At that time Jesus began to say, I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth [and I acknowledge openly and joyfully to Your honor], that You have hidden these things from the wise and clever and learned, and revealed them to babies [to the childish, untaught, and unskilled]. Yes, Father, [I praise You that] such was Your gracious will and good pleasure.

All things have been entrusted and delivered to Me by My Father; and no one fully knows and accurately understands the Son except the Father, and no one fully knows and accurately understands the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son deliberately wills to make Him known.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]  Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.  For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good–not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

Matthew 11:25-30

The Christian life fully lived is the easy, good, and unburdensome life.  Faith, when lived, does not take any great effort to maintain.  As we learn from Christ, as we put Him on and stand in His overcoming Spirit, He that is greater than us withstands the wiles and opportunities of the enemy, the world, and our flesh.

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Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

1 Peter 1:22

To love each other from the heart, to this we were called.

 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Matthew 18:35

To forgive each other from the heart, of this we are required.

The Kingdom consists of that which is from the heart, and from love.  This is the substance of our Grace, the flavor of our abundant life (John 10:10), and the essence of our existence.

Yet, it is where we, for the most part, do not find ourselves always living.

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You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

Matthew 23:26

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).  Once we have purified our souls by obeying the truth unto the point where we can love for real, we should love each other fervently, as we ought to (1 Peter 1:22).

This is the point of the Gospel.  This is the work of the cross and the path of life.  If your gospel is not aimed at producing this life here and now, a life that is demonstrated by a visible, recognizable love (John 13:35), that does not tolerate sin so much to eat with an immoral brother (1 Corinthians 5:11), what are you living?

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 Who is blind but My servant, or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?

Isaiah 42:19

When all around fades, and the only thing left is Him.  When all background noises, and all distractions are stripped away, and you are only His flame (Psalm 104:4).  When you see nothing but His purpose, and hear nothing but His voice.

There are many ways to move in the Kingdom’s power, but Jesus didn’t just come with a few simple nuggets, a few quick keys that might improve your ability to flow in the Spirit.  His teaching wasn’t “pointers” for ministry, it was a yoke (Matthew 11:30).

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For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,  that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

Colossians 2:1-3

It is by faith alone that we understand the mystery of God, namely, Christ.  It is by faith alone that we come to see who He really is.  Who He is, in all of His depth, width, breadth, and length, is the mystery, the great secret of God.

Through all of the Mosaic law, through all of the tabernacle, through all of the feasts, it is Jesus that there, right there.  He is the heavenly tabernacle, He is the rock in the wilderness.  He is the scarlet thread hanging in Rahab’s window.  He is the branch cast upon the waters to make the ax-head float.

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What if you had your eyes focused on just one thing?  What would it be like if you could just run after the Lord with total abandon, and seek Him with all that you are, continually?

What if you could live with your eyes fixed on the heavenly realm, and live out of the substance of faith?  What would that look like?  Where would you end up?

Brushing aside fantasy, take a step deeper…  What is it that distracts?  What is it that pulls you away?

There are two thing absolutely for certain, God will ask more of you than you want to give, AND, He can never ask you for more than you have.  So long as we keep in mind that it only, apparently, takes two loves, five fishes, and a mustard seed of faith to feed a multitude, He will never ask you to do more than what you have, when you consider everything.

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If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

Luke 14:26

The way of discipleship is the way to follow the cross.  The requirement of discipleship is to never look back.

Jesus said that the Kingdom was like a precious pearl, that, when found, a man sold all he had and bought it.  There is something about finding something that is worth it.  If you can see it, if you can recognize what you see, and correctly appraise it, it is not a hard choice to lose everything else to obtain the best. Read more…

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple

Luke 14:26

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Heaven and Earth will pass away before any one of His words passes away.  Many people would like to interpret this passage into obscurity, equating it with similar, albeit, related scriptures, such as this one.

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