Fear No Fear

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

They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand has not been removed from you.”
1 Samuel 6:3 (emphasis added)

I’m sure you are familiar with the idea that we cannot as people honestly take the view that there is only ONE way to god. With all the myriad of cultures, races, societies, philosophies, and religions, how can ONE group of people say there is only ONE way to knowledge of ONE god who is TRUE. Yet that is EXACTLY what we have. ONE way to the TRUE GOD, and dozens upon hundreds upon thousands of counterfeits. They are not true gods. They are simple more-than-human-spirits who are claiming deity in order to trade off OUR position in the spirit on this planet. Yahweh is the ONLY TRUE GOD and ALL OTHERS bow to Him. Period.

“Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus said ‘I’. The Greek word egó, which is I but only in the most emphatic sense. Jesus was clear that He was referring to Himself alone. He said ‘the’. As in ONLY. As in ONE. He said ‘no one’. The Greek words are oudeis and outheis, oudemia, ouden and outhen. Together they mean (‘no one, nothing at all’) is a powerful negating conjunction. It rules out by definition, i.e. ‘shuts the door’ objectively and leaves no exceptions; and (oudeís) is deductive in force so it excludes every (any) example that is included within the premise (supposition); and finally (‘not one, none’) categorically excludes, declaring as a fact that no valid example exists.]. That is pretty clear. Of all the deities worshipped by human beings, Jesus is the ONLY way to the ONLY TRUE GOD period. End concept. ALL OTHERS WRONG.

This can seem exclusionist to the human mind. People will stand up and say ‘how do you know that is the truth’? It is simple. Yahweh Almighty God said so. He knows who He is. He knows the truth because He IS truth. We CAN take His word for it because He does not lie, CANNOT lie, and can ALWAYS be trusted. NOTHING He has said has FAILED to come to pass. He NEVER fails, NEVER falters, and NEVER abandons. We can test what He says and it will ALWAYS prove true. He is the LIVING ONE (Revelation 1:18).

In today’s verse, we can see that even though the Philistines had many gods (like several cultures we know today), they acknowledged Yahweh as superior to them. They acknowledged that their gods (all of them) were unable to help them. Unable to heal them. Unable to keep the displeasure of Yahweh off of them – they had taken the Ark for the Covenant and were NOT dealing with it the way Yahweh had commanded. They were at the end of their ropes. They were desperate. The advice of their priests and diviners? Give it back, give an offering with it, don’t try and keep it, if you do ANYTHING but give it back with an offering you are NOT going to be healed.

Unequivocal acknowledgement of superiority. THAT is how the demonic world responds to Yahweh. But they do not submit. They cower. They beg. “They cried out, “Son of God, leave us alone! Have you come here to torment us before the time?”” (Matthew 8:29). They know they are doomed. They know what waits for them. But they STILL will not submit. They will go to hell kicking, screaming, cursing, and begging. But they will go without humble submission in their hearts. We have the same choice.

Adonai tells us in the Word again and again and again and again that if WE then HE. There is BLESSING upon BLESSING upon BLESSING waiting for us. All the blessings of heaven (Philippians 4:19). Yahweh didn’t even hold back in the OLD covenant. “The Lord bless you and protect you; The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”’” (Numbers 6:24-26). Blessing, protection, grace, peace, and looking on you with pleasure. That is what Adonai promised in the OLD covenant. And WE have a BETTER covenant (Hebrews 8:6-9). Why are we looking for LESS than they looked for in the Old Testament?

In the Old Testament, those who were willing to seek the Lord first before they sought their own pleasures and satisfactions were promised blessing, protection, grace, and peace. Is sickness part of that list? No. It is part of the CURSE. “But if you ignore the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. Your children will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you in everything you undertake until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess” (Deuteronomy 28:15-21). It goes on. When you reject Adonai and His commandments, nothing goes well for you because you are out there in the woods, not safe at home with Him.

The Creator of the Universe is sitting there on the Throne of Heaven. It is beyond our imagination. It is beyond our wildest dreams. It radiates with His Power and Glory in a way that would knock your socks into next week without even trying. THIS is who is saying to us ‘I WILL heal you’. Why do we EVER doubt? Because we are thinking with our FLESH and not our spirit. If we thought with our spirit we would NEVER doubt, NEVER expect anything except instant and total healing, and NEVER be waiting for Him to move.

Our journey will healing is really the journey of our minds from our flesh and this physical world around us to our spirit and the invisible Kingdom of Heaven around Him. It is getting us (the physical) into line with the spiritual. It is learning to perceive Jesus in us as we are in Him. Sometimes we picture it as walking through a desert. Sometimes it’s a path through the woods and out into the open meadows. Sometimes it’s climbing up a mountain through jagged, rocky peaks. The reality is that all we are doing is learning to turn around and SEE Him standing there holding out His hand to us. Learning to reach out and take from His hand what He is offering to us. That’s it. That is ALL we have to do.

At the end of the day, even the enemies of Yahweh acknowledge His ability to BLESS and to HEAL beyond anything they can accomplish (which is them removing their active hand making people sick, not actual healing). What is it WE are going to acknowledge? Are we going to say yes, He can? Or are we going to submit humbly to how He has already done it for us? Are we going to keep trying to earn what He bought for us freely? Will you offer YOURSELF as an offering of obedience? If so, be obedient. Take your healing from His hand.
Get into the Word and let it teach you how to turn around and take what He is freely giving to you by Grace. Accept His peace, blessing, protection, and health. He’s offering it. Learn to accept it. Turning to face Him is the BEST journey you could EVER take. Promise.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Ruth 4:4-10

“So I am legally informing you: Acquire it before those sitting here and before the leaders of my people. If you want to exercise your right to redeem it, then do so. But if not, then tell me so I will know. For you possess the first option to redeem it; I am next in line after you.” He replied, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said, “When you acquire the field from Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the wife of our deceased relative, in order to preserve his family name by raising up a descendant who will inherit his property.” The guardian said, “Then I am unable to redeem it, for I would ruin my own inheritance in that case. You may exercise my redemption option, for I am unable to redeem it.” (Now this used to be the customary way to finalize a transaction involving redemption in Israel: A man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party. This was a legally binding act in Israel.) So the guardian said to Boaz, “You may acquire it,” and he removed his sandal. Then Boaz said to the leaders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, as my wife to raise up a descendant who will inherit his property so the name of the deceased might not disappear from among his relatives and from his village. You are witnesses today.”” Messiah is the Redeemer of not only Israel but of all who submit to Yahweh in truth. Messiah exercises His right to redeem the lost. Messiah is our kinsman and redeems us. It is Jesus who exercised this kinsman right. “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He did this by predestining us to adoption as his legal heirs through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will— to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:3-7). Jesus IS Messiah.

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b