Fear No Fear

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

For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us to place on you no greater burden except these necessary things:

Acts 15:28

This life is not meant to be a series of rules on paper or codified into Law. The commandments and statutes that Adonai gave us throughout the Word have been fulfilled in Jesus. We exist inside Jesus, having put Him on like a suit of armour. We are meant to live our His life, letting Him live it out through us. Whenever we have done something good, He’s done it through us. When we think good thoughts, they’re His thoughts. This isn’t limiting it is freeing. “For through the law I died to the law, in order that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and that life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:19-20). “And he died for all, in order that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised” (2 Corinthians 5:15). It is Jesus in us, not us, who is the source of all we truly are and all the goodness we have.

One of the things we can take from that is solace that we are NOT going it alone (Hebrews 13:5). Old Covenant believers like David had a right (and a need) to pray asking that Adonai not remove His Spirit. Or stating the fact that they thirsted after His Spirit like a deer panting for water. We have a better Covenant though. Ruach HaKodesh is WITH us. NEVER leaves us. No matter what experience you go through, intense, troubling, joyful, ecstatic, passionate, loving, hate-filled, or whatever, Ruach HaKodesh is RIGHT THERE WITH YOU. Everything that Job desired. Everything the Psalmists longed for. The future that the prophets saw. WE HAVE IT. It is OURS. Right NOW. We can be partnered with Ruach HaKodesh NOW. Not a gee, do you think He’ll be mad kind of thing. But a partnership. That’s sitting down at the table and hashing things out together. Together (Matthew 19:26). Do you have ANY idea how freeing it is not to be stuck with human thinking?

“But know this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, hardhearted, irreconcilable, slanderous, without self-control, savage, with no interest for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God, maintaining a form of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid these people. For from these are those who slip into houses and captivate foolish women loaded down with sins, led by various kinds of desires, always learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these oppose the truth, people corrupted in mind, disqualified concerning the faith. But they will not progress to a greater extent, for their folly will be quite evident to everyone, as also the folly of those two was” (2 Timothy 3:1-9). This kind of thinking is ungodly thinking. It is the DEFAULT of the flesh. Those are the ruts we made in our minds as we grew up outside of Jesus. Now that we are born again the sinner who made them is dead. But the ruts remain, hardened indents in the mud of our minds. This is the kind of thinking humans have to rely on. Knowledge, but not truth. Intelligence, but not wisdom. A form of godliness (us being good or religious in our thinking), but without the power of Adonai in it (not being in Jesus). With Ruach HaKodesh, we are FREED from all of that. By the renewing of our thinking with the Word (Romans 12:2), we can slowly fill in those ruts and make new ones in the mind of Messiah instead (1 Corinthians 2:16).

We can be true partners with Ruach HaKodesh. We can walk in tandem. Hand in hand. Aligning with the Will and the Word of Adonai Elohim. Knowing that we are speaking truth, acting on truth, thinking truth, and proceeding exactly the way that Adonai wants us to. We can live our lives through Jesus. With our HEARTS leading the way, not our FACTS or FEELINGS. Not leaning into the judgment of ‘rules’, but the LIFE of humble submission in obedience. We can confidently say, as the early church did, it seemed right to us and to Ruach HaKodesh.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: 1 Timothy 6:17-18

“Command those who are rich in this present age not to be proud and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in God, who provides us all things richly for enjoyment, to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, sharing freely,” The words ‘who are’ and ‘things’ are italicized in your bible to show they were added to make the translation easier to understand. But they also can shade some of the brilliance of this promise. It should read “Command those rich in this present age not to be proud and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in God, who provides us all richly for enjoyment, to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, sharing freely.” Can you spot the difference? Those who are rich in this present age is a phrase that doesn’t limit the richness to money. Who provides us all richly for enjoyment is a phrase that doesn’t limit the ALL we are provided to THINGS. We can be rich in good experiences. We can be rich in good relationships. We can be rich in conversation. Rich in food. Rich in transportation. Rich in money. Rich in possessions. Rich in knowledge. Rich in wisdom. Rich in character. Rich in so many things AND those are the positive ones. There are negative as well. But Adonai provides us ALL, richly, for our enjoyment. Not all of anything and everything. All of the GOOD. Not so we can hoard the experience, but to SHARE the experience. To be blessed in order to bless others. We don’t need to hunt for good things. We don’t need to scrimp, save, search, and scrape in order to bless someone we know. Adonai provides it ALL. Because He knows how good blessing someone feels. He wants that for us. He wants us to know it, believe for is, and receive it. Freely. We can give freely because we received freely. What a privilege. 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