Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 NLT

But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16 NLT

“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!” Revelation 3:15-16 NLT

“If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” Matthew 10:37-39 NLT

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NLT

“Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the Yoke of Christ and follow Him. It is Grace because Jesus says, My yoke is easy and my burden is light.’” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

1. We Come

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28 NLT

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 NLT

So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. John 8:36 NLT

“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free! Isaiah 55:1 NLT

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28 NLT

2. We Take

Take my yoke upon you. Matthew 11:29 NLT

Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.  So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Galatian 6:8-9 NLT

WHAT YOU HOLD ONTO BECOMES YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO MAINTAIN, BUT WHAT YOU SURRENDER TO GOD HE BEARS.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33 NLT

3. We Learn

Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart… Matthew 11:29 NLT

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24 NLT

Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Romans 6:15-16 NLT

“If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.  He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. John 14:15-17 NLT

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Romans 12:1 NLT

4. We Receive Rest

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NLT

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT

What is a yoke?

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 18-20 NLT

But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62 NLT

  “When we are called to follow Christ, we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to his person. And Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. —Martin Luther King JR

You live fully in me and now I live fully in them so that they will experience perfect unity, and the world will be convinced that you have sent me, for they will see that you love each one of them with the same passionate love that you have for me. John 17:23 TPT

The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit. And you did not receive the “spirit of religious duty,” leading you back into the fear of never being good enough. But you have received the “Spirit of full acceptance,” enfolding you into the family of God. And you will never feel orphaned, for as he rises up within us, our spirits join him in saying the words of tender affection, “Beloved Father!” For the Holy Spirit makes God’s fatherhood real to us as he whispers into our innermost being, “You are God’s beloved child!” Romans 8:14-16 TPT

PRAYER IS LESS ABOUT THE WORDS THAT YOU SAY, BUT THE MINDSET THAT YOU ATTACH TO YOUR PRAYERS!

Why do we have trouble praying?

1. Prayer can feel unnatural at first

Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 1 Corinthians 1:27 NLT

2. Prayer is an admission of weakness

Desperate, I throw myself on you: you are my God! Hour by hour I place my days in your hand, safe from the hands out to get me. Warm me, your servant, with a smile; save me because you love me. Psalms 31:14-15 MSG

3. Prayer doesn't always lead to the results we pictured.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT

“Prayer is a radical conversion of all our mental processes because in prayer we move away from ourselves, our worries, preoccupation, and self-gratification - and direct all that we recognize as ours to God in the simple trust that through his love all will be made new.” Henri Nouwen

How should a Disciple pray?

1. A Disciple Prays that God’s interest comes first

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 NLT

you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we are joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny and the good works we would do to fulfill it! Ephesians 2:10 TPT

2. A Disciple can pray with Authority

We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NLT

For who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house. Matthew 12:29 NLT

3. The Disciple should pray Audaciously

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible. Matthew 17:20-21 NLT

4. The Disciple should pray with persistence

One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people.  A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people,  but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge.  Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? Luke 18:1-7 NLT

“Got love an importunate prayer so much that He will not give us much blessings without it. He knows that it is a necessary preparation for our receiving the richest blessing He is Longing To bestow.” Adoniram Judson

ACTION STEPS

TIME

CONTENT

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV

This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns” Jeremiah 4:3 NLT

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. Psalms 51:17 NLT

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 NLT

Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. Ephesians 4:24 NLT

When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. John15:8 NLT

Fruit-bearing in character is a prerequisite to fruit-bearing in spiritual influence upon others.

When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. Hebrews 6:7-8 NLT

Fallow Ground has a hard surface.

Fallow Ground has overgrowth

Fallow Ground invites the Trampling of Traffic

Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12 NKJV

Two things we must do to break up our fallow hearts.

1. Humble ourselves before God and confess our Sins

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 1 Peter 5:5-6 NLT

let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 NLT

“Holiness is not human life brought up to the highest possible development, but is Divine Life brought down to the lowest possible level of condescension.” Stuart Holden

Pride must be broken or it will break you!

Pride tells you that you can quit doing what you've always done even though it got you to success.

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. Create in me a clean heart, O God.  Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence,  and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Psalms 51:1-4;10-11 NLT

2. There must be an abhorrence of the sin in your life.

Then Jacob made this vow: “If God will indeed be with me and protect me on this journey, and if he will provide me with food and clothing, and if I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will certainly be my God. Genesis 28:20-21 NLT

When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. Genesis 32:25 NLT

“ The experiences of men who walked with God in olden times agreed to teach that the Lord cannot fully bless a man until he has first conquered him. the degree of blessing enjoyed by any man will correspond exactly with the completeness of God's victory over him.”  A W Tozer

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? Matthew 16:26 NLT

“While true Grace is the full justification of the sinner, cheap Grace is the justification of continued sin. The Christian continues too often to model himself on the world standards in nearly every possible sphere of life, counting it presumption to aspire to a life under grace different from that which life has been under sin.”  Dwight Small

“Costly Grace is costly because it cost a man his life, and it is Grace because it gives a man the only true life. it is costly because it condemns sin, and Grace because it justifies the sinner.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 NLT

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.  But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.” John 6:26-27 NLT

At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.  We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:66-69 NLT

Where do you reside in your commitment to Jesus?

Three things that progress you towards the core.

1. Experience (Food, Blessings, Miracles)

2. Revelation (He is more than a man)

3. Conviction (Not a guilty feeling, but moved inwardly, “where else would I go”)

If you only live in experience you will never have a deep relationship with God. Experience causes you to live for yourself and self sooner or later becomes the only god you need.

The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied from above. Proverbs 14:14

🚩 THAT CAUSE A BACKSLIDDEN HEART

The backslidden in heart masks sins with religious works

The backslidden in heart is filled with their own feelings and emotions

The backslidden in heart is filled with their own intelligence

The backslidden in heart is filled with their own quarrels

The backslidden in heart is filled with compromises and temptations

The backslidden in heart is filled with their own cares and worries

The backslidden in heart is filled with condemnation and shame

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23 NLT

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. Luke 9:24 NLT