Fear No Fear

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

Don’t be afraid of the things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested; and you will have oppression for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Revelation 2:10 (emphasis added)

God doesn’t send bad things to you to teach you a lesson. God doesn’t send bad things to you to test you. God doesn’t make you sick, give you disease, or cause you to lose anything in your life. He doesn’t ‘allow’ bad times, troubles, stress, sickness, or anything else to come upon you to grow you or stretch you or develop you or teach you. He doesn’t take loved ones because He wanted them in heaven more than you wanted them on earth. He doesn’t kill children to spare them from something worse later on. He does none of these things that we as the church have been spewing on each other for decades if not centuries. I am not speaking as someone who has not experienced loss or trauma or bad circumstances. I am telling you a factual, scriptural truth that God never, ever, ever sends anything bad. James 1:16-18 says “Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow. Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.” Look at today’s verse: the DEVIL is about to test you. Bad comes from the enemy, from the nature of sin. Good comes from God and God only sends good.

He is truthful. All good. All. All perfect. All. No variation. No turning shadow. All good. All. But we don’t make doctrine from a single verse. The bible is God-breathed and all scripture meshes.

Malachi 3:6 says He is the Lord that doesn’t change.

Daniel 2:22 says the Light dwells in Him

John 3:27: “John answered, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.”

Numbers 23:19 says God doesn’t lie and makes good on His word.

Romans 6:23 says the gift of God is life through Jesus.

1 John 1:5 says God is light and has no darkness in Him.

Matthew 7:11 says the Father knows how to give good gifts.

Psalm 85:12 says the Lord gives that which is good.

See a trend yet? We could go on and on and on. God is good, He is Truth, He gives good things, He cannot lie, He makes good on His words and promises, and He is full of light. Nowhere in the bible does it say that He tests us with sickness. Sickness is the curse. Disease. Fear. All of fear’s babies: anxiety, depression, worry, etc. All mental illnesses. All everything that isn’t good and laid down by the Lord as righteousness. Check out the law. See anything that isn’t a grooming set-them-apart-from-others-visibly law? If it’s covered by loving God before everything else and having Him as God only or by loving our neighbours as ourselves then it’s a righteous law that we’ll keep by abiding in Jesus and striving to be like Him. Is it a negative thing? It’s a price of sin. Jesus died to eliminate sin. Jesus paid the price. It’s done. Gone. Over. We don’t have to pay that price, walk in that bondage, or suffer that curse. Ever.

The curse is a terrible thing. Sin and everything it touches is negative. God does not want any of it on us: “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but he is patient with us, not wishing that anyone should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Yahweh God in His Sovereign prerogative gave humanity free will (Genesis 2:16-17 and Romans 10:9-10). That means we must all choose what we are going to do. Obey the Lord or not. Because there is sin contaminating creation and because there are humans that choose to disobey the Lord, there are a lot of negatives in this world. None of it is from God. But God can use all of it. “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). God turns everything to His glory one way or another. He didn’t MAKE you this way, but He can USE you and it to bring Him glory. “For God has bound all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?” For of him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen” (Romans 11:32-36).

God doesn’t bring ANYTHING bad onto us. God doesn’t ALLOW anything bad to come on or against us. Bad is because creation is fallen. Bad is because we are attacked by the devil who wants to make us hurt, sick, defeated, and dead (John 10:10). God uses all of it. He turns things to His purpose. Everything bad gives us the opportunity to stand on a promise of God. To believe something He has said about us and our circumstances. If we are the faithful of God, if we are seeking Him, if we are obedient to Him, if we are aligned with His will and Word, then we are overcomers. Then we are heirs to the promises and can stand on them and trust them and by submitting to the Lord let Him work in our lives and turn things to good. God tells us to build and strengthen our faith because it takes faith to stand. We stand for as long as we need to prove that our trust is in the Lord. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us” (Romans 8:18). “Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings. But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” (1 Peter 5:8-10).

Are you sick? God wants you well. Are you suffering from a mental illness of any kind? God wants you well. Do you have a condition that you’re dealing with (mental diagnoses or physical)? God wants you whole and healthy. Do you have cancer? God wants you whole and healthy. Do you have allergies? God wants you whole and healthy. Jesus is the Anointed One. He came and took on Himself all your sickness, disease, and sin. Every wrong thought. Every bad act. Every bit of strife, jealousy, greed, sexual immorality, lie, bitterness, and every other bad thing. Every mental condition from ADHD to anxiety to postpartum depression. He took it all. He died because of it. He paid for it. His blood washed it away. It’s gone. It doesn’t exist. You don’t have it anymore. Now receive the healing. Receive the washing away of all the bad. By God’s own decree (Genesis 1:26) spirits of any kind (including Him) are illegal on earth and have no authority unless they are working through a human being.

But I tried, but what if it doesn’t work, but I don’t believe it, etc etc. Don’t fear. Don’t worry. Don’t stress. The Lord God Almighty is merciful and understanding and patient and loving. He uses everything, remember? If you have something and you can’t or won’t believe that the cross healed you of it, God can use it for good and His Glory. This isn’t ‘look on the silver lining’ junk. This is mindful seeking of the Holy Spirit to be instructed, comforted, counselled, and guided in all things. We are ever moving in greater and greater sanctification. It is a journey. God’s best is one hundred percent whole, healthy, instantaneous healing. But God meets us where we are. God deals with us at our faith level while also challenging us to grow. It is a process. But it is a process determined by our seeking of the Lord and our journey through the Word. Reading it, thinking about it, dwelling in it, and building up our faith through it. The more Word you have in you on a day-to-day basis, the more the Lord can reveal to you. The more you have revealed to you, the greater steps you can take in His process of sanctification.

Read the Word. Get the verses about deliverance or healing or whatever is your problem into your mind. Meditate on them. Pray them. Praise them. Get them so down deep inside yourself that they are part of you. Until you have believed them. So you don’t need to believe anymore because you KNOW. Believing implies hope. Knowing implies certainty. Once you are certain, receive the healing and deliverance you KNOW is yours because of the WORD that promised it. If you aren’t there yet, stay in the Word. There is nothing bad there. God has no darkness. He cannot lie. He backs up His Word and makes good on it. He is truth. He knows how to give good gifts. He gives. Now you receive. Receive it from your Father in heaven. Be whole. Nothing missing. Nothing broken. Nothing you have to ‘manage’ or ‘live with’. God loves you wherever you are. There is no judgment or condemnation. Only Love and Peace and Mercy. It is freeing to know that we are loved no matter what. Helped no matter what. Guided no matter what. Companioned with no matter what. Be free. Be free indeed. “If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Receive it today.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: 1 Corinthians 10:11-14

The Kingdom of God is built on faith. It is the air we breathe there. Nothing is done without faith (Romans 14:23). All things, thoughts, actions, and imaginings are saturated with it. Without faith, there is no way to please God (Hebrews 11:6). We are given the scriptures not only for instruction, but also for an example. We can read histories of people who walked with God and people who walked away from God. There as an example for us. As a testimony to us. To assist us in our stance and our standing. We are to see the fires and troubles of this world. We are to see the Glory and Mercy of the Lord. We are to see the Glory to come. We are to stand. Temptations will come because our adversary seeks our life. But if we are tempted, we are tempted according to that which always tempts humanity. The devil has no new tricks. He cannot create anything. And for everything brought against us, the Word shows us a way to defeat, avoid, and stand above the attack. If we seek the Lord and turn away from all that would interfere with that seeking, we WILL be victorious. We WILL endure. We WILL find the circumstances around us changing to our advantage — in whatever form that takes. God loves us too much to want us to fail. God loves us too much not to equip us, train us, and develop us. The Word instructs, teaches, blesses, corrects, arms, defends, and every other thing. To empower us to walk in His way. To stand on His Word. Because He loves us. And He wants victory for us. In Jesus, by Jesus, and through Jesus. He loves us too much to have it any other way.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.