Fear No Fear

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

When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle and said to them, “Peace be to you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
John 20:19-21 (emphasis added)

The day after the sabbath is the first day of the week. God worked six days, rested on the seventh, and the eighth day was the first day of the new week. The day of new things. The first day of walking in what was started, crafted, and finished the previous seven. Jesus said, “It is finished” on the cross (John 19:30), ‘rested’ in the grave, and was resurrected after the sabbath on the eighth day. A day of new things. It is most evident by Jesus’ first words.
In the Old Testament and the beginning of the new, angels arrived on the scene by telling those who saw them not to fear. It didn’t happen every time, but it happened almost every time. When it didn’t, they weren’t presenting their heavenly appearance. They seemed to be like any other human. Joshua saw a warrior. Samson’s parents saw a visitor who was maybe a prophet. Abraham met travellers on the road. But when they showed up as messengers of the Lord, shining with the reflected light of His glory, they always started by saying not to fear.

Angels can be startling in their suddenness. Our flesh also kicks up when faced with righteousness, and angels reflect the righteousness of the Lord God Almighty whom they serve. The supernatural is always a little gulp-y to the natural. Fear is a flesh response to that which it doesn’t understand. To that which might be a danger. To anything that is not also flesh. Having been stripped of the wholeness of our mind-body-spirit when we betrayed the Lord, the flesh doesn’t process things the way that it should. Instead of rejoicing in the face of the Lord’s presence or the presence of His messengers, we cringe and fear and slink.

But praise God, Jesus changed all that for us. Changed it and signalled that He changed it on the new day. The first day of the week. The first day that we could walk in the redemptive work of the cross. When Jesus showed up, He did not tell them not to fear first thing. No, He imparted to them peace. In both John and Luke, His first declaration is for peace to be with them. In Matthew, it is the instruction to rejoice. Mark doesn’t record His first words. Faith is the antithesis of fear. And faith resides on a bed of peace. Faith is a total confidence. When you have total confidence, you have peace. Jesus was giving the positive command, instead of the negative command. Like a lifeguard at a public pool calling out ‘Please walk’ instead of ‘No running’. With the positive command of peace, Jesus signalled the beginning of the Age of Grace.

Grace is, for lack of a better word, awesome. Instead of being shown mercy (negative command stuff) we get to walk in Grace (positive command stuff). The essential moral state is the same. We are required to be righteous. Anything not of righteousness is unrighteousness. If it isn’t of faith it is of sin. But instead of being literally at the mercy of God, we are already in Grace so we can come to Him in repentance. The price being paid, we can come and receive it for our wrongdoing and be cleansed. It isn’t a get out of jail free card. “For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgement, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27). “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness” (Romans 6:15-18).

We don’t have to fear because we are not operating in a state of sin. We were cleansed of it. We are redeemed from it. We are no longer those who sin. We are still capable of it, but it is not our default choice. We are able to rise above it. We are able to make the choice of righteousness.

So why don’t we?

Because we can’t do it on our own. Our choicer is still broken. The flesh input is still by default dialled up to about one hundred percent. It is a loud, booming, window rattling volume. Our spirit input is dialled down to about twenty or maybe thirty. It is a quiet, meditative stream conducive to night time thoughts and rest. Our mind has to choose which input to react to. Which one to go with. By nature, it goes with the one that it hears. Without some help, the flesh will be the heard voice. The choices we make will be based on the information that voice provides, and our actions will be based on something that isn’t faith which will make it sin. Even the right thing done with the wrong heart motive isn’t something done in faith. But take heart. We are under Grace.

When we realise our error, we can confess our sin and be cleansed as the Holy Spirit helps us repent, turn around, and go in the other direction: “This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie and don’t tell the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:5-9). Grace isn’t a license to sin, but a license to repent. But how do we manage that?

How can we be in a state of repenting for our non-faith actions, thoughts, and words? How can we listen to the spirit and not the flesh? Walking in the light as He is in the light. “Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burnt. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples” (John 15:4-8). We need to abide in Jesus. That is how we walk in the light. He is in the light so in Him we are in the light. He is Righteousness and He gives us His righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). By the guidance of the Holy Spirit who speaks in us, we can know the path that we should tread in everything we think, say, and do.

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. With my whole heart I have sought you. Don’t let me wander from your commandments. I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, LORD. Teach me your statutes. With my lips, I have declared all the ordinances of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways. I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word” (Psalm 119:9-16). But how can we do that, you might ask. How can we follow all the commandments and statutes that the Lord has laid down—even ignoring the ones about sacrifice because Jesus IS our sacrifice (Ephesians 5:2) or the ones about personal appearance to set the Jews apart from the world around them? “Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).

God calls us to a standard of living that is righteous. Because He is righteous and He has said this is the standard of living. This is right and true. Period. We are called to live that way regardless of how we feel about it. Regardless of what we think about it. We are called to do it. Period. We can achieve it in Jesus. We can achieve it by renewing our minds with the Word. Is it because we will suddenly be able to follow all those commands? Suddenly have them memorised and always know exactly what to do? Not in ourselves, no. But love conquers all. Especially a flesh that is selfish.

“Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments”” (Matthew 22:37-40). This is the call to the believer. Love. When we are motivated by love, not our love but the pure love of God, we will follow His commandments (John 14:15-21). If we put God first we won’t be putting idols in our hearts. We will be taking time to focus on the Lord and honour Him. We’ll be honouring our parents—whether we agree with them or not. We won’t be stealing, lying, killing, murdering, coveting, or being sexually immoral. We will be seeking to please the Lord, not ourselves. To be putting Him first, not ourselves. The Word helps us because it amps up the spirit signal. We can hear the Holy Spirit with clarity. We will hear our own spirit with clarity. We will be able to see how both of those line up with the Word, which is the Will of the Father.

When we are aligned with the Father’s Will, nothing can hold us back. We will be seeking His things. His ideas. His fellowship. His guidance. Our mental landscape starts shifting our focus off of us and this world and onto the Lord and His Kingdom. Our lives are perfected in Him. We see the beauty of the world more clearly. We enjoy making Him happy. Doing, thinking, and saying those things that meet with His approval. So we can feel him smile. So that we know that we are motivated by making Him happy. Not through works, but through obedience. When we love Him, we find ourselves obeying Him. Naturally doing that which is right without necessarily knowing the particular commandment, statute, or ‘rule’ that He has laid down: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire” (Galatians 5:16-17).

We are in a new era and have been since Jesus walked out of the tomb. We have no need to fear because we can live in peace. We are not under Law but under Grace. The price has been paid, so we can accept that and move forward in fellowship with God. That isn’t skipping down the road singing. That’s singing and skipping while carrying our cross and dying to Self every day. It is keeping the Lord first place in our lives in all things so that we can abound in Joy and Peace. It is simple, but it is not easy. We must stay grounded in the Word. We must abide in Jesus. Otherwise we listen to the loud flesh and not the quiet spirit. It is in Jesus, by Jesus, and through Jesus that we can overcome the world because He is the one who overcame.

“For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). We access that spirit through Jesus. Through Jesus we can rejoice and accept the peace He offers us. We can walk in the Word and by the Word. We can bless the Lord with our soul and all that is within us. Offering to Him the worship and glory and honour that is His due. We can take this Good News and share it with everyone around us. With the whole world. That they might know the Peace of God which passes human understanding and accomplishes within us what we say is impossible. Make this day your new day. The start of your new walk. The first steps in the finished work of Jesus. The journey of sanctification which moves us from self to selfless, loveless to loving, worrying to worship, and from objection to obedience. Hand in hand, cross to cross, Jesus leading the way right beside us every step. Peace be to you today.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Joshua 1:8-9

When you don’t like someone, you give them a job to do but not the tools to do it with. Watching them flounder. Getting more and more worked up as they go. Setting before them failure and enjoying them sink into it. When we like someone, we set them up for success and help them reach it. We make sure that they have the tools they need to do the job and the training to understand how to use the tools. How much more do we do for those we love? It’s off the charts. God is the same way. He knows how we should be because He made us. He is Righteousness and we should be too. We once were, but we chose to leave it. We fell away from it. In Jesus, we can go back. It takes work on our part because we need to choose constantly. Life over death. Love over hate. Faith over fear. Our flesh is plugged into the world. Our spirit is renewed into Jesus’ own spirit. Our soul (the us that is our mind, our emotions, and our heart) is in the middle. We have to choose in every single thing we do, say, or actively think — not thoughts that come to us, but those we are engaging with, dwelling on, and building up. What is the tool we need to accomplish this? God doesn’t call you to anything that He hasn’t empowered you to do. He doesn’t ask for a single thing where there is no tool to achieve it. He never EVER teases us, sets us up for failure, or tests to see if we’ll figure it out. He ALWAYS gives us what we need to do what He has called us to do. In every case, the main tool is the same. It is the tool by which creation was created (John 1:3). It is the tool by which we all have our life and existence maintained (Hebrews 1:3-4). The Word. If we put the Word in front of our eyes, in our ears, and think on it with our minds, we can achieve all that the Lord calls us to. We will have good success. It will be life to us (Proverbs 3:8). Both spiritually and physically. It is our guidepost. It is the Will of the Father made known to us. And if we know the Will of the Father and ask according to that will there is nothing whatsoever that will be denied us (1 John 5:14-15). This is a powerful tool because it is Jesus. Jesus is the Word and the Word is Jesus (John 1:14). The Father gave the Son to us. Gave the Word to us. So that in Him we could do all things. All. That is love. And it is for you today, yesterday, and every day to come from now to the unending end that we will inhabit in Him. God so loved us He gave us the Word. Read it, ingest it, and dwell on it today. It will change your world and you’ll never look back.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.