Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

The land produced vegetation—plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. There was evening, and there was morning, a third day.
Genesis 1:12-13 (emphasis added)

While we talk through and meditate on what the Word says about healing, it is important not to lose sight of how we know healing will NEVER pass away in this life. Grace. The Grace of Elohim is proof that healing will exist as long as sin exists. We can see this right from the beginning. Yes, we were commanded to multiply (both having children and being productive with what we put our hands to), to fill the Earth with His garden, and have dominion over everything we find. But we were also assured of the resources we need to achieve that command. He gave this command after He created us. He gave this command AFTER He had created what we need to survive. We didn’t take our first breath and get to work. We took our first breath and began to tend or shepherd the resources He had already given us. He set in place the redemption we would need to be healed before He created anything. And He didn’t form us until the entire support system was in place and functioning. Elohim’s Grace is forward thinking and provisional in form. It always has been and it always will be. As long as sin exists, we will have what we need to remain whole. Wholeness, not brokenness, is ALWAYS His will because it is who He IS.

On the first day Adonai gave us the Light of the World. On the second day Adonai gave us air. On the third day, Adonai gave us dry ground and He created all the plants that He gave us as food (at least until the Flood). On the fourth day we got a sun, moon, and the stars/galaxies. On the fifth day we got aquatic life, birds. On the sixth day we got livestock. So it went light to see by, air to breathe, ground to stand on, plants to eat, a sun to hear us, fish and birds, livestock and insects, and THEN humanity. Everything we would need – in His perfect system and later in our fallen one – was put in place BEFORE we were there. We wouldn’t have to strive for it. We would have to wrestle it up. We could simply take care of it and expand its territory until it covered the entire earth. If we had come first, we’d have needed to tread water until the third day. We’d have been very cold until the fourth. We’d have had nothing to eat until the third say too. Although we were the pinnacle of creation, we would have seriously struggled to survive if we had been made earlier. We were made last so that everything was set, ready, and looking forward to our care – which would have been a reflection of His care for us. Everything we were meant to do was a mirror of Him and His character. First Him, and then us (1 John 4:19).

We see the same principle in play when Adam and Eve rebelled. They were NOT kicked out to fend for themselves. They were NOT abandoned. They were sent out so they would not become immortal in their fallen state (Genesis 3:22). But before they were sent out, Adonai exchanged man’s ineffectual efforts (fig leaves – Genesis 3:7) with proper protection/attire (animal skin garments – Genesis 3:21). Adonai didn’t stop doing things for them. Or guiding them with an audible voice (Genesis 4:6-7). Even in continued sinful behaviour, Adonai extended Grace to protect humanity (Genesis 4:15). Adonai doesn’t want us to be slaves to sin. He doesn’t want us to reap the harvest of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). Humanity went the other way and refused Adonai’s advances again and again. Hundreds of years passed and they chose wickedness. Even after judgement, Adonai showed mercy. With no crops to eat yet, He let humanity start eating meat (Genesis 9:3). They wouldn’t have to starve waiting for their crops to grow. He also confirmed His covenant with humanity (Genesis 9:9-11). Elohim is ALWAYS showing us Grace. We don’t deserve it. We can’t earn it. We often turn away from it and Him. But He STILL is persistent in His pursuit of us.

“However, in the future I will allure her; I will lead her back into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. From there I will give back her vineyards to her and turn the ‘Valley of Trouble’ into an ‘Opportunity for Hope.’ There she will sing as she did when she was young, when she came up from the land of Egypt. At that time,” declares the Lord, “you will call me, ‘My husband’; you will never again call me, ‘My master’” (Hosea 2:14-16). We flee, but Adonai Elohim refuses to abandon us. He calls to us (John 6:44). He saves us and speaks to our calling because of what He wants for us, not our particular talents (2 Timothy 1:9). Jesus came to provide us a way of salvation. He came and did what WE as humanity could not and cannot do. Because Jesus achieved it, His Father made a covenant with Him (Ezekiel 36:26-27; Jeremiah 31:31-34). Jesus opens that covenant to us through His own body and blood, His own sacrifice. “Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6). This is not a God who ‘uses’ sickness. This is not a God who teaches through disease, depression, or anxiety. This is a God who goes out of His way to MAKE a way of us to get back to where He wants us. First now, and then in perfection. He can use anything to teach us. This is a fallen and twisted creation in which many things can happen, populated by fallen humans with free will who – without Jesus – indulge in every sinful and wicked behaviour they can conceive of. But His will and desire for us is to be whole and healed. A bright and shining light to the world of what is possible in and with Him. That NOTHING is impossible when we partner in cooperation with Adonai Elohim His way.

There are many spiritual paths. There is only ONE that leads to the Father of Eternity. There are many spiritual experiences, disciplines, and religious schools of thought. There is only ONE true God who made all things and upholds all things through the trustworthiness of His Word. Every other way has US doing things. Our efforts. Our behaviour. Our treading a path until we get it right. Not with Jesus. He did it all. His efforts. His behaviour. His sacrifice. So He could wash us. So we could take Him by the hand and walk His path. There is only ONE way that doesn’t have sweat, tears, and our blood on it. Even when we try to do His way with our thinking it doesn’t work – such as the many crusades, purges, and inquisitions that humanity has participated in in the name of religion. Only HIS way in HIS time at HIS leading works. Nothing else works. Because no one and nothing else has HIS works at the core. Love helps us see the Grace that gets us through the Gate. With that at the core of our walk, we should vehemently reject sickness in ALL its forms.

We mix our trust with His Grace through His Word and receive everything He has for us. First the Jew, and then the Gentile. First here, and then when we see Him face to face. We hear from Him. We see it in the Word. We put our trust in Him and in His Word. And we receive it. We engage it. By Grace. We ALREADY have it because it is ALREADY done. We’re not trying to get sickness OUT. We’re not trying to get new limbs, nerves, cells, or anything else IN. We ALREADY have everything in Jesus because Jesus has rested from His work. He FINISHED it. We’re keeping sickness from stealing our health. The devil, the world, and the natural processes of decay want to come on you like a rotten coat. Slough it off! They’re trying to get us to look at what the body lacks, instead of looking at what the Spirit has already started renewing (Romans 8:11; Ephesians 1:20). Get your thinking in line with the Word. No matter what thought comes your way, if it doesn’t agree with the Word, wrestle it to the cross and leave it there. Rest in the rest of Jesus! He FINISHED it. We aren’t the ones working. We’re not the ones whose efforts are needed. The effort has already been expended. The healing has already been accomplished. Engage the power He put inside you! Put your trust in His Word. It never lies and will completely revolutionise your life. From the beginning, He wanted you well. He wants you well today. He wants you walking in His wellness on His health plan today and every day of your life. Amen.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Zechariah 9:9

“Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your king is coming to you: He is legitimate and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey—on a young donkey, the foal of a female donkey.” Messiah would be just. He would be morally fair. But it would be a moral fairness from Adonai’s point of view, not humanity’s. The standards, the heart, of the Law and all the scriptures would be maintained in Messiah. “I can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me” (John 5:30). “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!” (Matthew 5:17-20). Jesus was just. Jesus was obedient. Jesus walked out the will of His Father. Jesus was righteous in word, deed, and thought from Yahweh’s point of view. Jesus IS the Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b