Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

But Jesus hearing it, answered him, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be healed.”
Luke 8:50 (emphasis added)

The father of the child has just heard his child is dead. Jesus heard it. What does He say? Believe and she’ll be healed. Healed. Not raised, healed. Jesus did not even count her death as a thing. To Jesus, this was the same as making a blind person see, a lame person walk, or healing a fever. Jesus had the full measure of the full authority of the Holy Spirit because He was as much God as He was man (John 1:14). He had chosen to be limited as a man, but He had no sinful nature (2 Corinthians 5:21). He believed in the Word more than any person ever had. There was a fullness in His knowledge of the Word and therefore a fullness to His measure of Faith that can only be equated by the full body of Christ in concert together. Not because we are apportioned pieces of the Spirit, but because that is how much God’s ways — even in a limited form as a man — are higher than our ways. It is what makes Jesus Jesus. It is what makes the Grace the Lord gives us so special. He gives us His own Spirit so that we can grow up into the fullness of Jesus Himself (Ephesians 4:13). It’s a process. Jesus knew that in God there were no limits. No impossibilities. No fences around what God could do. But there was a fence around Jesus.

I know we don’t like to think of Jesus with limits, but He put them on Himself. As a form of obedience. As a restriction to enable the fullness of the authority of the Spirit of God to operate in His life. If you want to walk in authority in the Kingdom, you have to walk with restrictions. You can’t do what everyone else does. Live the way everyone else does. You’re called to a righteous life where you seek the face of God more than the things of this world. Jesus was like that. He was the perfection of it. He says Himself that He did nothing by His own power. He only did what He saw the Father doing. Whatever the Father in heaven did, Jesus did (John 5:19-30). He limited Himself and so had great authority. Authority and power that He refused to abuse. Because He limited Himself to what the Father said and did, Jesus had faith that the Father would follow through and release the power and the wisdom through Himself. Because He also believed nothing was impossible for the Heavenly Father, He had total faith for any and every thing.

When the news of the girl’s death came, Jesus didn’t blink. And He asked that the father of the child not blink either. In fact, when they got back to the house everyone but the father, the mother, and a couple of disciples were permitted to remain (vs 51-52). They were the only ones willing to believe what Jesus was saying. I can’t blame the unbelievers. They had seen the child die. The child was dead as dead. But Jesus was talking of healing. Of the girl being only asleep. They could see in the natural that this wasn’t true. But Jesus was seeing something else. He was seeing His Heavenly Father breathing life back into that child. He believed and only other believers got to stay and see it happen. It’s the same today. We as believers are here on the earth. If we get close to God and abide with Him, we too can choose to only do what the Father does. Say what the Father says to say. It is possible because Jesus gave us His Spirit of Righteousness. It is possible because the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, has come to be with us and to teach us all things and remind us of everything Jesus has said in His Word — which the Spirit can’t do if we haven’t put the Word inside ourselves (John 14:26). We can do it because He did it and through us He does it still. It is Jesus in us that enables it and the Father in Jesus that does the work (Luke 1:37). Without Him, we are nothing and can do nothing (John 15:4-5).

When we decide to stand on the Word of God or to start abiding in Jesus, it isn’t about strict adherence to a set of rules. We aren’t obeying for the sake of obedience. We’re choosing to be like God. Why do we do that? Love. Love of God. Seeking to emulate that which we love. Wanting to be like Him. When we do that, God is able to work with us. God is able to change and develop us. God is able to bring Christlikeness into us. It’s a process and it takes time. It needs ever-feeding of the Word. It needs constant intent. Always choosing. Remembering that verse that says God likes this behaviour and not that behaviour. Then choosing to do what God likes just because God likes it. Not from fear. Not from threat of punishment. No. Because God likes it and we know it will please God. You want to walk in a place where you like pleasing God. Not worrying about this world and what fills it. Thinking of God and what will make Him smile. You’ll find all the rest will fall into place. When we seek first God, all the rest of life starts to work out (Matthew 6:33). When we are hand-in-hand with God, nothing is impossible because we are allowing God to bring impossibility into our possibles (Mark 9:23). We get to expand on what we know can happen.

I have lost a child. At the time, it never crossed by mind to ask for my child back. I didn’t believe it would happen. I didn’t have faith for it. That wasn’t one of my possibilities or one of the possibilities of those around me. I begged and pleaded with God a LOT. But the faith wasn’t there. The belief wasn’t there. That’s the flip side of Mark 9:23. If you can believe, all things are possible for you. But if you can’t believe, nothing is possible for you.

We have a choice. We can choose to believe. We can put the Word in us on a daily basis. We can dwell and meditate on the Word until we’re dreaming it, speaking it, thinking of it, all throughout our days. We can go until it is the first thing in our mind in the morning and the last at night and the linchpin on which we hang everything that occurs in between. There is absolutely nothing that God won’t give us an opinion on if we ask — and His opinions are worth hearing. From things we think of as frivolous to things that could change our lives. It doesn’t matter to the Lord. Dead child, aggressive cancer, runny nose, should I buy those apples. It doesn’t matter to the Lord. He wants to be part of our life and active in our life. He IS our life.

Listen to the words of Jesus. Don’t be afraid. Only believe.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Mark 10:27-34

All things are possible with God. Together. Us and Him. Believe it and it will change your life. The Lord loves us so much. He came to be condemned. Spit on. Mocked. Scoured. Killed. And on the third day, resurrected to life again. He did it to provide us with the best news anyone had ever heard: we are redeemed. We are free. Sin is done. We don’t need to be pushed around anymore. Subject to the curse anymore. Afraid anymore. We can turn that fear into faith through the power of the Blood of Jesus. By the authority of the Name of Jesus. By the Word of God, Jesus Himself. Read the Word. If you need to sacrifice sleep, family time, free time, and any time you can. Yes, all those things are important. But eternity is more important than any temporary thing and it’s worth the sacrifice. Not just for the Peace and Love it pours into our lives, but God will see the sacrifice and smile on us even more than He does just for loving us — and that is already a pretty big smile! This isn’t something to seek as a reward or to try and make yourself worthy. In ourselves we aren’t anything (John 15:5-6). Dirt that reads is still dirt (Genesis 3:19). But it is something we do simply to see Him smile. To get closer to the one who loves you so much. Just for that. That is worth any and every sacrifice. God loves you. Climb into His arms today.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.