Fear No Fear

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

Only let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News; and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God. Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf
Philippians 1:27-29 (emphasis added)

Stand firm. I found the phrase nine times in the World English Bible. Two of them referred to the Lord’s attitude or stance toward us (in Psalm 89:28; 93:5). The rest have to do with us to the Lord. The wicked are blown away, but the righteous stand (Proverbs 10:25). We stand firm in faith being courageous (1 Corinthians 16:13). We’re not forced to, but in joy we stand firm (2 Corinthians 1:24). We stand in the liberty of freedom in Christ (Galatians 5:1). We stand while striving for our faith (Philippians 1:27). We stand as citizens of the Kingdom (Philippians 3:20 – 4:1). We stand firm in the Word, in the teachings of Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:15). That’s a lot of standing and a lot of faith. We have to stand firm, because the world and the devil want us to slide. They want to knock us down. They want us to fail. Be we don’t have to, because we can stand firm. Psalm 27 puts it this way in verse 14: “Wait for Yahweh. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh” What does that look like?

Paul says “let your way of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ.” That means live your life like it is worth it. The Lord has gifted you with new life. You’re a new creation. Will you live the old way and treat the gift as if it had no meaning, or will you live Jesus’ way and live like there is some worth to your life? Because Jesus thinks you’re worth it. Jesus values you. If He didn’t, He wouldn’t have gone through everything He did for you. When we live worthily, we’re blessed. God is a God of abundance. He loves to bless. He’d do it to everyone if they’d let Him. First and foremost He blesses us with forgiveness (Psalm 32:1-2). Not so that we can sin more, but so that we can have more freedom. More Blessing. And more closeness to Him.

Remember God isn’t threatening us. God isn’t forcing us. Quite the opposite. It is all left up to us. And we CHOSE to become believers. We CHOSE to make Jesus Lord of our lives. We CHOSE to believe God. What are we going to do now? Ignore all that? Try and coast into heaven? That’s like a child begging for a toy and once they have it, putting it on a shelf and ignoring it until they move out. Frustrating when that happens isn’t it? Because it is a waste. It makes us think they didn’t want it in the first place. We should be grateful that the Lord isn’t like that. That God can see into our hearts and is merciful, gracious, and compassionate. He doesn’t get that feeling we get as parents. But He does stand there talking to us and reminding us of what it was all about. Because we were not meant to be saved, restored to fellowship with God, and then to sit down and nap. When humanity was created, we were created to tend. To work. We had a job to do. We’ll get back there, but creation isn’t restored yet. Just us. So our job is to help with the harvest. To help nurture the crop. To fish for men. To lay the salvation of mankind before mankind and let them make an informed decision as well. To let them enter into the blessing and closeness of the Lord.

We’re blessed and the Lord will bring us close to Him when we seek Him (Psalm 65:4). He sets Himself so that we can make Him our refuge (Psalm 40:4). He corrects us when we start to stray so that we can remain abiding in Him (Psalm 94:12). We treat others fairly, do what is right, and always stay in right standing with the Lord (by accepting His correction every time it’s given – Psalm 27:11) and we’re blessed (Psalm 106:3). We’re blessed when we respect the Lord, hold Him in awe, and delight in His commands (Psalm 112:1). And we’re double blessed when we read and keep the words we find in the Word, the bible (Revelation 1:3). We’re blessed from the Lord by doing it, and we’re blessed because faith is built by hearing the Word of God. Blessed when the Word gets into us, and blessed when it transforms us on the way out toward others. Sounds like an upgraded Abrahamic covenant to me (Deuteronomy 28:6).

When we base our thinking, speaking, and doing on the Word, we live a life worthy of the Good News of Jesus the Christ. When the world sees you, do they see Jesus? They should. We should keep the commandments of God. The words of the Word. We should read what Jesus said every day and do our level best — with the coaching, support, and gifts of the Holy Spirit — to follow them. Not tolerating sin, sinful morals, or unrighteousness; but being compassionate to those caught in unrighteousness. To love them. Whether we agree with them or not. The principles of God’s righteous morality are truth and righteousness whether any humans agree with them or not. Whether any of us follow in their way or not. But if we spend time doing it, reading about doing it, and doing it again, we’ll get to the point where we delight in doing it. Because the closer we get to God, the closer the Lord gets to us. Will we be perfect every time? Nope (1 John 1:8). But we can strive for it (1 John 1:9). If we have faith in this, in the Word of God, we won’t be able to help acting on it (James 3:20).

We may suffer for the Good News, but that’s okay. Because we’ve been granted the privilege to suffer on account of Jesus (1 Peter 3:14-17). It does nothing but bless us more. It stacks up rewards in heaven (Matthew 5:10). Jesus Himself saying ‘well done’ (Matthew 25:21). The Father hugging you and smiling on you. That’s not bad. We’re protected from every other kind of attack by the demonic as our legal right of inheritance by declaration of Yahweh God (Isaiah 54:17). Because we are in Christ and He has the victory. James 4:7 says that: “Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” When we are submissive to the Lord, on purpose, we gain the authority, the use of the name of Jesus, and the blessing of the perfect love of God. Faced with that, the devil flees. There’s nothing he can do but call you names and throw rocks.

Strive to live the way Jesus calls you to — remember Holy Spirit is there to counsel you and assist you. Stand on your faith. Do not waiver. If the Word says it, it is true. Period. No exceptions. Trust the Word. Judge all words by the Word. Everything we hear and read is the first report, but the Word of God is the last report (Isaiah 53). Tell other people about it without fear of attack, defeat, or harassment. Smile and be of good cheer as you talk Jesus to those around you. That is what we are called to do.

We’re not called to bring people to church. Church is for the believer. It is NOT that God can’t use church — He does and does it in high volume. But we are called to one on one evangelism. To be a witness up close. Look through the gospels and you see Jesus eating dinner with people or talking to them as He went along a LOT more than you see Him preach in the temple or a synagogue. He did those things as well because they have value and purpose, but it wasn’t His focus. And it isn’t meant to be ours either. We’re to be walkers of the Word. Witnesses of Jesus. Lights shining in the darkness. It’s a great place to stand. It’s a great thing to do. It can’t help but spark joy inside you. Try it. You’ll see. Stand firm in your faith. And when all else is done, stand.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Matthew 10:34-39

Jesus promises a lot of things. Each and every one is true. Each and every one can be relied on. Each and every one is important. This one shows us that Jesus cares about us in an intense way. He isn’t content to let us be complacent. He isn’t content to leave us sitting quietly and sneakily loving Him from behind closed doors. Nope. He wants us to head out and set fire to our world. To salt the soup. Should the world set us afire in return? We have the promise of a rich reward in eternal life from Jesus. Jesus has made the same promises to the world. Because He loves it. And He wants the world to know it. Each and every creature within it needs to know. The whole of creation needs to know (Mark 16:15) so don’t be afraid to chat up your plants and pets — not to save them, but to let them know renewal is coming. If things don’t go well? If the Good News is spat upon and you with it? He is promising you a rich reward if you suffer for His name, because He loves you and wants to reward you for each and every good thing you do. He loves you.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.