Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

Yahweh said to Joshua, “Don’t fear them, for I have delivered them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.”
Joshua 10:8 (emphasis added)

That is a promise from the Lord Himself: no one of them shall stand before you.

Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.”

Micah 7:16-17 “The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth, they will come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to Yahweh our God, and will be afraid because of you.”

Revelation 2:26-28 “He who overcomes, and he who keeps my works to the end, to him I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron, shattering them like clay pots, as I also have received of my Father; and I will give him the morning star.’“

This doesn’t sound like we’re going to have a problem with people when the Lord is telling us what to do and where to go. Nothing can stand against us. Why? Because Jesus is the Christ, the Lord, and He has glory, majesty, power, and authority from before all time and now and forever (Jude 1:25). This was all decided a long time ago. Before time, in fact. Before creation. Before anything was said and before anything happened. It was decided. It has now come to pass. Jesus won. Jesus said (Revelation 1:17-18) “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Do you doubt that your boss at work can make things happen? The head boss. The person on whose desk the buck stops. Of course not. If they couldn’t get things done, they wouldn’t be the one in charge. Investors and stockholders have a way of getting rid of people who can’t make them money. If you’re not producing, you’re not going to be head boss for long.

God works the same way. The Father is a spiritual being. He gave dominion and authority on earth over certain things to humankind. Genesis 1:26 tells us exactly what: “God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””

Man after the image of God. Something new that had never been seen before. Spirit beings with physical bodies. Beings with dominion in this place. That’s where the devil gets his power – the borrowed authority of humans. The authority we handed over to him. Jesus came in physical form and BAM took those keys and that authority back. Now it again rests in a physical being because Jesus was both man and God. Human and divine. He has a resurrected, spiritualised body but it has form – we can hug Him! He isn’t just a spirit. He is a LIVING BEING (Revelation 1:18). He holds those keys because He is physical AND spiritual. He has the authority and the dominion. He is the 2nd in command. Father is #1, Jesus is #2. Best news? He makes you part of the family. Just like His Beloved Children, the Jewish Nation. Same name as Jesus, same blood, same spirit, AND we get to use His authority and dominion on earth. Co-heirs. Side by side with Christ Jesus IF we do as Jesus commands us in John 15.

Outside of Jesus, we are just us. People. Humans who have not obeyed from the beginning. In Jesus, we are just that. Because Jesus obeyed from the beginning. Jesus was as human as you and me. No special powers and abilities. Jesus performed not one miracle before the Holy Spirit descended on Him at His baptism. Not one. But He obeyed. That means that He painted all over the walls of His house as a toddler but when Mary was upset and told Him ‘no’, He never did it again. He would have been tempted to, but the ‘no’ stood and He obeyed. When Mary told Him to be nice to His brother or sister, Jesus obeyed. He obeyed all through His growing up. Jesus had free will. He COULD have chosen to sin. To disobey the moral law of Yahweh God. But He didn’t. He had no inherent weakness. He had no fault. And He chose to obey.

When we abide in Jesus, we gain all of who He is because He comes to dwell inside us. We acknowledge Him as our Lord and Saviour, out loud confessing that He is our Lord, believe He died for us and was resurrected to life again, get baptised to symbolise our joining Him in that process, and we are saved. Once we are saved, He comes to dwell in us by Grace to give us what we never had: obedience, righteousness, faith, love, joy, and the rest of the fruit of the spirit. In Him, with Him, and through Him, we have back the position we started in as a species. But it is only in and through Jesus that we have these things. That we share in these things. But in Him, we become what He is: overcomers.

None can stand against us. Not one single thing. Not physical, not spiritual. Nothing. God delivers our enemies to us. The demons and spiritual forces can’t stand against us. They have no authority here! Jesus has the authority. Don’t buy into their propaganda. They’re not powerful beings. They’re not scary, mighty things full of power and abilities. They’re withered little creatures, twisted and broken. They have NOTHING except what WE give them. They are piggybacking on OUR authority and claiming it’s theirs. It’s pitiful. Remember, angels are a class below where humans were created — BUT WE FELL. Without the authority that Jesus got back, angels are above us and so are some other spiritual beings. But with the authority that Jesus got back for us, wielding that authority IN Jesus, according to God’s Word, nothing can stand against us. We again have our dominion back. We again have the ability to subdue what is around us. By Grace, through Faith, by the power of Jesus’ Name, in and alongside the Word. We have the right to exercise our will, use our speech, and say what we please (Genesis 1:26-28, Deuteronomy 30:19, and Proverbs 18:20-21).

Jesus has the name above all names. Does what you’re facing have a name? It has to submit. One proviso on this. God doesn’t mess with free will. Don’t bother praying against another human. Pray to God to help YOU not to harm someone else. Lift up your enemies to the Lord as ask Him to bless them. To send angels to minister to them (Hebrews 1:14). God is THE deliverer. Rest in Him, dwell in the secret place (spend time in the Word, in worship, and in praise), pray for those who come against you (Matthew 5:44), and He will tell you what to do about your fellow humans. But against demons? Spirits? Thoughts? Emotions? Diseases? Sickness? Jesus has the authority and WE get to use it. So use it! Believe and be strong in faith (which develops by spending time in the Word).

The world won’t like us. The world will persecute and hate us — Jesus said they’d treat us just like Him (John 15:18-27) because with Him dwelling in us we ARE just like Him. We will have trials. We will suffer. We will be martyred. Through it all we will have His peace, His victory, and prosperity as our souls prosper. From the world’s point of view we will have ups and downs. There will be times believers will be on top of the world spreading wealth and enjoying their kind of peace. There will be other times believers are persecuted, shunned, imprisoned, and have a lack of worldly wealth. But from OUR point of view and from HEAVEN’s point of view, we are rich, joyous, and succeeding. At all times and in all things. Because we are on the JESUS plan. We’re looking to that which is not seen, not that which is (2 Corinthians 4:18). We can’t be depressed and afraid because we’re in Jesus. We’ll sing in the prisons, sing in the banks, sing in the streets, sing in the workhouses. We’ll sing praises to the Lord God Almighty wherever we are because all that the world counts suffering is both a privilege (Acts 5:41) and a moment (2 Corinthians 4:17, 1 Peter 5:10). A flash in the pan. Nothing to worry about. We are overcomers.

We can do it because Jesus said we can, because it is Jesus’ name inside us that takes hold of it because of His sacrifice at the cross and His resurrection by the Father into life, and because the Father above Himself watches over His Word to see it come to pass (Jeremiah 1:12 and Isaiah 55:11). Jesus is with us always right up to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20) so we never, ever, EVER need to be afraid. No matter where we are. No matter what is happening. The world may think it is winning, but we are killing it in the spiritual realms where the real fight is. We’re succeeding because Jesus is doing it, not us. His strength, not ours. His righteousness, not ours. His victory, not ours. We’re a walking loaded gun with the triple-Trinity barrel of Righteousness in action! Praise Him for it — whatever it is — and let Him turn a negative into a positive His way. Align yourself with His will. Stand on His Word.

The Word is the key that unlocks our deepest praise. Study it out. Believe it. Receive it. Walk in it. It’ll change your life.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Psalm 55

Jesus became human. One hundred percent. He knew what it was to pray and not be sure you were heard. He knew what it was to be bullied. He knew what it was to build something on your own. To craft the picture in your head and have it turn out. He also knew what it was to fail at it. Jesus was totally human. He was a child that had to learn to walk and fell down a lot. He had to grow up. Just like us. He got to know what it was like on a good day and also on a bad day. Few people have had bad days like Jesus had a bad day. Here is a guy who IS love. Totally. Pure unselfish love. And He was betrayed by one of His close friends. Given up to be killed. It was horrible. This Psalm is about David feeling like everyone is against him. That he’s been betrayed by his close friend. He complains. He rails. But what is the overall message of the Psalm? (vs 22) Cast your burden on Yahweh and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved. He loves us. Even when we screw up. Even when it feels like everyone is against us – especially when we feel that. He loves us. He LOVES us. He loves US. Feels good, doesn’t it?

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.