Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.”
Isaiah 12:2 (emphasis added)

The Grace of the Lord is a magnificent thing. The Mercy of the Lord is wondrous, amazing, and beyond measure. The steadfast Love of the Lord never fails to pour out upon us. These are the three things that echo in my spirit when I read and meditate on this verse. The entire bible is God’s love letter to us. From the beginning onward we are told again and again that a saviour is coming. The Israelites turned from God, but God never turned from them and even in the midst of the consequences of their actions He proclaimed the ultimate victory of His love:

“…to finish disobedience, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy” (Daniel 9:24). Then Jesus came and did just that. He finished the transgression: “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). Jesus was resurrected and defeated death and hell. He put an end to sin and atoned for our iniquity, bringing everlasting righteousness. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:1-2).

Jesus saves. Period. The one. The only. No other gods. No other way. No mixing, no matching, no joining of schools of thought. He is IT. Jesus is the Light that enlightens the human conscience and makes all mankind responsible before God. The only way to know God is through Jesus, because Jesus is the light that opens our eyes to that. God has made sure that in the world, His Light is out there. There’s a lot of people who sit in darkness. The bible tells us of great darkness. But Isaiah talks about arise and shine because your light has come (Isaiah 60:1-3). God has a light that He wants to shine in every heart. Our light needs to shine so bright that others see it and comment on it, asking why we glow so hard they need sunglasses. There should be something in you that attracts people to you. We should be so operative in Holy Spirit that people are convicted just by being in our presence. BUT we should also practise being close to the Lord in love, so that people are not scared of that conviction. Instead, they crave the lack of conviction that we live in, wanting the love in us that they see is the source of the light.

The word for salvation in Hebrew is ‘yeshuah’. That is what Mary and Joseph named their baby. Yeshua, or in the Greek: Jesus. Hebrew is a language with a lot of meaning packed into each word. What does Yeshua mean? Deliverance. Aid. Victory. Prosperity. Health and welfare. Helping. To save. And saving (in relation to health). Every time in the bible that we see the word ‘salvation’ we can say Jesus in its place. It makes for some interesting reading. It shows us that first, Jesus and the message of Jesus is saturated throughout the bible. Beginning to end. Second, it shows that Jesus embodies everything about life. Spirit life, emotional life, and physical life. Nothing bad. Everything good. And we’re taught that is how it works: first your spirit is renewed, then your mind is renewed, and then everything else is renewed (Ephesians 4:23, Romans 12:2, 3 John 1:2, 1 Peter 2:24, and Matthew 6:33).

Since this message of Jesus literally being salvation for mankind is the truth, how can we do anything else but decide to trust in Him (1 John 2:5-6)? If you believe that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), then your trust should be in Him (1 John 2:3). That should be the default setting. The Word was given to us to show us the truth (John 17:17). Trust it. Decide to believe it, even if you don’t understand it. Holy Spirit is in us to help us understand not just the Word, but all things of God (1 Corinthians 2:12-13, 1 John 2:27, and John 14:26). It is NOT a book and it is dangerous to read it like that. It is the WORD of God (John 1:1-5).

God creates by Word. Because everything was created by the Word, everything is sustained by the Word. Everything that is has a natural environment of the Word. That is the place in which it thrives. Apart from their natural environment, things deteriorate. They do not thrive. They have a lot of issues. But within that environment they thrive, mature, and grow. The Word is our environment. Apart from it we can function, but we won’t thrive. We can get pieces of freedom, without experiencing true freedom. This is why we stay in the Word. To feed ourselves.

Read it like it’s talking to you. Because it is. Read it out loud. Read it to yourself. Read it in a funny voice. It doesn’t matter as long as you read it with your mind trained on it. Asking the Lord to reveal Himself. Asking to hear the voice of Jesus. It will speak to you. It will strengthen your faith (Romans 10:17). Which helps us to trust more. Which helps us to strengthen our faith. Which deepens our spiritual capacity. And on and on. Our God is a God of growth.
Growth attracts God. The power of God does not follow individuals. Do you see mighty men and women of God in the world? Do you see anointed people speaking words of revelation and power? There’s nothing special about them in and of themselves. God isn’t attracted to them more than He’s attracted to you (Romans 2:11). The power of God follows the Word. Look at the very beginning of the world. Genesis 1:1-4. The Father intentioned, the Word authorised, the Spirit actualised. The Spirit followed the Word and turned words into power that created. The unseen became the seen (Hebrews 11:3). The same is true today. The power of God follows the Word. If you want to see the manifestation of the power of God in your life, turn your life into a place where the Word dwells.

If we trust, then how can we be afraid? How can we do anything but praise and thank Him? Always. No matter what happens. Let’s say you are diagnosed with a horrific cancer and told that it is going to kill you. That is an excellent reason to praise Him every day with all the energy you have while smiling and crying tears of joy. Why? Because you have all these doctors and professionals telling you you’re going to die. You have all your friends and family sorry for you and hoping you get better. Ignore the positive thinking comments. Ignore the diagnosis of death. When you get healed, what a testimony. That you did nothing and God did it all. That the best that humans could offer was lacking and God’s healing power which was released on the cross transformed you into a whole, healthy, non-cancerous person?

But what if you don’t believe that? Well, in that case, you’re probably going to die. Praise God! Laugh, love, and smile. Jump around (if you can) in excitement and jubilation. Why? You’re about to see Jesus! You’re about to start on eternity from the side with the new body, the new earth, and never, ever needing to be parted from a loved one or our Living, Breathing, Saviour ever again! That’s an awesome reason to praise God. You see, we can’t lose. We win no matter what. And life is so temporary anyway. In a thousand years when you’re alive and shining in heaven, what is it going to matter that you were sick for a few weeks/months/years and had pain? It’s all temporary. I mean, God healed us all on the cross and through the empty tomb, and if we are fully, totally, absolutely persuaded of that we’ll be in a body that can’t get sick before we decide to die (John 19:30). If we fail to believe that, we’ll be in heaven whole and healthy in Jesus’ arms before the casket is in the ground. So who’s going to fear? We get more life or eternal life. Does it really matter which we get? We’re eternal spirits and we need to start thinking eternally. God’s best is whole, healthy, delivered, prosperous in spirit and then in mind and then in body, aided, victorious, and completely saved. But the Lord will meet us where we are.

The Lord is our strength and our song (Psalm 118:14, and Exodus 15:2). Sing a song to Him today. All day. Over and over. Give thanks and praise from your whole heart. The fear will flee. The anxiety will go. The depression will lift. And anytime those symptoms of death show up, kick them out with more praise. We’re free of that. We don’t have to put up with that. We don’t need to ‘work through’ anything. Give it to Jesus to nail to the cross. Nail it up there yourself and then get close to God. All day, every day. Moment by moment as you go. Don’t worry if you don’t get it every time, each moment is a new opportunity for Jesus to be our success. Every time there’s a negative thought or feeling, bring out the praise. Memorise songs — even kid songs, because those are short and catchy. Given from an honest and open heart, praise is a life-changing thing. He is our strength. He is our song. Sing to Him to celebrate. Let Him become your salvation. From each and every thing that is wrong. It will change your life. I promise.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: John 14:1-14

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus’ words the night before He was going to be tortured and brutally murdered. He knew their hearts were going to drop into their shoes and then run for Damascus. He knew that we were going to be stressed about kids, bills, war, money, fascism, sexual identity, gender identity, the wage gap, disease, nuclear fallout, convoys, trans-fats, and a lack of pockets in women’s clothes. His instructions stand: Do not let your hearts be troubled. We have a choice. A CHOICE. Don’t let the world tell you differently. It is LYING. They’re blind anyway. We can choose how our heart is. Feelings don’t rule us. We have authority over our feelings. The Holy Spirit lives in us. We have access to the Fruits of the Spirit and the Armour of God (Galatians & Ephesians). Those are the tools we need to have victory over feelings. They are the tools with which we can make a choice. It isn’t easy, but it’s simple. He is there to help. To lead. To guide. He is the way. He is the truth. He is our living saviour. And He loves us so very much. Worship and praise Him today.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.