{"id":13297,"date":"2022-09-21T00:13:01","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T00:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=13297"},"modified":"2022-09-21T00:13:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T00:13:01","slug":"isaiah-587","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/13297\/isaiah-587\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaiah 58:7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning John,<\/span><\/p>\n

The Blog on Isaiah 58 blessed me yesterday.\u00a0 That and today’s Random Thought (9\/22) on “Preparing Your Heart”<\/a><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>both mention the scriptures in Isaiah 58 on the true fast.\u00a0 \u00a0In those scriptures, what does it mean to “hide yourself from your own kindred\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks,<\/span><\/p>\n

Lyn<\/span><\/p>\n

==========<\/span><\/p>\n

Hi Lyn.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I have pondered over that a number of times.\u00a0 I was reading it earlier this morning, actually.\u00a0 The only answer I could come up with is that in God’s eyes, we are our “brother’s keeper”, and we have responsibilities which we must fulfill toward one another, not the least of which is to love a brother or sister enough to admonish them if they err (cf. Lev. 19:17).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Our present need of healing made me pay close attention to God’s instructions in Isaiah 58 concerning how to attain to it.\u00a0 What struck me most about Isaiah 58 this morning was that when I considered the deeds which God said would bring us healing and would turn us into a well-watered garden, Jesus seemed to sum up with one phrase.\u00a0 “Believe in me”, he said in John 7:37-39, “and out of your belly will flow rivers of living water.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I thought on that a long while.\u00a0 May God be merciful to us and grant us genuine faith!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you, Lyn, for your question.\u00a0 Take care, and let’s believe in Jesus!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Every Yoke<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you put away from the midst of you the yoke. . .\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah 58:9b<\/span><\/p>\n

On several occasions, I have reminded my congregation that the \u201cyoke\u201d within us, mentioned by Isaiah, represents the desire to impose our will upon others.\u00a0 A yoke is an instrument used by a man to control an animal, but the yoke Isaiah is talking about is spiritual; it is one person manipulating and controlling another.\u00a0 I have known people who stay unhappy if others do not do as they want them to do; they are not content unless they have hitched up someone else to their will.<\/span><\/p>\n

God is not like that.\u00a0 He would rather we have our way than His \u2013 except that He loves us and knows that if we do our own will, we will end up hurt and sad.\u00a0 So, He counsels us to do His will.\u00a0 If you have been around very long in Christ, you know that God will back off and allow you to do things your own way if that is what you insist on doing, and you have no doubt learned better than to do that.\u00a0 God has no yoke in His heart that He will impose on us; on the contrary, He has love in His heart and is willing for us to learn that His way is best.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other Yokes<\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u00a0yoke\u00a0is not my point in this message, for as I said, I have taught that message a number of times.\u00a0 Though I have read Isaiah 58 often, I noticed this morning for the first time that other yokes are mentioned which may burden God\u2019s people.\u00a0 Here is what Isaiah said: \u201cIs this not the fast that I have chosen? to undo the bonds of wickedness, to loosen the thongs of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that\u00a0y<\/em>ou remove every yoke?\u201d (Isa. 58:6).\u00a0 The \u201cbonds of wickedness\u201d are spiritual ropes that bind people, and ungodly men use those \u201cthongs of the yoke\u201d to oppress and control others.\u00a0 And there are other yokes, or influences, upon God\u2019s people which NOTHING but the anointing of God will destroy.\u00a0 And thankfully, God has promised that someday, His anointing will destroy every yoke that burdens His people:\u00a0 \u201cIt shall come to pass in that day that He will remove [the evil man\u2019s] burden from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck!\u00a0 And the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing\u201d (Isa. 10:27).<\/span><\/p>\n

God\u2019s point in Isaiah 58 is that we may \u201cbe about our Father\u2019s business\u201d now, before that final, complete deliverance from all yokes, by removing the yokes that evil men have put around the necks of His people.\u00a0 These yokes are superstition, sickness, false teaching, fear of man, and whatever else that His children are moved by besides the Spirit.\u00a0 To be led by the Spirit is life and peace, and we have the opportunity now to show God\u2019s people the way to live that happy life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus said, \u201cCome to me, and I will give you rest.\u00a0 My yoke is easy, and my burden light.\u201d\u00a0 His yoke is not a yoke at all; it is a new heart that wants nothing but what God wants.\u00a0 His yoke is to make it our nature to agree with God and love to do His will.\u00a0 Every other yoke is against us and leads us astray, and Jesus came to set us free from every one of them.\u00a0 This is the liberty he was talking about when he said, \u201cIf the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

May God give us all the wisdom and power, first, to destroy any yoke that is within us toward others, and second, to destroy every yoke we see that has been hung around the necks of God\u2019s children.\u00a0 That is part of what God considers to be a true fast, and fasting that way produces wonderful fruit.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Good morning John, The Blog on Isaiah 58 blessed me yesterday.\u00a0 That and today’s Random Thought (9\/22) on “Preparing Your Heart”\u00a0both mention the scriptures in Isaiah 58 on the true fast.\u00a0 \u00a0In those scriptures, what does it mean to “hide yourself from your own kindred\u201d? Thanks, Lyn ========== Hi Lyn. I have pondered over that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-qa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}