Fear No Fear

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

Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
Matthew 17:18 (emphasis added)

We get hung up on size a LOT. Especially in the Western world. Size of meals. Size of vehicles. Size of body parts. Size of homes. Size of buildings. Everything is size. In some cycles of society big is best. In others, small. These days it is a bit of a mix. People say God is so big, why would He pay attention to me/us? Or people say there is such complexity in the universe that is joined up and explained, why would a God bother with all that, so why should we think He exists?

We are not dealing with a God who cannot deal with things when they are ‘too big’. We are not dealing with a God who loses interest because things are ‘too small’. We are dealing with THE Creator of ALL things – great and small. He made the universe with its awe-inspiring vastness. The observable universe is thus a sphere with a diameter of about 28.5 gigaparsecs (93 billion light-years or 8.8×1026 m). He made the tiny bits with just as much attention and care. the size of protons and neutrons is of the order of a Fermi (10−15 m), the size of quarks is ~10−18 m. It is deemed that quarks are composed of smaller particles – preons (composed of superstrings which are not measurable in any meaningful way).

Yahweh hung the stars and planets in their orbits – determining when, how, and where they would operate. Can He not deal with you looming bills? Adonai created the world around us. The hydrosphere interacts with the atmosphere through processes like evaporation and precipitation which plays a crucial role in Earth’s weather and climate systems. Can He not deal with an overbearing boss? Or the financial systems WE thought up? He designed the human cell. A cell consists of three parts: the cell membrane, the nucleus, and, between the two, the cytoplasm. Within the cytoplasm lie intricate arrangements of fine fibers and hundreds or even thousands of miniscule but distinct structures called organelles. Do you think He wouldn’t care about how you feel? What you think? Your likes and dislikes?

Adonai cares about us. Adonai thinks about us. Adonai responds to us and wants us to respond to Him. Jesus – the fully God, fully Man, incarnation of the Word – came because He cared. He talked to people one on one. He taught crowds from boats and on mountainsides. He taught in the Temple courts. He taught wherever He went. He opened His own house to people. He ate with others in their homes. Again and again the words of today’s verse have been recorded about Jesus: Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

Jesus made no distinction between large and small. Between individuals and crowds. It is because even as He looked across a crowd of people, He saw each individual in it. He could do that because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit could supernaturally see each and every person right down to the inner innards of their hearts and minds. He told Jesus about them. Each one. One by one. As He approached them. Or as He needed to speak a certain phrase to hit that one heart right there. Jesus was led, guided, and spoke to everyone corporately and individually at the same time. Size did NOT matter because Jesus could – through the Holy Spirit – deal with all of it at the SAME TIME.

Since Jesus was resurrected to life, the only thing that has changed is that WE have been given the companion He had. The disciples didn’t have Holy Spirit until Pentecost. Until that point, they were completely human. After Pentecost, that changed. Every Jesus believing human being who humbly submits and gets baptised into Him has the SAME THING Jesus did. We are one third Holy Spirit. We are NEW. We are REBORN. We are INDWELT. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

How can you glorify Him with your sickness? He designed you to be WELL. He had you in His mind as WHOLE before Creation was created. Yahweh doesn’t want you sick. Adonai doesn’t want you sick. Ruach Hakodesh doesn’t want you sick. El Olam doesn’t want you sick. El Shaddai doesn’t want you sick. Ha‑Elohim doesn’t want you sick. Yeshua doesn’t want you sick. No matter WHAT name you use for our God, He does NOT want you sick.
Individuals sought out Jesus and those are the stories we see the most often. The woman with the issue of blood. The paralytic by the pool. Blind Bartimaeus. The man whose hand was healed in the synagogue. The Gerasenes demoniac. The Samaritan woman at the well. The man on the cross beside Jesus. We see these healings – physical and spiritual. One on one interactions are a great way of teaching relationship. It’s a great way to ‘bring it home’ to someone. But in all that individuality, we miss something big.

Jesus healed whole crowds. Jesus healed whole groups. One by one, it’s true, but He didn’t stop until every single one of them had been touched. ANYONE who needed it, received it. It tired out His flesh. It wearied Him at times. That’s the HUMAN showing. It didn’t STOP Him. He kept going. He drew strength from the Father through Holy Spirit and kept going until EVERYONE was healed in whatever way they were willing to accept. That’s right. He didn’t force His best on them. He didn’t force His desires on them. If they had a withered hand and a club foot but only wanted the hand healed THAT is what got healed. Whatever deliverance they SOUGHT from Him, He GAVE. Without restriction. Without demanding an offering. He GAVE. He STILL gives. He will ALWAYS give.

Do NOT get lost in a crowd. Do NOT feel that He isn’t looking at you. Do NOT feel that you do not have importance. Do NOT feel that you don’t matter, that the problem is too small. He is looking at you with LASER FOCUS. With intensity of love and affection and care. He CARES about you. He WANTS you healed. He WANTS you well. He WANTS you to be delivered. If you could put down all your hangups. All your worries, anxieties, and self-esteem issues. If you could put it all down for just a moment. You could see His face. Looking at you with a smile. No hidden fees. No fine print. He wants YOU. And He wants you WELL.

He won’t stop offering. Don’t you stop seeking. Why? “But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29). “When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul,” (Jeremiah 29:13). “I will love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me” (Proverbs 8:17). See the pattern. Follow it. Seek HIM and do NOT give up. Healing is waiting for you to pick it up out of the hand of the Lord to whom you are humbly submitted in obedience (Matthew 11:28-30).

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 16:9-11

“So my heart rejoices and I am happy; my life is safe. You will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful follower to see the Pit. You lead me in the path of life. I experience absolute joy in your presence; you always give me sheer delight.” Messiah was destined to die, but also destined to arise from the dead. His body was laid in a tomb. In the dark. To waste away as far as His buriers knew or expected. But the tomb didn’t hold Him because death could not hold Him. He rose, stepped out of that tomb and was there. Alive. Never to see corruption. Destiny fulfilled. The Living One had arrived. After that, the angels opened the tomb by rolling away the stone so that WE could witness it. Because WE needed to witness that destiny in Jesus. “Then Simon Peter, who had been following him, arrived and went right into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, and the face cloth, which had been around Jesus’ head, not lying with the strips of linen cloth but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed. (For they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.)” (John 20:6-9). Jesus died. Jesus did NOT stay dead. Jesus IS the Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b