Fear No Fear

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

When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.
Deuteronomy 20:1 (emphasis added)

When you read the Old Testament, does it sometimes seem like God can’t count? All the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east assembled themselves together against Israel. That’s a lot. What did God say? With 300 I will save you (Judges 7:7). A garrison of Philistines were camped in Michmash (part of the up to 60,000 strong force) and two guys go up to them. Killed twenty of them. And began the routing of the main force (1 Samuel 14). Four hundred and fifty priests of Baal on one side. A single prophet of Yahweh on the other (1 Kings 18). The Aramean army camped out around the city. Four lepers who are starving. The Arameans flee (1 Kings 7).

When you read the Old Testament, does it sometimes seem that God doesn’t know how you’re supposed to fight battles? Walk around a city once — in silence — for six days, then seven times on the seventh day, and then shout. The walls fall down and you win (Joshua 6). 300 guys hide torches in pots. They spread out. They break the pots and shout. Army flees in panic (Judges 7-8). Dig pits and fill them with water. Create overconfidence in the enemy who flees before you when you rise up (2 Kings 3). Set yourselves for battle, rise up, head out, but stand. Do nothing. The people choose to head out singing praise to God. They get there and stand. Enemy army is completely dead already (2 Chronicles 20).

When we get into the New Testament, things don’t get any more ‘normal’. Go fishing, take the first fish, open its mouth, take out coins and go pay your taxes (Matthew 17:27). Take a couple of pieces of bread and a fish, feed five thousand men plus women and children (Matthew 14). Go fishing and fish all night. Catch nothing. Get told to toss your net on the other side of the boat, catch more fish than your net can handle (John 21). Fill up large vats with water, serve it to guests as wine — which it now is (John 2).

Obviously, God can count. Obviously, God knows how to conduct battle. And obviously, God is capable of doing things normally. So why doesn’t He? Why doesn’t He follow the rules? Why doesn’t He conduct business in traditional, accepted ways? Why doesn’t He do things normally? Because it’s OUR normal. OUR rules of conduct. OUR traditions. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). If you’re dealing with the Lord, don’t expect normal, natural, ordinary, or sensible. He isn’t on our level. He wants to brings us into His. And that can be baffling to us. But take heart because through the Holy Spirit we have access to the very mind of Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:16). In HIM we have all understanding when we ask for it (James 1:5–8). On our own? Not so much.

God uses unqualified people. Murderers, selfish people, drunks, liars, uneducated, undisciplined, anger-issues, theologians, headstrong, cowards, egotists, and fools. They didn’t stay that way. But that is where they started. God doesn’t seek perfection. God seeks permission. God seeks a ‘with’ to do impossible things alongside. Not alone, with. Not for, with. Not in spite of, with. WITH God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). We have the dominion. The Father has the power. Jesus has the authority. The Spirit has the guidance. Together? All things can be accomplished. You’ll notice our part is saying ‘Yes, Lord, move’ and then being guided, counselled, taught, and comforted. Everything else is His part.

God doesn’t do things in different, unconventional, and odd ways because He likes strange things. He doesn’t do it to be colourful, noticed, or get attention. He does it to prove to our hard minds that it is, in fact, God who is doing it. He does things so off the beaten path that we can’t even fall back on co-incidence to soothe our egos and sense of order. God does things that shake us to our core, so that we are shaken to our core, so that we can get to the place where we are aware that He IS. So that we have to acknowledge that He IS, He moves, and He is in our lives. Ideally, we will respond with praise and adoration. He certainly deserves it. But it is enough for us, in our innermost inner thinking, to admit that God IS. It is important for us as humans to be constantly presented with that so that we never forget the choice that we have to make.

God is real. God has standards based on His nature of righteousness. God wants to keep us out of hell. Jesus paid the price for sin. A way has been made for you to enter fellowship with God. There. That’s the message. That’s the choice. That is what all the weird, wonderful, and wacky designs of God are all about. The acts point to the Spirit who is moving in them who points to Jesus who is saying them who points to the Father who is doing them. The Father does them by Jesus speaking them who speaks them through the Spirit who moves into them and gives them form in the frame of the Word in the power of the Father. They’re all three connected and intermingled and separate and God. The strange ways things get accomplished puts our minds on one of those aspects of the Lord God. Each aspect points to the other aspects. All of which are above us, beyond us, and in spite of us.

If we hold that image of God in our minds, we will have no fear. It won’t matter if a single foe stands there or a million. We will have no fear. Why? Because God has proved throughout history and continues to prove to us today that anything can be a tool for God if He has permission to work in our lives. There are chariots against you? No problem, there’s a fish in your fridge. The government wants to take your children? No problem, there’s an old tennis shoe in your closet. No money for bills and food? No problem, there’s an old hamburger wrapper under your seat in the car. Ridiculous? Maybe. But not that much. Because God will use any and everything that we let Him in order to accomplish what He wants.

“For I know the thoughts that I think towards you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). “Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honour him. I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation”” (Psalm 91:14-16). “Good and upright is the LORD, therefore he will instruct sinners in the way. He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way. All the paths of the LORD are loving kindness and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Psalm 25:6-10). “I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burnt. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love” (John 15:5-9). “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:18-19).

It doesn’t matter what is coming against us. God is with us. It doesn’t matter the odds. God is with us. It doesn’t matter how impossible it is. God is with us. It doesn’t matter if they don’t believe or are even spreading the message of the enemies of God. God is with us. God who can do the impossible. God who can use the imperfect. God who can use small amounts of unconventional things. God who doesn’t count victory by number or quality, but by trust in Him. If we have faith and turn things over to Him, He will turn the situation around and hand us the spoils of His victory. If you, then He. Don’t miss out on the promise of victory. Start believing today.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: 1 John 5:3

Is our love proof of His love? Yes. Yes, it is. We teach our children what we see as the rules of love. This is pushy, this is nurturing. This is toxic, this is healthy. This is manipulative, this is encouraging. But we didn’t teach them love. Look at babies. Unconditional fountains of unfiltered love and affection. They show it almost as soon as they come out of the womb. God touched them in the womb. His love rested on them. It taught them and empowered them to love. His love made our love. So when we love in honesty and truth, we are modelling His love. It’s why the enemy seeks to promote toxic love, selfish love, self love, dominating love, and abusive love. If he can poison our minds to love, we will not love each other. If we stop modelling God’s love, it will be that much easier for the world to reject God’s message of hope. God is love and we are to be loving. Loving as He loves, not as the world loves. It is God’s love that saved us. Let your love be proof of His love which is perfected in His sacrifice to give you the option of choosing life and fellowship. Love — your love in Him — is powerful stuff. Every time you feel loving, remember, it’s the shadow of His love which burns for you.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.