Fear No Fear

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

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men began to follow him, shouting, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he went into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.”
Matthew 9:27-29 (emphasis added)

How did these men get trust? Something happened right before this. “As he was saying these things, a leader came, bowed low before him, and said, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live.” Jesus and his disciples got up and followed him. But a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for 12 years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. For she kept saying to herself, “If only I touch his cloak, I will be healed.” But when Jesus turned and saw her he said, “Have courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed from that hour. When Jesus entered the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the disorderly crowd, he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but asleep!” And they began making fun of him. But when the crowd had been forced outside, he went in and gently took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the news of this spread throughout that region” (Matthew 9:18-26). A twelve year haemorrhage healed and a twelve year old girl raised from the dead. Talk about trust building events!

The trust the woman had in Jesus’ ability to heal her made her well. Jesus said so. He wasn’t even involved. Healing power released out of Him in response to her trust. Healing is ALWAYS the response to that kind of trust. She didn’t need a word. She didn’t need hands on her. She decided she only needed to touch Him. She was convinced. She risked getting in serious trouble to touch Him. She had a decision about what He could do. She acted on it. She trusted that it was true. It was. It happened. Interestingly, the word for the power that came out of Jesus (Mark 5:30 – dunamis {doo’-nam-is}) is the same word for power that Jesus used in reference to what would come upon the believers (Luke 24:49). We have the same power in us that He did: the Ruach HaKodesh. It isn’t US doing the thing any more than it was JESUS. It was the Ruach HaKodesh THROUGH Jesus. The biggest difference between us and Jesus is that Jesus was 100% submitted to the Father in ALL THINGS body, spirit, soul. Jesus had 100% trust (faith) at ALL TIMES. Jesus NEVER had doubt. Ever.

Then there was the little girl who died. DIED. The mourning had started. Everyone knew she was dead. The Father raised her by the Ruach HaKodesh through Jesus. Jesus kicked out everyone who refused to believe (Mark 5:37 & 40). Why did Jesus have to say anything? Because Jesus was the only one with trust that this would happen. Because everyone in that room believed that Jesus had to do something. Because the Father told Him to. He called her. The Father sent the power flowing. She responded. She woke up. Now, Jesus told the parents to keep quiet (Mark 5:43). But it was the beginning of mourning. A lot of people were witnesses. A crowd had followed Jesus. Word spread. Fast. You know who hears talk as it floods the streets? Blind people.

These were different blind men than at Jericho a year later (Matthew 20:29; Mark 10:46; Luke 18:35). Jesus left Jairus’ house and went home. The blind men followed Him inside. They’d been shouting for Him as He went home. Maybe the crowd kept them back. Maybe Jesus couldn’t hear them over all the noise. Maybe He wanted to sit down. He’d done a LOT that day already. Maybe He wanted to give them an opportunity to decide that they really DID trust in Him. After all, people who are wishy-washy decide things they aren’t really invested in aren’t worth the trouble. But these guys followed Him, calling out. They must have made their way through the crowds and then walked right into Jesus’ home and found Him. They were determined.

Jesus clarified that determination. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” was his question. He COULD have responded in the street. If it was the Father’s will Jesus would have been told about them just like the Ruach HaKodesh pointed out the woman in the crowd (Mark 5:32). They needed to have trust to receive the healing. Jesus asked ‘believe you’ or do you believe? That word in Greek is pisteuó (pist-yoo’-o). It is used of persuading oneself and also with the sacred significance of being persuaded by Adonai. It means to believe, have faith in, or have trust in. To be positively convinced you are entrusted with the confidence that the thing believed is evident without any possible argument. That’s firm trust. Jesus was asking exactly how hard, firm, and deep their trust was. Is this a passing whim because they heard a good report of something? Is this an opportunistic grab at something they wanted? Was this a ‘heal me’ followed by a ‘or give me some money if you can’t’ kind of belief? Or were they evidencing by declaration their true, firm, and concrete belief that Jesus did the works of the Father?

They responded ‘yes’. Not a mild yes. Not a timid yes. A firm yes. They expressed an emphatic assertion. They were certain. Convinced. No shadow of a doubt. Like the woman creeping through the crowd to sneak a strip of linen. Like Jairus obeying Jesus and refusing to stop believing. These men were ABSOLUTELY convinced. They weren’t praying for a headache to leave and then popping an aspirin ‘just in case’. This is the certain belief we have ALL had. It is required to receive salvation. If you BELIEVE in your heart (Romans 10:9), which is the foundation of receiving Jesus, is the SAME believe Jesus used here. Same word.

When we are as certain in our trust regarding healing in the SAME WAY that we are certain in our trust regarding salvation, we will receive it the SAME WAY. By GRACE through that TRUST that Adonai GAVE US – also by Grace. Everything in the Kingdom of Heaven runs on trust. “Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). We are supposed to operate in the authority of Jesus. In His Name. “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14). This is not simply saying ‘in Jesus’ name’ like a tagline or ritual. The Greek word for name is onoma (on’-om-ah). It means a name, authority, cause, character, fame, and reputation. It is the manifestation or revelation of someone’s character. ‘According to Hebrew notions, a name is inseparable from the person to whom it belongs, i.e. it is something of his essence. Therefore, in the case of the God, it is specially sacred’ (Souter). We are to do more than ASK in His name. “And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). We are to pray, worship, speak, act, and LIVE as directed (authorised) by Jesus through the Ruach HaKodesh, bringing to us and those around us the revelation that flows out of being in His presence. THIS is what Jesus did (John 5:19).

Since His name is an extension of His essence. And since His essence is doing what the Father shows Him to do. And since we are authorised to walk, talk, and think like Jesus based on the revelations of His Word that He speaks to us through the Ruach HaKodesh, we should ONLY do what HE would do because it is as if He is there in our place. Do we BELIEVE like that? Do you honestly believe that when YOU pray or YOU command healing the result will be the same as when Jesus did it? Because THAT is the belief we are empowered and called to walk in.

The blind men came to Jesus and BELIEVED that Jesus could do it. But Jesus was a man. He had nothing in Himself that could perform miracles. What Jesus HAD was the Ruach HaKodesh, the Spirit (Ruach) by which the Father acted on Earth. Jesus was asking these blind men if they BELIEVED that when Jesus acted or spoke what would happen would be as if Yahweh was there in the room doing that thing. The EXACT SAME THING we are called to do in relation to Jesus, Jesus was doing in relation to His Father. Jesus BELIEVED. “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30). What does the Word say about US? “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27). SAME THING. We are ONE with Jesus, Jesus is ONE with the Father. If JESUS expected miracles and Yahweh working as if Yahweh was physically there then WE should expect miracles and Jesus working as if Jesus was physically there.

Do you BELIEVE? Because our TRUST in this BELIEF is how we receive. If we do not respond to Jesus with TRUST in what He can do and BELIEVE that He CAN do it, nothing will happen. I recently prayed for my youngest. Fever. Pain in the head. It didn’t go. It didn’t leave. Yes, freewill is involved but this child is very young and covered by MY authority in this family. But it did NOT go. Why? I trusted. I believed. But I ALSO had in the back on my mind the Tylenol in the cupboard of the bathroom that would deal with the symptoms. Double-minded. It births NOTHING in the Kingdom (James 1:8). You know when I receive victory? When I pray and feel His healing power pass through me? When I know that I know that I know that it WILL happen. By trust. By knowing He watches over His Word to perform it (Jeremiah 1:12). By standing on it (James 1:6 & 4:7). By making sure I have been grounding myself in the Word and submitting to what I find in it (James 4:8).

Trust (faith) is strengthened when we hear the Word (Romans 10:17). Our relationship with Adonai is strengthened when we are obedient from love of Him (1 John 5). This is how we develop our BELIEF. Through our relationship with Adonai. We are corrected when we need to be, comforted when we need to be, taught when we are open to it, guided when we are open to it, and no matter WHAT is going on, the Ruach HaKodesh is IN us whispering to us ALL the time what JESUS is saying to us about what the FATHER is saying to Him about our circumstances. This is why we have to problems, only situations. That’s why we have peace in trouble. Calm in storms. Miracles in the face of impossibility. We are able to operate as Jesus did: submitted to the Father, His Word, and His Will. We can expect things to happen just as if Jesus is there. Because JESUS IS HERE! JESUS IS THERE! “For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). And He NEVER LEAVES US (Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 13:5). We need to start BELIEVING it and walking because we do.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 2:2-4

“In future days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure as the most important of mountains and will be the most prominent of hills. All the nations will stream to it; many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards.” For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord’s message will issue from Jerusalem. He will judge disputes between nations; he will settle cases for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.” The Messiah will be the repentance of the nations. He will be the catalyst that will bring all the nations of the world to stand before Yahweh. First, He will suffer to make the way of repentance. Second, He will come again to judge and rule. “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it stands written that the Christ would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). Jesus suffered for us. Jesus ascended to the side of the Father (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 7:56). 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