Fear No Fear

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

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
John 14:27 (emphasis added)

This is interesting: ‘The fight or flight response is an automatic physiological reaction to an event that is perceived as stressful or frightening. The perception of threat activates the sympathetic nervous system and triggers an acute stress response that prepares the body to fight or flee. These responses are evolutionary adaptations to increase chances of survival in threatening situations. Overly frequent, intense, or inappropriate activation of the fight or flight response is implicated in a range of clinical conditions including most anxiety disorders.’ That’s from psychologytools.com’s Fight or Flight Response resource information sheet. I find those words interesting. Just as Adam and Eve had no belly buttons, they also did not have acute stress responses. There were no threatening situations because their survival could not be threatened – before the Fall. “God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

That was the state that was meant to be. No stress. No frightening or threatening situations. Peace only. And authority to subdue. Humans were not looked on as lunch because there were no meat eaters. No killing for food. Not humans and not creatures. “God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food. To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so” (Genesis 1:29-30). Perfect world. All faith, no fear.

After the Fall it was a different story. Carnivores came to be. Humans were no longer masters, but fellow inhabitants — note: we were and are still humans. We did not suddenly become just another animal. The scientific community has a need for classifications and puts humans as mammals. Just another animal. If you look at humankind as animals, then there is a lot of behaviour that becomes permissible. A lot of thinking that is permissible. But we are still human beings. Male and female. Made in a class of our own — regardless of any similarity with the natural world around us. We were made from the dust of the earth just as the animals were (Genesis 2:7 & 2:19), so there are going to be similarities. But we are spirit beings inhabiting flesh, not flesh beings. There is a distinct difference. We can classify our flesh as anything we want, but reality is that we are not subject to the rules of the animal kingdom. We are subject to spiritual rules and reality. But we are fellow inhabitants with the animal kingdom. As humans, we no longer have authority over them as an automatic thing. We Fell.

Now there was fear where before there was only faith. Faith was perverted to fear when we gave up our authority. We were no longer in control. Until Jesus. In Jesus, we again have authority and dominion (Luke 10:19) because in Jesus we are made anew into His Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17). Born again. We no longer have fear as a part of our spiritual makeup. We are again beings of faith (Hebrews 11:6). That’s why we have a choice. We can choose to be troubled, anxious, and fearful. Or we can choose to dwell in faith and peace. We can live by old habits and our old nature, or we can live in Jesus in our new nature. We can stick with fight or flight. Or we can go with Faith or Fear. The Faith or Fear response is a conscious spiritual reaction to the daily events that our flesh experiences. We can respond in fear and remain in the flesh fighting and flighting, or we can respond in faith and choose ‘see and say’. See what our flesh is encountering. Stand in peace through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Say the Name and use the authority that Jesus got back and gives us licence to use again through the Word. Faith or Fear is a superior way to live. By Faith, by Grace, through Jesus we are new and anointed because He shares His anointing (1 John 2:18-29). We don’t have to be fearful. Ever.

It’s a choice, which means it is a skill that must be practised. There you are. Late at night. Dark house. There’s a sharp and unknown noise. Adrenaline floods your system. Your breath catches. Now at that exact moment, reject it. Say, ‘No thank you. I’m not doing fear. Whatever is or isn’t there has to submit to Jesus’ Name. Whatever is or isn’t there is NOT more powerful than He who is in me. He who is in me is greater than anything in the world and I am in Him!’ Then praise God. Say Hallelujah. Shout. Sing. Pray. Whatever you like. Choose to not fear. Choose to listen to God on a regular basis. That still small voice is better than any trigger or impulse of our nervous system. The Holy Spirit will tell is when there’s a problem, if it’s a real a problem, and what to do about it either way.

That way of responding is easiest when we’re daily meditating and studying the Word. Reading the bible with intent. Thinking about what it really says — not just what we’ve been taught. Wrestling with it looking to see Jesus and receive revelation. Remember the Holy Spirit was given to us as Counsellor and teacher (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit will bring to mind scriptures we’ve read. He will reinforce all the good teaching we’ve ever got and correct anything that we heard wrong or was taught wrong. The Holy Spirit never contradicts the bible. You’ll never be told anything that doesn’t agree with the Word. We can read it in accordance with the teachings from great men and women of God that are available to us. With the digital age, we have access to more teaching from more people at every moment of our day than has ever been available to anyone ever in the history of this planet. Using the guidance and asking for the wisdom of Holy Spirit, we can take in the teaching and use it to complement our own study of the Word. We can be grounded and built up in so many ways on a daily basis. This strengthening of our faith enables us to respond with it. To choose what we are or are not going to do. To reject fear and walk in faith.

This is the peace that Jesus gifted us (John 14:27). The quiet assurance of faith that the Lord God won’t steer us wrong (Isaiah 41:10). The feeling of tranquillity in the midst of storms. The knowledge that God is a God of healing, of growth, of blessing, of covenant, of truth, of power, of mercy, of majesty, and I’ll stop there because I could go on all day. If you want God in a nutshell, read the book of Psalms. Every. One. You’ll see the nature and power of God being referenced again and again. Through calling out to Him and acknowledging His splendour. If you want a snapshot of the ability of God, read the book of Job — especially from Chapter 38 onward. If you want to get a glimpse of the authority of God, read the book of the Revelation to John.

God is with us. God is holding us. Talking to us. Soothing us. Problems exist, but His peace and His authority say that the problems have no power to affect us. In Him, they aren’t problems but occurrences. Mere circumstances. They have no authority over us. Only God has authority over us. Jesus is the Lord over all of our life, and He says He is giving us peace for it. Through all of it. And also, He gives His authority to navigate it. See a problem? Say the Word at it. See and Say. Not fight or flight. Faith, not fear. Rise above the classifications the world wants to put humanity in. We’re not just another mammal. We are not the product of evolutionary adaptation. We are created by a divine God of love, mercy, and power. Nothing can touch us when we abide in Jesus. Jesus made us new. Better than what we should have been in the first place. Receive His peace and never again let fear kick up anything in your spirit. Instead, kick it from your path and walk on in Jesus. The Lexham English Bible translation of Isaiah 54:17 says “Every weapon formed against you shall not succeed, and you shall declare guilty every tongue that rises against you for judgment. This is the inheritance of the servants of Yahweh, and their legal right [or justice] from me,” [by declaration] of Yahweh.” Believe it. Receive it. Walk in it.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Genesis 2

We were made by God’s own hands. He breathed His breath into us and gave us life. He gave us so much more than we could fathom without His help. We see our bodies and we can recognise our souls – the mind, emotions, and personality. As humans, we investigate and improve those two things. We can make our bodies sculpted near perfection. We can train our minds and reach heights of intellectualism that is truly genius. But neither of them are all that hot. They’re both short of what we can be. The body is the bottom. The mind is the middle. No matter how great those two things are, they are not the top. The top is the spirit. The true us. Our true existence. God is Spirit and we are spirit. We communicate, recognise, and fellowship with each other as spirit beings. There is nothing on earth that was created as a spirit being but humanity: Male and Female. Think about that. Think of all the wonder of our natural world. The natural universe. The diversity of species and beauty. And there we are. In the book of Genesis. Hand formed and blessed above all. The breath of lives within us straight from the lips of God Almighty. Don’t settle for the middle. Let God renew your spirit in Jesus. Let God retrain your mind. Be all that He says you can be. It’s wonderful and cannot be explained by human mind or science. It is spiritually discerned, learned, and meditated on. Rise above all that the world and natural process has for you and live in the Kingdom. It’s glorious.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.