Fear No Fear

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

in whom also you, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also when you believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14

Sealed with a promise. That’s pretty good. Yahweh’s promises are NEVER forgotten. What is the promise? “and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). The promise is our full redemption. Our spirits enjoy complete redemption now,  but our souls need to be renewed to Him (Romans 12:2) and our flesh is just a meat-sack we’ll trade for a body like Jesus when we meet Him face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). This is a surety. It’s a promise. It will NOT pass away. It is something we can ALWAYS be sure of. It’s a beautiful promise.

It is in fact a confirmation of another promise that Yahweh has been making to His children for thousands of years. “Yahweh is the one going before you; he will be with you, and he will not leave you alone, and he will not forsake you; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8). To seal something is to conclude it. To establish it securely and definitively. It completely and totally excludes the possibility of reversal or loss. That means we are absolutely established within Jesus by Ruach HaKodesh so that the possibility of our being lost is totally excluded (John 18:9). In fact, Jesus said “And I give them eternal life, and they will never perish forever, and no one will seize them out of my hand” (John 10:28). He is VERY sure of His promises.

This promise is a great comfort to us – or should be. It proves completely that our relationship with Yahweh is not based on our performance (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is something that is totally by Grace because He is MERCIFUL. We don’t DESERVE this treatment. We never did. But Yahweh LOVED us. “but God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). We were enemies of Yahweh and He died for us. We as a human group throughout all of history have done almost nothing but walk away from Him. But He loves us too much NOT to reach out. And when we connect? He protects that. He SEALS that. He makes sure that we won’t decide to think that because we made a mistake it is all over. No. He will renew our minds to His point of view through the Word (Romans 12:2). He’ll lead us through repentance (1 John 1:9). He’ll walk beside us as we deal with the ramifications and effects of our mistakes (Psalm 145:14). He’ll give us His strength and see us through to the other side (Isaiah 41:10). Through it all He will love us. He will cherish us. And we will – throughout the process – still be sealed.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Hosea 3:5

“Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their king. They will come in fear to Yahweh and to his goodness at the end of days.” One of the best things about the story of the Jewish people is that no matter how far they go from Yahweh (like all humanity wanders), He ALWAYS preserves a remnant and has NEVER let go of the promise of ALL returning to Him at a certain point. It will be a testament to His Covenant with them, that as things come to a close it will really be Jew first and then the Gentile walking into His open arms of love in reverence and worship. He has never let go of His side of His promises and He never will – even if WE get whiney about how long it SEEMS to be taking (2 Peter 3:9). Thank the Lord He is forever FAITHFUL. What a GOOD God!

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