Fear No Fear

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

You must serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst.
Exodus 23:25 (emphasis added)

If we do not serve Adonai Elohim, we will not gain any of the benefits that come with serving Him. Anyone can see the logic of that. But how can we serve Him when we know those things within us that need to change? The ideas, words, and behaviours? We feel in our spirit when we need to repent over something (consciously change our mind from OUR point of view to HIS point of view). How can we kneel and serve with a smile when we feel the weight of our failures? It is because the Spirit within us (the Ruach HaKodesh) convicts us of Righteousness – that gift of Adonai by Grace through trust. It is easy to serve when the one asking for service welcomes you in and dusts you off.

The Ruach HaKodesh convicts us concerning Righteousness (John 16:8-11). As we saw yesterday, that DOES mean that The Spirit speaks to OUR spirit and shows us where our thinking is not aligned to Adonai’s. He shows us where we need to decide to change our opinions, values, words, ideals, and actions. He shows us points and places where we need to humbly submit to what we find in the Word – which is the Will of the Father. That is NOT all that He does. That would be a not always positive Spirit. But He is the HOLIEST of Spirits. His main mission to the believer in Messiah is one of remembrance.

He remembers to us what we are NOW. Not what we are pre-salvation. He reminds us of what Jesus accomplished and what that means to us. “God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are EXACTLY like Jesus in the eyes of the Father. We didn’t earn this position. It was the free gift of Adonai to us. “He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31). We don’t get to say how great we are. We get to praise the Father that we are great because of Jesus. We get to point to Jesus and say thank you. We get to point to the Father and say thank you. We get to point to the Holy Spirit who points to Jesus who points to the Father and say thank you.

When we accepted salvation, our spirits were completely, totally, and instantly transformed from dead, fallen spirits to Jesus’ Living Spirit (Acts 10:34-48). As soon as we received it we were sealed (Ephesians 1:13-14). Because our spirit is sealed, it is impenetrable. It cannot be touched by sin (1 John 3:9). It is TOTALLY righteous. And because it is in us, we have certain things also happening in us. “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:10-11). That life is spiritual first, and then mental, and then physical. That is how it works. Your spirit and your mind have to agree about Jesus and His works, and then your body will follow along (two against one).

WE cannot do anything about our minds in our own strength. We’ve spent too long training them the other way. What we need is renewal. We get renewal through the Word because the Word is a living and breathing thing speaking directly into your spirit. The Ruach HaKodesh then brings revelation to your spirit so that they both agree. Then He renews your mind so that you can understand the revelation (or commentary) He is speaking to you about the Word which you are reading and hearing. When this process repeats over and over again, it builds up pathways in our brains that override the ones we laid down before. It is a supernatural work of the Spirit. That work is subject to spiritual gravity and over time it sinks down into our hearts. That’s when things really roll.

When we have revelation knowledge of what the Word is really saying explode inside us, there is a distinct change in all levels of our being (spirit, soul, and body). You can’t keep the Blessing OFF you when that happens. Because we are agreeing with Adonai about what He says about you. That is a ministry of His Spirit. Reminding us who we are IN JESUS. Not what WE are, but who we are in HIM. In HIM we are pure in the Father’s eyes. In HIM we are righteous in the Father’s eyes. In HIM we are perfect in the Father’s eyes. How we look in the Father’s eyes NEVER CHANGES because who we are in Jesus NEVER CHANGES.

That takes some getting used to. We tend to look at what we do and say. We tend to get caught up in those feelings of guilt, sadness, or overall disappointment when we feel the prick of our own conscience which is agreeing with The Spirit that something about us is not as it should be. When we have participated in sin. But it is OUR conscience telling us we are bad. The Ruach HaKodesh reminds us who we are in Jesus. He reminds us we don’t HAVE to sin. He reminds us we can choose to decide with our minds what our spirit already knows: Adonai’s ways are RIGHT and TRUE. He reminds us we can repent, change our opinion and thinking, and decide that Adonai’s point of view is the ONLY point of view for us. The Spirit reminds us of what the Word has said about our situation, desires, and behaviours. And The Spirit reminds us of the tools the Father has given us through Jesus in order for us to do just that. The ministry of the Ruach HaKodesh is NOT one of condemnation, but of encouragement.

He is our ally and friend. He is our helper and counsellor. He is our guide and corrector. He is our arrow which constantly and consistently points to Jesus through whom we get ALL things. Through Him we GIVE all things to the Father. Jesus is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the ONLY bridge, the ONLY mediator, and the ONLY path between Adonai and humankind (both male and female). It is when we are working and listening to Him that we hear the clearest. It is when we are working and listening to Him that we serve the best. We can serve because we know who we are and what we can do. We are EFFECTIVE servants because we know who we are in Jesus and what HE can do to and through us.

When we are serving in His Grace, we are truly serving. Truly working to always be humbly submitted to Adonai. That is when we are the servants He wants us to be. When we have Him in the place He is meant to be: first and foremost. When Adonai is first, we enjoy ALL His Blessing from fellowship to health to abundant life. If we will serve, He is FAITHFUL to Bless. To remove all the impediments that keep us from abundant life.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 89:36-37

“His dynasty will last forever. His throne will endure before me, like the sun; it will remain stable, like the moon. His throne will endure like the skies.” (Selah)” Messiah’s character would be FAITHFULNESS. It would not be something He put on. It would not be a fruit to access when needed. Faithfulness would be part of the core of who He was. Something inseparable from Him. “and from Jesus Christ—the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood” (Revelation 1:5). “Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war” (Revelation 19:11). Jesus IS faithfulness. It is part and parcel of who He is. It cannot be separated from Him. He is constant in His faithfulness (Hebrews 13:8). 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