Fear No Fear

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

Now a woman was there who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years but could not be healed by anyone.
Luke 8:43 (emphasis added)

There are a lot of people in the world. Approximately 8,099,854,179 as of March 29th, 2024. As of 2020, it was estimated that of those people approximately 2.52 billion (2,520,000,000) of them identify as Christian. If they are true believers, abiding in Jesus, and trusting the Father in all things, that is 2.52 billion channels that Adonai has to do things on this earth. That is a LOT of channels (not including the unconscious obedience of the unbeliever). Yet we have ONE source. All 2.52 billion (and growing) Christians rely on the Father of Eternity for EVERYTHING in our lives. He is our source, no matter what channel He uses. The reason not every one of those 2.52 billion are receiving from Adonai is because either they aren’t true believers or they are looking to something or someone other than Yahweh to be their source. It’s that simple.

The Word exists to renew our minds to the things of Adonai (Romans 12:2). The Kingdom of God works according to laws. Not The Law (Old Covenant) but spiritual laws by which Yahweh does everything He does, everything He has ever done, or everything He will ever do. A natural world example (the best one I have ever heard) is electricity. It exists. We need to know it is there. We need to harness it. We need to set up the correct paths for it to flow through. And we need to use switches and receptacles (like light bulbs, for example) to use that electricity in a way that is beneficial to us. If we violate those laws – like not using wire that conducts to wire our houses, touching a live wire while not properly grounded, or not turning on a light switch – it can harm or even kill us. Yahweh has set up laws by which He operates, He has set them in His Word, and He does not keep them from us. He lets us know what they are, how we can appropriate them, how to operate in them, and how to be Blessed by them. He WANTS us to do what He set up to be done.

This woman HEARD the Word about Jesus. This woman BELIEVED what she heard. This woman SAID how she would be healed. This woman ACTED on her belief. This woman TRUSTED that what she heard, said, and did qualified her for healing. This woman TOOK the healing that Jesus was offering by His very nature and presence in the earth as the obedient Son of God. She followed a series of logical steps. She operated according to Yahweh’s laws. She WAS healed. And as a bonus Jesus confirmed it so that no one would or could think it was a coincidence. So that SHE would not lose confidence in what she had believed and open a door to disbelieve what HAD occurred. Jesus confirmed it so she could look back at that moment and STRENGTHEN her faith and trust not just in her healing but for GREATER things (like salvation of her soul). Jesus met her where she was, but He didn’t leave her there. He gave her a tool to grow and advance in the Kingdom of God.

This woman had spent twelve YEARS trying to get healed. She wasn’t heading to the synagogue to do it – and I can’t blame her. While it wouldn’t be a representative of ALL of the synagogues and leaders found there, we do have one leader of the synagogue that has a less than stellar attitude. “But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work should be done! So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.”” (Luke 13:14). Two verses later, Jesus said THIS woman had been bound by infirmity eighteen years. If this president was so concerned by healing, why hadn’t she been healed in all that time? Who knows. Jesus called him a hypocrite, so I’m guessing healing and wholeness was NOT on his mind until Jesus did it on the ‘wrong’ day. So I am not surprised that the woman from today’s verse wasn’t relying on these people who seem more concerned about rules and regulations than helping.

This woman turned to doctors. Straight up, I am NOT critical of doctors. But doctors – even ones led by the Spirit – are fallible, human, and imperfect. The medical industry is in the business of managing sickness more than it is in the business of ELIMINATING sickness. I believe it is because they CAN’T eliminate it. But that is not what we’re getting into. What the Word says here is that this woman had tried doctors – obviously her only hope thus far – for twelve years. No matter who she saw. No matter what they tried. None of them could heal her. She was looking everywhere that she could see for a solution, but was not receiving one. None of them could heal her. The problem persisted. The problem came back. The problem was rooted.

Now Yahweh can use ANY channel He wants. There are eight billion of them wandering this globe. He can use them. He does use them. He will continue to use them. It isn’t an issue of her receiving help from a given channel (the medical profession). The issue is that she was LOOKING to a given channel. The same is true of us today. It doesn’t matter WHAT channel you’re looking to. We’re NOT supposed to look at channels. We are supposed to look to the SOURCE, not the channel. Not ANY channel. We look to HIM and HE decides what channel to use. Might be the Name of Jesus. Might be a doctor. Might be some random stranger you meet. Might be a child or a parent or a teacher, pastor, or friend. Yahweh decides. We look to Him. That’s it.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Jesus has in His hand abundant life. That is a life that is more than one would normally expect or anticipate. We only have two options here. The thief steals life. Jesus offers more life than we could normally expect or anticipate. We aren’t being offered what we DESERVE. We are being offered what He WANTS us to have. Who is going to be your source? The thief or Jesus? The thief has channels open to him too. One of those channels is getting US to move our eyes from Jesus, from Yahweh, to ANY other thing and call it our source.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By his wounds you were healed. For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2:24-25). We have wandered. We DO wander. We take our attention off Jesus who says we have more life than we can expect and decide that it is flu season. We take our attention off Jesus who says we have more life than we can expect and decide to start crying because the doctor told us we are sick with terrible things. We take our attention off Jesus who says we have more life than we can expect and decide to panic because our vehicle is careening off the road toward the ditch.

It would be foolish to let go of the wheel and stop driving. It would be foolish to ignore what the doctors are telling us about. It would be foolish to ignore what the doctors tell us about flu season. Adonai NEVER tells us to ignore these things. To IGNORE what is in the world. He tells us to look to HIM. “Seek the Lord and the strength he gives. Seek his presence continually. Recall the miraculous deeds he performed, his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed” (Psalm 105:4-5). What is the principle? “because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Things of this world are temporary. Transient. The things of Adonai are not. We can stand on the Word and the things of this world an change. Alter. Be different. We don’t ignore them, we come against them. We pray the WORD about what is going on. We call out to the FATHER in the NAME of JESUS and He acts because we are inviting Him to.

Yahweh NEEDS to be your source. Yahweh NEEDS to be my source. Yahweh is THE source for us all. When we LOOK to ANYTHING or ANYONE else, we are NOT trusting Him. If we are not TRUSTING we are sinning, because it is rebellion not to trust in Adonai and rebellion is sin. It can be a hard thing to hear. It can be a harder thing to train ourselves in. Our flesh wants to look at any and every shiny thing that is coming by. But we need to maintain our stance on the Word. We seek HIM. We look to HIM. We declare HIM our source. Our fortress. Our high place. And we don’t move off of that. As soon as this woman looked to JESUS, she started on the path that got her healing. I don’t know how long it took for her to be ready for that, but it certainly wasn’t twelve years. Once we’re looking to Adonai as our source, things speed up.

He is our source. Don’t change to ANY other channel. We need Jesus’ touch. We get it when we look to Him and Him ALONE. Nothing else truly works. Only Adonai RESTORES. This woman suffered for twelve years from a medical problem – from HER point of view. Adonai says that she suffered from a KNOWLEDGE problem. “I can pray this because his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). She turned to doctors and they do NOT have knowledge of Adonai. Once she heard the word, she gained KNOWLEDGE about Jesus. What He could do. What He had done. And it set her FREE.

Look to the LORD because ALL things having to do with life and godliness come by the knowledge of Adonai. Look to HIM. Let HIM be the source of your knowledge and your substance. It WILL set you free. It is the ONLY source that truly sustains.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 22:20-21

“Deliver me from the sword. Save my life from the claws of the wild dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lion and from the horns of the wild oxen. You have answered me.” Messiah would trust Yahweh. The only way to operate in power and authority is to trust the source of the authority that is being lent to you so that you can act. That is what Moses got wrong at the second rock (Numbers 20:10-11). Moses failed to trust. Messiah is prophetically declared as one who would trust Yahweh. “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And after he said this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46). In His darkest moment on this earth, Jesus STILL trusted His Father. Jesus ALWAYS trusted the Father (John 5:20). Jesus fulfilled the prophesy with every word He spoke – right up to the very end. 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