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 people believe that joy has to be earned? That it is the result of a long process of purging unwanted emotions and feelings? That it is a fleeting moment? That you cannot experience it while you are in sad or unpleasant circumstances? That you need to deserve it? None of that has anything to do with joy. All of them (and thoughts/questions like them) are the underpinnings of the OPPOSITE of joy: depression.

Depression robs you. Plain and simple. It doesn’t (or shouldn’t) come as a surprise that depression is on the rise. That the world seeks to COPE with it, not ELIMINATE it. The devil came to steal (John 10:10), and he has been altering the world to reflect anything except Adonai’s Kingdom since he got here. Darkness cannot exist without light. Light does not need darkness. This basic principle of this fallen world is what enemies of the Light of Adonai use to function, gain power, and ‘survive’. They take the rules Adonai set up and manipulate them to their advantage. They bargain with us to hand over the power Adonai gave us, and then pretend it is theirs to give back to us – a demonic Ponzi scheme. By getting us to buy into their transactions keeps us too busy to pay attention to Adonai’s Way or worse, to assign all kinds of rules and religious thinking to them.

Joy is evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires. The expression or exhibition of a state of happiness or felicity, which is from a source or cause of delight. None of that can be based on FEELINGS or EMOTED. It is a STATE OF BEING. It is based on something REAL, not something temporary. It can be accessed at any time in any circumstances. It will strengthen you. “You will make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forever” (Psalm 16:11). “I have spoken these things to you in order that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be made complete” (John 15:11). “Then he said to them, “Go, eat festive food and drink sweet drinks, and send a share to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our lord. Do not be grieved because the joy of Yahweh is your refuge.”” (Nehemiah 8:10). Joy is part of who Adonai IS. It exists as a part of His being. Since we have access to Him – in fact, He lives within us – then we have access to joy. We choose depression and we can choose joy.

‘But I don’t choose depression’ you might say. According to the Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.org), depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest’ and ‘More than just a bout of the blues, depression isn’t a weakness and you can’t simply “snap out” of it.’ But depression is simply the extreme absence of joy, and joy is a choice. You can turn it on and off like a light bulb. If we KNOW who Adonai is, and we KNOW who we are in Him, then we can HAVE whatever Fruit He has already grown in His righteousness. We can engage ANY and ALL of the Fruit of the Spirit. It’s why we HAVE them. They don’t rely on FEELINGS to become an emotion. We take them and emote them based on what JESUS is and what JESUS has done, not ourselves, our situation, or our own personal outside-of-Jesus worthiness. We absolutely cannot ‘snap out’ of it. What we CAN do it REPLACE it with what JESUS worked so hard for. We are taking the Fruit of HIS efforts and using THAT as the basis of what WE choose to emote, think, and believe. It is NOT stopping something, it is REPLACING something.

Ruach HaKodesh is our connection to the character of Adonai. He is the one through whom we get everything of Jesus. “And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also make alive your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:11). Not just physical living. Spiritual. Emotional. Relational. Financial. Every aspect of our lives is given to us from our Source (the Father) through Ruach HaKodesh because of who we are in Jesus. That’s why we prosper (in every physical area of our lives) only when we are prospering spiritually (3 John 2). If we aren’t spiritually healthy, we aren’t going to be healthy in any other way. But if we ARE spiritually healthy, we can engage and operate in what HE has told us we can – the Fruit of Ruach HaKodesh. Fruit WE didn’t grow, but Fruit that WE can engage and consume. We CAN do it. And we can do it by CHOICE.

There is nothing in the Word that says you have to. You do not have to live according to the Ruach. But that is where life IS (Romans 8:5). It is where JOY can be expressed when we want to. It is where we don’t rely on feelings. Where our situation doesn’t determine our mentalscape. It is the freedom that Adonai wants for all of us (John 10:10). It’s the way Jesus lived, and we are encouraged to live the same way (1 John 2:6; Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 Corinthians 11:1). We CAN do it. It is NOT far from us. We simply need to engage what we believe is possible because of our trust in Him and His Word. Amen.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Galatians 3:27

“for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” My kids love to play dress-up. I’m always surprised by how their actions, words, and boldness are changed by putting on a given costume. I am also frequently surprised just how successfully a princess who is also a laser pirate who is also an Empress defeats armies of spider guys with ships – it happens more often than you’d think. Why do ALL children understand this, but ALMOST all adults forget it? I don’t HAVE to be ME, I can put on Jesus. I don’t HAVE to emote the way I do, I can put on Jesus. I don’t have to respond to that ignorant person yelling at me MY way, I can respond like Jesus. Why? Because I put Him on. Because I believe and put my trust in what He has said about me. I don’t have to react like me, think like me, speak like me, or do things that I would do. Adonai has enabled things so that I can act like Jesus, speak like Jesus, think like Jesus, and BE like Jesus. Every day a little better. Every day a little more. A great journey so that in HIM, I can walk the believer’s walk, and accomplish what I’ve been given to do. And shine as an example to everyone around me so that they can do the same. 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