Fear No Fear

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

That day Moses made this solemn promise: ‘Surely the land on which you walked will belong to you and your descendants permanently, for you remained loyal to the Lord your God.
Joshua 14:9 (emphasis added)

The territory we’re to tread contains our inheritance in the promise of the Blessing. Through Jesus’ New Covenant with the Father, our now is connected to our future. Every verse we walk, every promise we hold to, every word we hear, all of it is steps to the future where our Blessing rests. It rests there on the road of our faithfulness (which He enables through the Fruit of the Spirit) to Adonai. It rests there on the Rock that is our foundation: Messiah Jesus. We can faithfully stand on that. We can depend on it. We can be LOYAL to our trust in Him. Adonai is not slow to fulfil the promise, but we CAN be a tad impatient.

I often regret telling my children things that are upcoming or letting them see new purchases (say a new snack for the neighbourhood). Almost – but not quite – instantly the ‘requests’ begin. Can we? Can we? Can we? Can we now? Is it now? Is it soon? Can we? It seems every ten minutes one of them is at my elbow asking. They don’t care if something needs to come first. They don’t care if they need to complete a task. They don’t even care if it is prepared yet – I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to pull my attention away from actively cooking a meal to listen to a child inform me they are hungry. Can we? Can we? Can we? No thought to how things stand from MY point of view. No thought to how things will function in terms of the overall day. No thought to how things need to be spaced to last for the whole period leading to next shopping day. Can we? Can we? Can we NOW?

These are normal kid attitudes, I know. You know what? We’re the children of Elohim. He is OUR Father. Is it any wonder why so much of what happens isn’t told to us? Can you imagine the world-wide near-instant ‘requests’ to see it come to pass? Overall how poor at waiting have some of us been with the little the Word gave us regarding the End of Times? How are ANY of us with our healing or deliverance from a given situation when we’re told ‘it is coming’. Jesus knew we were going to nag. That we’d go to our default setting of Can we? Can we? Can we?. “For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24). “Jesus answered them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive.”” (Matthew 21:21-22).

We’re a fast food world. Instant gratification seems a long time to wait. When we want it, we want it. And when we want it, we want it now. If you ever doubt that, look at the credit card industry. According to SkyQuest Technology (www.skyquestt.com.com), the Global Credit Card Market size was valued at USD 489.4 billion in 2021 and is poised to grow from USD 521.8 billion in 2022 to USD 961.2 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 7.78% in the forecast period (2023-2030). That is 961.2 billion dollars of people not waiting to buy. While it is true that the world is moving into a digital world where you almost need to have a credit card, how many people are using them as they should? Not putting a single purchase on them if you don’t have the money in the bank to pay it off? I think you’ll find the VAST majority of people are buying what they cannot afford. Not wise even by human standards, it is doubly so from Adonai’s point of view. “Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8). The only acceptable debt is the love we owe every person we meet (John 13:34).

You’ll find that the closer you walk with Adonai, the more you’re led to walk territory. It can be physical, but it can also be spiritual. It’s part of how He deals with us and He’s been doing it a LONG time. “Get up and walk throughout the land, for I will give it to you” (Genesis 13:17). This was a survey. A promise that every step of ground Abraham covered would belong to his descendants. This was a vision walk. If Abraham saw it, Abraham could claim it. When Adonai gave the boundaries of the Promised Land (Numbers 34:1-12; Ezekiel 47:13-23), we’re reading a journal of everywhere Abraham walked. Every place that Abraham saw. Each and every part of his complete vision. Vision fuelled by our imagination is VITAL to our walk with Adonai. “When there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but the one who keeps the law, blessed is he!” (Proverbs 29:18). If we can SEE it, we can know it is coming. If we KNOW it, it’s easier to remember it. To keep our focus on it. To not get weary standing. To happily hold.

Rejoicing and thanking are important. They help keep us on track. They are a big part of us recognising our position in relation to Adonai. When we see where He inhabits and acknowledge that wonder and mercy and glory, it can change the entire atmosphere around us. It helps us open the doors of heaven and walk right on through to the Throne (Psalm 100:4). When we recognise His proper place in our lives, it is easier for us to live like it. To align our actions with His point of view – altering them as needed. To eagerly put on His easy yoke (Matthew 11:28-30). To WAIT on Him. Not as a child over-eager for things to be given. Rather as servants or wait staff, eager for every opportunity to obey the wishes of a favoured client. Not being idle, but continuing to do our ‘job’ as we wait for special instructions or the things coming our way.

Waiting, then, means thanking. As Jesus instructed, when we pray and believe we have received – right then and there in the moment no matter what we are seeing or perceiving – all that is left is thanking Him for it. To help call down the Anointing through our honest, consistent, and unrelenting thanksgiving for what we believed we received. It’s like sending thank you note after thank you note to beloved Grandparents who got you that special thing which was completely beyond your means. You saw the promise, you believed the promise, and you’re so thankful for it you don’t let go. Why let go of what is yours? It was a gift to YOU specially. For you. Why give that up? Why stop believing just because you need to wait? We all WANT the thing we just bought when we click ‘buy’ online. Yeah, we might be looking for it the next day. But we don’t seriously expect it to arrive. Takes time to process, package, load, and ship an order.

Your TRUST pays for that package. When you’re trusting that He will do something when He decides to move… you’re going to be waiting a LONG time and maybe never get it. Adonai’s done all the moving for many things that He’s ever going to do. They were finished on the cross. Like healing. It was by His stripes/bruises/wounds that we WERE healed (Matthew 8:16-17). When you’re trusting in what He has ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED IN FULL through Jesus? You can receive that immediately, no waiting, near-instantaneous healing. Every healing Jesus ever performed was immediate or close to. Jesus doesn’t change (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus doesn’t hold one of us more special than another (Acts 10:34; Romans 2:11). HE hasn’t changed. He’ll still deliver EXACTLY the same way. We can command healing. He told us that. He told us to heal the sick. Not pray for it. Not beg for it. Do it (Matthew 10:8). And they DID (Acts 3:6). Jesus did it and promised this: “I tell you the solemn truth, the person who believes in me will perform the miraculous deeds that I am doing, and will perform greater deeds than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). There doesn’t HAVE to be a change in how it works. IF we believe, THEN we’ll receive. In the EXACT same way. In the EXACT same timeframes. It IS possible (Luke 1:37). But DO we believe? Really?

“Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2). It is a REASONABLE SACRIFICE for us to trust in Him. In His timing. In His power. In His ACCOMPLISHED WORK IN THE CROSS. If you don’t believe with all your heart, get into the Word and let Adonai change your mind on it. Let Him seep the Word into your heart, through your mind, through your mouth, through your eyes, and through your ears. Watch programs that are Word-based. Listen to the Word and Word-based teaching. Speak out the scriptures that He points out to you. Think on them. Ask Him about them. It is SIMPLE. But the flesh doesn’t want to. It wants to watch TV. It wants to read murdery books. It wants to play games. It wants to ‘relax’. It wants to eat. It wants all the things that are distractions from Adonai. But if we sacrifice a few paltry moments, minutes, hours, or even days to this WONDERFUL Lord of ours, there is NOTHING that will be impossible in your life because ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH ADONAI (Matthew 19:26).

When the Father shows you the territory, walk it. You might walk it and think it’s for NOW, but it might be for the future. You walk where He says to walk and He will move. Our obedience to Him is the key that opens the door to great and mighty things here on this Earth. He is looking for someone to send (Isaiah 6:8). “So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world by holding on to the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast: that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain” (Philippians 2:12-16). Let’s wait on Him. He isn’t slow to fulfil His promises. “The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Adonai WILL fulfil what He SAYS He will fulfil. When He shows you where to go and what to do (John 5:19), go there. Do it. He is showing you the portion of the land which will be yours and your descendants. He is leading your vision walk. Walk His vision for you. It is nothing but good (James 1:17). Be loyal to your trust. The trust that has deepened through the Word. Be loyal to Him and walk in the possession He has for you.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 42:13-25

“The Lord emerges like a hero, like a warrior he inspires himself for battle; he shouts, yes, he yells, he shows his enemies his power. “I have been inactive for a long time; I kept quiet and held back. Like a woman in labor I groan; I pant and gasp. I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn streams into islands and dry up pools of water. I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way; I will guide them down paths they have never traveled. I will turn the darkness in front of them into light and level out the rough ground. This is what I will do for them. I will not abandon them. Those who trust in idols will turn back and be utterly humiliated, those who say to metal images, ‘You are our gods.’ “Listen, you deaf ones! Take notice, you blind ones! My servant is truly blind, my messenger is truly deaf. My covenant partner, the servant of the Lord, is truly blind. You see many things, but don’t comprehend; their ears are open, but do not hear.” The Lord wanted to exhibit his justice by magnifying his law and displaying it. But these people are looted and plundered; all of them are trapped in pits and held captive in prisons. They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them; they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, “Bring that back!” Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen attentively in the future? Who handed Jacob over to the robber? Who handed Israel over to the looters? Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned? They refused to follow his commands; they disobeyed his law. So he poured out his fierce anger on them, along with the devastation of war. Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; it burned against them, but they did not take it to heart.” These will be Messiah’s actions at His second coming. First, the suffering servant. Second, the reigning King. The stabilising, judging, holy, prayerful King. King, High Priest, and Saviour. He will be moving with rebuke, correction, and finally judgement, He moves at a just pace – always providing space to repent for those whose hearts will turn to Him. “He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet, and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength” (Revelation 1:13b-16). “Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war. His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except himself. He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God. The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. From his mouth extends a sharp sword so that with it he can strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”” (Revelation 19:11-16). From the beginning of Revelation to the end, Jesus is proclaimed as our High Priest, our Lord, and our victorious King. He IS the Alpha-Omega. He IS King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He IS the Great I AM. He IS the Light of the World. He IS the Living One. He IS coming soon (Revelation 22:6-17). 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