Fear No Fear

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

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 (emphasis added)

Religion breeds religiosity. It is an obsession and desperation to follow the rules for the sake of rule following. To be able to point to yourself and say look how good I am because I follow the rules. To be able to point to others and say look how poor they are because they don’t follow the rules like I do. It is a selfish type of thinking. It never penetrates the heart because it is carnal (thoughts centred on self and flesh). It has caused more tragedy in this world than can be properly recorded. It is one of the things Jesus came to free us from (Galatians 3:13).

The president of the synagogue didn’t care whether the woman was healed. That didn’t enter into it. He didn’t care that she was sick. He wasn’t showing her compassion. She had entered that synagogue like the others. He didn’t pay her any attention. He didn’t treat her like anything. She was there. That was it. This was a person who did NOT have a heart for people. What he was concerned about was perceived rules. ‘Work’ on the Sabbath was forbidden (Exodus 20:8-10). He considered healing to be toil. Work. A task. The opposite of rest. He got offended by Jesus.

But Jesus never had to toil. Jesus was a man. Human. In body and soul. But His spirit wasn’t fallen. It was pure. He was like Adam in the Garden. Jesus didn’t toil. He wasn’t FORCED to work. He CHOSE to work. Every for Jesus was a service. “So Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). Moses was considered to be the greatest figure in Jewish culture/history. The sages felt this way because outside of all his abilities as a leader and scholar, his true glory was he listened to what Yahweh told him to do and then did that exact thing (Exodus 39-40). No variance (except that one time he disobeyed – Numbers 20:7–11). This is one of the proofs that Jesus is Messiah, in fact. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15).

What was it Jesus said in this instance (today’s verse)? Jesus said that it was RIGHT that she be healed. “Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall and lead it to water? Then shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be released from this imprisonment on the Sabbath day?”” (Luke 13:15-16). It was hypocritical to be in a place of worship and demand that someone do something you yourself would not do. It matters that it was a place of worship because under the New Covenant WE are the place of worship (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Jesus is making plain that not only is it bad to EVER be a hypocrite, it is ESPECIALLY bad to be one in a place of worship because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of TRUTH (John 16:13-15). We are to worship in a particular way. “But a time is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth”” (John 4:23-24). You cannot do that kind of worship by being a hypocrite.

The hypocrisy of religious rules has kept so many people from getting their healing. So many people are held back because it ‘isn’t for today’. But what about the Nature of God tells you that? Where in the Word does it say that healing is only for certain people at certain times? Where in the Word is it written that healing is for the start up time but should stop once the Word is ratified. The Word is a wonderful, life-giving book that changes our understanding of Yahweh, the nature of our world, and how we relate to everything around us. But it is still a collection of words. Why do we think that it is such a huge blessing that we can ignore health? That in some way it will be so much enough for us that we won’t even care about our healing?

We KNOW that isn’t true. If it was NO ONE who gets into the Word would EVER go to the doctor. We would NEVER seek to get well. We would kick, scream, and fight our way out of any doctor’s office or hospital that we got dragged into. We DON’T want to be sick. We DON’T want diseases. When did we pick up the attitude that the God of the Old Covenant who lovingly shepherded His people and the Father of the New Testament didn’t want His people and children healthy and whole? When did we decide that the God who IS love didn’t love us as much as we love our own children?

We are FREE from the curse of the law. From the curse of religiosity. From the curse of being double-minded. We are in the Covenant of GRACE. We don’t have to follow each and every rule with slavish devotion to somehow prove ourselves. We get to deal with Adonai heart to heart. Intent to intent. With humble submission and total obedience — the goal is total, though we do miss it from time to time. We are able to operate as beloved children with a loving Father because He does not see us as we see us. In HIS eyes we are the beloved bride. In HIS eyes we are clean and perfect. In HIS eyes we are everything He wants us to be. THAT is how the Father sees us and NOTHING that we do or say changes that. He isn’t wearing rose-coloured glasses. He is looking at us through blood-drenched eyes.

Do not let religious thinking rob you of everything your Father wants to give you. Do not let religious thinking rob you of that feeling of being cherished. Of being worthy. The Father thinks you are worthy. Worthy to be loved. Worthy to be blessed. Worthy to be healthy. Worthy to be whole. THAT is how He thinks of you. The rest is up to you. Will you love Him in return? When we love Him we obey Him (John 14:15-31). When we love Him, we submit to Him because we KNOW that HE knows best. Wants the best. Does the best. We know it because we have already accepted that HE thinks that WE are WORTHY.

Let LOVE be your guide. Not religious emptiness.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 22:27-28

“Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to him. Let all the nations worship you. For the Lord is king and rules over the nations.” Messiah Son of David will be a ruler. He will govern the nations. He will be wise. He will be a true leader. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:15-16). This is who Jesus IS. This is the authority that rests on and in Him. 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