Fear No Fear

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

Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’
Joel 3:10 (emphasis added)

It is a catch 22 situation in the minds of most believers. On the one hand we are well aware of our short comings and the things we cannot do, looking ever upward for help. On the other hand, we’re constantly thinking in terms of our effort, our focus, and our abilities when we see the Word mention anointing, assignment, instruction, and obedience. How can WE do that? Why would Adonai do anything when WE can’t seem to pray much. When WE have messed up, not held to our commitment, how can we think Adonai won’t thump us a good one? ‘Oh, I try and try and can’t seem to…’ I find myself doing the same from time to time. Reality is though, that you can read the Word from one side to the other and you will not EVER find Adonai asking OR telling us to rely on our own judgement much less abilities or strength.

How do we get saved? “because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Seems simple enough. I’m sure all believers will remember it wasn’t complex. Thing is though, we are completely UNABLE to believe for salvation on our own. If Adonai didn’t actively get involved, there would not one single human being (male or female) that received salvation. Seriously. “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). He gives us the trust (faith) to believe in His Grace. Everything we do by trust, we do because He gives us HIS trust to do it with (Mark 11:22). He even goes one better.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). The One who knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) spends our lives reaching out to us, working on our hearts, preparing us through His Word, His Spirit, His Son, and His Church so that He can call to us and draw us to Him. If He doesn’t call, we are UNABLE to believe in Him. That’s why rejecting the Gospel when you under what it really is is SO dangerous. If you reject Him KNOWING what you are being offered, KNOWING what salvation is, and KNOWING the spiritual reality of both now and eternity, there is no reason to believe you would be offered a second chance to make the choice you made in full knowledge of Him. HOWEVER, our God doesn’t give up on us easily (Job 33:19) and He is MERCIFUL (Psalm 145:8-9), and He is a GOOD God far beyond what we understand in this world (Psalm 145:9; 1 Corinthians 3:12). But Adonai’s patience can run out in the face of consistent rebellion (Genesis 15.16). He also will honour our free will when we are determined to be rebellious in spite of His mercy and goodness (Romans 1:24-29). It is ALWAYS wise to respond to His gifts. He gives us over to our determined desires.

The question is WHAT are our determined desires? “My confident hope is that I will in no way be ashamed but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die” (Philippians 1:20). What does that mean practically for our day-to-day conduct? “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that—whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent—I should hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, by contending side by side for the faith of the gospel, and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is a sign of their destruction, but of your salvation—a sign which is from God” (Philippians 1:27-28). We want to be conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Messiah Jesus, standing firm one believer to another in love, working together to strengthen our trust in Adonai, operating in complete boldness in spite of what the world says or does – whether we live or die. That’s pretty bold. That is definitely a striving path. Looking at it that way, it is very easy to say ‘no way I can do that.’ And you’d be right.

We are NOT meant to do it on our own. We are NOT meant to do it in our own strength. We are NOT meant to do it according to our own agenda. We are NOT meant to do it alone. We are NOT meant to do it without a source. Who IS that source? The same source Jesus had. “He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”” (Mark 14:36). Abba comes from ‘ab’ meaning an originator, a producer, a generator, a ruler or chief, and one who constituted, controls, guides and lovingly watches over. As a common term, it doesn’t mean ‘daddy’ but a more formal ‘Father, I will obey you’. Jesus looked to the One He would obey, the One who guided, controlled, and lovingly watched over Him, the One who generated, produced, and was the origin of everything that Jesus was.

The Father is to be OUR source as well. The Ruach HaKodesh indwelling us, connecting us to Messiah Jesus, who points us to the Father to receive everything the Father has for us. “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6). “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen” (Romans 11:36). “For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’” (Acts 17:28). “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30). ““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). Like branches connected to a vine whose roots are in the ground getting nourishment, we will have NO nourishment if we are not connected to the vine. THAT is how the weak say ‘I am strong!’ THAT is how a farmer can be a warrior. THAT is how the Kingdom of God works.

The Armour of Elohim that protects us (Ephesians 6:10-20). The Fruit of the Spirit that forms our character (Galatians 5:22-23). The LOVE that is the place from which we interact with everything and everyone. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1). In other words (thinking of yesterday’s verse), if I speak but not from a place of love, I use nothing but perverse speech. Love is kind, patient, generous, modest, humble, uncomplacent, egoless, unobtrusive, deferential, unassuming, polite, civil, courteous, altruistic, humane, selfless, imperturbable, collected, composed, cool, nonchalant, unruffled, nice, sympathetic, thoughtful, unvindictive, benevolent, friendly, just, equitable, fair, and rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:4-6). We should have the same attitude toward each other that Jesus has (Philippians 2:5). We have access to the mind of Messiah on all things (1 Corinthians 2:16). This is not even ALL that He gives us. He authorises us to use His name (John 16:24). When we pray the Word, in agreement with what is says, in agreement with Adonai’s point of view about things, then we will be granted all our requests – since they will be HIS requests that we are eager to come to pass here on earth (John 15:7). We get to do EVERYTHING that brings Yahweh Glory (Colossians 3:17). We have ALL spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3-6). And we have all this IN JESUS.

Jesus conquered the world. He went through a horrific sacrificial death to pay the price of sin and was resurrected to life by the Father through Ruach HaKodesh. Jesus overcame. “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world.”” (John 16:33). Because of that, Jesus is in a UNIQUE place. He is the LIGHT of the world. The LIGHT of Glory. The UNDEFEATABLE LIGHT. Rick Renner did a study of John 1:5 (https://renner.org/article/darkness-cannot-overcome-the-light/) and when you look at the meaning of the Greek words used, you can translate John 1:5 as this: “Darkness does not have the ability to suppress or to hold the light under its domain.” If we abide in Jesus, darkness will not have the ability to suppress or hold us under its domain because we are in Jesus and He is in us.

Jesus told us how to abide (which is seeking Him in all things). “Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (John 14:23-24). When we love Him, we obey what He says – which is what the Father has said. We have the written Word, of course, but how many of us can recite that verbatim? Every time we need it? Cover to cover? How can we DO that? The Father had a plan for that too. Jesus continued saying “I have spoken these things while staying with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will cause you to remember everything I said to you” (John 14:25-26). We have Ruach HaKodesh with us and can trust Him to tell us ALL that Jesus has said to us which is ALL that the Father is saying to us. That should give us a LOT of confidence. If we LISTEN to Ruach HaKodesh, that confidence is a natural byproduct. “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). It gives us peace, it bolsters up our courage, we can therefore CHOOSE not to be distressed and CHOOSE to not lack courage in what we face. Knowing Jesus is mediating for us and watching over us, Ruach HaKodesh is in us and both guiding and correcting us, and the Father is looking down ready to heap Blessing on us gives the believer a HUGE head start in ANYTHING they are going to do because it is Jesus in us that does everything worth doing. In HIM we are EVERYTHING – which is pretty big when you think that it was JESUS saying it (John 15:5).

Because of the works of Jesus on and through the cross we have the right to BECOME children of Elohim (John 1:12-13). Born by Grace, because of Mercy, through His Trust (faith) that He gives us to accept, believing what He has told us, and walking in Him. Becoming the righteousness of Messiah Jesus that we cannot hope to earn or accomplish in our own strength. We BECOME Him. Kings and priests. Dedicated to Yahweh. Lovers of the Word. Lovers of Adonai. Humbly submitted to His point of view. Forsaking all else, we hold to Jesus. The Rock and Cornerstone of the foundation which provides us stability. When we are weak, HE becomes our strength. When sickness or disease tries to come on us, HE becomes our health and wholeness. When poverty (mental, emotional, physical, financial, or spiritual) tries to settle on us, HE becomes our affluence. When they try to make us blind, HE becomes our eyes. When they try to make us deaf, HE opens our ears. When the world tries to harden our hearts, HE softens them. When ANYTHING negative comes our way, HE becomes our positive. When there is ANY kind of conflict, HE becomes our victory. Not in what He DOES, but because of what He DID.

He FINISHED ALL THINGS (John 19:30). It is done. Victory released. All WE need to do, is engage what He says is ours. All WE need to do, is become His. We need to SPEAK IT OUT. Don’t be shy. Don’t be afraid. He TELLS us we can. He TELLS us to. What we SPEAK helps US to hear. What we HEAR gets down inside of us. What is inside of us comes out. Having victory explode out of us as we wear His armour, get nourished by Him, and do ONLY what He says ensuring we get to participate in His victories? That sounds pretty good to me. ‘I am a warrior too!’ Say it today and every day. Let it become one of the calls that rise in the morning alongside your praise to Adonai (Psalms 92:1-15).

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 40:9

“Go up on a high mountain, O herald Zion. Shout out loudly, O herald Jerusalem! Shout, don’t be afraid! Say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”” Messiah would be our opportunity to behold our God. In Daniel 7, Ezekiel 1, and Revelation 19 Elohim shows Himself to men and we read a description of what He looks like. It is beyond our thinking. It took time to recover from the visions. In Revelation 1, He is revealed to John and John’s INSTANT response was to “When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead” (Revelation 1:17a). Elohim is so magnificent that we have trouble perceiving Him. Messiah would be Elohim made manifest in a form we could SEE. That we could handle. That we could touch. That we could interact with face to face. “Gazing at Jesus as he walked by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”” (John 1:36). “(Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, about noon.) Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, here is your king!”” (John 19:14). Jesus was identified (more than once) by disciples, men of Elohim, Gentiles, and even evil/unclean/demonic spirits as THE Son of Elohim, THE King of the Jews, and THE manifestation of Elohim in flesh. MORE than two witnesses proclaimed this truth and established the charge (Deuteronomy 19:15). 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