Fear No Fear

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

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

Why do we care about the Fruit of the Spirit OR Adonai’s character? Because recognizing who Adonai is, is the ONLY way to know what He does. It is also the ONLY way to show Him to others. It’s one thing to say you worship ‘god’, because every religion has at least one. How do we know WHO we worship, how do we SHARE that knowledge, and how can we help reveal that He is the ONE TRUE GOD? The Fruit and His character.

If we know what Adonai is about, it’s easy to point Him out to others. Pain comes on you? Not Adonai. Learn something in spite of pain coming on you? That’s Adonai. He doesn’t SEND us pain and suffering, but He can use ANYTHING to teach us things. If HE wants to teach us something, He uses the Word to do it (2 Timothy 3:16). If you’re being told that there are multiple ways to Elohim, that is NOT Adonai. There is only ONE way to Yahweh: Jesus. There was only one doorway into the Holy Place. Only one lamp stand providing the light to see your way through the single curtain into the Most Holy Place. Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father. That’s Adonai.

It goes on and on. When we recognize the character of Yahweh, we can see what aligns and harmonizes with Him. It’s easier to cut out the garbage. This is the premise of 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (testing everything). What do we test it against? The Word and the character of Adonai – which are unchanging (Hebrews 13:8). We do the same in the world we live in. For example, I never need to be jealous of my covenant partner. Ever. We are covenanted together and I know what they will and won’t do in almost every situation. Based on their character. Never going to cheat. In ANY way. Just won’t happen. I KNOW it. I can trust in it. Everything we do are choices based on our character. Unless their character changes, their actions won’t change. It’s that simple. It works EXACTLY the same way with Adonai. His character determines what He will and won’t do (Numbers 23:19).

This portion of our investigation into Ruach HaKodesh is about us recognizing Him. Recognizing His voice. It will ALWAYS accord with the character of Yahweh. Take the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48). She came to be healed. She believed that she would be healed and trusted that if she touched Jesus’ robe it would happen. She touched it. It happened. She started to leave. Jesus asked what happened and to whom. Jesus had NO IDEA who it was or what it was. Ruach HaKodesh was responding to her trust in Jesus. Ruach HaKodesh ALWAYS responds to trust in Jesus. It is AUTOMATIC. That’s what He does. Because He LOVES, because He is KIND, because He is FAITHFUL, and because He is GOOD. All aspects of Adonai’s character. He didn’t tell Jesus what the deal was until the woman didn’t say anything. THEN He told Jesus and Jesus knew what happened and who He was looking for. Which is ALSO in the character of Adonai – LOVE and GOODNESS (He didn’t want to leave Jesus’ valid question unanswered, but to satisfy Jesus’ very normal need to know what He had been involved in and what Adonai was doing around Him – always a joy to Jesus). This is a character-driven encounter.

In Paul’s encounter with the idol set up to the ‘unknown god’ (Acts 17:23-31), he was able to use it as an opportunity to teach them about Yahweh. It was because he knew Jesus’ character and could explain it to them. He could describe Adonai to them. He could make Adonai known to them. This is the goal of all witnessing. To make others disciples of Jesus like we are (Matthew 28:19-20). It does NO GOOD to ‘win souls’. That’s like birthing a baby and leaving it to fend for itself. We need to take time and instruct. Teach. To make them acquainted with Jesus. They need to be well-versed and mature before we start to let them toddle on their own. We need to help them get from babies to twenty-somethings. So they can do what we did and go make another disciple. The discipleship model will get the world introduced to Jesus so that they can recognize Him in a very short time. Less than four decades – from 2 to 8.5 billion in that time. Think if more than two people started. We could do it in less than a decade with the number of true disciples of Jesus there already are. Remember, it is all about the character of Adonai and teaching other people what it is and WHO He is.

We need to be character-driven disciples who know the true character of Adonai. Who know the character of Ruach HaKodesh and through that knowledge recognize His voice. To know the Word so that we can test that voice and prove it true. Because without a character-driven knowledge of Adonai, we get caught up in other teaching, other instructions, and other ideas. But we need to stick to His ideas, His instructions, and stay right in the middle of the path – not turning to the left, or the right, or even moving unless He is going with us and directing our steps. We all need to eat of the Fruit of the Spirit so that we KNOW it’s taste and use that knowledge to help guide our choices – word, deed, and thought. It’s what Jesus did. It’s what we can do while in Him. To know Him even as we are known (1 Corinthians 13:12). It’s a journey, but it’s a journey with CHARACTER.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: 1 Corinthians 8:3

“But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him.” If we love Adonai, we are known by Adonai. Which means if Adonai loves us, we are able to know Him. In fact we KNOW that is true because of Ephesians 3:18-19 “in order that you may be strong enough to grasp together with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, in order that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” Adonai has set up a two-way street. Through our mutual godly LOVE, we can know Adonai as intimately as Adonai knows us. We can spend as much time as we like, because we are both eternal beings (Romans 6:23; John 3:16-18; Matthew 25:46). Adonai isn’t gate-keeping. He’s eagerly encouraging our participation in the exploration of who we really are and who He really is. What a privilege. What an amazing journey. 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