Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

being darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart,

Ephesians 4:18

I have had times in my life where I lived without the lights on. Bills were not being paid. Don’t feel sorry for me. MY situation was avoidable. But I didn’t avoid it and struggled for YEARS. So much money given as a non-refundable deposit to get them to turn the switch back on. So many days wondering if we could get by without it for a few weeks. So much money borrowed, paid back, and ending up in the same place at the end of the month. This is not how ANYONE was meant to live. It is hard to live without electricity when everything around you and the infrastructure of both your neighbourhood and your home is based on having electricity. When the whole system is designed to receive power to function properly, making sure that power arrives and is available is KEY.

We live in a world that was designed to work with power flowing through it. Through our own choices and decision to disobey (Genesis 3), we shut off the breaker for the planet. Since then, it has been without power. None of the switches work. None of the appliances turn on. The lights do not glow. We sit in darkness. This is NOT how it is supposed to be. The power wasn’t turned off. It is still there. It can still be accessed. But if we don’t turn on our breaker, we are NEVER going to experience it. You can talk pretty. You can know a lot. You can even engineer dozens of new ways to run things in your home. But if you do not have power coming into it, you are DEAD IN THE WATER and will REMAIN dead until you do. If you NEVER flip the breaker, you will NEVER be anything but dead.

Ruach HaKodesh tells us where the breaker box is. He instructs us how to open it. He guides us in flipping the breaker. And He tells us how to maintain it. Like many things of the Kingdom, it is SIMPLE. It is GRATITUDE. Thanksgiving keeps the lights on. “And this is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). If you aren’t trying to get the lights on and keep them on, there is a problem with the intent of your heart. Your eyes are on something other than Adonai. We can SEE His LIGHT. We should WANT IT. We should want it to operate in our homes and not stop seeking how to get it until we have it. And then we should direct all our efforts to keeping the lights on (which mostly means keeping connected to Him and not turning them off).

It is simple common sense. It is NOT a secret. “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you bear much fruit, and prove to be my disciples” (John 15:5-8). If we want the ‘lights on’ (ie. if we want to produce fruit), we need to keep the connection open. WE need to make sure the power is flowing. Obedience to thanksgiving opens the flow. Disobedience in selfishness closes it. Why selfishness? Because it is SELFISH to be UNGRATEFUL. Ungratefulness closes the doors of our hearts, not heaven. Heaven is OPEN. It is US who clam up and harden our hearts.

We need light to see. We need HIS Light to see what we should do and how. We need the Word to reveal to us more than just surface words. We need Him in our lives as real as any OTHER person – even more so. We get that through being connected to Jesus. In dwelling in Him, not in ourselves. In relying on HIM and not on OUR strength, OUR ideas, or OUR feelings. Ruach HaKodesh helps us in ALL of that. He is a VITAL part of the maintenance of our relationship with Jesus. Keeping the communication lines open. The biggest part of His involvement in that is the constant reminders that we are to be thankful. That GRATITUDE should be the condition of our hearts. Every day we should be singing His praises. Every day we should be thanking Him for at least two actual, concrete things He has done for us. The Psalms are FULL of that kind of imagery if we ever run out of our own. The INTENT of our hearts and prayers should always begin and end with thanksgiving. Not CONDITIONAL thanksgiving. Not trying to say that we will praise if He will move for us. No. Completely aside and separate from our askings, we should be thankful for all that He has done.

Thanksgiving keeps us connected because when we are grateful, we aren’t looking to change things up. We aren’t looking to do things ourselves because we acknowledge that doing things His way has been so RIGHT and so SUCCESSFUL. When we give Him proper place, it is easy to hear and understand we are to obey. The WHY is that He IS GOD. Period. We recognise that when we praise from grateful hearts. It keeps everything flowing. It begins to work as it was always intended to work. Right from the beginning. In Jesus, we are restored to the process – and HE is doing all the heavy lifting. A GREAT reason to praise, don’t you think?

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Psalm 42:5

“Why are you in despair, O my soul, and disturbed within me? Hope in God, because I will again praise him, for the salvation of his presence.” Our circumstances do not determine the honesty or sincerity of our praise. Paul and Silas were NOT happy in prison. They were in PAIN. They were UNCOMFORTABLE. And they LOOKED defeated. But they praised Adonai. They didn’t act like their pain was a factor. They didn’t act like their chains were a factor. They didn’t act like their position in a prison was a factor. None of those things WERE factors. They didn’t know why their bodies were complaining! Adonai was still Adonai. His power was still evident. His Blessing was still on and with them. They were not alone. They were not defeated. They were still grateful for all the opportunities they had and for the salvation they were enjoying. They praised Adonai because of WHO HE WAS and not because of WHERE they were. We have ALL been given this opportunity. We all have coded within our very DNA the desire and ability to praise Adonai no matter WHAT is happening. Nothing can take that away from us. Nothing can stop it. It rises up whenever we choose to let it. Anywhere. Any time. It is our RIGHT as His creation. We can ALWAYS praise Adonai because He has made SURE that we can ALWAYS praise Him. What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8