Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

When they lead you away and deliver you up, don’t be anxious beforehand or premeditate what you will say, but say whatever will be given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
Mark 13:11 (emphasis added)

Don’t be anxious. Don’t worry. You’ll be given what to speak when those who persecute you for my name and my sake bring you before their authorities. Don’t try and rehearse. There is a great example of this in Acts 4:8-12. Peter and John had been brought before the Council and Peter spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Council marvelled at his words (v 13) because they clearly saw that (a) Peter was uneducated and (b) that they had been with Jesus. Peter spoke beyond his abilities. Stephen did the same in Acts 7. Neither of them had time to prepare. In the moment, they spoke what they were given to speak. They trusted the Holy Spirit and they weren’t let down. Moreover, they presented the exact same qualities that Jesus had when He was before the Council and speaking to the religious teachers. They recognised Jesus in these men.

It doesn’t mean that we should count on being given sermons every time we are called to speak. Jesus is here specifically talking about persecution. When it comes to teaching and preaching, while the Holy Spirit does inspire, guide, and correct us, we are still called to study and form our thoughts. It’s just that the Holy Spirit might take us off script or in a totally different direction at the moment of execution. There is still benefit from study and preparation — in fact, without the study and preparation our ears might not be tuned in enough to hear what the Spirit has to say in the moment. We can trust in the Spirit to guide us, but it doesn’t release us from the responsibility of learning and studying. But when it comes to persecution because of Jesus, it is not us on trial but Him. Since He is the one on trial, He wants to speak in His defence. It isn’t about saving or not saving us from earthly punishments (Matthew 10:28). It is about providing the best testimony of Jesus that we can — which is only really accomplished by the Holy Spirit through us. Jesus is His own best defence. It’s best if we don’t get in the way.

This verse is pointing us toward trust. Not only in the Holy Spirit to speak through us when the time is right, but also cultivating an atmosphere of trust toward God. Not just in God, but TOWARD God. It’s a different thing. Proverbs 3:5-6 tell us “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” In the Hebrew the word we translate as ‘in’ (el ‘ale’) is defined as to, into, and towards. Psalm 25:15 uses it as “My eyes are ever on (or toward) the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.” We are to trust toward the Lord. It is an action command. To endeavour in all things to lean toward Him and not ourselves. And by Grace it goes the other way too. Leviticus 26:9-13 tells us the Lord will lean toward us or respect us and bless us. We lean toward Him, and He leans toward us, and together we can accomplish anything (Matthew 19:26).

This is the kind of atmosphere we are called to produce around ourselves, whether you look at these verses as a principle or a promise. I work to take the bible literally. As written, while also acknowledging symbolism, allegory, and examples. I believe that the bible means what it says. If it says A, then it is A — even when B might also be true. Since all scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, I believe He will back up what He says. The catch is always on our end. When the Spirit says He will do B if we do A, then if we do A He WILL do B. It’s always a question of whether we are truly doing or able to do the A part. If we will acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, He WILL make our paths straight. But are we truly acknowledging Him in all our ways? Psalm 66:16-20 “Come and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue. If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened. But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.” If we are seeking to apply the promises of God by obeying the principles of the Word, He is faithful to fulfil His promises. But our will and what is in our hearts has a huge say on whether we are standing in the blessing zone. If we aren’t in His yard there is nothing He will do. We have free will and He does not violate it.

On a practical level, what does it mean to lean toward God? “Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Paul is stating this in and around the issue the Corinthian church was facing about food in the marketplace that had previously been sacrificed to idols and whether it was okay to eat. Paul mentions the spiritual principle that everything we do is to be for the glory of God. That means everything we do should be done in the light of the Will of the Lord (Romans 14:23). That means that everything we do or think or say should be according to a principle of the bible. It should line up with the Law even though we are motivated by Grace. When I say Law here, I am speaking of the Word and the instructions/commands/corrections we find inside. I am not talking of the rules and regulations that humanity has added to ‘help’ us follow the instructions OR the Jewish codified Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy) which had its place, but was fulfilled in Jesus (Matthew 5:17). Those are (for those who abide in Jesus in the New Covenant) religious chains that make the yoke of Jesus burdensome — which it isn’t in any way (Matthew 11:30).

The Word isn’t rules and restrictions. Not even the books of Moses — Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. It’s instruction in Righteousness. It’s instruction in life and not just life, but life abundantly. It’s instruction on how to be under the cover of His protection. It’s instruction in how to receive His Blessings. How else could Jesus say “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). Where do we find that statement? Right near the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. A long discourse instructing us on how to live. Jesus never shied away from instruction or from the standard of righteous living that the Father set. And Jesus could hardly be called a rule-jockey. In fact, the only group of people who hated Jesus — the group who were responsible for killing Him — were the religious leaders. The Jews didn’t kill Jesus, the religious leaders did. Sure, they incited the crowd to vote against Jesus. Sure, the Romans carried out the sentence. But it was the religious teachers at whose door the guilt falls. Religion is a bondage that tries to choke the Word every chance it gets (Matthew 13:22). Jesus isn’t about that. “Come to me, all you who labour and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

How do we foster this atmosphere of trusting toward the Lord? Obedience with assurance. What is assurance? Easy freedom from self-doubt and uncertainty, excessive self-confidence, being certain in the mind, and something that inspires confidence. For us to be assured of the Lord, we need freedom from doubt and uncertainty, we need excessive confidence in the Lord, we need to be certain in the mind, and we need to have something about the Lord that inspires confidence.

The Word inspires confidence and eliminates uncertainty. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13). It was written to all us who believe “that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden” (Colossians 2:2-3). We can trust the Lord because we know that He keeps His promises. “Nothing failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass” (Joshua 21:45). “Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well; for I watch over my word to perform it”” (Jeremiah 1:12). When the Lord starts a work in us, He sees it through (Philippians 1:6). Romans 8:16 tells us the Spirit inside us testifies and assures us that we are the children of God. And for our purposes today the final word is Romans 5:1-2 which says “Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

We have blessed assurance and can indulge in total excessive confidence that the Lord will see His Word through. That what He says will come to pass will come to pass. That His promises are good forever and always. That when He speaks His Word on something, it always produces a work, never coming back to Him void. If that is how we view God, then how can we have anything but an atmosphere of trust? “The LORD is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). The only remaining question is what you are going to do with that trust. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17), meaning that if we have true faith we cannot help but act in accordance with it which produces works. The works are the result of faith, not the thing that justifies or creates the faith. In the same way, if we trust toward the Lord we will be obedient. The obedience isn’t the trust, but the result of trust. In my mind the gold standard of this was Elijah.

“Then the LORD’s word came to him, saying, “Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there”” (1 Kings 17:2-4). And Elijah went! You think about that. He is travelling to where there is no food. Very little shelter, none of which was man-made. And the only water from a tributary of the Jordan, a small mountain-fed stream. In a major drought. In a land hostile to his presence while he had a price on his head by royal decree. And he went. That is obedience. Without indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Without a book of prophesy dealing with his situation and his position in times to come. Surrounded by idol worshippers and waiting for birds. But he wasn’t relying on the stream. He wasn’t trusting in the birds. His faith came from the Lord. His trust was toward the Lord. His reliance was on the Lord. Elijah had an expectation. It ran throughout his whole life — whether he was hitting it right or missing the boat completely. He trusted toward the Lord. When the water ran out, he stayed (vs 7). He stayed put until the Lord told him the next step of the journey and he walked in it too!

We have a better covenant than Elijah. The Lord told Him something (part one of the plan). Elijah had to walk that out. He didn’t get the next part until he had been faithful in the first. Obedience as the demonstration of his trust toward the Lord was required before the next miracle could take place. Why? Twofold. First, if we aren’t obedient in step one or step four-hundred and twenty-two, then we aren’t ready for step two or step four-hundred and twenty-three. When we are obedient and faithful with what we have been given, then we will be given the next thing. Second, free will. We give permission for the Lord to work in our lives. We need to, because it is our legal right to refuse Him. We could say no. We could go it alone. We could insist on our way. Foolish, but it is our God-given right (Genesis 1:26). In order to foster an atmosphere of trust toward the Lord, we need to be obedient and do what He says when He says it. We also need to be broken before him and admit that we need Him. That there is nothing and no one more important to us than Him. That we show our love for Him by obeying Him (John 14:15). That we show our love for Him by walking out our trust toward Him.

The best part of that is that our trusting is toward Him. We are always moving closer to Him. Never in another direction. Never with a thousand twists and turns like some daytime soap opera. We can be assured by straight paths featuring Him on the road in front of us. Encouraging us like a parent with their toddler. We can do it. That’s right. One step at a time. By Grace, through Faith, in Jesus, by Jesus, and for Jesus. He is our all in all. He is the substance we walk in, “the completeness of Him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself” (Ephesians 1:23, Weymouth New Testament). Don’t be anxious. Don’t fill up your days worrying about what a future day will bring (Matthew 6:34). Trust toward Jesus. Trust toward Yahweh Lord God Almighty. Trust toward His mercy. Trust toward His loving kindness. Trust toward the all in all.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Psalm 66:16-20

If there is sin in our heart, how can God hear us? God hates sin. God hates prayers motivated by sin (James 4:3). He does not hear them. They are as if they don’t exist. We pray for healing, but we harbour dark passions. What are you going to do with your healing? Be boastful? Prideful? Go out and indulge in passions you shouldn’t even be imagining? Am I saying that every unanswered prayer is because of sin? No! But the Father answers EVERY PRAYER that is prayed according to His Will and His Word. We know that. Jesus said that in John 14:13-14. That’s a biblical promise. That is Word Truth. Why aren’t we seeing manifestation of it then? Like all the time? I don’t know. But when our zeal to seek the face of the Lord overwhelms us we will be able to stand in truth and proclaim “But as for me, my prayer is to you, LORD, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation” (Psalm 69:13). It isn’t only about trusting Him as an action with our whole lives. It isn’t only about repenting and keeping no hidden sin in our minds or our hearts. It isn’t only about standing on our declarations of His promises. It is about loving Him. If we love Him as He loves us, we will obey yes. But we will also give up Self. That is the cross we bear daily. That is the thing we nail to it with every thought and every word and every deed we do in faith. The Self. Which means the timeline of promises don’t matter. Order of fulfilment doesn’t matter. Scope and means and the particulars don’t matter. While we will trust His Word and have excessive confidence that He WILL do what He SAYS He will do, we don’t care when or how. No matter what the problem. We trust toward Him, taking all confidence that it is already a done deal, and then we praise Him in the interim. Never wavering. Never faltering. Never doing anything but standing. The winds of change might blow. Doubt might storm against us. But while the world laughs, I will be standing on a rock. His rock. The rock. I will not falter, because He cannot be moved. I will not fade, because Joy in Him is my strength. I know that He hears me because He wiped my sin clean. I know that He answers me because I pray what He tells me to pray. I know that He fulfils my prayer because He watches His Word to fulfil it. Now, later, whenever He wills. I don’t care because my care is on Him. I don’t worry because my worries died on the cross. I live and walk and love in Him and on Him. Toward Him. On purpose. Every day.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.