Fear No Fear

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

For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Peter 1:2-4 (emphasis added)

A litmus test is a test in which a single factor is decisive. It was in the fourteenth century that scientists discovered that litmus, a mixture of coloured organic compounds obtained from lichen, turns red in acid solutions and blue in alkaline solutions and, thus, can be used as an acid-base indicator. Today’s verse declares a spiritual litmus test. Adonai did not, does not, and will not ever have the human personality under the Spirit’s influence experience fear or ANY of fear’s babies. The Word specifies VERY particularly what the Spirit of Adonai contains (Galatians 5:22-23). It also tells us what we are to do with that knowledge. “Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25).

The opposite of the spirit is the flesh. The opposite of the Kingdom of Heaven is the kingdom of darkness. The opposite of knowledge is ignorance. What are the fruit of the flesh? “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!” (Galatians 5:19-21). We get hung up on some of them. We try and dismiss others as a normal part of human nature. Some of these are FEELINGS and we can’t help those, right? We look at some of these things and think that we need to develop coping mechanisms and learn better ways to emote, and there is value in that on human terms. But SPIRITUALLY? In ADONAI’s terms? NONE of that is for us. EVER. PERIOD. Why? It’s DEAD.

“For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection. We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.) Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:5-11). Everything of the world that was in us DIED. It’s buried in Jesus. Do NOT dig it up. Grave robbing is illegal. We’re to follow good laws. Not digging up rotting, diseased, dead, and putrid things is a GOOD LAW. We keep from digging it up by CHOICE. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14). Do not LET. That is CHOICE.

Cain had that choice. Adonai spoke to Him and TOLD HIM he had a choice. Cain made the wrong one. He chose his FEELINGS over Adonai’s. He chose his own point of view and not Adonai’s point of view. We have the same choice. Adonai wrote it down so that we could understand it. “Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.”” (Genesis 4:7). This was a statement to a fallen human male. This fallen human male had a choice to SUBDUE sin. We – in the Age of Grace – have the SAME CHOICE and if we abide in Jesus, can achieve it. If we ALWAYS obey, we will NEVER sin. It’s a choice.

“Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Both things are at the door of our hearts. Sin and Jesus. Ruach HaKodesh indwells us. We know who HE wants us to open the door to. We have a sealed and righteous spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). We should know who our spirit wants us to open the door to. And we KNOW that the One who has all authority (Ephesians 1:13-14) will NOT let ANYTHING sneak past Him and slide through the doorway. No. Whomever we CHOOSE to let in will come in. We MUST choose. Every moment of our lives. Will we use the spirit that Adonai gave us or will we use the spirit the kingdom of darkness wants us to take? Spirit of TRUTH or spirit of fear?

Not sure which is presenting? Use the litmus test of Galatians. Which list is the thing presenting itself part of? Does it have a nature along these lines: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things? Or does it have a nature along these lines: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Those who let the former in are in real danger. Those who abide in those things do NOT have a share in the Kingdom of God. That’s the things of Adonai that bring redemption, renewal, blessing, victory, provision, and all those things in the second list – love, joy, peace, etc. Without the things of the Kingdom of God we are slaves to the world and the ones who seek to rule it in their sin and rebellion against Adonai and Heaven.

We do NOT have to fear. We do NOT have to put up with fear. We can HAVE the things of Adonai. We can HAVE the fruit of the Spirit alive and operating in us. We can ENGAGE the things of Adonai. We can walk in the same things in the same way that JESUS did! We are the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN MESSIAH JESUS!!!!! Why do we want to settle for less? Why do we want to do things the old way? Why do we want to do things the world’s way? Why do we want to do things purely along human lines? No, no, no, no. It is ALWAYS a mistake because the things the Adonai has for us are so much SUPERIOR to ANYTHING we can think of – and humans are pretty clever.

Reject the spirit of fear. Open the door to Jesus and CHOOSE to operate in His power, in His love, in His self-control, through His Spirit, and in accordance with His Word, which is His Will. We can DO IT. We can SUBDUE the negative things of the old life that is rotting in the ground. We can walk in LOVE and SELF-CONTROL and the POWER of ADONAI that operates through us in Messiah Jesus. These are the things we CAN HAVE. Test EVERYTHING and reject EVERYTHING that is not of Adonai (I Thessalonians 5:21). Hold TIGHT to the things of Adonai. Hold them TIGHT and TREASURE them and let JESUS in. Every time. Every day. In ALL THINGS. It will change your life. He promises.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 9:7

“His dominion will be vast, and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. He will rule on David’s throne and over David’s kingdom, establishing it and strengthening it by promoting justice and fairness, from this time forward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will accomplish this.” The Messiah’s character would be JUST. Not fair, JUST. Fairness is impartial treatment without favouritism or discrimination. Being JUST is behaving according to what is MORALLY right and MORALLY fair. Not fair according to the world – which can be downright evil. But fair according to Adonai’s point of view. Acting in conformity with the morals of Yahweh is what Messiah would do by NATURE. It would be part of who He was. “I can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me” (John 5:30). Jesus submitted to the Father. Jesus conformed to the Father’s will and the Father’s morals in every way. 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