Fear No Fear

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

The speech of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the speech of the wicked conceals violence.
Proverbs 10:11 (emphasis added)

The world is very aware of this phenomena. There is research that has been done (Wong SMY, Chen EYH, Lee MCY, Suen YN, Hui CLM. Rumination as a transdiagnostic phenomenon in the 21st century: The flow model of rumination. Brain Sci. 2023;13(7):1041. doi:10.3390/brainsci13071041) showing that focusing on negative thoughts leads to decreased motivation and greater feelings of helplessness and increases the risk of them leading to depression, generalised anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and social anxiety disorder. But maybe that’s just ONE bit of research, right?

Maria Richter collaborated with other scientists in a neuroscience experiment she titled ‘Do Words Hurt?’ They monitored subjects’ brain responses to auditory and imagined negative words. They proved that those negative words (real or imagined) released stress and anxiety-inducing hormones in the subjects (increasing the Implicit Processing or IMP within the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex or sACC). They also found they contributed to long-term anxiety. Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at Thomas Jefferson University, and Mark Robert Waldman, a communications expert stated in their book ‘Words Can Change Your Brain’ that ‘a single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.’
In ‘Prevalence and Psychological Effects of Hateful Speech in Online College Communities’, Koustuv Saha, Eshwar Chandrasekharan, and Munmun De Choudhury reported this as the summation of their findings: ‘We find that hateful speech is prevalent in college subreddits, and 25% of them show greater hateful speech than non-college subreddits. We also find that the exposure to hate leads to greater stress expression. However, everybody exposed is not equally affected; some show lower psychological endurance than others. Low endurance individuals are more vulnerable to emotional outbursts, and are more neurotic than those with higher endurance’ (Published in final edited form as: Proc ACM Web Sci Conf. 2019 Jun; 2019: 255–264. doi: 10.1145/3292522.3326032).

Now not everyone may agree, but I think something that creates the hormones that induce stress, anxiety, depression, and emotional outbursts; something that creates the mental and emotional conditions that lead to generalised anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and social anxiety disorder should be recognised as VIOLENCE. It is violence against our mental states. It is violence against our emotional states. It is violence against our inner selves. Since it is something that is internal and not external (like a punch, kick, or shooting), it is hidden from view. We can look normal, but be a screaming mess inside. Which is EXACTLY what the second part of today’s verse says: but the speech of the wicked conceals violence.

But I’m not wicked, you may say. Well, the word ‘wicked’ is a Hebrew word rasha (raw-shaw’) and it can ALSO mean offender or guilty. Guilty of hostility. An actively bad person or someone that concretely did wrong. While society as a whole doesn’t like labels like these, almost all the research into mental states and psychology put negative speaking – either to one’s self or to those around them – in the category of ‘unacceptable’. Unacceptable behaviour (including bullying, harassment and victimisation), may involve actions, words or physical gestures that could reasonably be perceived to be the cause of another person’s distress or discomfort. Bullying or harassment may be by an individual against an individual or involve groups of people.

It sounds to me like modern research into how people think, speak, and react to that speech is beginning to catch up to the Word. We’re starting to come around and agree with the CONSISTENT message that Adonai has been speaking for thousands of years. Mind you, we still don’t see eye to eye with Him. We rely too much on our FEELINGS as the determining factor in whether someone has been distressed or discomforted. Feelings change. They are not reliable. And depending on what you are taught is acceptable will depend on what you think is acceptable. For example, there are in many circumstances (such as a job site) right and wrong ways of doing things. Doing things according to procedure, policy, and your training are right. Doing things that violate procedure, policy, or ignore your training are wrong. Yet increasingly the workplace is becoming a place where you cannot say ‘you did wrong’ to an employee. I think you can say that someone did something wrong without being mean. You can do it with support and encouragement, showing correction and giving the resources they need to improve. You don’t need to belittle someone. You don’t need to yell at them. But these days, even showing them their error can lead to tears and an emotional support day. We are leaning TOO FAR into feelings.

Adonai doesn’t ignore feelings. Adonai focuses on every word we say being something that will build people up. Instead of simply telling a student ‘you spelled that wrong’ the words coming from our mouths should be more along the lines of ‘let me help you learn how to spell that right’. Informing of error while simultaneously showing our love, respect, and support for improvement. Exhausting to do? Only if we do it in ourselves. In our own strength. With our own mental and emotional resources. Adonai doesn’t ask that. He doesn’t suggest that. He doesn’t even HINT that it would be a good idea. Take today’s verse. The speech of the RIGHTEOUS (emphasis mine). Who is righteous? Only those abiding in Jesus. “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 5:21).

When we are in Jesus, we have access to everything Jesus has and is. ““I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit because apart from me you can accomplish nothing” (John 15:5). “For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). If we have access to Jesus, we WILL be able to engage the fruit that being in Jesus produces: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This isn’t stuff automatically coming out of us. This is stuff we CHOOSE to engage, receiving it from the Spirit who dwells in us (Romans 8:11). This is what we CAN operate in when we are working from our love of Adonai. It HAS to be a choice to rely on Him. Just like we CHOOSE to drink water to stave off dehydration. Just like we CHOOSE to eat to stave off starvation. We CHOOSE to engage the fruit that exist in us when we are humbly submitted to the Father through our love of Him (John 14:15-31).

We believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Be believe in the Father as our Father and Source. We TRUST what He has said about it and believe with eager expectation that it WILL manifest in our lives as we engage what He says we can engage. In fact, He says that when we are living our lives focused on Him and submitted to His will, the expression of these things will become automatic as we actively choose to do what makes Him smile. “On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (John 7:37-39). The Spirit was given shortly afterward (Acts 2:1-41). James reminds us that when we TRUST in Jesus, actions and words based on that trust naturally come out (James 2:26). Our trust becomes actions and words through our love of Adonai (Galatians 5:6).

“You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it would give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29). “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone” (Colossians 4:6). “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24). Adonai is ALWAYS about positive speech, uplifting speech, encouraging speech, gentle speech, and godly or righteous speech. Only saying those things that line up with what HE says. With HIS morals and good conduct. It’s something that is impossible outside of Jesus (James 3:8). But IN HIM, relying on HIS strength, hand in hand with our Saviour, Redeemer, and Lord, it CAN be done. “Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, but for God all things are possible.”” (Matthew 19:26).

Remember Andrew Newberg, M.D. and Mark Robert Waldman from the beginning? They found in their research what Paul wrote in the epistles. They just put it in science lingo: positive words strengthen areas in the brain that promote cognitive functioning and stimulate the motivational centres of the brain. Adonai MADE us. He KNOWS how we function. If we were to start by listening to Him, we’d find all our research would line up with Him. There is a reason that Adonai can be trusted. He ONLY speaks TRUTH. Essentially, human knowledge can be very, VERY good but it inevitably gets filtered through about 8,124,264,264 viewpoints coming from different cultures, social structures, environments, financial situations, feelings, and opinions – all of which is subjective. OR we could rely on the ONE OBJECTIVE point of view: Yahweh’s. We could choose to read His Word and submit to what we find there. We could choose to promote the values, ideals, thoughts, and behaviours HE recommends. We could choose to rely on HIM to achieve that IN JESUS. We could embody today’s verse and in Jesus, using the words Ruach HaKodesh provides us and the Word we have meditated on so that it lives in our hearts, and spread LIFE to those around us. It can be figurative, but it can ALSO be LITERAL LIFE, LITERAL HEALTH. It CAN be. The Word SAYS so (Proverbs 3:8; Psalm 119:25; John 6:63; John 6:27; John 17:17; Luke 4:4; 1 Peter 2:2).

Speak LIFE. Speak the WORD. And rely on Him to give you the words so that your speech will be in accordance to Adonai’s point of view. Ever-blessing those around you and helping to heal them of those conditions negative words promote: depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), psychosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), social anxiety disorder, emotional outbursts, and stress. The Word spoken in LOVE can counter-act those negative things. Just the WORD. If you are willing to be His mouthpiece, that Word can change lives. Maybe a bit at a time. A friendly word in a coffee shop spoken from Him to them through you. Maybe longer conversations. Maybe exploring the Word together. It can be in a thousand different ways. But we can be the light that shrivels up the mould of negativity that is lying on their mind, their heart, and their life. Choose LIFE. Choose LOVE. Choose His Words.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 35:5

“Then blind eyes will open, deaf ears will hear.” Messiah would have a ministry of miracles. Much like the religious climate today and the world’s climate, miracles are not frequent or even unknown. Such was the case then. Because of this, a ministry of miracles would be a loud and visible sign of the Messiah. “Jesus answered them, “Go tell John what you hear and see: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them—and blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me!”” (Matthew 11:4-6). Jesus’ ministry was fraught with miracles. Barely a recorded day went by without some kind of miracle being performed. Jesus proclaimed Himself Messiah in no louder way than the blind who saw (Luke 18:38-43), the deaf who heard (Mark 7:31-35), the lame who walked (Matthew 9:1-8), and the dead who were raised to life again (Luke 7:11-17). Jesus had a miracle ministry. 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