Fear No Fear

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

The LORD said to me, “Don’t fear him; for I have delivered him, with all his people and his land, into your hand. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.”
Deuteronomy 3:2 (emphasis added)

Sihon wasn’t nice. The Israelites wanted permission to pass through his territory on their way to the Promised Land. Sihon said no, and then assembled his military against them and attacked. “Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn away into field or vineyard. We will not drink of the water of the wells. We will go by the king’s highway, until we have passed your border.” Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz. He fought against Israel” (Numbers 21:21-23). What was his problem? It doesn’t say. Did he want to get revenge on the Israelites for defeating the gods of Egypt? Was he scared? Did he have ties with the Canaanites? We don’t know. But we do know that the Israelites weren’t being warlike. They weren’t being rude. They were seeking to pass through, disturbing nothing, and go to where they were called. Sihon is the one who came against them without provocation.

But Yahweh God had His people covered. What is the promise in Isaiah 54:15? “Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.” It gets more specific in vs 17: “No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgement. This is the heritage of the LORD’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says the LORD.” No weapon formed. The Hebrew is closer to no weapon whetted against you, prepared for use against you. By declaration of Yahweh, the legal right of inheritance for His servants is protection against unwarranted attack, protection against preparations for unwarranted attack, and the right to speak out against those who judge without cause. That is a powerful promise. But it is conditional on being a servant of Yahweh. And to be an effective servant of the Lord, you need to not fear.

That doesn’t mean you aren’t a servant if you’re struggling with fear. God meets us where we are and works with us throughout our born again lives to sanctify us and bring us into the total body-soul-spirit wholeness that awaits us. To be most effective, however, we need to not fear. Fear is not only insidious in and of itself, it also blocks our walk with the Lord. We are tasked with meditating on the Word day and night (Psalm 1:1-3). This isn’t clear your mind and hum meditation. This isn’t deep, calming breaths meditation. This is triune focus. We read the Word to take it in, we speak the Word we read, we hear the Word we spoke and take it in again. Which leads to thinking on the Word, which leads to speaking the Word, which leads to hearing it, which often leads to reading more. It is a cycle. A cycle where the Word is in our eyes, our mouths, our ears, and our minds. Constantly. THAT is meditating on the Word. We need to do it every day. As often as we can. Because the more Word you have, the more you’re open to the revelations of the Lord. The more you’re able to speak it in times of need. The more you’re able to discern and align yourself with the will of the Father. It’s also a form of worship.

Anything we repeatedly and with purposeful intent think on and do, we are altering with. Our minds were designed to focus on the Lord. It doesn’t mean we don’t think on and do other things, but the focus was meant to be on the Lord. Think of any large project. Say renovating a home. All through the project you have to focus on the overall project. But there are many tasks within it. Room by room, issue by issue, step by step. We do each and every thing, but throughout it all we have the big picture in mind. We have to or we’ll lose our way, make a foolish choice, and cause an issue that will have to be corrected before going on. In the end, the home looks just like what we envisioned (or better). Our fellowshipping relationship with the Lord is supposed to work the same way. We focus on Him through His Word while we go on about all our tasks and life. But even while doing them — a chore, a human interaction, a job, driving around, whatever — we are thinking of the Word and applying it to our life. We’re bringing everything to Him for His opinion. We’re checking in and briefly pausing before we speak to make sure we’re about to speak life. It’s how we’re supposed to live. Day and night thinking of the things of the Lord (Joshua 1:8).

When we focus on something else, we are taking our focus away from the Lord. I’m not talking about concentration — a wise thing while driving, for example — but focus. The place where you are putting your energy. Your mindful intent. Rabbinic teaching says to fear is to offer worship to the thing feared (the Gerer Rebbe in ‘Siach Sarfei Kodesh 1,75’). Because you are putting that thing in the place in your mind where the Lord is supposed to exclusively dwell (Proverbs 3:5-6). Our soul (mind, emotions, personality) is supposed to be informed by our spirit (Galatians 5:16-17) so we can stay focused on Him and sanctified (1 Thessalonians 5:23). It is the Word that sanctifies us (John 17:17). To let yourself fear is to place the thing you fear in the place of the Word and the Lord. Doing that is to place your focus on it. Which is what worship is: intentful focus. When we fear something, we put our thoughts and mind on it, which is a form of worship, and that is a form of idolatry (Exodus 20:3),

By choosing not to fear (Luke 12:32), we reject worship of anything that’s not the Lord. We keep our focus on the Lord. Acting as full servants (Matthew 6:33), not double-minded servants (James 1:8). When we do that, no weapon that is prepared against us can prosper. No weapon formed for use can prosper. “For the LORD won’t reject his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. For judgement will return to righteousness. All the upright in heart shall follow it” (Psalm 94:14-15). In other words, the court system of heaven will operate correctly. Which means our foes will be like Sihon, king of the Amorites. They will come against us, but they will not prevail. When anxiety rears its hydra head, we can take comfort in the Lord (Psalm 94:19). Because He upholds us. He has us. He will take care of us.

“They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the LORD has been my high tower, my God, the rock of my refuge. He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. The LORD, our God, will cut them off” (Psalm 94:21-23). So do not fear. Things and people may be aligning themselves against you. Arraying their forces on every side. But they are not in the yard of the Lord. They are not under the Blessing of Yahweh. We don’t have to do anything. The Lord doesn’t need to come against them or attack them. The Lord lets them tie their own rope. Their own wickedness will boomerang on them. And we will stand aloof in the high tower of our God (Psalm 91:7-10). On Him our rock (Matthew 21:42). They will be cut off in their own wickedness, by their own action, by their own choice. The Lord has us. We never need to fear or worry. God is with us. He strengthens us. He IS our God. He has us covered.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Isaiah 41:10

God loves us too much to let us be us for very long. Oh, but we love to look at what is in our hands. At what is in the mirror. At what we see around us. When we fell, humanity lost its primary sense. We lost our spiritual perception. Without it, we’re essentially fumbling in the dark. In the natural, when a human loses a sense the others ramp up to compensate. Sadly, this happened to us regarding spirituality as well. We lost our ability to perceive the spirit world, so the flesh ramped up to compensate. We naturally focus on things of the flesh. What we see. What we feel. But God doesn’t leave us there. As we are followers of Him and believers in Him, He tells us that He strengthens us. That He upholds us. That he lifts us out of the morass of fleshly revelation into the realm of His spirit. Where we get to exchange facts for truth. Ignorance for wisdom. God loves us so much He clothes us in His righteousness. Giving us access to all the things of heaven. All the things of God. He is with us. We are cradled in His right hand. Precious, loved, and treasured. Always.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.