Fear No Fear

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

and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
Luke 9:2 (emphasis added)

One of the standard pairings in romances is the two people thrown together who would normally have nothing to do with each other. But as they struggle to swim in the depths they’ve been tossed into, they learn about each other, they develop feelings, and beyond all hoping fall desperately for one another. This can be a type and shadow of the Father’s love for us.

Yahweh is RIGHTEOUS. Completely, totally, unbendingly, righteous. It is His NATURE. It isn’t something He works at. It isn’t something He does. It is what He IS. We, on the other hand, are NOT. Adam chose selfish ambition over loving kindness and fell. He passed that fallen nature onto ALL his descendants. We are the unrighteous. The unworthy. Not unworthy to exist – look at the marvels we as human beings have been able to produce, the love we have for each other, the moments of beauty that we can inhabit. Unworthy to stand in His presence. The unworthiness of the unrighteous to experience the righteous. Yet for all of that truth, He still chose us.

He who knew the end from the beginning, from before the foundation of the world, chose you. He chose me. It is a staggering thought. All that we have gone through as a species. All that He was willing to do in order for sin to be taken care of. All of that. He looked at the YOU He was going to create, smiled, and knew it was all worth it. THAT is love. THAT is grace. THAT is almost too hard for us to understand. He saw the you that you were going to be, the you He created you to be, and the you that you can be in Jesus, and felt the desire to create the universe just so He could see you. In person.

It’s pretty awesome. THAT is loving kindness personified. It is mercy. It is LOVE. THAT is the God we serve. That is the Yahweh who Was and Is and Will Be. And the simple message that He wants to spread is that He loves us and wants to save us from what we’ve done to ourselves. That’s it. No smite and fight. No doom and gloom. I love you. Let me save you. That’s the Good News. “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).

So how does He do it? He can’t show up and reveal Himself. If He did, we would bow. We would worship. But it would be the reaction of the unrighteous to the righteous. Involuntary acknowledgement of who He is. It wouldn’t be at a heart level. Don’t believe that? “Now when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to bring them together for the battle. They are as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea” (Revelation 20:7-8). After a thousand years of no death. After a thousand years of totally just rule. After a thousand years of Jesus bodily here on Earth. The people of the world (not all, but a lot) rise up to try and dethrone heaven. Why? Because their reaction of peace and obedience was not in the heart.

So how does He do it? With messengers. People who will go out and tell the Good News to other people. Able to sit down and explain and talk and really get to the meat of things. Tiny problem though. We don’t always listen to people like that. We think they’re crazy. Or we point to a dozen man-made religious systems and say that Yahweh is one of a dozen, same as the rest. Or we point to all the human failings and horrors done by those who profess the Good News and cry hypocrites. Can we even BE a decent witness to those who don’t know Adonai yet?

Not without JESUS. One of the ways He does this is by giving us authority to wield His name. By giving us the authority to not plead guilty or plead innocent but to plead His Blood – the blood which washes away every sin and redeems the human spirit. You’re probably thinking that that kind of thing seems even MORE crazy. Well, if I stand on the corner and proclaim this stuff will I sound crazy. But if I stand on that corner, proclaim this stuff, and in the Name of Jesus heal ALL who come up and pray with me, will I sound crazy? No. I will prove the truth of what I say by the works that Jesus does through and around me. EXACTLY the same way the proof of what Jesus said was shown by the works the the Father did through and around Jesus.

We have been sent into the world for a REASON. Not without tools, but with POWER. “And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high”” (Luke 24:49). THIS is how you know that the age of the apostles hasn’t ended. THIS is how you know that healing and miracles have NOT passed away. No matter who you see and hear making noise on the world or church stage today, you can KNOW that the Lord still moves on this earth because without that witness there is no teeth in the message that Jesus told us to proclaim.

If you could only talk and have everyone come to the Lord Adonai with total conviction and total heart readiness, then the world would have been saved a long time ago. There are those that words can reach. There are those that THE Word can reach. And there are those who refuse to believe unless they see some proof that the words said are true. How can you PROVE the Word? Seeing it come to pass. Seeing the blind healed, the lame walk, the sick well, the dead raised. This is EXACTLY what Jesus did. Not for fun, but for a WITNESS. To SHOW that His words had truth in them for ALL to see, not just the receptive of heart.

WE are to be like Jesus. “Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2). If you think this verse means only in BEHAVIOUR, then you are missing half of the instruction. Jesus NEVER sinned and had TOTALLY righteous behaviour even though He was SORELY tempted to do what everyone else did (Hebrews 4:14-16). We are called to that kind of behaviour and given the Holy Spirit to accomplish it (1 John 2:6). But JESUS gave signs and wonders to point to the Father and we are to do the same. We have been called to. We have been sent out for a reason, not for a season. This isn’t a moment only, but a lifestyle of living as Jesus did and providing a point of contact with Yahweh God Almighty for this world that doesn’t know Him.

Yes, there are those who will refuse to believe the miracles – look at Pharaoh (Exodus 9:34). That doesn’t mean we aren’t to give them the opportunity. We are. We are to go out and heal. To go out and show that we aren’t just talking. That we are talking of a REAL God who loves REAL people and REALLY does what He SAYS He does. The proof is in the pudding and the pudding is everything and anything that the Lord God Almighty wants to do.

Proclaim the Kingdom of God. Proclaim the love of Yahweh for His creation. Proclaim the love of Jesus who died for us. Proclaim the love of Holy Spirit who comes and indwells us, being our spirit of righteousness for us. Proclaim the Good News there is a way of salvation provided for us that we don’t have to earn. And perform miracles to show you’re not just talk. Heal the sick. Be healed yourself. Let the HEALTH of the church be so strong, so vibrant, and so constant that the world cannot deny our words: Yahweh IS God.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Leviticus 17:11

“for the life of every living thing is in the blood. So I myself have assigned it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life.” The life is in the blood. It is serious stuff. Jesus shed His for us. He gave of Himself. The Blood-life of His flesh was poured out for sin on the altar of atonement for us. “for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”” (Mark 10:45). Messiah gave His blood for us and paid the price. Messiah redeemed. Jesus IS Messiah.

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b