Fear No Fear

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

Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power…For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens…and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Ephesians 6:10,12,16 (emphasis added)

What is the strength of Adonai? We are never told what MAKES His strength. We ARE told what our REACTION to it is. “The Lord strengthens and protects me; I trust in him with all my heart. I am rescued and my heart is full of joy; I will sing to him in gratitude” (Psalm 28:7). Joy and gratitude is our response to His strength. By inhabiting that response to Him, we can inhabit His strength. “He said to them, “Go and eat delicacies and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). We can CHOOSE not to grieve, be distressed, be depressed, be anxious, be troubled, or be fearful WHEN we inhabit His JOY which becomes the STRENGTH that gets us through our situation. As Jesus said in John 15:5, it is when we are wilfully and consciously connected to HIM that we receive ALL that we need to overcome.

A feeling is a noun. It is a sensation. A physical sensation, an opinion or notion, a sentiment, a response produced by something (like a work of art, piece of music, etc), it’s a sense, a climate, an atmosphere, or a susceptibility or commitment to artistic expression. Feelings are THINGS. Temporal, changeable THINGS. Information. Raw data, if you will. They are not controlled in and of themselves. We cannot control our FEELINGS.

An emotion is a verb. It is a strong MENTAL feeling. It is passion and sentiment. It is controlled or uncontrolled by the MIND. Those who are highly strung, hotheads, irrational, hysterical, volatile, zealous, or demonstrative have uncontrolled emotions. Those who are poignant, affective, touching, sensitive, or stirring tend to have controlled emotions.

Emotions are determined by our reaction to feelings. In an uncontrolled mind, a feeling will almost instantly initiate an emotion (sometimes quite strongly) and that’s where we see busts of rage or tears out of proportion to the situation. Just because a feeling strikes us doesn’t mean we need to react to it – although it is never a good idea to ignore the information. This is a battle between flesh and mind. Does it control you or do you control it? It is a contest that is present in every human mind (male and female) on the planet.

I have noticed a trend over the last few decades for professionals to swap the two. There is no real consensus of the definition of the word ’emotion’ in modern psychology and every school of thought uses what suits them best – it’s been going on for centuries. Many prominent schools of thought claim that feeling is what we can control and emotions are what we do not. This is not true. It does however lend itself toward the over-all philosophy of epicureanism that the modern world (especially the West) wants to embrace. Epicureanism is the devotion to pleasure, comfort, and high living, with a certain nicety of style. Basically: if it FEELS good to you as an individual, do it. You can’t embrace this philosophy if feelings are input sensations, so the definitions of these words are starting to change. If they can convince us that feelings are the facts and emotions are the uncontrollable impulses, then anything you FEEL is so valid you can base your life around it. It is a dangerous road that if unchecked will lead to a myriad of very bad behaviour normalised.

Individual morality is a ridiculous concept. I think the idea that a given culture or society creating its own morality is equally ridiculous. There are certain standards of moral behaviour that over 98% of the humans on the planet (and there are about 8,123,315,575 of us) agree on. Abuse of babies? Not good. Rape? Not good. Murder? Not good – although there are a few outliers who don’t agree on what murder IS. Theft? Not good. Anarchy? Not good. Love? Good. Peace? Good. Equality? Good – although there are some disagreements as to what IS equality. How is it that no matter where on the planet you find yourself, human beings instinctively agree on these things? No matter the culture. No matter the society. No matter the government. No matter the religion. There are things we all at a deep, core level, agree on. Morality is NOT subjective. Because of that, running our lives based on FEELINGS is dangerous ground.

Our struggles are not against flesh and blood. They are not against people. They are not even against governments. Most of the struggles that we have are on our own personal mental landscape. They are struggles of the spirit against the flesh. Against influences. Whether the battle is won or lost, or even if we recognise there is a battle, is very dependant on what we take in. What material are we consuming (watching, reading, and listening to). The greater voice we give to something, the more we listen to what it is saying. The more what IT believes and values becomes what WE believe and value. We will EMOTE what that voice says about our FEELINGS. The decision is in the mind. The deciding factor is our input. That is why Adonai is clear from the beginning of the Word to the end of it: keep what He says before your eyes. Think on it. Consider it. Imagine it.

We can let ourselves run rampant or we can choose to take control of our emotions. If you filter them through the feelings that come on you or rise in you based on the stimuli around you, you will be in trouble because feelings are always in flux. But if you filter them through something that is solid, true, steady, and never-changing, you can emote consistently and always to your benefit. Easy concept. Hard to practise. Not because it is hard in and of itself, but hard because if we are not placing ourselves on that solid surface, we have nothing to hold us up. A proper foundation creates a proper emotional landscape. We need something to hold us up. We cannot do it on our own – that’s why the world has so much therapy and so many coping mechanisms.

We, as believers, need to take advantage of the foundation Adonai provides. It is in taking advantage of Him by accepting what He offers the WAY He offers it (with us being in humble submission to His rightful place), that we gain His strength to overcome – not just manage or cope – with our feelings. It is how we can choose our emotions. By choosing to emote what HE says is true. By choosing to rely on our TRUST in Him. “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you! Don’t be frightened, for I am your God! I strengthen you—yes, I help you—yes, I uphold you with my victorious right hand!” (Isaiah 41:10). “I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). “For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). “Seek the Lord and the strength he gives. Seek his presence continually! Recall the miraculous deeds he performed, his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed” (1 Chronicles 16:11-12). “My flesh and my heart may grow weak, but God always protects my heart and gives me stability” (Psalm 73:26). It isn’t US it is HIM who accomplishes this. We only need to TRUST that He is not lying.

There is a LOT of talk about how we can’t choose our emotions. So how can we choose Joy or choose Peace? We can’t just choose not to be anxious, right? Or choose not to be depressed? Not in ourselves, no. Jesus had something to say about it. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage” (John 14:27). Jesus says we can CHOOSE our mental state because He GAVE us Peace. All of our mental choices are therefore based on what we have in Jesus. That’s great news. We don’t have to decide not to be anxious. We don’t have to decide not to be depressed. We don’t have to decide to be strong. Instead, we get to decide to engage what He gave us. By engaging what we have in Him, we will automatically start to emote based on that thing. It’s like if we choose to eat an apple, we will taste an apple – even if we felt like an orange. We will taste what we have in our mouths, not what we feel like having. It works the same with our mental choices.

It is all about TRUST. Do we trust Him to provide what He says He can provide? Abraham did. “He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do” (Romans 4:20-21). Our trust bolsters our belief. It is our shield against unbelief – and you KNOW opportunities to doubt will come our way. We can use our trust to defeat doubt. No matter WHAT thoughts come to us. No matter WHAT people say to us. No matter WHAT we read or watch that tries to contradict. We can point to the Word and say, ‘I trust in Him.’ We can do that because we KNOW that Adonai watches over His Word so that He can perform it (Jeremiah 1:12). It NEVER returns to Him void once He speaks it (Isaiah 55:11). When we align with what Adonai says in His Word, we KNOW it WILL happen.

He says (today’s verses) that our trust in Him defeats EVERYTHING the devil or the world can throw at us. Our trust in Him as our shield (a huge, Roman one) covers our WHOLE self. When we put His Word in us, that seed sprouts and grows into a total mind-body-spirit shield providing us with all the spiritual protection we could ever need. It ALWAYS quenches, extinguishes, thwarts, and suppresses attacks. Those bad feelings attack? Our trust in Adonai can suppress them. Not bury them where they will fester and explode later. But to quench them, put out their flame, make them of NONE EFFECT. They bend, break, blunt, and go out when they hit our trust in Adonai. We are so firm in our belief in Jesus’ opinion, we don’t pay attention to anyone else’s. Why listen to an armchair Karen when we already have ahold of the opinion, evidence, and encouragement of an expert expert?

Don’t rely on your own thoughts, dreams, ideals, and values. Don’t rely on your own strength. Don’t rely on your own resources. Don’t try to make yourself do something YOU can’t manage to do. Rely on HIM. Let Jesus be your strength. Let Jesus be your Joy. Let Jesus’ Peace be yours. We get it by inputting His Word. Thinking about it. Reading it. Finding out what it means. Imagining yourself in the stories and situations. Praying about it and speaking it out. Seeking Him in the Word. “You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith, for they trust in you” (Isaiah 26:3). “Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). “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 connect with Jesus. Ruach HaKodesh helps us do just that (John 16:13). Jesus points us to the Father (John 14:6-7). The Father is the source of ALL things (1 Corinthians 8:6). When we rely on Him to provide, we can trust that when we engage His emotions through the Spirit, we WILL have them. One way we can engage this is through praise and worship. When we enter into Him with thanksgiving, it ignites Joy inside us, and His strength becomes ours. His peace surrounds us as He comes close (James 4:8). We overcome and suppress the bad because He overcame and He sends forth NOTHING but GOOD (James 1:17). He gives, we use, and THAT is how we can control our emotions, change our mental landscape, and never give in to feelings we don’t want to have. We can accept His healing of our emotional and mental places.

We can be whole, healed, and free from ALL that comes on us, tries to rise in us, or what we are told to accept. We accept HIM and reject everything else (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22). Don’t settle for anything less than total healing. It is His Will, it is His Best, and it is His Joy. Engage it, think on it, and walk in it. Always remember that He lifts you because He loves you. He delivers you because He delights in you.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 33:22

“For the Lord, our ruler, the Lord, our commander, the Lord, our king—he will deliver us.” As Son of the Highest, Messiah will inhabit the highest place. No one can refute His judgments, for He is Judge. No one can dispute what He writes down as Law, because He is THE Scribe. Messiah in this position is the source of our security. “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” (Luke 1:32). This was proclaimed by Angels over Jesus. Paul, referencing Jesus wrote “Now to the eternal King, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17). He also wrote “I charge you before God who gives life to all things and Christ Jesus who made his good confession before Pontius Pilate, to obey this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ—whose appearing the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will reveal at the right time” (1 Timothy 6:13-15). Jesus’ position cannot be disputed. 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