Fear No Fear

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

Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and all within me, bless his holy name.

Psalm 103:1

A grateful heart because of what Adonai has done (Philippians 4:12-13). A grateful heart no matter what is going on (1 Thessalonians 5:18). A grateful heart regardless of what is coming toward you (Ephesians 5:20). A grateful heart no matter what we FEEL like (Psalm 116:17). A grateful heart because we love Adonai and through Him are able to love others (1 John 4:19-21). A grateful heart because of what Jesus did and who lives within us to enable us to me what Adonai says we can be, not through OUR efforts but because of JESUS’ accomplishments (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). A grateful heart because of who we are in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). In fact, we should have a grateful heart simply because Adonai IS Adonai (Revelation 4:11; Hebrews 13:15; Philippians 4:8; Psalm 150). It is right and good and proper. So why don’t we do it with consistency? The flesh. It FORGETS that Adonai IS Adonai. Psalm 103 is a call to remember to be thankful. To remember to have a grateful heart. To remember that Adonai IS Adonai. We are going to be spending some time here because we are COMMANDED to remember this very thing.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus is what it is ALL about. If you don’t believe in Jesus and accept His payment for Sin, you’ll need to pay the price yourself – which means an eternity without Adonai (John 16:8; Romans 6:23; Matthew 25:41). If we believe in Jesus and have accepted His payment for Sin, we need to submit to Him in obedience so that He is King and Lord over ALL of our lives (John 16:8; James 4:7; John 14:15). If we love Him, we should worship Him. We should submit to Him in everything. We should humble ourselves and submit to His decisions, opinions, morals, and viewpoint. Habakkuk questioned Adonai about some things and then sat back and humbled himself IN ADVANCE so that he would easily embrace whatever Adonai’s answer was (Habakkuk 2:1). When Adonai answered him (Habakkuk 2), Habakkuk answered THAT with a song of PRAISE and TRUST (Habakkuk 3). He embraced Adonai’s PERSPECTIVE through praise. That is what this Psalm models.

“And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). We have ACCESS to the Mind of Messiah (1 Corinthians 2:16). But we don’t naturally understand ANYTHING in that mind. We need to renew our own minds to His mind through the Word. It’s a process. We ONLY understand what has been renewed in our souls. That means study, questioning, dwelling on, listening, reading and re-reading, and then accepting. How can we hold all of that in our heads? We can’t. We need a renewed PHYSICAL form (1 John 3:2; 1 Corinthians 15:52). Until then, we have to rely on Ruach HaKodesh. “And he took bread, and after giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And in the same way the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19-20). We are COMMANDED to REMEMBER Jesus. We do that through one of the ministries of Ruach HaKodesh.

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name—that one will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything that I said to you” (John 14:26). Ruach HaKodesh REMINDS us of EVERYTHING the Word says – Jesus IS the Word and the Word IS Jesus (John 1:1-5, 14). If we will get it into our souls (hearts, minds, and personality), Ruach HaKodesh will remind us of it when we need to be reminded of it. Our part is to take that reminder from Him and remind OURSELVES of it. Through praise and thanksgiving. If we have to we should LIST what it is that Adonai has done for us. When my family takes communion, we list two things that we are specifically remembering in order to thank Adonai for them. We need to live in PERPETUAL thanksgiving (1 Thessalonians 5:18). We need to NEVER let it go. We need to BLESS Adonai through our praise and thanksgiving, and we need to make sure our bodies NEVER forget to do it – even if we need a thousand Post-It Notes around our house to make sure we do.

We need to do it with ALL we have. No holding back. No putting restrictions on it. No failing to give it TRUE gratitude because you didn’t like HOW or WHEN something came to pass. No trying to BARGAIN your praise out and ‘make’ Adonai move. Adonai doesn’t even HEAR prayers like that (James 4:3). We’re getting in line with Adonai, not trying to get Him to align with us. We need to clean out the cobwebs of our refusal to submit and get those knees down. Best way to do that is simply accept that He IS God. When we give thanksgiving and praise to Him because of His natural and right position, we NATURALLY will submit because it is OBVIOUS He is THE Almighty Elohim on High. When we view Him in the place where He is, with the character He has, with the LONG list of things He has done for us, it is SIMPLE and EASY to speak out our love for Him. Our appreciation of Him. Our gratefulness toward Him, in Him, and for Him.

Command yourself to bless Adonai. Don’t let your flesh off the hook. MAKE it submit. Self-talk is a KEY to keeping the flesh and old patterns of behaviour where they belong: dead in the cross. Dead in Jesus’ works. Our ONLY way to stay in THE WAY is to maintain a grateful heart full of thanksgiving, praise, and a right attitude toward Him. This is done with INTENT and not by feelings. The feelings may follow that we can turn into godly emotions, but the INTENTFUL behaviour and INTENTFUL words come first. O my soul listen up: from the tips of your toes to the crown of your head, BLESS ADONAI!

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: 2 Corinthians 5:17

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” How do we do this? Remembering. We have to REMEMBER who we are IN JESUS because in the mirror we see broken people, broken thinking, broken habits, and broken personalities. It does not SEEM like we are new. But the new HAS COME and is NOT for later. We have permission to start walking in it RIGHT NOW and we do it by trusting Jesus (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). Isn’t that great? WE don’t have to make ourselves conform. We need to TRUST Jesus, BELIEVE what HE says, and then we WILL walk in it. We WILL experience it. We WILL have it as a reality in our lives. We WILL be new. New attitudes. New words. New actions. New morals. New understanding. ALL His made available to us (1 Corinthians 2:16; Galatians 5:22-23). All ours because we trust that He IS what He SAYS He IS. 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