Fear No Fear

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

When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.
John 4:47 (emphasis added)

I’ve been there. Begging. Screaming into the void with tears flowing down my face. BEGGING God to do something. To make this right. To heal. It didn’t work. I know that Yahweh WANTED to heal. WANTED a miracle. I know His heart broke right beside mine. That HE had tears streaming down His face too. I know it. But it didn’t change anything. There was no healing. My child died. I was mad a long time, but I wasn’t bitter. Just mad. It never crossed my mind to pray for the child to be raised from the dead. I was upset it didn’t ‘work’. Why didn’t it WORK? Thing is though, begging NEVER works.

Begging is when you’re asking earnestly. When you’re asking for charity. When you are requiring from something something that you deem as necessary. Does that sound like the relationship that Adonai is trying to establish with us in the Word? I admit it is REALLY easy to think of the Lord up there on a throne. Sitting stoically and looking down on us waiting for – DEMANDING – our worship. Doling out favours when and IF He wants to. That isn’t Yahweh. That isn’t Yeshua. That isn’t Ruach HaKodesh. That isn’t ANY of the Trinity. Nor ANY of the over twenty names of Yahweh found in scripture. That isn’t a God worth worshipping.

Even the LAW didn’t look at the Lord God that way. The sacrifices, offerings, tithes, and commands weren’t Yahweh beating them over the head, punishing them, and demanding their total subservience in all things so they weren’t smited from on high. They were Yahweh tenderly caring for His people – His CHILDREN. Showing them the VAST difference between humanity and Himself. Showing them that they CANNOT approach Him without being righteous. Showing them that a price for OUR rebellion needed to be paid. And how to LIVE a full and BLESSED life by adhering to His morals, His strictures, and the behaviour HE created us to model. It was preparation for when HE would be the sacrifice to cleanse US once and for all of all WE did. It was the instructions so that we could hold to our FAITH and understand His GRACE.

No one EVER begged Jesus for healing. Not even in today’s verse. They begged Jesus to COME. The healing was assumed. They knew that if they got Jesus THERE, He would heal. Because Jesus NEVER refused healing. And it NEVER failed. Yes, Jesus prayed twice for a blind man – so what? He didn’t stop until there was healing. Until He broke through the doubt. Jesus ALWAYS healed. Jesus ALWAYS cast out evil spirits. Jesus ALWAYS did these things. If you could just get Jesus to come, healing followed. THAT was the faith this man had.

So what was the issue when my child died? I was looking for God to DO something. I was begging for an action. I was begging for attention. I was WRONG. Jesus sent forth healing spiritually from before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Jesus sent forth healing physically when He was crucified for our sin (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus fulfilled the prophesy that He would ALWAYS heal us and remove our diseases, revealing without a doubt that the will of the Father is to heal (Matthew 8:16-17). Jesus HEALS. More importantly: Jesus HEALED. Past tense. Already done. It ONLY needs to be accepted.

The issue with my begging is that I was seeking a divine intervention of a NEW thing. I wasn’t accepting what was ACCOMPLISHED. I wasn’t looking at it as something that can be taken from His open hand. I could have called on the Name of Jesus, used the authority He gave me, commanded healing and received it. Because He says that we can (Acts 3:6, Mark 16:18, Matthew 11:5-6). We are to be like Jesus, imitating Him in all He does (1 Corinthians 11:1), with the Holy Spirit indwelling us so that we can (1 Corinthians 3:16). Jesus healed because through Jesus as a man, the Father used the Holy Spirit to heal. Jesus wasn’t anything but a point of contact – sometimes unconsciously (Matthew 9:20). Jesus was FULLY human. So are we. If HE could do it, WE can do it – IF we do as He did.

I did not have faith that it WOULD happen. I was begging for something I knew was within the sphere of things Yahweh did. Isn’t that quite the difference? Expecting from your heart the thing you have been told you can have instead of begging for the thing you know in your head is possible in the right circumstances? It wasn’t doubt, it wasn’t unbelief, it was total random casting out for something I read. It was not of faith. It was not of His power. It was just words thrown at the ceiling. Nothing comes of that except a throat being used. Idle words bring NOTHING to us. They are IDLE. OF NO POWER. They aren’t of the KINGDOM. They are USELESS.

So often, we beg the Lord and then get ticked when it doesn’t work. Blaming Elohim for not being present. Not healing. Not caring. Not living up to the hype. But we haven’t used faith. We are not truly BELIEVING. We are just speaking. Jesus ALREADY healed us. We ALREADY have it. If we can rid ourselves of doubt and unbelief, we would be healed EVERY TIME. The ONLY way to rid yourself of doubt is to trust in the Lord, trust in the Word, and trust in what HE says is.

Healing is for today. And Jesus? He is with you. If you are a believer, you’ll NEVER be without Him (Matthew 28:20). You don’t need to beg Him, He’s there. You don’t need to beg Him for healing. Find out what the Word says. Accept that it is for you as much as it was for them. The Word is eternal. Healing is always. Accept what He’s offering. Take what has been FINISHED. Accomplished in you – if you’ll believe and receive. That is what the table of Communion is all about: His body broken for YOU.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Numbers 9:12

“They must not leave any of it until morning, nor break any of its bones; they must observe it in accordance with every statute of the Passover.” The sacrifice may not have any broken bones. Messiah will not have ANY broken bones. Crucifixion usually breaks the bones of the legs to speed things up. Jesus was crucified on the day before a major Jewish day, which meant they couldn’t stay on the crosses because it was a disgrace to the Jewish people and the Romans weren’t looking for a riot over something so small. “Then because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs broken and the bodies taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men who had been crucified with Jesus, first the one and then the other. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately. And the person who saw it has testified (and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth), so that you also may believe. For these things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled, “Not a bone of his will be broken.”” (John 19:31-36). Not one of Jesus’ bones were broken. Jesus was the ACCEPTABLE sacrifice. Jesus IS Messiah.

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b