Are you bound up in
some area of your life? Is there a nagging issue that makes you feel
as if chains are wrapped around you? Does it feel like some kind of
yoke is on your neck—weighing you down and restricting your
freedom?
Let’s face it. We all have
problems—some of them completely hidden from view and unknown to
others. People like you and me can look completely normal, yet we
actually have a hidden burden that hampers us—some kind of a “yoke”
around our necks. What might that yoke look like in our lives? It
could be a horrible self-image that hobbles us. Or a hidden
addiction, an unreasoning fear, scars from past abuses, or bouts
with depression. Yokes like that can weigh us down, making normal
life much more difficult. If any of those describe your condition,
please know that you are not alone in what you
face.
In this letter, our intention
is to understand fully how the Lord can remove that yoke, and break
its hold over us forever. How does that sound to
you?
A Very Clear
Answer
I was asked
recently to speak at a local conference of pastors whose main focus
is ministry to the Hispanic community. It was to be a very short
speaking session—basically only enough time for a greeting, a quick
introduction of the work of Derek Prince Ministries, and a brief
update. As I was preparing for the meeting, I didn’t feel any
pressing need to prepare notes of any kind. But then, I sensed that
familiar urging of the Holy Spirit.
To that unmistakable prompting, I responded: “Lord, what do You want
me to say to these people?” Sometimes the answer comes in the form
of a vague impression, or sometimes nothing particularly distinct.
Not this time. Very clearly, the answer came: “Here is what I want
you to tell those people: the anointing breaks the
yoke.”
A Powerful
Passage
As soon as I
heard this word from the Lord, something leaped inside of me. I
recognized it as a very powerful, potentially liberating word. I
remembered hearing this exact expression over the years from many
speakers, so I assumed it was actually a verse of Scripture. It was
not.
Checking in a concordance, I
found a citation that matched it fairly closely, and what a powerful
verse it is! Isaiah 10:27 says: “It shall come to pass in that day
that his burden [the burden of the Assyrian] will be taken away from
your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be
destroyed [broken] because of the anointing
oil.”
I spent a few more minutes
searching through the Word for “the anointing breaks the
yoke,” yet never found it. However, what I did find was
extremely encouraging. First of all, there are many references to
yokes. Secondly, in the references that deal with the Lord’s help
with “yokes” or “burdens” or “chains,” most times the Lord first
removes them. Consistently, His second step is to break
them so they can never again be placed upon
us.
We see this pattern clearly in
Isaiah 58:6, a verse about the kind of fast which is acceptable to
the Lord. “To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy
burdens [the bonds of the yoke], to let the
oppressed go free, and that you break every
yoke?”
Removing and
breaking every yoke. Extremely good news, wouldn’t you
agree?
Our Messiah: the Anointed
One
The other
point of clarification from this quick study that was very helpful
regarded “the anointing.” Over the years, I had heard a few speakers
and teachers who tended to refer to “the anointing” in worshipful,
hushed tones. “The anointing is here!” “Let’s wait on the
anointing!”
Without question, the
anointing of the Holy Spirit is very powerful and beneficial. What I
realized, however, is that it is not a “something” that breaks yokes
and chains—it’s a “Someone.” It is the Anointed One, our Messiah,
who is anointed by the Holy Spirit of God. It is Jesus Christ who
absolutely delights in removing and breaking any chains that bind
us.
The Scripture that expresses
this so clearly is Isaiah 61:1, quoted by Jesus in Luke 4:18: “The
Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me
to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal
the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”
Every one of those actions by the Anointed One equates to breaking a
yoke. We can say with confidence: “Jesus, the Anointed One,
breaks every yoke.”
Healing All Who Are
Oppressed
Derek Prince
taught on this topic of Jesus, the Anointed One—who removes and
breaks the yokes that burden people. He made it clear, however, that
this is just one of many aspects of the ministry of our Lord and
Savior. It’s good to remember that the Lord reveals Himself to us in
many ways, meeting a variety of needs in our lives at different
times. For right now, let’s focus on Derek’s teaching on Jesus, the
Messiah.
So, He [Jesus]
was filled with the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and empowered by the
Holy Spirit. He was truly the Mashiach, the Messiah, the
Christos, the Anointed. In Luke, chapter 4, verses 17 and
18, we read how He Himself declared that He was the fulfillment of
God’s promise and He Himself entered into the synagogue in Nazareth
and took the Scripture which we’ve already read in Isaiah 61:1 and
applied it to Himself….
Then He closed
the book, and in words of tremendous historical significance He said
to them, “Today this prophecy is fulfilled in your ears.” He said,
“I am the one; I am the Anointed; The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me.” And He went forth from that moment as the Deliverer bringing
release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, setting
free those who were downtrodden, bringing the Gospel to the
poor.
This marvelous ministry of
Jesus, the Anointed, the Christ, the Messiah, is summed up by Peter
in one verse. As he was speaking to the house of Cornelius, he
described to them what he had witnessed in the ministry of Jesus.
Acts 10:38: “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him
with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing
good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was
with Him” (NASB).
That’s the
summation of the ministry of Jesus as the Messiah, the Anointed, the
Christ. God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. God was with Him. In
the power of that anointing, He went about doing good and healing
all who were oppressed of the devil.
Breaking Every
Yoke
Are there some
specific personal situations coming to mind as we share about Jesus’
desire and power to remove bondages from our lives and break the
yokes off our necks? You may be thinking about an area of your life
where you know you are chained down—where there is a need for the
Lord to remove a yoke and break it into pieces. You and I both know
He will gladly help us with those areas. All we have to do is ask
Him.
Would you like to deal with
that matter once and for all right now? Let’s ask Jesus to release
us from that yoke by praying the following prayer
together.
Lord,
first and foremost, I want to recognize and honor you as my
Messiah—the Anointed One who has forgiven me, released me from
captivity, and chosen me to be used for Your purposes. Thank You,
Lord, for pouring out Your grace upon me and making me Your very
own. I commit myself afresh to You with this
prayer.
Now I want to confess that
there are some areas of my life in which I am burdened by a yoke. No
one else but You knows how bound up I am, and I need Your help to
get free. Lord, please remove these bondages from me that hamper me
and hinder me. I also ask You to destroy them completely. Break
their hold over me from this point
forward.
Thank You, Lord, for
bringing complete freedom to me. I give You all praise and all
honor. Help me in the days ahead to step into the new liberty You
have provided for me. I want to walk in a way that has eluded me
until this moment of freedom which You have provided. Thank You for
removing and breaking the yoke that has weighed me down.
Amen.
Walking in Freedom
Because of the
prayer you just prayed, you will be able to walk differently—freed
from the yoke and the burden you have been carrying up to now. You
may have not even realized you were carrying it. But by the prayer
you have just prayed, that yoke has been lifted off your neck. The
Lord has broken it into pieces so that it may never again be used
against you. If you want to shout and sing right now, you have good
reason to do so.
Please know that we
are shouting and singing with you. Your freedom, as well as your
closer relationship with Jesus Christ, is of the highest importance
to us. We want to help you in every possible way to live in a way
that brings maximum glory to our Savior. We are committed to that
end and want to offer you free materials by Derek Prince to assist
you, specifically the full teaching from which Derek’s excerpt was
taken—a week-long series of radio messages he recorded on the
“Titles of Jesus.”
This free
material we offer you is simply out of our deep gratitude for your
involvement with us. Through your prayers and intercession for us,
your expressions of appreciation and your generous financial
participation, you are making it possible for us to do this vital
work. We simply can’t thank you enough. Simply click
here to download this
free message, "Titles
of Jesus, Part 2.” It’s yours for the asking—and we sure hope you
will do the asking so we can do the
sending.
“Your Yoke Is
Broken!”
Now it’s time
for you to walk in that newfound freedom you have just received. As
you have clearly discovered, the Anointed One breaks every
yoke. Your life will be newer and freer from this moment on
because of that truth, and because of what you have just prayed in
response to this letter.
We hope you
will share what has happened to you with someone close to you. When
you do, please let them know that we stand ready to be of assistance
and encouragement to them as well. You can begin by telling them:
“The Anointed One breaks every
yoke!”
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