Fear No Fear

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

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Matthew 5:5-6 (emphasis added)

The word for ‘meek’ is praus (prah-ooce’) and has nothing to do with weakness. It comes from a root word (pra-) and refers to exercising God’s strength under His control (sovereignty), demonstrating power without undue harshness. It means KINDNESS or GENTLE manner (Fruits of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23). It’s a term of humility and submission to the King of the Universe. Hungering and thirsting is speaking of spiritual hunger and thirst. A keen hunger and deep craving of a serious seeker. It comes with the promise that the seeking WILL be satisfied. This isn’t the only place Jesus states this truth. “But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). We need to believe the WORD and the PROMISE, not religious tradition. It became tradition because of unbelief. Pharisees believed healing was ONLY of Adonai and not for PEOPLE. They believed about healing what religious thinkers today think.

It is dangerous to ascribe human thinking to the things of Adonai. “Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”” (Mark 7:13). Religious thinking and human thinking have a lot in common. They both rely on the natural to determine what they do and do not believe. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:21). Human thinking says that hunger is a constant state we need to put up with. Religious thinking says that we hunger now in this life, but can look forward to a time in Heaven when we no longer will put up with such things. Yet Jesus was pointing to something real in His day that was remedied when Ruach HaKodesh came down to rest in us (Acts 2:1-4). For those who RECEIVE His ministry, hunger and thirst does not need to be accepted. That condition has been remedied in Him – if we accept Jesus’ teaching. We can have an UNENDING stream of water rising up from within us quenching our thirst (John 4:14). In Jesus we have a never-ending source of bread to satisfy our hunger (John 6:35).

We do not need to do what has always been done. The whole ministry of Jesus was about ENDING religious thinking and RETURNING to what Adonai said was possible. As belief faded (Hebrews 3:7-9) or was quashed by human observation (Numbers 13:33), human thinking took its place. In addition, those who gave themselves over to human interpretation of Adonai’s will had to find ways to make sure not to break the rules they treasured. They added to them. They hedged them in with other rules and traditions. Making fences that it was impossible to climb over to protect the lawn on the other side. They strangled belief by making sure everyone they taught understood that Adonai’s way really meant their way.

Adonai is not bound by the rules we operate under. He is unaffected by gravity, weather, physics, space, or time. He doesn’t HAVE to play by our rules. He can alter time, speed up the harvest, and translate us from place to place. In HIM it is ALL possible (Luke 1:37). The only things He restricts Himself to are not violating His Word and not violating the free will He has given us so that we can be like Him. His Word shows His nature. He doesn’t change that. He isn’t wishy-washy (Hebrews 13:8). He stands by who He is. He stands by what He offers. If we will understand how the Kingdom works – which He does NOT hide – we can have what He says. This isn’t about us getting what WE want. It’s about realising that what HE wants is far SUPERIOR to what we want AND that we can have it.

Jesus is the King of Kings and He has authority over the Kingdom of God. He is sovereign. His Word is law in the sense that it needs to be followed. It isn’t law in the sense of do or be judged. What He says is right is right because He says it. And regardless of how you feel about it and regardless of what we think about it, it is still right. If you will obey, and if you will continue getting the Word into you, you will find Him renewing your mind on it. You WILL come to see that what He said was right is also GOOD – and good FOR you. Adonai is a God of LIFE and LOVE. He won’t ask for things that bring us death. He won’t ask things that will harm us. He always has our BEST in mind. But it is BEST from HIS point of view, so it ALWAYS lines up with what He says is right and good and just.

Adonai is righteous and He rewards our seeking of that righteousness. To get the full benefit of the Kingdom of God we have to participate in it. We can’t participate in it without His righteousness because we have none of our own. Everything we have we have through Him. Our sealed spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14), our redemption (Galatians 3:13), our renewal (2 Corinthians 5:17), and all the Blessings of Heaven that are available to us (Ephesians 1:3-6). It’s all through Messiah Jesus. “Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). It’s fair He said it. It’s fair that it is THE truth. It’s fair He is right and EVERYTHING and EVERYONE else is wrong. Because He IS (John 6:20) and He always HAS been (Exodus 3:14). That is why is is good, right, and just for Jesus to preach repentance: the Kingdom of God is NEAR (Matthew 4:17).

What does that mean for us? It means we need to be who we became when we got saved. “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). We died. Our wants, desires, selfish self-focus, and me-me-me-isms died. We have a CHOICE. We can leave them dead or we can try and breathe life into them. The breath of lives is inside us (Genesis 2:7). We have the creative impulse, and to a certain extent the ability. With our free will, we can choose to give mouth-to-mouth to the filth that we were free from. Or we could go the way of the life we were resurrected into. “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). Spirit or flesh? Which will it be?

Flesh is easy. We can see that. We can touch that. We were trained by it so we have LOTS of ideas about it. And the kingdom of darkness has a lot too. They’ve been watching us a long time and they love to pervert the things of Adonai. Spirit, though? That’s harder. When Jesus was resurrected to life, He was resurrected into a spiritual body – which is how He could get out of the tomb before the stone was rolled away (Matthew 28:2-6). His disciples -having spent three YEARS in VERY close proximity to the living, breathing, talking, eating, walking, defecating, sweating, singing, miracle-working, walking-on-water Jesus from Nazareth – sat on a beach and were NOT SURE if it was Jesus while being COMPLETELY SURE it was Jesus (John 21:12). His disciples – having seen Him resurrected to life, talked with Him, eaten with Him, touched Him, and worshipped Him – stood on a mountain watching Him rise into the sky and some DOUBTED they were really seeing Jesus (Matthew 28:17). They had to see Jesus by SPIRIT. Understand Jesus by SPIRIT. Recognise Jesus by SPIRIT. It was hard. It still is. But Jesus is PATIENT, KIND, GENTLE, and MERCIFUL. If we seek Him, we will not be left searching. He will help us find Him.

Once we do, we need to submit. He is the King. We are the subjects. A king owes his subjects security and justice. Protection against foreign enemies and protection against lawlessness and crime. Justice included administering justice and a just administration of property, labor, food, and resources such as water. Jesus does ALL of that. Fruits of the Spirit, Water of Life, Bread of Life, and James 4:7 all come to mind. Ask anything in Jesus’ name according to the Word and you get it (1 John 5:14,15). That is the King giving to us everything He owes us. As subjects, we owe allegiance to the King and are bound by the laws and customs of the Kingdom. The foundational idea is that the subjects are under the dominion of the King, who has the ultimate authority over them (Matthew 28:18-20).

If we understand this, we can understand why Paul often referred to himself as a servant or slave of Jesus (Romans 1:1). This is the attitude we are to have. Doing the will of Adonai from our hearts (Ephesians 6:6). We in the West do a lot of talk about ‘freedom’, but we don’t always understand Kingdom Freedom. We are not mindless, abused slaves without the ability to anything but the master’s will. We are FREE to choose to submit. We are FREE to be MEEK as Jesus was meek. Obedient to His Father in everything (John 4:34, 5:30, 6:38, 8:26, 10:18, 12:49-50, 14:30-31, and 15:10 – this list from the Watermark Community Church https://www.watermark.org/blog/jesus-trusted-and-obeyed-his-father). True freedom is the freedom to do your own will, but choosing to submit to a perfect will. True freedom is found in Messianic Meekness. And it IS rewarded. “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).

Submitting to Adonai’s authority while we have the authority to use His Name, doing it His way and in His time. Seeking Adonai’s face in earnest. Honestly desiring to see more and more and more of Him. These are two of the lynchpins of the Kingdom of God. Submit to Him. Seek Him. Everything follows. Every single BLESSING of Heaven that can be administered on Earth CAN BE. If we submit to His will and timing in ALL things – word, thought, and deed throughout our spirit, soul, and body – then He will hold nothing back. Yes, there is training time. Yes, there are times we fall on our face. Yes, there are times we flat-out miss it. But we have a MERCIFUL Father. A GOOD Father. He is the KING and we are the SUBJECTS. Submit to Him. It is the start of EVERY good thing. We WILL inherit the promises. We WILL be satisfied. Now isn’t that worth the effort of seeking?

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.” There would be no end to Messiah’s government, throne, or peace. Reported by angels – who only speak the words of Yahweh – we can be sure of the truth of their statement. “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. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32-33). 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