'Come Out From Under The Yoke!' Nate Johnston
For months now God has began speaking to me about the deliverance taking place for many right now who have been under wrong yokes. I shared previously about the season we are in of God throwing new mantles upon us, but I have sensed the need to share the need to remove the the counterfeit mantles and yokes that have been on us.
What are yokes? Yokes are strongholds of the enemy sent to weigh us down and make us come under the submission of the enemy or another person other than Jesus.
Jesus said “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:30
Yokes are burdens we have allowed that don’t come from Jesus. What I felt though when hearing this was God referring specifically to the ties, spiritual contracts, vows, and alignments to people we have created or allowed.
We don’t always recognize heavy yokes until they become massive areas of compromise or giants in our lives.
In the same way when relationships become unequally weighted they can cause a path diversion that is not obvious at first but in the long run can derail you and even whole family’s legacies.
Unequally yoked relationships take you away from the pure call of God on your life by serving the purpose of the other over obedience to the Lord.
Through fear of man, insecurities, and longing to keep acceptance we easily begin to slowly adjust our vision to accommodate those who have a vested interest.
Then over time we wonder why we are facing endless warfare, confusion, and constant roadblocks to destiny doors.
What happened? Control and witchcraft entered into the equation and something that may have started pure has become distorted.
A yoke that was once of equal weight becomes a yoke of oppression and the source of demonic torment.
The thing that at one time championed you to move forward is now your greatest opponent, but can feel like the hardest thing to deal with and shake.
Right now we are in a season of spiritual spring cleaning and God is in protective mode over your life.
He is leading you into yoke breaking moments where He he confronting what has been out of balance in your life.
He is addressing the places that used to be in harmony that are no longer in synergy.
He is dealing with the swirl that has been distracting you from what he wants you to build.
He is removing the claim that people have made over your life and destiny that are a violation and outside of Gods authorization.
He is tearing up the contracts and unspoken manipulation that would have you sell your birthright for moldy bread.
He is addressing familiarity and the familiar spirits that come with it.
He is reshaping your people and tribe and realigning you with equally yoked covenant relationships so that you can’t be tripped up going forward.
NEW MANTLES ALWAYS BURN THE OLD YOKE
Look at the life of Elisha. As soon as Elijah threw his mantle upon him, he went and slayed his oxen and burnt his plow and plow tools. The yokes were burnt up!
New mantle seasons always feel intense because we are confronted with a burning the plow decision and often we want the new without having to burn the path behind us.
It’s having to remove all backups plans and violently shake off the tattered rags of a bygone era, assignment, and role.
It’s having to be obedient to the Lord to burn your old plow when He asks you to and adjust your life to accommodate the new thing.
It means stepping into the unknown with no option of ever going back which is daunting and very uncomfortable.
It’s having to recognize the people and places that are no longer conducive to your calling and move on.
TESTING THE CONNECTION
As I’m writing this out I keep seeing a vision of a modem/internet router and hearing “Test the connection” like you would read in a troubleshooting manual.
What if God was wanting us to stocktake every spiritual and relational connection right now to make sure it’s working, sustainable, and transmitting signal?
What does this mean? Do your current relationships have disconnect? Do you have lines that aren’t transmitting life and connection back and forth?
Any line that isn’t is potentially stealing from the power source and creating unnecessary issues.
What If God was the one testing these lines right now? What if he was the one rebooting our router and revealing to us what was no longer in synergy? We need to pay attention to them.
I’LL BRING ALIGNMENT FROM CHAOS
I believe that the other significance of right alignments is that it brings ALIGNMENT - nothing out of order.
Alignment brings peace but mis-alignment breeds chaos in our lives and homes. Does this mean there is something demonic about these alignments or people? No, not always. But any unequal yoke creates a hiccup in the spirit that sends a ripple effect down the line.
I believe so many have been experiencing the spirit of chaos in their lives and homes as a fruit of not properly addressing misalignments and or/areas of needing readjustment.
DEFINING THE NEW TERMS IN HONOR
Chaos comes when the elephant in room is not talked about. It is the perfect storm for the enemy to put an explosive bomb of offense where there wasn’t one before, simply because expectations and growth was not addressed.
The enemy loves to invade those spaces with hurt and assumption to end seasons and relationships badly but they don’t need to be that way!