Fear No Fear

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

And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy.
Hebrews 10:23 (emphasis added)

There is a huge difference between having a value and valuing something. There is also a very simple litmus test for a value: if someone can take it away from you, it is NOT a value. Freedom of speech is valued in the West. But it can be taken from you. It is not a value. Integrity is a value. YOU choose whether to be a person of integrity, someone with moral uprightness and honesty. No one can force you not to embody that. It is something only YOU can do. Values are what we pin our personality on. They hold us up. They define who we are and what actions we will or won’t take. They are the actionable cred we have with the people around us.

Knowing your values is important. Figuring them out and finding a way to make them matter to you is also important. It helps to make a list of values you admire. You would then pick the values that matter to you personally – there needs to be real and honest reasons they have value to you. WHY they matter. If this isn’t real, you can’t proceed. Writing them into statements is a good practise because writing something out helps to cement things in our minds. You may chose at this point to share your values with someone you trust. A person who can help keep you accountable in the penultimate step, which is living according to your values. The last step, of course, is not letting GO of them. When we pick something to live by, especially if it is good, there is a guarantee you WILL be challenged about it. There WILL be discomfort. You may lose opportunity in the workplace. You may break up relationships over it – from acquaintances to friends to your romantic partner. Good is ALWAYS challenged in this fallen, corrupt world. Sometimes just by the effort it takes to life by a good set of values.

It is easy to waver. To find yourself caught between different opinions and courses of action. To be shaken in your belief or resolution when you encounter others with strong – or stronger – values. Individual values – those that are based on yourself and how YOU interact with others – are different than relationship values – those that are based in how your actions AFFECT others – which are different than societal values – harder to define they are both the values proclaimed by the society you live in AND how selfless you are willing to be for the good of that society. You can see how it can be hard to both form good values for all these categories and keep from being blown off course every time you come across a strong-willed person with values different than yours. Which is why we as believers are given a lifeline.

“From the remotest place on earth I call out to you in my despair. Lead me up to a rocky summit where I can be safe. Indeed, you are my shelter, a strong tower that protects me from the enemy. I will be a permanent guest in your home; I will find shelter in the protection of your wings” (Psalm 61:2-4). The ROCK higher than we are. The SHELTER. The STRONG TOWER that protects us. Somewhere we can be a PERMANENT guest. Yahweh gives us something of Himself. A set of values that trump ALL of ours. A set of values that come from outside the human experience (male and female). Something born from the objective permanent righteousness of the Most High. Yahweh enables us to engage HIS nature. In Jesus, our values become His: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. How do we engage them? We need to remember who we are. “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). “So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

In Jesus we have a set of values that are NOT subject to this world and the changes in culture that occur on a regular basis. Values that are objective truths. Constant in their basis in Adonai’s righteousness. Values to hold to. How then do we hold to them? First of all, the same way we engage them: we MUST trust Jesus that we have access to them and the authority to engage them. The right to pick up kindness when we need it. To activate gentleness in the middle of the lead up to a temper tantrum. To activate self-control and not buy the dozen doughnuts that sound really good right now. To activate peace in the middle of poor circumstances or a storm of life. To use that which is our legal right of inheritance (Isaiah 54:13-17). We have the RIGHT to walk in what HE says we can. And do it the WAY He says. According to HIS timetable – which is never wrong or poor. Second, we MUST be in remembrance of Him.

The only way we can truly embrace Adonai’s values is if we truly believe and trust that Adonai is who and what He says He is. “So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9). “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a human being, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen?” (Numbers 23:19). “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). Do we believe that? Truly? If we do, then we need to take action. We need to put that – and all the rest He is – into REMEMBRANCE. “Praise the Lord, O my soul. With all that is within me, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Do not forget all his kind deeds” (Psalm 103:1-2). David isn’t telling YOU to praise and remember Adonai. David is telling HIMSELF to praise and remember. We need to do the same thing.

There is too much tumultuousness in the world today for us to hold onto His values without reminding ourselves. We must start the day remembering Him and what He has done for us. As you brush your teeth, as you take a shower, as you prepare food. Instead of thinking of or going on social media, thank Him for what He’s done. Just thank Him. Remember what Jesus accomplished on and through the cross. Remember what the Father has given you, the needs He has met. Remember the access we have to the Father through Jesus. Remember the type of person Jesus was, how He acted, what He said, and what He did. Remember you have access to His mind (1 Corinthians 2:16). Remember the Father has blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3-6). Remember that we CAN know the ENTIRE love that Jesus has for us (Ephesians 3:17-19). Spend some time praising Him for that. Praise Him for what He has done. Praise Him also for who He IS. His nature. His personalities. His love for us. Praise Him. Thank Him. Love on Him.

If we do this DAILY, it will be VERY hard to let go of His truths. It will be VERY hard not to do it whenever a situation arises that we feel we can’t handle. It will be VERY hard not to do it whenever a situation arises that we feel we CAN handle. He is our Source. He is our Strength. He is our EVERYTHING and if we praise Him, thank Him, and remember Him EVERY SINGLE DAY then we won’t forget it. He WILL be the rock on which we are standing. We can bolster that remembering and that standing by also daily seeking Him in the Word. Jesus on EVERY page (even in the begats). Ruach HaKodesh WILL speak to us. He WILL. Jesus promised. All we have to do is listen, test what we hear against the Word, and submit to what the Word says.

If we remember Him we will find it EASY to hang onto HIS point of view in everything we do and say and believe and walk out. If we remember Him, we will find it EASY to hold UNWAVERINGLY to HIS values. No matter what those around us think. Or believe. Or proclaim. We will be on the ROCK of TRUTH that is ABSOLUTE, OBJECTIVE, and RIGHTEOUS. We CAN do it. But we have to remember Him to achieve it. Remember who you are in Jesus and rely on Jesus for your EVERYTHING.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 26:19

“Your dead will come back to life; your corpses will rise up. Wake up and shout joyfully, you who live in the ground! For you will grow like plants drenched with the morning dew, and the earth will bring forth its dead spirits.” The Messiah’s power of resurrection is predicted in this verse. He would not be the only one resurrected. Rather, the power of resurrection was to be imparted to Messiah as something He could engage at the will of Yahweh. He would have authority to call forth back to life those who died before they were furnished the completeness of life that Yahweh wanted for them (Psalm 91:16). “When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”” (John 11:43-44). Jesus had the authority to raise the dead as His Father led Him (John 5:19). Jesus raised Lazarus, but also a widow’s son (Luke 7:15), and a young girl (Mark 5:42). Jesus was given the power of resurrection by Ruach HaKodesh by His Father (John 10:18). 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