he did for us at the cross to what he can and wants to do for us now to lighten the weight of what burdens us. Jesus cannot wait to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves when we are equally yoked with him, tethered to Jesus in union with him through relationship with him. When taking on the yoke of Jesus, he so humbly acts to take on our burden, accepting the work that is impossible for you and for me. What we do is an action of faith. What Jesus does is in response to our faith.

²⁵ A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. ²⁶ She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. ²⁷ She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. ²⁸ For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” ²⁹ Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.

³⁰ Jesus realized at once that healing power had gone out from him, so he turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”

³¹ His disciples said to him, “Look at this crowd pressing around you. How can you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”

³² But he kept on looking around to see who had done it. ³³ Then the frightened woman, trembling at the realization of what had happened to her, came and fell to her knees in front of him and told him what she had done. ³⁴ And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” Mark 5:25-34 (NLT)

Jesus did for this woman what she could not do for herself. The woman acted in faith to be in a position to touch the garment worn by Jesus. For twelve years she was traumatized by the shaming of others, being bullied because of her condition. Yet, her faith was from a place of desperation. She had one option. She chose to be yoked to Jesus. She jostled her way through a crowd of people who considered her to be a menace to society in her conditioned. Many of them were those who shamed and bullied her with words that cut right through her.

Upon getting through from behind, and reaching out, touching the hem of his garment, she immediately experienced healing from what had plagued her for more than a decade. Jesus felt it. He was on his way to perform a separate healing for a man whose daughter was dying. Yet, Jesus took the time to stop to address the woman. The woman told Jesus how she had sought him out by faith in her struggle to get to him. She understood that with the belief that anyone she touched might be infected by her, she would only touch his clothing and would be healed. She believed this with certainty or she would not have fought the way she did to get to him.

Jesus said that he felt power leave him, but not because he intended it to occur. Jesus told the woman and anyone else listening that she did that. By faith, Jesus made it clear that the touch of the woman drew the power of healing from him and into her afflicted body. Jesus accepted no credit for the woman’s healing even though he did it. Jesus gave all the credit to the woman for healing declaring, “Your faith has made you well.”

This is what it means to be equally yoked, tethered to Jesus, bound by the promise of hope by faith. It is what it means to identify with Jesus in a such a way that you come to depend on him, like a child would a parent.

⁵ When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, ⁶ “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”

⁷ Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”

⁸ But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” Matthew 8:5-10 (NLT)

This individual was a commanding Roman officer in command of other Roman soldiers. On the face of it, Jesus, a Jew under Roman authority, was under this individual’s authority. The soldier had seen enough of what Jesus was capable of that he recognized that positionally in the spiritual realm, he was under the authority of Jesus. He explains is recognition of this to Jesus. He tells Jesus that he is unworthy, undeserving, because of his sin, and understanding that he was an oppressor against Jesus and his followers. Yet, taking on the role of a subordinate before Jesus, the soldier, sort of like a child under the authority of his father who had done something to grieve his father, not only asks, but pleads with Jesus to heal his paralyzed servant.

The woman that had been dealing with vaginal bleeding for more than a decade, like a child fighting through a crowd to yank on her father’s clothing to get his attention, touched the edge of his garment, which got the attention of Jesus. That is supplication by faith believing. Jesus told her that her faith made her well.

The soldier, on the other hand, found Jesus and got his attention through words of faith. He was speaking his language. The soldier’s servant being paralyzed would have been a burden the soldier was carrying around for some time. He approached Jesus with humility since he had been responsible for much of the difficulty that was a hardship for the followers of Jesus. Before Jesus he knew he had done wrong and did not deserve a thing. It’s as though he was begging for mercy.

Like a father showing mercy to his child through forgiveness that included going for ice cream in the moment, Jesus does something for the soldier far greater than that. He lauds the soldier right there in front of the very people the soldier bore responsibility for oppressive action taken against them. The soldier was not a Jew and, therefore at that time, would not expect Jesus to grant this monumental favor.

Just Say the Word

“Just say the word and my servant will be healed.”

Jesus had not been healing people from a distance. He had deliberate contact with those he healed. Jesus presented as genuinely surprised and impressed that the man, not a follower, did believe by faith that Jesus could and would heal his servant, even if it took some pleading on his part. The soldier’s servant was healed. It is likely that this Roman soldier, along with his family, were incredibly grateful, which began a relationship that has lasted into eternal glory since then.

I have not ever seen Jesus with my eyes. I have never heard the voice of Jesus with my ears. I have never felt the touch of Jesus on my skin. However, I have seen Jesus in my experiences in the most tangible ways. believe that I have heard Jesus by way of thoughts that come to my mind that are beyond what I have come up with on my own. I have felt the touch of Jesus within my body and mind in deeply profound ways. I have been compelled to worship and pray, having been moved spiritually from the inside out.

I believe that I live in the experience of divine joy and gratitude in ways that are beyond explanation. You might say that I have experienced the substance and reassurance of my faith, experiencing the evidence of my faith having seen, heard, and been touched by God in relationship with Jesus.

To be tethered to Jesus is to recognize God’s sovereignty under the authority of him who synthesizes the symmetry of the universe, distributing the gravitational push-pull within and throughout its vast expanse. To experience relationship with Jesus, equally yoked with him, is to connected from our core of our being. Having surrendered to God’s authority, like a child under the authority of his or her parent is good for you and good for me. Any conditions in this relationship is for our gain. To love God with all that we are, and love one another as we do ourselves is for our benefit. I have invested in this relationship because I desire and choose to, not out of some religious obligation.

“A prayerless life is a prideful life.” —Pastor Joel Sims

You may have heard it before that prayer is powerful. When we are living out the experience of relationship with God and pray from a place of humility and gratitude, even pleading with a desperate sense of urgency like a child would to daddy, God will respond graciously to our faith… as promised.

“Whenever we don’t pray, when we are not a prayerful people, it is because we have become a prideful people. We are convinced that we can do things on our own. That’s why we’re not praying. A praying people know they need God’s help. A praying people are pleading for God’s provision. And praying people are pleading for God’s provision in our own lives and others’ lives. And when we don’t pray, when we are prayerless, we are prideful.” —Dr. David Pratt, Pastor

Jesus told us to take his yoke upon us, making it clear that his humility (“For I am lowly in heart”) is such that he wants to do for us we cannot do for ourselves since the work he is doing in us and for us beyond what is possible in our own strength. Then, like a loving father does for his child, doesn’t need or desire credit. Like a father who lovingly does something good and gracious for his child, telling his child, “I couldn’t have done it without you,” Jesus takes that same approach because he loves us so much.

On the face of it, we are not equally yokes with the King of kings. Yet, this King comes down from heaven to earth to be on our level, sacrifices his life for ours, so that we can be in right relationship with God, extending favor to us that is undeserved, so that we can be equally yokes with him.

So, in practical terms, how is being equally yoked tethered to Jesus fully experienced?

It is experienced though kindness and through giving. Both kindness and giving are attitudes. It is as much who we are as it is what we do, since who we are and what we do ought be a reflection of one another when genuine. Being bound to Jesus in relationship is by choice. It is an attitude, transformed by a renewed (changed) mind. It determines how we view ourselves from the inside out. It is our way of life. It is our being. It is the Spirit of God is active from within, involved in our decisions and behavior. The manner in which we live life reflects how Jesus lived his life on the earth.

For people in recovery from compulsive (and impulsive) addictive behavior, it is trusting so fully in the power of God, sovereign by nature within and throughout the universe, that it only makes sense to turn one’s life over to the care and plan of God. It is not merely an ideal. It is the most reasonable, most plausible, most realistic, act of your will to be fully surrendered to the will of God. It is as though life any other way is even remotely logical, or even possible for that matter.