It’s a phrase many of us have heard:
“Be yoked to Jesus.”
It sounds beautiful.
Comforting.
But what does it actually mean to be yoked to Jesus?
What does it look like in real life—when the path is hard,
the road feels long,
and you’re carrying dreams or responsibilities that feel heavy?
For a long time, I thought being yoked to Jesus meant simply trusting Him.
And while that’s part of it, I’m learning there’s something deeper:
It’s an invitation to walk with Him—to share the load instead of shouldering it alone.
Today, I want to explore what being yoked to Jesus really means—and how it can change the way we move through even the hardest seasons of life.
When You’re Building in Your Own Strength
Before I understood what it meant to truly be yoked to Jesus, I spent years building and striving in my own strength.
When I first started my journey online back in 2006, I hired a company to build my first website.
It was expensive.
It was time-consuming.
And every time I needed to make a change—no matter how small—I had to go back to them, pay for their time, and wait on their schedule.
Eventually, I decided there had to be a better way.
So I set out to learn how to build my own websites—armed with zero technical background and nothing but hours of Googling and trial and error.
Over the years, I did manage to build several sites.
But it was never easy.
Each one took months of painstaking work, fueled by self-discipline, late nights, and a lot of frustration.
And when I finally finished? I was exhausted.
Not just physically—but mentally, and emotionally too.
So when I launched Her Second Chapter this year, I promised myself I wouldn’t get bogged down again.
That’s why I started on Substack—quick, simple, and ready to go.
But then… I felt the Lord tugging at my heart.
Whispering that while Substack was a good beginning, it wasn’t the foundation He wanted me to build on.
He was inviting me to step into something bigger—something that, once again, required building a full website.
And honestly?
I didn’t want to.
I knew what building a site required.
I remembered the endless hours.
The technical frustrations.
The slow, heavy grind.
Everything in me wanted to say no.
But His invitation was gentle.
Persistent.
Filled with a different kind of promise.
This time, I wouldn’t be building it alone.
When You’re Building with God
From the very beginning of Her Second Chapter, I made a different decision—
one that changed everything:
I didn’t just ask God to bless the journey.
I invited Him into it.
Not as a consultant I turned to when things got tough.
Not as an overseer I checked in with now and then.
But as the CEO—the true leader of every step.
I committed to co-creating with Him daily.
Letting Him be the voice.
Letting His wisdom lead my hands.
Letting His timing set my pace.
So when I felt Him nudging me to build a website—even though everything in me resisted—I said yes.
And what has unfolded over the last month still amazes me.
The website that would have taken me a year in the past?
It’s almost fully built—in just a matter of weeks.
That’s not because it was easy.
I still faced challenges.
I still had to figure out problems I’d never seen before.
I still had to stretch myself beyond what felt comfortable.
But somehow, it wasn’t the same grind it used to be.
There was a grace in it.
A steady flow.
A sense that even when it was hard, I wasn’t carrying the weight alone.
When you’re building with God, and walking daily with Jesus, there’s a kind of ease in alignment.
It doesn’t mean the work disappears.
It doesn’t mean you won’t get tired or face obstacles.
But it means you are no longer striving in your own strength.
You are yoked to Someone stronger.
Someone wiser.
Someone who carries the load with you—and for you.
What It Really Means to Be Yoked to Jesus
When Jesus said,
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29 NKJV)
He was speaking into a culture that understood exactly what a yoke was.
A yoke is a heavy wooden beam that joins two oxen together so they can pull a load as a team.
It keeps them aligned.
Moving in the same direction.
Sharing the burden equally—though in truth, the stronger ox often carried more of the weight.
When Jesus invites us to take His yoke, He isn’t offering us more work.
He’s offering us partnership.
He’s offering to walk with us,
carry the heaviest part of the load,
and teach us how to move with His rhythm of grace.
It’s not about dragging ourselves forward by willpower.
It’s about walking step by step with the One who already knows the way.
The One who is patient when we stumble.
The One who adjusts His pace to match ours.
The One who never leaves us to pull alone.
To be yoked to Jesus means:
- We don’t have to figure everything out by ourselves.
- We don’t have to force outcomes through striving.
- We don’t have to rush to keep up with the world’s pace.
It means we can find real rest—even as we keep moving forward.
Because the weight of the journey isn’t on our shoulders anymore.
It’s on His.
God Equips Those He Calls
One of the biggest fears that creeps in when we step into something new is this:
“What if I’m not enough?”
Not skilled enough.
Not prepared enough.
Not strong enough.
But one of the most beautiful truths woven through all of Scripture is this:
God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.
When He invites us to walk with Him—
when He invites us to build something with Him—
He already knows exactly what we need.
He doesn’t expect us to show up fully ready,
perfectly trained,
or immaculately qualified.
He simply asks us to show up.
As it says in Hebrews 13:20–21 (NIV):
“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
When you are yoked to Jesus, you are never unequipped.
Because being yoked to Him means that He is the stronger, more experienced one—carrying the weight you could never carry alone.
In ancient times, when a young ox was being trained, it would be yoked to an older, stronger ox.
The younger one didn’t have to pull the full weight—it simply learned to walk in step with the older one.
The experienced ox would carry the burden and set the pace, teaching the younger one how to move forward without being overwhelmed.
That’s exactly the picture Jesus invites us into.
He carries what we can’t.
He leads where we don’t know the way.
He equips us with everything we need to walk in the path He has prepared.
And when we lean into His strength instead of our own, we discover that His yoke really is easy, and His burden really is light.
One Gentle Step You Can Take
If you’re weary, overwhelmed, or feeling like you’re carrying more than you can handle right now—
maybe today is the day to trade your self-effort for His strength.
You don’t have to figure it all out.
You don’t have to fix it all first.
You don’t have to become “good enough” before you can walk with Him.
You simply have to say yes.
Yes to His invitation.
Yes to His yoke.
Yes to learning how to walk with Him, step by step.
So here’s one small thing you can do today:
Pause for a moment.
Take a deep breath.
And tell Jesus, “I want to be yoked to You.”
That’s it.
No complicated rituals.
No perfect words.
Just a simple heart posture that says:
“I’m tired of carrying this alone.
I’m ready to walk with You.
Teach me Your rhythms.
Strengthen me with Your strength.
Show me how to move with Your grace.”
Because you were never meant to pull the weight of your dreams, your calling, or your life by yourself.
You were meant to be yoked to Jesus.
And when you are, the journey may still have hills and valleys—
but you’ll never walk it alone.
Walk This Path with Him
Friend, if there’s one thing I hope you take away from today, it’s this:
You don’t have to be strong enough,
smart enough,
or ready enough to walk the path God has called you to.
You just have to be willing to walk it with Him.
Yoked to Jesus, you’re not striving alone.
You’re not pushing through in your own limited strength.
You’re moving with Someone who knows the way, carries the load, and equips you for every step.
And even when it’s hard…
Even when you’re learning new rhythms…
Even when the road twists and turns in ways you didn’t expect…
You can trust that the One walking beside you is gentle, patient, and strong enough to get you where you need to go.
So lean in.
Take His hand.
Let Him set the pace.
And let the journey be filled not just with progress—
but with peace.
With love and belief in you,
P.S. If you’re interested in exploring the biblical meaning of being yoked to Jesus further, this article from Christianity.com offers valuable insights: The Yoke of Jesus: Biblical Meaning and Importance.
