Fear No Fear

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

But they remained silent. So Jesus took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him away.
Luke 14:4 (emphasis added)

Remained silent. That doesn’t mean they agreed. That doesn’t mean that they weren’t offended. It means only that they chose not to speak. In fact, the leader of the synagogue and the other religious thinkers that attended it WERE offended. They had been offended at things Yahweh wanted to do for MANY centuries at this point. Jesus spoke to that too. “Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”” (Mark 7:13). They had so bound themselves with their thinking that they had completely lost the message of the Covenants. They had hardened their hearts (Mark 6:52).

When an expert in religious law asked Jesus what the greatest commandment Yahweh had ever given was, Jesus summed up the entire Old Covenant in two statutes. “Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”” (Matthew 22:37-40). Every single commandment that Yahweh gave could be divided into these two statues. Jesus was all about the HEART behind the Covenant. The heart intent of those who follow the commandments of Adonai is the important thing. Not the rules themselves. The reason is because the heart intent will determine how successful you are at it. When we WANT to we can keep them. Just as the commandments can be divided into two categories, the heart intent of those who follow Yahweh can be divided into two categories.

Do you trust Adonai enough to listen to Him? Do you love Him enough to obey? That’s it. The whole of both covenants can be summed up into these. When we trust Adonai, we will listen to Him. We will seek His opinion because we trust Him. We will put value on what He says because we know He is trustworthy. We will feel safe putting our love on Him because of our trust. It is ALL about trust. When we can love Him, we will obey. That is HOW we love. Through obedience.

“Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Our faith (which was a gift – Ephesians 2:8–9) is our level of trust. If our faith (trust) is strong, we’ll believe the Word and act accordingly. If our faith (trust) is weak, we won’t and miss out on things Adonai says we can have. The words are pretty much interchangeable. Do you TRUST? Oh you of little trust is what Jesus was saying when His disciples failed in the boat (Matthew 8:26). We need to grow our trust, deepen our trust, develop our trust, and rely on our trust. It is how we are going to have an effective relationship with Adonai. You don’t have relationship with those you don’t trust. Those you don’t trust are your acquaintances (they’re almost strangers) and enemies (their character is against them). We need to have trust to have a relationship and a relationship to have trust. It is the lynchpin of our interactions with Adonai.

When we trust and have a relationship with Adonai we will be unable to keep from loving Him. Love is a natural offshoot of deep relationship. It is inevitable. But as with human love, we are able to keep the other at arms length. We are able to pursue them and also to keep our hands off. Your level of trust determines the level of relationship you can choose to have. The level of relationship you choose is the level of love you can develop. Love is a choice. Once that choice, based on trust, is made, then you will naturally show it. By your behaviour. By how you treat your partner. By how you talk about them, think about them, and speak to them. We don’t always get these things correct. When we love we try to always improve. It is true in human relationships. It is equally as true in our spiritual relationships.

If we have decided to love Him, we have decided to obey Him. Our level of love is shown by our level of obedience. When He speaks to us and we listen, we are showing our love. When He speaks and we ignore Him, we are showing our disdain. When He speaks and we disobey Him, we are showing our rejection and rebellion. That disobedience and that ignoring are the two actions that occur when we harden our hearts. We are steeling ourselves to ignore His voice and His desire. It’s like when you are doing something you think is important and a young child is trying to get your attention. Nine times out of ten you hear the child just fine, but you may not want to stop what you’re doing so you ignore them. Pretend you don’t hear them. Harden your heart to their pleas. It isn’t easy to do to a child. It isn’t easy to do with our creator. But we CAN do it.

These religious thinkers had hardened their hearts to the voice of Adonai. Hardened their hearts to the plea of Adonai from the Word. They chose to not take the Word to heart, but to take the rules to heart. It is much easier to follow a rule than it is to mould your heart. It is much easier to punch a clock, don’t step out of the lines, and to make yourself look all sparkly than it is to actually obey. When you spend your time following the ‘rules’ instead of focusing on the intent behind them, it’s easy to get puffed up with your success. You can spend all day long keeping your eyes off of women and not touching a single one with a smile in your face. But it is NOT following the rule’s intent when you spend your THOUGHTS on having sex with the women, lusting after their bodies, and indulging every lustful feeling that drifts by (Matthew 5:27-30). Outwards compliance with inner rebellion equals a hardened heart. Whatever your put your mind on, whatever you entertain with your thoughts with consistency, whatever you dwell or meditate on, THIS is what your heart is full of. Word-based thoughts keep your heart pliable. Non-Word-based thoughts harden it. Religious thinking APPEARS Word-based, but since the intent behind it is a pat on your holier-than-thou-head, it is not.

When Messiah Jesus comes back to reign, it says that He will reign for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-6). Satan will be bound an UNABLE to tempt humanity. Humanity will remain silent. They will NOT rebel. They will behave in their actions. But as SOON as Satan is released to tempt, they will line up in massive armies to try and defeat Messiah Jesus. They will have hardened their hearts over that thousand years. Not SAYING anything, but not FEELING that way either. They will have spent a thousand years of peace rejecting the One who brought peace. It staggers the mind. It seems so ridiculous. But that is the fruit from hardening your heart. That is the fruit from not taking to HEART the Word and the INTENT behind the Word. That is the fruit from not answering those two questions correctly. If we want to walk in all that Jesus prepared for us, we need to answer those two questions well.

Do you trust Him enough to listen?
Do you love Him enough to obey?

What is YOUR answer?

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 22:31

“They will come and tell about his saving deeds; they will tell a future generation what he has accomplished.” When quoting the opening lines of a piece of work, if it applies, the whole portion is considered to be referenced. Jesus started with the beginning of this Psalm: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? I groan in prayer, but help seems far away” (verse 1). And it ends saying that he has accomplished. Messiah was to come and FINISH the work of Yahweh. “When he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). “By his will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands day after day serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again—sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God, where he is now waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy. And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts and I will inscribe them on their minds,” then he says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer.” Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:10-18). Jesus came to do the work. Jesus persevered through the work. Jesus completed the work. 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