Starting with peace – checking it and getting it back – really is a great way to allow God’s joy to flow in our lives. I have often lost my peace, if I have been carrying too much, or allowed outside pressures to dictate my actions.
Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’ (Matt 11:28-30).
If the yoke we carry doesn’t feel easy and light, it steals our peace and our work becomes harder. Jesus knew we tend to carry more than we should, so He told us to come to Him and find rest. We can offload all our burdens on Him. But then we need to learn from Him and only pick up what He asks us to. If our burden is too heavy, we are probably carrying more than He asked us to.
Greater pressure on the inside
We live in a fast-moving world, and many of us are often expected to perform above and beyond our capabilities or resources. There are so many pressures all the time – expectations from the world around us and from ourselves.
Cathy Lechner once talked about stress and pressure from the outside, like the pressure divers feel in the water. When they go down deep, there is an immense pressure from the outside. For the divers to survive down there, they need to have at least one percent more pressure on the inside of their diving suits, than the pressure that comes from the outside.
Cathy used this as a metaphor for our lives. Whenever the pressure on the outside of us becomes greater than the pressure on the inside, we need to come back to God and find the peace that keeps the pressure on the inside greater.
We can lose our joy in Him, if we allow the pressures on the outside to become too great, or if our yoke becomes too heavy.
Exchanging the lies with truth
Later on, God took this revelation a step further for me. He said, ‘Anywhere the pressure on the outside feels greater than on the inside, it’s because you’re believing a lie.’ If I looked at the pressure through the eyes of a lie, it became too strong. But when I was able to exchange the lie with the truth, the peace on the inside became stronger.
Even though it’s not always easy, His words gave me a practical way to identify what was going on, when I felt the pressure. Once, when I felt too strapped in financially, He showed me that I was believing the lie that God wouldn’t provide for me, instead of holding on to the truth that His very name is Jehovah Jireh – The Lord who provides. And when I follow His lead in giving, spending and saving, He will always provide what I need. (Is. 58:11).
When I felt confused and pressured into make something happen for my future, it was because I believed that it was up to me to make something happen. I didn’t trust the truth, that He has a good plan for me (Jer. 29:11), and He will guide me each step of the way. (Ps. 119:105).
So, I’m learning to come to Jesus any time the burden becomes too heavy, or I feel greater pressure from the outside – be it from other people, from a system, or even my own striving. When I come back to Him, He shows me what is going on. What lie I am believing and how to exchange it with the truth.
He wants us all to carry a yoke that is light and easy, and be filled with peace on the side, so we can walk in joy every day.
