Fear No Fear

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

No resident of Zion will say, “I am ill”; the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.
Isaiah 33:24 (emphasis added)

Deuteronomy 28 forever proves that sickness, poverty, and oppression are NOT blessings in disguise. Adonai said that sickness (Deuteronomy 28:21-22, 27-28, 35, and 59-61) and poverty (Deuteronomy 28:31-34 and 38-48) are curses, not blessings from Him. Jesus came to do the work of redemption (Revelation 13:8) so that we would be FREE from the curses of the Law (Galatians 3:13). We now live in the blessings that come upon us through Jesus. We have become the Righteousness of Elohim in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). Elohim’s curses – His wrath toward sin – were placed on Jesus and REMOVED from those of us who accept Jesus’ sacrifice.

Jesus warned of the link between sin and sickness. “After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more, lest anything worse happen to you.”” (John 5:14). But Jesus didn’t say that INDIVIDUAL sin is always the cause of illness. If the Father caused or brought illness on people, Jesus would have been violating His will in healing them. Sin is the ultimate cause of sickness. If there was no sin, none of us would ever be ill. It is sin in this fallen world that is the root of illness and disease. But to assume that individual sin causes individual illness in every case is a misrepresentation of what Jesus taught. “His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him” (John 9:2-3). Regardless of what causes the illness (sin as a force bringing sickness or an individual thing we’ve done that opened an opportunity for sickness), it is ALWAYS the work of Jesus to heal and bring Glory to Elohim.

Jesus came to redeem us. To bring to us salvation. Salvation is more than simply the paying of sin’s price. It is the removal of us from the kingdom of darkness and the placing of us into the Kingdom of Elohim. Since sin can be the indirect cause of illness simply because sin in general has corrupted the perfect balance that Adonai created in nature, when we are removed from that environment through salvation, we no longer need to be subject to that illness. We are free from it. You don’t HAVE to get wet if you aren’t in the pool. Sure, we could dip a toe in. Sure, we could give an opportunity to someone in the pool to splash us. But once we have been removed from the water it is no longer our natural state to be wet. We’re dry. If we stay out of the water, we’ll NEVER get wet. In the same way, the forgiveness of our sin – our washing clean by the Blood of Jesus – removed sin and its effects from us forever.

We no longer need to be sick. We no longer need to lie. We no longer need to be sexually immoral. We no longer need to have diseases. We no longer need to have anxiety. We no longer need to be crippled. We no longer need to have mental disorders. We no longer need to be anything but whole and healthy. That is the natural condition of a saved human being (male or female). On our own we are still at the mercy of our natural training and the elements around us. But IN JESUS we are equipped and authorised to stand against EVERYTHING having to do with the curse of sin. We’ll be tempted, but we don’t HAVE to fall.

I don’t know if you realise this, but illness and disease are temptations to be sick. They work the same way as every other temptation. When the symptoms of sickness come on us, WE get to choose whether or not we succumb. WE choose whether we will accept the temptation or whether we reject the temptation. “No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). In the case of illness, the healing power Jesus released through the cross is the way out. By His stripes we WERE healed (Matthew 8:16-17). When illness comes calling, we’re to place our foot on its neck. The foot armoured with Adonai’s armour (Ephesians 6:11-13). We are meant to master the temptation IN Jesus, WITH Jesus, and THROUGH Jesus (Genesis 4:7). If we submit in obedience to Adonai then we will not be bringing opportunity for illness through individual sin. If we stand on Adonai’s Word and look to the Father as our Source in all things, the devil WILL flee from us (James 4:7). It may take longer to stand against physical sickness than it does a wandering eye or a flare of temper, but it is the SAME principle and Jesus is there with us in it the SAME way.

Our nature is to be loving, but we sometimes hate. Our nature is to be kind, but we are sometimes rude. Our nature is to be gentle, but we sometimes lash out. Our nature is to be monogamous and faithful, but we sometimes cheat. Our nature is to be healthy, but we sometimes get sick. If we repent for choosing the other negative and sinful behaviours, why aren’t we repenting of accepting sickness? It is a failure to trust Jesus for our health. Sure, there could be reasons and causes and circumstances that brought it on us (accidents, pandemics, genetic predispositions, etc). But when we see it, know it, or experience it, we should be defeating it by letting Jesus take care of it instead of accepting it. When our sin was forgiven (salvation), we stopped HAVING to put up with it. We are allowed and empowered to reject it. To refuse it. To fight it with the Word. To stand against it. To engage Jesus’ healing power that sits in the Blood on the Mercy Seat that washes you clean from every sickness, illness, disease, sniffle, sin, transgression, and curse whose ultimate root is SIN as a thing which exists.

“Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:11). “He will shelter you with his wings; you will find safety under his wings. His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall. You need not fear the terrors of the night, the arrow that flies by day, the plague that stalks in the darkness, or the disease that ravages at noon” (Psalm 91:4-7). “Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, but for God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). “Then large crowds came to him bringing with them the lame, blind, crippled, mute, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them” (Matthew 15:30).

Jesus hasn’t changed. Every single person who comes to Him CAN be healed because He released healing power to every single person willing to engage it. He ALWAYS heals. It is WE who fail to engage and receive it. It is impossible for us to do it. It is NOT impossible for Him. He DID IT ALREADY! Today’s verse refers to a specific group of people living in a specific place. Who are they? “The one who lives uprightly and speaks honestly; the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures and rejects a bribe; the one who does not plot violent crimes and does not seek to harm others—this is the person who will live in a secure place; he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds; he will have food and a constant supply of water. You will see a king in his splendour; you will see a wide land” (Isaiah 33:15-17). They live in the BLESSING zone. In the Old Covenant that was Zion, Jerusalem, the place chosen by Adonai to inhabit. But in the New Covenant, WE are His habitation. “In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22).

Adonai doesn’t dwell where sin reigns. Sin cannot survive in His presence. When Adonai lives inside us we can be SURE that sin is not our nature. If sin is not our nature, the ‘Old Man’ is dead and not causing us to sin. It is our FREE WILL that we use to give into temptation and sin. In the same way, we are healthy. When symptoms of illness come on us, it us our FREE WILL that accepts them. It will also be our FREE WILL that we use to choose to reject the symptoms and fight the sickness with every letter of the Word and by being obedient to every instruction we get from Adonai. We were raised in this material flesh and blood world. It takes a LOT for our minds to refuse what our senses tell us. BUT we have the promises of the Word to stand on. We have the instructions of Adonai to follow. We CAN stand, we CAN be healed, it IS possible, healing has NOT passed away because Adonai has not passed away and He IS the One Who Heals Us (Exodus 15:26).

You are forgiven. You do NOT have to say you are ill. You CAN stand on the Word. You CAN be obedient and humbly submit to Adonai. You CAN enjoy the health and wholeness of your NEW nature as a NEW creation IN JESUS (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus ALWAYS heals. We are FREE from sin and its affects. If there is an individual sin, Ruach HaKodesh will tell us, help to correct us, lead us through repentance, and get that dealt with (1 John 1:9). If it is simply because we are in a fallen world where sin exists, we can stand against the temptation to accept sickness and refuse to budge from our place in Jesus’ Righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

We CAN be whole. We ARE healthy. Say I am well in Jesus! Don’t let it go. Let Jesus guide you along. Receive your healing! Engage your trust and believe His Word! He is faithful and just and will NOT disappoint. He heals (Psalm 147:3). He answers our call with health (Psalm 30:2). If we make Him our dwelling, He WILL be our refuge (Psalm 91). THIS is where we live. THIS is our place. In Him, whole, and healthy.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 42:2

“He will not cry out or shout; he will not publicize himself in the streets.” Messiah would be meek and lowly. He wouldn’t be full of Himself. He wouldn’t be a grand-stander. He wouldn’t be striving for position. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” (Matthew 11:28-30). Animals that are yoked are yoked in a pair. Jesus was calling us to be yoked to Him. Which means we would be in the yoke together, obeying the Father who is the Source for everything. We are not called to pull the cart alone. We’re called to be joined to Jesus. He is not putting Himself above us. He is bring us up to His position in HIM. He is not proud, but meek and kind and gentle. All things are possible, when we are doing them WITH Him (Matthew 19:26). 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