Fear No Fear

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

Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.”
Isaiah 51:7-8 (emphasis added)

Sticks and stones will never hurt me. Sound familiar? What about rubber and glue? Ah, the tools in the tackle box of elementary school. Or high school. Or the workplace. Or maybe church? There are a thousand ways in which we defend ourselves and our opinions. As our back gets up. As our cheeks burn. As we are ruffled, embarrassed, and prickly inside. Isn’t that how we get when people talk against us? Or insult us? Attack or demean our beliefs? I remember in high school band class having the teacher ask what a particular type of note was. It was on the blackboard. I knew what it was. I had been taking music lessons for years. And without thinking, I raised my hand and when he called on me I called it what it had been called in every music lesson I had had for years: a great, big, whole note. In music class, no one would have blinked. In band class of high school, I was laughed at. And I felt like an IDIOT. I was just doing what I was trained to do, but the lesson I learned was NOT to speak. Not to volunteer information. Not to trust what I knew, because perhaps I was dealing with baby information.

That’s what happens when we are embarrassed or demeaned. We can learn a negative lesson. But like so much in our lives, that is a factor of the world. The world is full of the negative because the world is full of negativity. It’s twisted. The world should look like music class. They would have accepted my answer and perhaps mentioned that it is also just called a whole note. Given information without judgement. That is how the Kingdom of God works. We say something and Jesus just smiles. He lets us know what else is out there. Congratulates us for what we do know. What we do say. So how do we balance the two? How do we learn an innocence of speaking what is in our heart and also learn to speak it out in a world that tends to smack down everything that doesn’t sound like the rest of the narrative? Well, according to scripture it works like everything else: it’s a choice.

Gotta be honest, that doesn’t appeal to me. I like things to be a way and not deviate from it. I like things to be a way without me having to push. The world breeds laziness. You don’t have to agree with me. I know that there is a lot of talk about hard work. About making your dreams happen. But what is the other side of that message? What is the stronger message? Live for the weekend when we get the relaxation we deserve. Kick back every night and watch TV while relaxing. Work for X years and then retire and enjoy life. The world has a huge focus on putting up with crap for however long the crap is flying so that we can get the total relaxation we ‘deserve’ because of what we’ve done. It might not seem wrong, but it breeds laziness into us. It teaches that although we might ‘have’ to work, what we REALLY should get is to lie about. So work hard to earn the right and ability to do nothing. Jesus has a different approach.

“He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding” (Proverbs 12:11). Right from the beginning, God tasked us with work. Not TOIL, work. We have jobs and tasks and we should do them (Genesis 1:26 & 2:5). We should not be afraid to expend effort. Not in the physical world and not in our mental world. We’re called to listen to what we have learned and to stick with it. Regardless of what people say. Regardless of how the world takes it. To work at choosing the ways of the Kingdom. “But you remain in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them. From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14-17).

We are not of the world (John 17:11-15). We are not to act like the world (Romans 12:1-2). The world has nothing for us but the negative, and that is not the way the world of the believer works (1 John 2:15-17). We have been made the righteousness of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). Look at Jesus. Read the gospels. He walked against the flow. He spoke against the flow. He stood for something. He had a different standard of being. A different way of talking. He was righteous. And we are called to be like Him. Will it be easy? No. But we can choose to walk in the way of the Lord. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

We are told that we can choose our mental landscape. Jesus said ‘do not let’ about various things a LOT. Don’t let yourself be worried, don’t let yourself be troubled, don’t let yourself forget your teaching, don’t let yourself be like the spiritually dead, etc etc. His whole ministry had the flavour of choice. Because God gave us free will and expects us to do it. God doesn’t violate our free will. If we choose to do A, He lets us do A. He isn’t silent about what He wants for us, but He lets us do what we choose. That’s why we need to be in Jesus and renewed in our minds from the Word. It’s about God protecting us from the consequences of what we want more than just wanting what He wants. Look at Jonah. He did what he wanted and died because of it (Jonah 2:6). God saved Him from that AS he chose to be obedient (Jonah 2:10). God is all about protecting us and when we’re obedient, we stand in a place where He can. That’s why we need to abide in Jesus. So that we will see what righteousness is and to choose it over the world. To choose the ways of God over our human desires. To be what He wants, not what we want. To counter our natural state of fear with His natural state of faith.

But God doesn’t leave us hanging. “For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News” (2 Timothy 1:7-10). You hear that? We were NOT given a spirit of fear. If we were not given it from the Lord, it was given by someone else. If it was GIVEN, we don’t have to receive it. We aren’t being forced to take it, we’re being trained to take it. And Jesus tells us that we do not have to. ““I have said these things to you while still living with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful” (John 14:25-27).

We are told to stand firm, not to fear, and not to worry about those who come against us. Why? Because they are like worms. They’re nothing. What can they do to you anyway? God is with you (Hebrews 13:6). We’re eternal beings. This world is temporary. Yes, things will come against us. But we do NOT have to fear. We are the righteous of Jesus because we are in Jesus and He is in us and greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). As the righteous, we get to do more than the world can imagine. We get to stand in the presence of the Lord boldly and without fear.

“For he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not be afraid of evil news. His heart is steadfast, trusting in Yahweh. His heart is established. He will not be afraid in the end when he sees his adversaries” (Psalm 112:6-8). “Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him” (James 1:12). “Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death” (Revelation 2:10-11).

That’s a heck of a promise. It gets better too: “He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21). Who cares what the world thinks. World thinkers cannot overcome Kingdom thinkers. The opinions, desires, and actions of the world fall before the opinions, desires, and actions of the Lord God Almighty. If we trust in the Lord, then it doesn’t matter what the world wants. We can act in total expectation of the Lord providing. And when we abide in Jesus and walk in total confidence. Because we’ll be saying what the Lord tells us to say and doing what the Lord shows us to do, and we will have total, absolute, and eternal victory.

“Brothers, be imitators together of me, and note those who walk this way, even as you have us for an example. For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working by which he is able even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:17-21). Amen.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: 1 Corinthians 2:9

You have a place. It might be a tiny apartment. It might be a large house. It might be a corner of a building. A box in the woods. We all have a place. It might be a good one, it might be a nightmare. But we all have a place. The plan was that we would have loving parents who would make us a place that is nurturing, fulfilling, and safe. The devil wants to steal that from us and has done a good job doing just that. Many people do not have a safe space. Or a nurturing one. But we can take heart. The Lord God Almighty loves us. He is a GOOD FATHER and has prepared a place for us. We might not see it now or hear it now, but in our heart we can enter it. We can feel it. And sooner or later, we will see it and walk in it and enjoy the fullness of His nurturing, safe, fulfilling, and wondrous place. The place that He has made special and personally for you. Because He loves you and will give you the absolute best. It is a mark of His love. Never doubt that. He loves you.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.