Fear No Fear

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

I tell you the solemn truth, the person who believes in me will perform the miraculous deeds that I am doing, and will perform greater deeds than these because I am going to the Father.
John 14:12 (emphasis added)

I have heard it said that Jesus was limited in His ministry as He was only called to Israel (Matthew 15:24). Certainly the disciples, apostles, the Twelve, and the early churches went to more places, spoke to more people, and performed greater deeds in terms of witness, location, and frequency than Jesus did. This is true and has gotten truer as time has passed. With modern technology, we could put physical things in place around the globe and preach the gospel to every single living person on this planet within an hour of broadcast. That would definitely be a greater deed than Jesus accomplished. In that sense, we have already fulfilled and will continue to fulfill Jesus’ words.

In the spiritual sense, the sense of the Spirit working through us at the behest of the Father, I am not sure what greater works we could possibly perform. Jesus healed the sick, healed things from fevers to diseases, chronic illness, mental conditions, demonic/evil spirit possessions, gave sight (and possible eyeballs – John 9:6-25), healed withered hands, conditions of blood, cripples, paralytics, lepers, skin diseases, re-grew an ear, restored hearing, and raised the dead. Is there anything greater than raising someone that was four days dead? I suppose we could raise someone in a cemetery – should that give glory to the Father. That would be greater than four days. Other than that, I think Jesus pretty much covered all the works that the Father does. Jesus walked on water, translated a boat full of people, turned water to wine, and collected coins and fish and clothes out of the heavenly storehouses. The last thing to be defeated in the sense of completely wiped away forever gone is sin (First Corinthians 15:26–28) which is the TRUE death. Jesus wipes OUR sin away, but sin itself as a force has yet to be put away. Since Jesus has accomplished the mechanism by which it will be wiped forever, that work is also done. Jesus did it all.

So we don’t have more fantastical works coming unless there is something special that the Father has been saving. But if you look at what Adonai did in the Old Covenant – fire coming from heaven, plagues, parting seas, flooding the planet – what Jesus did in the New Covenant, and the things described as being accomplished in the Revelation to John, there isn’t much left that isn’t accounted for. I can’t even imagine anything GREATER than those works the Father has done. And as I said, we have and are and will continue to reach more people, transform more areas, and grow the Kingdom more than Jesus did in His time on earth. I can’t imagine anything GREATER than a complete global spread of the Gospel. Can you? Now if we have done greater works by scope and can’t do greater miracles than have already been done throughout human history, what then should be the focus as we look at this verse? Expectation.

What ARE we expecting? Are we expecting to continue until we saturate the globe with the Gospel? I hope so. Are we expecting a continuance of Jesus’ ministry staples (preaching, teaching, and healing)? I don’t think we are, but we should be. I think the important thing to grab hold of is the promise Jesus made. That we would do what He did. I think it is important to keep looking forward. To make sure we’re not limiting Adonai with small thinking. To be available to be astonished by Him in ways we can’t even comprehend. But I also think it is VITALLY important to grab a hold of this promise. We should have the expectation of the same things Jesus did.

The Will of the Father is to heal. Always. Every time. In full. Instantaneously or near-instantaneously (within the hour). Whether it is a fever, a skin condition, a mental condition, an emotional condition, or pre-mature death (only He can tell us if it is pre-mature). It is ALWAYS His Will. “While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came to him who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed down with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” So he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him” (Luke 5:12-13). Clean here means to make pure. To remove all filth. To cleanse, make clean literally, ceremonially, or spiritually. “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The Father wants no one to experience the final perishing true death. Jesus only did what the Father willed and ALWAYS cleansed those who were not pure (He healed them when they came to Him and He did it without restriction). If the Father is so keen on saving us (John 3:17), why would He do anything less than His Joy? The Old Covenant tells us of His JOY at Blessing His children (Psalm 31:19; Isaiah 3:10; Num 23:20). He WANTS to Bless.

What is our expectation? What are we expecting? We get what we ask for from our hearts as long as it is the Will of the Father. The Will of the Father includes a LOT of health, wholeness, and blessing. What are WE expecting? That’s how we receive healing. “So the lame man paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them” (Acts 3:5). It’s how we receive everything. “Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). There should be no limit to our expectation because there is no limit to what He can do. “Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think,” (Ephesians 3:20). When we ask according to His Will (1 John 5:14-15), there is no limit because it is what HE wants to give us that is important, not what WE might want apart from Him. “‘Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious things that you still do not know about’” (Jeremiah 33:3).

The Father talks to us through the Word. From Genesis to Revelation. He tells us of His Love (Romans 5:8). He tells us of His Mercy (Psalm 145:8-9). He tells us He will take care of our needs (Matthew 6:26). He tells us that He will bless us (Ephesians 1:3-14). Why have we chosen to expect so little from such a generous and GOOD Father? We’ve accepted a doctrine of ‘enough’ and ‘I can deal’. We have enough, we don’t NEED more. We can deal with this, we can handle things. We just need to hang on, it’ll be perfect in heaven. I can get a loan, borrow some groceries, use that program to get it done. I can do it. I’ll live. I’ll get by. I, I, I, we, we, we. All us. No Him. I’ve done it myself. More than once. And it disgusts me every time when I catch on to what I am actually doing. When I am giving a nod to God, but not trusting. When I’m being fervent with my devotions, but not relying the rest of the time. Every time I stop short and think about WHY I expected less than I know He is capable of. Why I SETTLED.

The answer in my case is the same answer in EVERYONE’s case. I took my eyes OFF Him. Off His Word. Off His teaching. Off His commandments. And I did NOT listen to Ruach HaKodesh who was speaking correction to me. I didn’t even listen to MY spirit which was repeating what He was saying. These things are symptoms of a hardened heart. And if you remember what happened in the Old Covenant, a hardened heart brings NOTHING good. The solution in my case is the same answer in EVERYONE’s case. Humbly submit to what you find in the Word. LISTEN to Ruach HaKodesh’s correction. Turn around your thinking, repent of it, and get back on the path that the Word illuminates (Psalms 119:105). The path Adonai makes straight for His obedient children (Isaiah 40:3-5; Luke 3:4-6; Proverbs 3:5-6).

Expect good things from your GOOD Father. Expect Jesus-like results when the Father directs you to do something. Like when He nudges you to heal someone. Like when He nudges you to bless someone. Like when He nudges you to encourage someone. To be there in Jesus’ place getting done what the Father shows you to do (John 5:19) and saying what the Father tells you to say (John 12:49-50). Just like Jesus did. Just like we are empowered to do (1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Peter 2:21; Ephesians 5:1-2; John 13:13-17). Great expectations yield great results because our Good Father NEVER fails to deliver (Joshua 21:45).

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 9:6

“For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us. He shoulders responsibility and is called Wonderful Adviser, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” The Messiah would be a Son given Deity. The First Begotten Son (Colossians 1:15). The First and preeminent Son. He would have supremacy of rank and priority in time. He would be no MERE man. He would be Yahweh’s Son. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David” (Luke 1:32). This was spoken of Jesus. “And we all agree, our religion contains amazing revelation: He was revealed in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). It was declared as the firm belief of the closest disciples, those who witnessed His ministry firsthand. “Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father” (John 1:14). They could attest and in fact could not keep themselves from speaking of what they WITNESSED to be true (Acts 4:19-20). They saw it. They heard it. They knew it. 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