Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

And Yahweh passed over before him, and he proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, God, who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding with loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love to the thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and he does not leave utterly unpunished, punishing the guilt of fathers on sons and on sons of sons on third and fourth generations.”

Exodus 34:6-7

Jesus cleared our sin. Got rid of it. Transformed us. Gave us new life. He did all that. So WHO do WE say that HE is? Because the renewal Jesus did was to AGAIN make us in His image (Genesis 1:26). What image are we RIGHT NOW? What are we? WHO are we? We are Him. He is us. We are inexorably linked. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, indeed I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and will take up residence with him” (John 14:23). Who is it that is in us? Who is it that we are in? Ruach HaKodesh is here to tell us. Daily. Consistently. Constantly. As often as we need to hear it. He is here to comfort us with Adonai’s identity in us and our identity in Adonai.

Who is Adonai Elohim? He is merciful to sinners, merciful to the repentant, abundant in mercy and the keeping of mercy to give us more for thousands of generations, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness, abundant in truth, forgiving by removing iniquity, bearing away our transgressions, and clearing sin from us. The being with these character attributes is also THE God who LIVES. The ONLY true God. He exists beyond all our thinking and reason and experience. He is eternal and everlasting. None of His character changes. No attribute falters. He IS.

We see as through a glass darkened by sin (1 Corinthians 13:12). Ruach HaKodesh can see through it. He is NOT hampered by sin. He does not have sin-coloured glasses like we do. He sees and IS the perfect character of Adonai. He is Elohim and Elohim is Ruach HaKodesh. Perfect synergy. We get to be part of that because we are in Him and He is in us. Adonai’s character is part of who we are. It grows the fruit that we can pick and use at WILL (Galatians 5:22-23; Genesis 2:16). The character of Adonai is what we are meant to experience in life. And that’s it. Nothing else. This is supposed to be the reality that creates our world. Our view of it and our experience of it. His character. We’ve been looking at His character for a couple of weeks now. There’s NOTHING bad in it. NOTHING. Judgment was poured on Jesus, so it’s not waiting to smite us. We have a BETTER covenant. He have been given the privilege and right to be in the covenant that now exists between Jesus and His Father. We are in HIM. We are in HIS covenant. There is nothing bad in that. Why did we ever start thinking there was? Why did we ever accept that He is waiting to take us down? We are in the age of GRACE the generation of MERCY. Until that generation ends, we have it. If we let Him deal with our stuff, we’ll NEVER experience judgment. Only rewards based on our trust in Him (or lack thereof): Matthew 25:14-30.

Why do we think this person with this character would even for a MOMENT be the cause of anything bad that comes upon us? That He would choose THIS PATH to teach us anything? That He would even NEED to. Remember who He IS! Think on it a bit. Think of what it would take to go against ALL that mercy (four types), goodness, patience, and forgiveness (three types). If He is TRUTH, He couldn’t. If He was eternal, He couldn’t. His constancy. His consistency. His PURITY would prevent it. Elohim IS love and life and the abundance of Himself is found in those rivers that flow from His Throne to us (Revelation 22:1). This is a God who heals (Exodus 15:26). This is a God who adopts (John 1:12). This is a God who does not stand afar off ignoring what He made (Hebrews 4:15–16). We have a God who CARES. Who LOVES. Who made a WAY back home when WE ran off. He is GENEROUS. He is MERCIFUL. He is MIGHTY. He is GLORIOUS. He is LOVING. He is PATIENT. He is KIND. He is JOYFUL. And He wants us to be like that too! He wants us to have that too! “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8). Make THIS your mindset. That He is the One who Healed you with His bearing of ALL that brought you down and away from Him (1 Peter 2:24). That He is the One who made you like Him IN Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). That HE wants YOU completely, totally, consistently, and absolutely WHOLE inside and out, body, mind, and spirit with NO EXCEPTIONS! Get NEAR to THIS God! Get NEAR to THIS Saviour! Get NEAR to THIS King and Lord! And NEVER EVER move away! This is WHO HE IS, which means this is WHO WE ARE! Let Ruach HaKodesh remind you of that as often as you need to hear it. This is who we are in Jesus!

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: James 2:17

“Thus also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself” I live in an orchard and not in a field of scrub grass. I have fruit around the clock and around the year. I don’t have to worry about seasons or temperature or weather. No matter WHAT is going on, I can reach into the orchard that is all around me and get fruit. I don’t have to DO anything, it’s just there to be enjoyed. I live in abundance. That is what life in Jesus IS. I will admit there are times I spent more time looking at the roots of the trees than I did at the fruit above my head. I’ve grabbed fruit and just gnawed on the peel. But it is there ALL the time and it is NOT dependent on ANYTHING I DO. It’s just THERE. Ruach HaKodesh grew it, not me. That’s the wonderful thing about it. Adonai did it FOR ME! And FOR YOU! We don’t have to be hungry in a desert or thirsty on a plateau. We can ALWAYS be fed and ALWAYS have our thirst slaked by what HE has done and made available to us. We ONLY need to engage what HE has already made available. What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8