Fear No Fear

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

The Lord says, “Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him; I will protect him because he is loyal to me. When he calls out to me, I will answer him. I will be with him when he is in trouble; I will rescue him and bring him honor. I will satisfy him with long life and will let him see my salvation.”
Psalm 91:14-16 (emphasis added)

Being a rewarder is being one who provides a reward. A reward is something given in return. It can also be a stimulus that is administered to an organism and serves to reinforce a desired response. “Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). This is the FOUNDATION of our TRUST (faith). Adonai is our rewarder. Not to control us. To BLESS us. To enable us to live the life HE designed both creation and us for. To get us back to where He started us off. Connected and operating in complete reliance on Him – not because of weakness, but because of a symbiotic relationship of LOVE.

Reliance can be a negative. When we are unable to function because we are totally reliant on something, that is a negative trait. Adonai doesn’t want that. He wants us functioning at our peak because we rely on Him for provision. He gives us the tools, He gives us the instructions, He gives us the support, He gives us the authority, and He gives us the encouragement to be our very best selves doing our very best work in our very best appointments. It is all about us DOING, but doing IN HIM. Not relying on ourselves as our source, but HIM. Seeking Adonai isn’t about learning the way to manipulated Him or ‘the system’. It isn’t about forcing Him to do what we want. It is about learning how He set things up so that HIS will is done, and complying in humble obedience to His system and His will in His way because He is who He is (Exodus 3:7–8, 13–14).

This is what Jesus did. He submitted to be made flesh. “who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature” (Philippians 2:6-7). Jesus became flesh. A human. He had to learn to go to the bathroom properly. He had to learn to walk and talk. He had to learn not to colour on the walls. He had to learn that He was the Son of God by TRUST (faith). He had to learn how to be in relationship with the Father. He had to learn everything we did the same way we do. Before He was baptised in the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21-22), He was the same as us. When we are baptised in the Holy Spirit, we are the same as He was. If we act and speak and think like Jesus – which is possible in Him (1 Corinthians 2:16) when we are consciously doing it all the time – then we will be the same as He was here. Doing the same things, saying the same things, we will be little carbon copies of Jesus – which was and is the Will of the Father (John 14:12).

The question is what is the system. The answer is simple. If we, then He. That’s it. The Word clearly lays down the pattern that we are to follow. The Word clearly lays down our responsibility. The Word clearly lays down His response to that. The Word clearly shows how it all works, what the benefits are, what the flip side is, and how it should all be. The only impediment to it working is our own thinking. Whose ideas are we giving place to? What thinking are we doing? What are we looking at? What are we training our mind, our heart, and our flesh to accept? Jesus did it. He fasted. He learned the scriptures. He prayed. He spent time with the Father. He communed in the Spirit. He spent the time that it takes to make His body understand that the Father’s will is supreme. Jesus guarded against the religious thinking He came across, the political thinking He came across, and the worldly wisdom He came across. He denied none of it. He was informed. But He did not give it a place above the Word. He chose to trust the Word, trust the system, and follow it with every ounce of His being. We called to do the same (Philippians 2:5 & 1 Corinthians 11:1).

When we rely on Adonai, He is faithful to do what He said He would do. There is no stipulations past obedience. Obedience is the mark of love. ““If you love me, you will obey my commandments. Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept because it does not see him or know him. But you know him because he resides with you and will be in you. I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.” “Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me. I have spoken these things while staying with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will cause you to remember everything I said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father because the Father is greater than I am. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me, but I am doing just what the Father commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Get up, let us go from here” (John 14:15-31).

I particularly like that Jesus’ statement “Get up, let us go from here” applies equally to Jesus and the disciples as they left one location and went to another AND all of those who are disciples of Jesus everywhere at every time because this is foundational instruction. Get up in your love of HIM with the evidence of OBEDIENCE and go from there. We come to Him because HE loves us. But we walk with Him through OUR love of Him. It is the ONLY way to be a true disciple of Jesus. Of course our levels of obedience vary because we are not yet perfect, but obedience because we love Him is what we should striving for. He doesn’t expect perfection, He expects a heart for Him (1 John 1:5-10). David was called a man after God’s own heart, but David was far from perfect (1 Kings 15:5). What David WAS was a seeker. He desired for Adonai to be his keeper. He was quick to repent. He was quick to admit he couldn’t manage alone. He was quick to rely on Adonai in all things. When he did miss it, his repentance included altered behaviour that ensured a repeat of the misstep would not happen. That is true repentance. Changing our minds on the issue, accepting Adonai’s thinking on the issue, and changing our behaviours, words, and deeds to match our new thinking (His thinking).

Adonai is faithful (Deuteronomy 7:9). Adonai is trustworthy (Lamentations 3:22-23). Adonai cannot lie (Numbers 23:19). Adonai is always just (Deuteronomy 32:4). Adonai saves (Acts 16:31). If we believe this, we can walk the walk. It is easy to submit when you put Him in His rightful place. When we do, we will grow in our love for Him because when we let Him retrain our minds to His thinking (Romans 12:2), we realise more and more the truth and depth of His love (Ephesians 3:14-19). When we KNOW His love, we cannot help but love Him back (1 John 4:19). When that love is perfected in us, our obedience will also be perfected (1 John 4:17-18). It’s a journey to be sure, but the perfection of our spirit, soul, and (eventually) body is marked by His faithfulness, His mercy, His grace, and His love.

We do the seeking. He does the Blessing. If we, then He. He IS the rewarder of our humble submission. Every single time. We can stand on that promise. He is the God who fulfils ALL His promises (Joshua 21:45).

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 109:4

“They repay my love with accusations, but I continue to pray.” Mercy is one of the character attributes of the Messiah. Nothing makes this more evident than the prophesy that He would pray for His enemies. Not pray for Yahweh to smite them. Not pray for their downfall. But with LOVE, He would pray for them. He would do this in spite of their rejection of His love. “[But Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”] Then they threw dice to divide his clothes” (Luke 23:34). Even when they had beaten, scourged, and nailed Jesus to wood, Jesus STILL loved them. In fact, since we are all upheld by the Word (Hebrews 1:3) Jesus was in fact in the spirit realm keeping His enemies alive. Jesus loved them SO MUCH that He continued to love them. In the spirit, He continued to uphold them. In the flesh, He PRAYED for them. He BLESSED them. He MEDIATED for them. 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