Fear No Fear

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

The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8 (emphasis added)

The works of the devil. It’s a large phrase. It covers a lot of ground. You can get into a LOT of stuff and blame it on the devil. You can look across a whole spectrum and see that the ideals of the kingdom of darkness are the foundation of vast areas. Yet all the works of the devil come down to one, single thing. Rebellion. That’s it. Genesis 3:1-7 outlines every single work of the devil. Doubt Adonai. Challenge Adonai. Disobey Adonai. No matter the METHOD used, the foundational principles of the kingdom of darkness – the works of the devil – are doubt, challenge, and disobedience. On these thorns he builds his church, and he laughs thinking that the Throne of Heaven will not prevail against it.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God” (John 3:17-21). This is why Messiah Jesus was revealed to us. It is the EXACT SAME THING that happened in the Garden. “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”” (Genesis 3:8-10). Light came, and Adam hid. Do you see that?

Before the devil used the serpent to spread his message, Adam saw NO DIFFERENCE between himself and Adonai. The Righteousness of God did not affect him in a negative way. There was no change when Adonai showed up to talk. Face to face talking. But once he had rebelled, he KNEW he was different. He knew he had darkness in him and hid from the light. We’re still doing it today! Everyone who does evil deeds hates the light. Because they are condemned. Because they don’t enjoy how they FEEL when righteousness is nearby. The world has tried to make morality subjective. But when evil acts show up, people have a feeling that those acts are wrong – they just have no idea how to explain why they think that. Some days they’ll go with one argument and other days another. They will be all over the place. They have no acknowledgment of the source of morality. Because if they did they would have to face the light. If they face the light, they will see the darkness in them. When they see that darkness, it makes them feel not good. They don’t like that, so they step back into the darkness where nothing can be noticed because everyone is shadowed.

That will never save anyone. Imagine a building on fire. A big one. A big one with a confusing floor plan. Like the British Museum (which is about 75,000 m2 in 94 galleries). Imagine no lights on. You’re somewhere inside. The fire is in the basement. You can’t see it, but you can feel it. And you’ll die if you don’t get out. How do you get out? How would you find the door in time? You can’t read a map. It’s dark. You would need light to escape. Sure, you might not know you NEED to escape. Maybe it’s pleasantly warm. maybe it’s winter outside. You’re enjoying the heat. But sooner or later that fire is going to rise and you’re going to fry. Unless you have light to show you how to get out. By the time the flames are giving you light, it will be too late. This is the situation all humanity is in. The fires are rising. It’s dark. And we are going to die. Unless we see enough light to show us the door and get to safety.

The devil was the first one. The one who decided on rebellion all on his own (Isaiah 14:12-15). He tempted the other angels and some followed him (Revelation 12:9). He encouraged union with the humans to make a spawned race of purely evil beings with no spirits (Genesis 6:4). He tempted Adam and Eve to usurp the dominion that humanity had been given (Isaiah 14:14). He tempted, he usurped, and he was judged (Genesis 3:15). He didn’t like that. He came out of heaven eager to destroy everything Adonai built like a child throwing a temper tantrum. His goal is to kill and destroy (John 10:10). He’ll settle for less in the short term, but long-term he wants ashes and blood. He has ZERO creativity, but a lot of intelligence. He’s stupid, but he has brains. He corrupts. He twists. He takes principles and laws and twists them to his purpose as much as he can. Every single thing he has is a shadow of something in the Kingdom. Every law he exploits was laid down for righteous purpose by the One Who Is. His only hope is to appeal to the flesh, because he has ZERO spirituality. He doesn’t understand it. He doesn’t know it. All he could do is appeal to the dirt he owned. He makes the flesh look good, feel good, and appeal because if he doesn’t you’ll realise the fire is building and you’re going to die. He doesn’t care WHAT you do or WHAT you’re into or WHAT you feel or how much GOOD you’re doing just so long as you don’t LEAVE the darkness.

His works are EVERYTHING that make you doubt Adonai. EVERYTHING that makes you say ‘Why are you doing this?’ to Adonai. EVERYTHING that makes you say ‘I’m going to do THIS’ or ‘I’m not going to do THAT’. And his best is you deciding it ISN’T of Adonai. God doesn’t do this. God doesn’t do that. That isn’t of God. That’s false. He loves all of that. Makes him think he’s winning. He understands the principle that runs through all scripture that is summed up in Romans 14:23 “But the man who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin.” We are either obedient or we aren’t. The devil tries to make it about effort and right standing. But it isn’t about that. It isn’t works. It isn’t performance. It’s about love.

“Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). Reasonable meaning rational or logical. Logical because it is divinely reasonable. In other words, what is logical to Adonai (logic working through the divine reasoning known through trust) from HIS point of view. Service is the Hebrew word latreia (lat-ri’-ah) meaning service rendered to God, perhaps simply: worship. We are to WORSHIP.

Sacrificing the flesh (what it desires) is our logical worship to Adonai. “God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”” (John 4:24). To WORSHIP here is properly meant to kiss the ground when prostrating before a superior. To be ready to fall down or prostrate oneself and adore on one’s knees. To do full obeisance. This is MORE than singing and praise. This word suggests the willingness to make all necessary physical gestures of obeisance. What ARE they? Presenting our bodies as a sacrifice (Romans 12:1). How? “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2). Why? To please Adonai we need to TRUST because only TRUSTING pleases Him (Hebrews 11:6). We get trust by the Word (Romans 10:17) because it renews our minds to HIS point of view, which is what we need to see in order to worship Him in truth and in spirit.

If we see Him for who He is. If we recognise and KNOW that He truly LOVES us. We will respond to that. We will bow to His superior position with humbleness, happy to do so (Matthew 11:28-30). We will submit to what we see in the Word because we love Him (John 14:15). We will prepare our hearts with songs and praise and thanksgiving (Psalm 100:4). Lining our thinking up next to His and prepare our hearts so that we can hear the Word. Once we’ve heard it, then comes the FULL worship. The TRUE worship. We obey the Word. NO, it isn’t always comfortable. YES, sometimes we will want to prevaricate and hum and ha about it. But that won’t do. Put down the flesh. Stand against the demonic attacks imitating what you USED to do. BE who you are in Messiah Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). BE who you are called to be. Walk His walk with His talk in His timing submitted to Him and the Word He gave us.

Abiding is worshipping. Worshippers is who we are. Know who you are in Jesus and submit to that. It makes EVERYTHING the devil wants to be a struggle EASY. “So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you” (James 4:7-10). In JESUS, everything is easy because HE does the heavy lifting. Be in HIM, and you will have food, water, strength, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, love, mercy, grace, self-control, and all the other good things the Father gives us (James 1:17).

This is why Jesus came. To light our way out of darkness. How? By making a chain of lights. Believer to believer to believer to believer. Him holding ALL of our hands at once. Leading us ALL out even as we reach out WITH HIM to grab another. And another. And another. The Kingdom of Light shining and defeating the kingdom of darkness just because we are HIS light. This is why Jesus came. To save us. To save us all. He is THE Way out. There is no other. No other is needed. He is THAT bright. He IS the Light of the World (Matthew 5:14-16) and He wants us to be just like Him. Light DESTROYS darkness when it is the light of Messiah Jesus. Amen.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Proverbs 1:23

“You should respond to my rebuke. Then I would pour out my thoughts to you; I would make my words known to you.” The Hebrew here is ‘I would pour out my Spirit on you’. The Spirit of Wisdom is the context here, and Adonai is OFFERING to pour it out. He is prophesying that He WOULD pour it out. It would reside on Messiah first, and through Messiah on all who call on Messiah for the Spirit of Wisdom that resides on Him. This is a sacred promise of truth by Adonai Elohim to all humanity. “But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). The Spirit came upon Jesus and stayed there (Luke 3:21-22). If you ask Jesus, He will share it with you (James 1:5-8). The Spirit of Wisdom resides on Jesus. 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