Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.“

Romans 8:2

If one thing is clear from the rules of the Levitical priesthood (the ONLY ones who could perform sacrifices and interact with Elohim on a regular basis), Elohim is serious about life. A priest couldn’t get near a dead body (perform funeral rites) for anyone but immediate family members. And a High Priest couldn’t for ANYONE. They couldn’t stop performing services to grieve. They couldn’t perform the usual outward signs of mourning (wailing, tearing of clothes, and ashes). They were holy and separated, the visible example of Elohim. They were to act like it. Why? First, because Elohim is HOLY. Second, because Elohim is all about LIFE.

What did Ruach HaKadosh come to do? Nitpick us until we were browbeaten into submission? Keep us from all the fun things? Keep us from experiencing freely all the feelings that the human experience is capable of? Keep us from having things? Keep us down? Keep us company as we while away the days waiting for that time in the future when we will leave the fields of the downtrodden and finally get to be heavenly overcomers?

No.

What does He guide us to? All truth. What does He teach us? God’s wisdom. What does He correct us about? Things not in harmony with our new lives in Jesus. What is Jesus? LIFE and ABUNDANT LIFE at that. What is Ruach HaKadosh? The breath of Elohim, coming out from the Word. If the Word is abundant life, the Breath is abundant life. Jesus overcame the WORLD (John 16:33) and WE are (in Him) to be like Him. What is Sabbath Rest all about? Total reliance on Jesus in all circumstances to bring us from our current mindset to His mindset, which is abundant life.

This isn’t talking about everyone being rich. Riches are a prison if you aren’t reliant on Elohim first. This isn’t talking about the finest house or car or stuff. That’s all poisonous if you’re not reliant on Elohim first. It’s ALL about embracing the total abundant spiritual life first, which allows you to enjoy other things about abundant physical life because your priorities, mindset, and heart’s desires are in harmony with Adonai’s.

From the beginning of the codified Law – showing us our shortcomings and our need for a saviour – death was something NOT to be desired. Pagan practices glorified it. Romanticized it. Elohim said it sucked. It was NOT His plan. It had NEVER been His plan. And He was not the God of dead people. He was the LIVING God of LIVING people: “And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”” (Exodus 3:6a). He WAS the God, not He HAD BEEN the God. They were still alive. This concept of an afterlife, of a world to come, was an integral part of the Gospel Elohim had been telling since Adam first fell. Not that it needed to be a whole other world, but that it was a world restored to what it should always have stayed as: a world in harmony with Him. Death was the result of sin and NOT in harmony with Him. Therefore, death needed to be conquered in order for things to return to harmony with Him. And in the life AFTER, in that world AFTER, we could all be with Him. In the meantime, the righteous and the unrighteous were alive and apart and waiting (sheol – Genesis 37:35).

Elohim is all about life. Therefore, Ruach HaKadosh is all about life. Life that is abundantly in harmony with Adonai Elohim. A life opposite of the one the devil wishes for us (John 10:10). A life founded on the Word (Jesus), lived by the Word (Jesus), and enabled by the promises of the Word (Jesus). All of that is about life. All of that is about overcoming. All of that is full of the victory Jesus had over death – we’ve done all the dying we’re ever going to do (we are going to throw off this meat suit, but that isn’t death. That’s a wardrobe change). Listening to Ruach HaKadosh and following His guidance is to listen to life and walk in its abundance.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Romans 2:4

“Or do you despise the wealth of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?“

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8