³ Take my yoke upon you.

What yoke? It is the yoke of following His spoken commands requiring your changes in behavior; to follow (obey) shows your obedient love in the humility of learning, which requires persistent and patience waiting in humble silence as you listen for his voice — which your brain does not want to do and will tell you that you are wasting your time; but do not be discouraged if you don't hear for some time. Even your waiting is to your credit: Let your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping on you. Psalms 33:22. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by ear, nor has the eye seen a God beside you, who acts for the one who waits for him. Isa 64:4

You will eventually hear; and when you do, you will be thrilled. Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. Proverbs 8:34, Luke 11:28

To sit quietly, struggling with your mind to listen, is a cross to your will; to obey is a cross to your will — denying your will, and yielding to thy will be done — this is the inward cross of self-denial. Do this, and you are following Jesus; to follow Jesus is to obey Him. His burden is light, his yoke is easy, with no blood loss like his.

and learn from me;

From the Word of the Lord within: "It is your responsibility to learn." Learn from Him directly speaking to you, not reading about Him or listening to other people talk about Him.

It is hard for you to believe, but the only reason you are here is to find God by Him teaching you the lessons of life: in particular, what is the depths of difference between love vs. lust, sin vs. righteousness, turmoil vs. peace, humility vs. pride, good vs. evil, light vs. darkness, bitter vs. sweet. The more we learn about evil, sin, and lust, the more we are drawn to God and his ways. The Lord has given each man a teacher within him to guide him and make him wise, so that he can pass from the earth wise. If a man learns completely, he will be changed to become righteous, good, holy, and pure like God; and then enter the Kingdom while still on earth to then be there forever.

We must pass from this earth wise, else we must learn the hard way, in the next life, (See Is There Hope for All for more); the choice of where to learn is everyone's to make for themselves. God is in us, eager to teach all things, if we will be quiet, listen, and obey; but eventually the scripture will be fulfilled: they shall all be taught by God. John 6:45

The only way you can learn the necessary truth to pass from this earth wise is by going to Him and receiving His teachings. Anything you do, which distracts you from this goal, is to be eternally regretted, (I'm not talking of eternal torture, but of a great regret that you didn't use your time to eternal profit). From the Word of the Lord within: "Everyone needs a Lord, that to teach him. God is the humble servant of all; he teaches. Millions have received revelations over the centuries. Millions are learning. You must learn to save your soul. Learn from me. The Spirit teaches by grace."

We all need to be taught by the Holy Spirit, all truth, all things, with the need of no man to teach us:

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is advantageous for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you.
And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong [reprove] of sin, and righteousness, and judgment.
Of sin, because they do not believe in me.
Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more.
Of judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned. John 16:7-11

However, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but he shall only speak what he hears; and he will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me; for he shall take from what is mine, and shall show it to you. John 16:13-14

But the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit and whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance — whatever I have said to you. John 14:26

You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 1 John 2:20
But the anointing that you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need any man to teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you all things, and is truth, and is no lie; and even as it has taught you, abide in him. 1 John 2:27.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life-giving. John 6:63

So keep listening for the one Teacher. To sit at Jesus' feet and listen to his word is the one thing needed by any who wish to experience the promises of the Bible, including salvation:

Now it came to pass as they went, that he entered into a certain village, and a woman named Martha received him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.
Now Martha was distracted with much serving, and came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her that she should help me."
But Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.
There is only one thing needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:38-42.

Jesus was not reading scriptures to Mary, he was speaking to her; we must hear him speak to us too: for the words I speak to you are spirit and they are life-giving. John 6:63. We must go to him. We must wait on him — listen silently, with the humility of a sinner in need of his changing power — grace. We must listen, hear, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. James 1:21. Daily we must wait, watch, listen, hear, obey... wait, watch, listen, hear, obey..... seek, listen, obey. We must endure to the end, when we see Christ bring our salvation.

Surely he loves the people; all your holy ones are in your power. And they sit at your feet, each receiving your words. Deu 33:3

for I am meek and lowly in heart,

To be meek is to have an evenness without emotional ups and downs. Jesus is totally level, always under perfect self-control; His voice is always the same temperament, only occasionally reflecting more firmness. Jesus is humble and gentle beyond any man. He is kind, gentle, pure, easily understood, easily accepted, peaceable, complete, morally correct, encouraging — never with even a hint of sarcasm, bitterness, or condemnation — never upbraiding — never incomplete, leaving you guessing what he wants; instead His words are full of love itself — his spirit of Love — for he is Love. He will tell you things about Himself. He will encourage you. He is kindness. He will tell or show you things about yourself; some will be things that are ugly. But since he is your friend, you know that he is showing them to you for your own good. So you listen and watch. And you don't run; you stand before the Son of Man; and you repent of what he shows you. And sometimes he gives you commands, which if you believe Jesus, you obey. He is the Wisdom of God, and wisdom is first pure, then peaceable, fair, gentle, easily accepted, full of mercy and good fruits, immediately understood, and sincere. James 3:17. From the Word of the Lord within:

"Hear my wonderful words. I truly speak of love and how you are barbarous when taken under. Oh hear my words you mighty. Pursue sweet words of life. Listen to my voice so that you will hear all words. Hear and live; the Spirit gives life with every word heard. Live and be free. The Lord is gentle and kind to those whom He corrects, and even more than usual to those in suffering circumstances; for what cause have I against the elect?"

To be lowly is to be humble. In my listening for the Word of the Lord within, I have heard Him speak to me with such incredible humility that it overwhelmed me and left me in tears for some time. Those words are too personal and precious to repeat. May you experience the same.

and you will find rest for your souls,

The rest is to cease from your own works, done by your own will, cease your own plans, cease your own decisions, and instead to be directed by God to do His will on earth as in heaven, which works are then to His glory, which works are prompted by and energized by Him. We cease and rest from our own thoughts and dead works, to live according to God's supplied thoughts, words, and prompted works. From the Word of the Lord within:

"You are the slave of whom you choose; obey, or not interested? You are the children of whom you obey. You are the slaves of whom you obey. Every man must experience being a slave to God. When you are purged from dead works, you are freed from serving iniquity to serving God. Happy are they who serve God in His kingdom. To be a servant requires your mind to be made new. For servitude, every man must experience heart-felt desire; he must become totally different. We are followers."

Therefore let us diligently labor with every effort to enter into that rest, lest any man fall from the same kind of unbelief [and resulting disobedience] Heb 4:11. You cease from your own works to enter the rest simultaneously when you are delivered from your enemies, when you are freed from sin, when your salvation is brought to you by Jesus, when you see and witness salvation, the end of grace. The Christian's rest is glorious. Isa 11:10

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