Fear No Fear

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

Lord, grant me relief from my suffering so that I may have some relief; rescue me from those who persecute me so that I may be rescued, for you give me reason to praise!
Jeremiah 15:18 (emphasis added)

Yesterday we talked about self-pity being a hinderance to us. That it is a demonic doctrine and attitude helping us to wallow in what we SEE instead of what we KNOW from the Word. To get our eyes ONTO the visible and OFF OF the invisible. To be unable to rejoice in the light because of all the darkness chasing it off. We touched on how looking to self is the WORST thing we can do. Anything we don’t do in FAITH – which is Yahweh’s faith which we are given access to (Mark 11:22) – is done from a place of darkness, not light. Defeat (or just as bad a dry place), not victory. This is NOT our place. This should NOT be our reality. Today, we see why.

We are always looking to Adonai for a solution. If we are doing it wrong, we’re looking for Him to move and DO something for us. To change things. To hand us something. To make other people do what we want. This is WRONG because it is US thinking. It might be a good idea, depending on what EXACTLY we want, but it is still and US thing. A good idea not a God idea. That is at its best. Usually, it is the WORST way of doing things. Make them do what I want. Make this job empty so I can take it. Put money in my account. It goes on and on. The human ingenuity for selfishness and self-aggrandisement knows almost no bounds. “Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”” (Genesis 10:4).

Just as Adonai did not let humanity get centred on self and stick to only ONE place so that THEIR will was done, He also moves us. He doesn’t always move us physically, but He ALWAYS moves us spiritually. Internally. He helps us take our eyes of OUR things, OUR circumstances, OUR wants, OUR perceived needs. He renews our minds when we will put in the renewer. “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). IF we will apply the Word to our heart, HE will renew our thinking.

This is not brainwashing. This is simply highlighting our SOURCE and then talking to us about how using Jesus as our SOURCE will work. That’s renewal. A change from SELF to SAVIOUR. Easier said than done because we have had years to decades of programming the other way. The world is all about self. It talks about the people, it talks about the good of society, but in the end it is about the maximum SELF within the confines of our box so we don’t disturb OUR society, which exists within a larger bubble of OTHER societies, which are – of course – not as good as ours. Complex, yeah?

It’s funny. The world gets so hepped up when a believer starts talking about Adonai’s morals. They say we can’t make our viewpoint for everyone. They say that one size doesn’t fit all. They say they need personal freedom. Yet they support drunk driving laws. They support no murder laws. They support anti-abuse laws. They support the idea that if you don’t do ‘good’ you will need to pay for your actions. Yet they ALSO want to have complete personal freedom. They ALSO want to have total individuality. They can’t have both, so they are going full steam making ALL individual feelings/desires/thoughts/ideas/lifestyles be mandatory for the whole society. Not ‘you have to be this’ but ‘you have to allow this as good’. The problem with that is that it is only a matter of time before things viewed by EVERYONE today as bad will be thought of as an individual thing which should be allowed because ‘feelings’.

If you want an over exaggeration, we can be silly and say that we’ll make a law saying that drinking milk is a human right because there are strong-willed milk drinkers out there. Fifty years from now we MIGHT say that pedophilia is ‘normal’ in that it is only a given way the brain is wired and because there are strong-willed pedophiles out there, we need to say that being that way must be a human right because it is a human condition. Almost NO ONE reading this will think this is okay, normal, or going to happen. But that is the problems with laws, rights, and ideologies based on FEELINGS. Feelings change. It is not that maybe okay things today will automatically lead to very not okay things tomorrow. It is that once you get on the FEELING slope, there is no foundation to stand on. It is ever-changing.

This is why societies – especially countries – are founded on documents. Constitutions. Laws. However, ‘feelings’, right? So we use laws to alter the documents until the documents reflect what we FEEL today. I personally believe this is why the Word doesn’t shy away from what Adonai thinks, the morals that Adonai espouses, and the standards for decent living from HIS point of view. It is all from HIS point of view, not ours. Our ‘feelings’ don’t matter in the scope of Word-based thinking. THAT is why we need to be renewed. Like a climbing vine in a garden, we need to have a stake through our roots and a guide-rope to climb, with plenty of light, water, and fertiliser so that we can develop into who we are meant to be: a copy of the plant from whence we came.

What does all this have to do with today’s verse? Simply this: we need a SOURCE or we will end up constantly fighting our SELF. No matter what we do, we need to bring our thoughts into submission to Adonai (2 Corinthians 10:5). We need to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus (Matthew 16:24-26). Would you rather take it up or would you rather beat it into submission and drag it kicking and screaming? When Jesus is our source, we can do what we need to do to put our flesh down and have it a struggle or less instead of a throw-down, drag-out, clear the bar, battle of wills.

It is in JESUS that we have life. It is in JESUS that we have rivers of water. It is in JESUS that we are connected to our source – the Father of all things. It is through JESUS who is One with the Father that we have a source to touch. To be connected to. It is through Jesus that we gain all that we need to function. “Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have known me, you will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”” (John 14:6-7). We need a rescuer and that rescuer is JESUS, the Messiah, the Lamb of God, the Living One, the Alpha-Omega, the Firstborn Son of God, the Last Adam.

Jesus is our reason to praise! In HIM we are the Righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Can you SEE that? Will you choose to BELIEVE that? Jesus is our relief from the curse. If you can see that Jesus is in YOU, then you will be able to see that sickness cannot co-exist with Jesus. You see, darkness CANNOT beat back the light. It CANNOT overcome it. That is not what darkness is. Darkness is the absence of light. The teeniest, tiniest light COMPLETELY defeats darkness. The smallest of light dispels darkness WHEREVER it goes. The only darkness that can stand is the darkness that isn’t near the light. Light sends darkness fleeing. Jesus IS the Light of the World. Wherever Jesus is, darkness flees. The Blood of Jesus can defeat ALL the darkness that the enemy can drum up.

Jesus is our reason to praise! Our Saviour! Our Life! In HIM we have ALL that we need. If we keep looking to HIM, we won’t see all the US that tries to catch our attention. Jesus is our source (John 15). Let Him rescue you. Let Him be your relief. Let HIM be your focus, not your suffering. Suffering? It’s but for a moment (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). Jesus? He is for ETERNITY (Hebrews 13:8). Do you want to wallow in the moments, or do you want to live in the eternity of the Light of Adonai? Seems like an obvious choice. After all, no matter the question, Jesus IS the answer (Mark 9:23).

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: 1 Chronicles 17:13

“I will become his father, and he will become my son. I will never withhold my loyal love from him, as I withheld it from the one who ruled before you.” Messiah will be the Son of the Father. He will be the recipient of all the Father’s loyal love and in turn give it to all humanity. “For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.”” (Hebrews 1:5). Jesus was the Son of God (John 1:18, Luke 1:31-32). Jesus IS Messiah.

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b