Fear No Fear

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

For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2 (emphasis added)

We are FREE. That is the important thing. We are free. Not set free from one thing into another. Free to be free. After we were freed, we entered into a relationship where we have total freedom to do what we want. The thing is, because we are in a relationship and not a judicial arrangement, we don’t want to do anything outside of the relationship. Our freedom enables us to treasure the relationship. Work to maintain it. And to actively try to keep ourselves from being in a position to harm it. That is the beauty of the relationship. We can have ANYTHING we ask for in Jesus’ Name, but we are also in the position that we don’t want to ask for ANYTHING that is contrary to the will of the Father. Our freedom to do that is what makes our freedom so remarkable.

In most religious thought (regardless of the religion) there is a requirement to do something. Meditate. Focus on something. Do good deeds. If you don’t do those things, you will never achieve the positive goal you’re working toward. With many you have to come back again and again to be purified. In others, you won’t know how well you did until you get where you’re going and discover it. There is always a human element. There is always a requirement to DO something to GET something. It is a VERY human idea.

With Adonai, we GET something and that something enables us to DO something. We don’t HAVE to do these things. We WILL do those things because we HAVE something. Something we didn’t earn. Something we didn’t work toward. Something we didn’t deserve. By GRACE we are saved. By GRACE we are able to receive. We receive by TRUST and we GET that trust from Adonai. We get it strengthened as HE renews our minds with HIS Word. The more our minds are renewed, the more we are able to have a relationship with Him because the better we know Him. The more we have a relationship with Him, the more we naturally DO the things He says we can. Not because we have to, but because they are the fruit that we exhibit because of that relationship. They’re natural products. They are the AUTOMATIC response to a relationship with Adonai. They are the AUTOMATIC evidence of a life lived by trust in Him.

“Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained access into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory” (Romans 5:1-2). We got here by our trust in Adonai. We deepen our relationship to get all the benefits of a close relationship – just like we do with one another here. But we got here through Grace by our trust in Adonai. It’s like Jesus came and opened the door of the prison, personally removed all the symptoms and addictions from our bodies, and escorted us out the door into fresh air and no paperwork, parole officer, or need for community service. In fact, He gives us a whole new wardrobe, a new career, and everything we need to succeed. It is quite a new start. Once started, He keeps us connected and blessed. As long as we are willing to have a relationship with Him, there is nothing we lack. The more we know Him, truly know Him, the more we exhibit the behaviours and thinking that He said we would.

It isn’t bribery. It isn’t coercion. It isn’t a series of do’s and do not’s. It’s not LAW. We don’t even have to learn a new set of behaviour. The old person we WERE is dead. In its place there is a whole new person. I’m not unlearning habits as much as I am realising I have new ones. It’s like getting up in the morning, taking a shower, going to the kitchen and pouring a cup of coffee. But then realising that you took a bath and are drinking orange juice. Happily. We’re free from the old habits. Yes, we could get out the coffee and make some, but we don’t have a desire to. We married the orange juice king of the Southwest and are happy to continue with His fine product.

It’s like being married to a wonderful person in a wonderful house that treats you with respect and love all the time. But one day, you don’t go home. You don’t even call home. You stay out with friends. Sure you’re enjoying your time out, but only until you think about it. You really miss your partner. The house. The food. The laughs. You don’t really like these guys choices of activity anymore. It isn’t as fun. It isn’t as exciting. It’s kind of dull. And you miss being home. So you go. And apologise for what happened. You’re sorry you didn’t let them know. You’re sorry dinner was wasted. You’re sorry about your choices. Is that being chained up? Imprisoned? Or is it a good thing? That the stability and happiness of the home surpasses what you used to have? That true happiness showed you how watered down the rest was? Heck, your home is so great you can even invite your friends over. It won’t be a burden and you can go back to having fun with them without the baggage of the other activities. Win-win, right? THAT is the kind of freedom we have. Yes, we can miss it. We can do foolish things. But we are also free to return to the Blessing that Adonai has for us. The help He gives us to STAY in the blessing zone.

We get to live in this trust. We get to live in this intimate relationship with Adonai. “For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”” (Romans 1:17). We are on a journey of trust. Learning to trust Him with everything. One item at a time. No timetable but His. Our performance won’t affect His love for us, our salvation, or our relationship. None of that will change. THAT’s freedom too. Freedom from guilt if we mess up. Freedom from shame if we can’t keep out addictions away. Freedom from having to memorise a series of rules and penalties. Instead, we get to focus on His love. His for us and ours for Him. We get to choose to investigate and emulate what Adonai thinks and feels about things. HIS point of view. Accepting it. Meditating on it. Testing it. And starting to live it. One day and one thing at a time. Freedom from the burden to be a good Christian.

There is NOTHING like the freedom that Jesus brings. Not freedom to sin so that He’ll forgive us, but freedom to love Him enough not to want to do the things anymore. The freedom to choose to change. By HIS strength with HIS power in HIS time. Trusting Him enough to give Him the arenas of our life one after another. Until there is no place for the devil, the world, or sin to stand or sneak around. Until there is nothing but His freedom and His grace and His mercy crowding every braincell, every heart cell, and every ounce of our being. THAT is freedom. The freedom to realise and live as the righteousness of Adonai IN JESUS – always with Him as the centre of everything. “Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” “We are descendants of Abraham,” they replied, “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the family forever, but the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be really free” (John 8:31-36).

Be the FREE that Jesus wants you to be. Free in Him. Free before the Father. Free from all the binds. All that shackles. All that isn’t free from HIS point of view. Be REALLY free. Stay in Messiah Jesus and rest in Him. Be the child of Adonai that stays FOREVER.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Psalm 118:26

“May the one who comes in the name of the Lord be blessed. We will pronounce blessings on you in the Lord’s temple.” The Messiah would come while the Temple is standing. There are several prophecies regarding Messiah and the Temple. With no Temple, there can be no Messiah coming. But the Messiah CAME, as a suffering servant, over two thousand years ago when Herod’s Temple was still standing. “Then Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are turning it into a den of robbers!” The blind and lame came to him in the temple courts, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonderful things he did and heard the children crying out in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant” (Matthew 21:12-15). Jesus walked in the Temple. Jesus taught in the Temple. Jesus worshipped in the Temple. Jesus came when the Temple was up and running AND He participated in its functioning. 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