Fear No Fear

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

The priest said to them, “Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before the LORD.”
Judges 18:6 (emphasis added)

The world is full of a lot of things, but there isn’t any peace. There is calm — the calm before the storm. There is a lack of conflict — as we eye one another over the battle lines waiting for the next round. There is a lack of strife — because we are being forced to adhere to a set of behaviour by another individual, group, or set of rules. But there isn’t any peace. The only peace there is comes from Yahweh God. The only place it can be walked in is before Yahweh God.
Notice I did not say that it is the only place it’s found. Peace is part of the nature of the Lord. God is the God of Peace (Romans 15:33, 16:20, and 1 Corinthians 14:33). As such, anywhere that the Lord is, there goes Peace. We feel it when He touches us, speaks to us, and even when He corrects us. There is such love of God toward us that we can’t help but feel peaceful when He is there. There is no anger in His correction, but love. There is love and peace in every word the Lord says — even the firmer and fiercer ones. It is part of the nature of God and cannot be separated from Him. It was the wind in the Garden (Genesis 3:8), it was the wood that cleansed the waters (Exodus 15:25), the sceptre that calmed a Queen’s fear (Esther 5:2), it was the food that provided strength (1 Kings 19:5-6), and it was the song sung from bloody lips (Acts 16:25). It is more than relief, more than a pause, more than some calm, and more than coping while being resilient.

The world will tell you that you’re born with a myriad of trauma and issues inherited from generations past. The foibles of your parents as they attempted to raise you. The issues they have passed to you. Then there is the atmosphere around you and the environment you find yourself in. Often on this earth it is less than ideal as we all try to do our best as clanking and broken machines. I’m not talking about fault and blame — and they won’t either. But they will also tell you about the other thing you inherited: coping mechanisms. Those things and patterns and distractions that help us to focus, move on, and hopefully grow as we deal with our pain and scars and try not to pass them on to the next generation. It’s about regulating yourself and your mental landscape — by will, method, or medication. It’s about finding the tricks and trappings that help us move along in our various diagnoses. You can get relief with coping mechanisms. But you cannot get peace. They’ll say you can’t. That it is part of who you are and you need to make the best of the situation to healthily move on. But why would you want to be broken when you can be restored?

Do I know why some people get healed of things immediately and others don’t? Nope. Am I saying every mental issue is something we shouldn’t have and could be healed from? Yup. God is a God of wholeness. I completely believe that God’s best for each and everyone is total and complete healing. I believe it is possible for everyone. I believe it is within everyone’s grasp. Peace is quiet, tranquility, safety, comfort, placidity, serenity, ease, calmness, a resting place, sanctuary, satisfaction, repose, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, and welfare. Does that sound like someone who is anxious? Dealing with trauma? Depression? Sickness? Deafness? ADHD? Autism? Alcoholism? Addiction of any kind? Disease? Broken pieces? Missing pieces? Birth defects? Of course not. Everything ‘bad’ whether we accept it as normal, inevitable, or chance, is bad. We can get through it. We can triumph in spite of it. We shouldn’t be attacked or discriminated against. We shouldn’t be taught we’re weird, strange, or a freak. We’re all people and we all have worth. No one walking this planet isn’t dealing with something. But it doesn’t mean we need to accept the things we’re dealing with. And it certainly doesn’t mean we need to keep them.

We look to Jesus as our example because we are to be like Him. And everywhere He went on earth, He healed the sick of all their issues (Acts 10:38). Mental, physical, emotional, demonic, you name it. He dealt with all of them (Matthew 4:23). Each and every one of them. He never said no (Matthew 8:2-3). He never stopped until they were all healed (Matthew 8:16-17). He worked Himself to exhaustion (John 4:6). And guess what? “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus is always about taking our bad and restoring us. It is what He — as the Prince of Peace — does. And He is always looking for faith. By their faith they were healed. By their faith they were cleansed. By their faith they were able to walk. By their faith they were raised. By their faith they were delivered from sickness, disease, demons, and death. He’s still looking for faith: “Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). How are we rewarded? 1 Corinthians 13:11 tells us: “Finally, brothers, rejoice! Be perfected. Be comforted. Be of the same mind. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

If the peace of God is what brings us healing, relief, wholeness, and restoration, then we should endeavour to live in it. His Word says we can. But it also says what? “Your way in which you go is before the LORD.” That’s today’s verse. The Peace of the Lord is before Him and we are called to walk in it. To go before Him. That means movement. That means journey. For some that will be instant deliverance, restoration, and healing followed by walking in Him. For others that might be healing, deliverance, and restoration as they walk in Him. If we’re willing to walk, He’ll meet us where we are. He always does. He is eager for us to let Him in and to let Him work. It may be quick, and it may be long, but whichever it is we are to travel in faith. In Him. Abiding in the Word and not letting it leave our mind or our sight. Not faltering. Travelling ever-forward. Taking one step at a time as He lights our path (Psalm 119:105). Along the way we’ll find mercy and love (Jude 1:2).

Why all this talk about mental landscapes, healing, and all this? Because in spite of what the world teaches and in spite of what science shows us is possible and probable in the flesh, there is another reality. Spiritual reality. We can choose. God gave us choice in Genesis 2:16-17 and has been upholding our right to choose ever since. We can choose what we experience. We can choose to walk in peace. Walking in peace takes intent, not just practice. Peace is antithetical to the flesh. Walking is a choice, but the scripture tells us again and again that it is possible as long as we are doing it IN Jesus, because when we are in Jesus and He is in us it is Jesus who is doing the work, not us. We make the choice to align ourselves with the Will and the Word of the Father and Jesus brings us along inside it.

Colossians 3:15 says “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful.” LET the peace of God rule implies choice. We can let it. We can choose it. The problem is that it is beyond our understanding (Philippians 4:6-7). Luckily, the Holy Spirit can bring us understanding and also let us operate in His understanding because we can lean on Him in total trust and assurance (Proverbs 3:5-6). If we lean into Him. The Douay-Rheims Bible translates Proverbs 3:5-6 as: “In all thy ways think on him, and he will direct thy steps.” I’ve also read and he will straighten your paths. So if we think on Him in all our ways, leaning on Him, meditating on Him, consulting Him, considering Him, then as we walk our paths will be straightened out — no matter how spaghetti’d they are. God’s thoughts are above ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). But the Holy Spirit is with us to provide us with understanding of our role in them (John 14:26).

We need to be in constant connection and communication with Holy Spirit on everything we do. That’s not waiting to hear before we do anything, but in doing things while hearing. Have you ever seen dancers go through a routine? One dancer leads, the other follows. The leader is telegraphing the next step to the follower constantly. Gestures, the pressure of a finger, a look in the eye, or any number of ways. The follower isn’t standing still waiting to hear about the next step. They are in constant motion and they adjust their trajectory, speed, and style based on what they ‘hear’ from the leader. We’re to be the same way. Doing, but always seeking. Listening, but moving along. Sometimes actively moving. Sometimes moving in rest, in place, in stillness. As God leads, we follow. As God leads, peace descends. Because we KNOW He has us. We KNOW we’re all right. We KNOW that in spite of disturbances around us, they are not in us or on us. The Lord is in us and His Peace is on us. Period. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

It doesn’t matter what flesh condition we may be dealing with. It doesn’t matter what mental condition we may be dealing with. Peace can be ours. Real peace. Lasting peace. The peace of deliverance. The peace of reliance on Him. The Peace of God. We can covenant with Him and enter His peace by intent, on purpose, and walking in it step by step. “For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says the LORD who has mercy on you” (Isaiah 54:10). “‘I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land. They will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will cause the shower to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing” (Ezekiel 34:25-26). “Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’” (Numbers 25:12-13). In the blood of Jesus we are made priests (Revelation 5:9-10). We are chosen, sanctified, and ordained as priests in His covenant of Peace: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. In the past, you were not a people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

We can covenant with the Lord on and in His Peace. We can be ordained into a priesthood in Him regarding peace. If we walk in His ways. If we remain broken before Him and let Him lead us. If we are passionate about Him and letting Him be our Lord, our Saviour, and our Father. If we choose Him and abide in the conduct of His Spirit. If He is our God, we will be His people. Walking in Peace. Enjoying wholeness and tranquility, mercy and love, joyful assurance and wilful acceptance. Covenants always involve sacrifice. What is ours? The sacrifice of praise and prayer (Hebrews 13:15 and Proverbs 15:8). As the negative things come against us, we praise Him and pray. We take the thought that isn’t ours, that is negative, that is not of God, and we subdue it. We wrap it in prayer and put it into our waste bin. We praise the Lord knowing He is going to take that waste away. Forever. As we actively pray and praise over all these things, they get weaker and weaker. His peace becomes stronger and stronger. Lead by Holy Spirit in what to say, what to sing, and when. Walking with Him. Covenanted. Trusting Him to do His part as we actively do ours. Watching the negative shrink until it is nothing. Empty of power. Empty of reality.

Reach out to Him and accept His Peace. Covenant with Him over it. Pray and praise your way into it. And never step out of it. Believe it. Receive it. Walk in it. Always.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Zechariah 9:9-11

God loves us. He seeks to covenant with us because He loves us. He wants us to have assurance. To know that He has our backs. To know the lengths that He is willing to go to keep us safe. To know that a life of peace is our inheritance. That is not a life without difficulty or pressure. That is not a life where nothing bad ever comes at us. It is a life of pure contentment and tranquility within the storms of life. Because we trust our God. Because we know He has us. Because He rules and reigns, cares and comforts, provides and protects. He grants us adoption into His family. He covenants Peace to us. Isn’t that tremendous? He loves us and wants us as part of His family. Part of Him. He loves us so much. He loves you. Rejoice and shout, because He comes to us and frees us. Amen.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.