Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the NET, netbible.org, all rights reserved)

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
Matthew 6:22 (emphasis added)

Seatbelts, everyone! Thus is the call of the Frizz, owner of the titular Magic School Bus and off on another adventure the children are. Often changing shape and size, the bus is able to take the children from deserts to swamps to inside the human body to learn about the world around them. I found myself on just such a journey this morning reading to my five year old and today’s verse came alive inside me. This might surprise you, but remember that Jesus often uses simple pictures we can understand to explain complex issues (Matthew 13:34-35).

In this particular book, the children are inside the brain of a child. They learn how nerves send signals to the brain and how the brain receives and processes them. Tim learns that the brain makes sense of all the signals. He says in his report that ‘without your brain, your eyes could not see and your hears could not hear. None of your senses would work. The brain is in charge of it all.’ I was immediately reminded of something Jesus said: “The one who has ears had better listen!” (Matthew 11:15). Everyone there was listening to Jesus. They all had physical ears. They could all take the sound waves coming out of Jesus’ mouth channel them into the outer ear, through the eardrum, the middle ear, the inner ear, and along the hearing nerve to the hearing part of the brain (the auditory cortex) where it could be processed. The question was WHICH brain was processing it? The physical mind or the spirit mind?

“Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). We need to let Adonai renew our minds through the Word so that we gain the ability to understand what we are hearing because Adonai deals with us spirit to spirit (John 4:24; Romans 8:26). This is not an automatic process, but a conscious one. “and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

We cannot take our thoughts captive if we are not thinking about them. If we don’t think about them, we are just thinking. It’s like driving a vehicle by placing your feet arbitrarily on the gas, the brake, and moving the gearshift and steering wheels. Yes, the vehicle will go places. Chances are though they won’t be good places though. We need to drive our thoughts. Think about them, keep the good, and reject the bad (I Thessalonians 5:21). We need wisdom for that.

First step is to intentionally think about the marker by which we measure everything: The Word. “How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers. Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands; he meditates on his commands day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). Second, we need to humbly submit and act on what we encounter in the Word. “And what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, do these things. And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9). “So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls. But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:21-25). We need to submit to Elohim, stand on the Word, and then when we resist the devil WITH that Word, he WILL flee (James 4:7).

We need that renewal because what our eyes take in (which means everything we take in be it written, oral, or viewed material) is what fills our minds up. What our mind is full of, that is what drops down into our hearts. Our hearts are intimately connected to our minds. In 1991, Dr. Armour discovered that the heart has its ‘little brain’ or ‘intrinsic cardiac nervous system.’ This ‘heart brain’ is composed of approximately 40,000 neurons that are alike neurons in the brain, meaning that the heart has its own nervous system. The heart communicates with the brain neurologically, biochemically, biophysically, and energetically. The vagus nerve carries information from the heart to the brain. Signals from the ‘heart brain’ redirect to the medulla, hypothalamus, thalamus, and amygdala and the cerebral cortex. Thus, the heart sends more signals to the brain than vice versa. “The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart” (Luke 6:45).

We need a renewal of our minds to both understand what the Word is truly saying AND to make sure the correct material is getting into our hearts. We need material there that is correct and proper from Adonai’s point of view, NOT ours. It doesn’t matter what WE feel. It matters how HE views it. Think of it like this. I could eat the most delicious fried doughnut with all the toppings that I can find. It would taste delicious. You could argue that it IS delicious. Yet, all oils – both animal and plant derived – tend to worsen endothelial function. Within hours of ingesting fat, arteries stiffen and the ability to dilate is impaired. No matter what good things they might have (like Omega-3s), they damage us. Sugar causes blood sugar crashes, faster aging, and an increased risk of obesity and other chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or cognitive decline. Milk contributes to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. Studies have also linked dairy to an increased risk of breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers. It also leaches calcium from our bones, contributing more to osteoporosis and hip fracture than it is believed to assist. So that doughnut would TASTE delicious to our FEELINGS and we would BELIEVE it to be good, but from a scientific point of view it would be BAD and NEGATIVE and best AVOIDED.

In the same way, Adonai sees the effects of our thoughts, words, and actions from a position OUTSIDE of the human experience. He is the ONLY ONE able to objectively tell us what is RIGHT and WRONG, what is GOOD or BAD. Knowing that we don’t like to listen, He repeatedly tells us what is GOOD and warns us about what can come upon us if we do not do good. As cold is the absence of heat, darkness is the absence of light, so too is sin the absence of trust in Adonai. The devil and the world which has swallowed his lies work overtime to get into the human mind the concept that light cannot exist without darkness. We see it in everything from philosophy to psychology to Star Wars. But this is a lie. It is a total UNTRUTH. Darkness exists where light isn’t. Period. We don’t need darkness to understand light. We don’t need it to appreciate light. Light does not need darkness to exist. WE think of them as interconnected because WE experience them both. But from an OBJECTIVE view, that isn’t truth. From an objective view, light is right and darkness is an aberration. Adonai’s moral laws function in the same way.

If we do not get our minds renewed outside of our human reasoning (which often takes the stance that all viewpoints are equal, all paths are equal, and all opinions are worth the same), we will miss so much. Adonai’s opinion is greater than all of ours put together because Adonai is the only one involved that isn’t inside the system. Even the devil, his angels, and evil spirits are part of the system. Only Adonai exists outside because only Adonai wasn’t created. Everything else is subjective and lives subjectively in relation to Adonai. We are near Him or not. We believe in Him or not. We are submitted to Him or rebellious. We trust Him or we don’t. Demons believe in Adonai and tremble because they are in rebellion (James 2:19). You can be aware of Jesus, but not be a disciple (Matthew 7:21-23). Anything done outside trust in Adonai is sin (Romans 14:23). We can see that as a principle because whenever the lights are turned out, there is darkness. The amount of darkness present in a given place is determined by the amount of light (and NEVER vice versa). Adonai meets us in EVERY place of our lives at EVERY stage of our lives in EVERY way possible. There is NOTHING that we can do outside of Him (John 15:5). Everything we do can be related to Adonai from chores to employment to relationships to meals to entertainment. This does NOT restrict us, but rather sets us free from the chains and programming of darkness that the world and the devil want on us.

““The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23). I enjoy a lot of things that aren’t overtly Christian in origin or message. But more and more I am putting down those things that do not align with what Adonai thinks is right from HIS point of view. This is NEVER a hardship and I have NEVER regretted it. Instead, other things are brighter because of it. I get a LOT of enjoyment from my entertainment. I get a LOT of satisfaction from my chores. I get a feeling of GREAT privilege in my work. And more and more the Word captures my attention, my interest, and my time. My To Be Read pile grows a LOT more than it shrinks because nine times out of ten I would rather spend time reading the Word than reading a novel. I get the same enjoyment, but the Word enriches me in a way novels don’t. Nothing against them, I’ve read them, and I have written them, but they don’t hold me like they did when I was a teenager. Because Adonai is renewing me to His ways, His thinking, and His Word and everything else is fading (Psalm 123:1). More of Him and less of Me (John 3:30).

We need LIGHT sources to be before our eyes. That way, we will be filled with HIS light. There is nothing like it. It reaches to the deepest parts of ourselves. “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Let the Word renew you. Let the Word infuse you. Let His light BE your guide (Galatians 5:16-26).

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 78:2b

“I will make insightful observations about the past.” Messiah would speak the wisdom of Elohim with authority. Most Rabbinical teachers rely on the wisdom of those who came before Rabbi Caleb would stand and say, “Rabbi Adam in the words of Rashi says that….” and make their point. The Messiah would not do that. His very words would be authority on their own. Messiah would be able to state the TRUTH, instead of an interpretation or an idea based on scripture. He would cut to the marrow and say exactly what the Word meant. “When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed by his teaching, because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law” (Matthew 7:28-29). Jesus spoke truth. Total and absolute truth. He was not giving an opinion. He was the Word made flesh (John 1:14-18) and as such was uniquely able to speak to what the Word said. Jesus spoke with authority no one else had. Jesus IS the Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b