Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

For the compensation due sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

In the beginning, things were a certain way that they are not now. Things ran as they were INTENDED to run. Adonai already had the plan for salvation in place (Revelation 13:8), but for a time things were operating as designed. We don’t know how much time it was. Based on Eve’s statements of Genesis 4:1 it can be assumed that they did not have children during this time. Then Eve made a bad decision and separated herself from Adonai by acting independently. Adam, who had the opportunity to intervene or at least challenge her thinking (he was there beside her throughout the encounter – Genesis 3:6), joined her in her rebellion against relying on Adonai. This triggered two things. First, it activated Sin; and second, death was empowered to enter Creation. “Because of this, just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Before this moment (when Adam despised Adonai) there was NO SIN and NO DEATH. Life had a cycle, but it was a cycle of renewal not death. Nothing died. Death was the beginning of poverty.

Poverty is scarcity. It is a lack of fertility (not just in a procreational sense). It is lacking access to basic needs. It is lacking the tools to gain access to those basic needs. Poverty is exclusion. When Adam chose to despise Adonai’s judgment, they lost access to the BLESSING. They still got BLESSED (Genesis 3:21). They were still PROTECTED (Genesis 3:22-24). They still got HELP (Genesis 4:1). But they had lost ACCESS to the FULLNESS of Adonai. Before this, they would WALK WITH Adonai (Genesis 3:8). Now they were relegated to HEARING FROM Adonai (Genesis 4:6). He INTERACTED with them, but He was no longer WITH THEM in the way He was before. As time went on, more and more people chose life WITHOUT Adonai. More and more people choose INDEPENDENCE. More and more people ACCEPTED poverty. As they accepted poverty, their relationship with Adonai changed. There was more and more distance between them. There are no less than four major shifts to the way Adonai and humanity interact within the book of Genesis alone (which has fuelled some scholars in the belief Genesis is a compilation from four different sources, but I strongly disagree with that). Poverty changed EVERYTHING.

Humanity separated from Adonai. Poverty is the absence of Adonai’s LIGHT and LIFE on EVERY and ANY level. The Gospel Message is anti-poverty because the WHOLE POINT of the Gospel is to enable us to RETURN TO ADONAI. “The thief comes only so that he can steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). The ONLY endpoint poverty has is death. It is both THE tool of the devil and the foundation of the world system he set up. Sin creates poverty (the absence of the light and life of Adonai) and poorness follows. “The wealth of the rich is the city of his strength; the ruin of the poor is their poverty” (Proverbs 10:15). Poverty creates the poor. It is not only SIN but our personal sins (choosing to be independent from Adonai) that create poverty. ANYTHING we do apart from Adonai is marked for death (Romans 6:23). Poverty makes us poor in our thinking, poor in our expectation, poor in our outlook, poor in our belief, and poor in our trust.

Jesus did NOTHING independent of Adonai (John 5:19; 12:49; 14:31). We are called on to do the EXACT SAME THING. Ruach HaKodesh is our HELPER in achieving just that. Not only because of what He has for us (Fruit, for example), but because He brings to mind everything Jesus has said. Everything Jesus taught us. Everything Jesus modelled for us. We cannot achieve anything apart from Jesus (John 15:5), so we need to have in our minds what Jesus DID, what Jesus SAID, how Jesus ACTED, and what Jesus DISCIPLED us in. Only by doing what He told us to do, with the heart intent He discipled us in, saying only what we are told to say, and doing only what Adonai shows us to do (through Ruach HaKodesh), can we succeed. That’s why the Christian Walk is IMPOSSIBLE without Jesus. Outside of HIM, we can’t succeed. Inside HIM, we can. It is as simple as that.

Ruach HaKodesh connects us to Adonai. He is the power cord that brings things to us from the Kingdom – or rather enables us to perceive and act in the Kingdom Jesus put us in (Colossians 1:13). We have to keep focused on what HE says is possible, not what humans have decided is possible. We need to keep focused on what HE says is appropriate and good behaviour, not what humans have decided is acceptable. We need to act how HE says we should (in love, kindness, and gentleness), not the way humans act. We are called to a higher standard of living, and without the continual guidance of Ruach HaKodesh, we will NOT get it right. We are STEEPED in human ideas, human thinking, human societal norms, and human history. Some of that is good in its own way, but ALL of it falls short of what we CAN HAVE. ALL of it is broken in some way. We NEED Ruach HaKodesh to be giving us personal coaching as we get into the Word and get HIS views, HIS ideals, HIS thinking, HIS norms of behaviour, HIS morality, and HIS history into our minds. To transform them from the kinda good to the TRUTH (Romans 12:2).

We need to utilize Ruach HaKodesh as a kind of spiritual price checker. Every time we have a thought or consider an action or get ready to speak a word, we need to pass it through His sensor and wait for the BEEP that will tell us whether what we are about to think, do, or say is POVERTY thinking or JESUS thinking. We have access to the Mind of Messiah (1 Corinthians 2:16). It’s about time we used it for something better than a place to say our nighttime prayers. We need to start accessing it and deciding whether to entertain the thing because it aligns with Jesus’ thinking, or reject the thing because it is poverty thinking. We need to consistently (working toward constantly) modify our behaviours, speech, and thought patterns to align with Adonai’s. Ruach HaKodesh is THE AVENUE to achieve that. It is a life-long journey because we are re-learning a lifetime of lessons. We all need to take Jesus’ hand and go to Ruach HaKodesh’s school of Jesus Thinking. To transform from ‘not for me’ to ‘MORE THAN ENOUGH’, because THAT is where the heart of Adonai lives. MORE THAN ENOUGH and no sign of poverty anywhere around us.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: 2 Corinthians 9:8

“And God is able to cause all grace to abound to you, so that in everything at all times, because you have enough of everything, you may overflow in every good work” Grace means we DON’T deserve it. So we can stop thinking about us and our efforts and our actions and choosing to reject good things because we haven’t earned them. We don’t EARN squat. Nothing at all. We NEVER deserved it. We NEVER will. And we will NEVER be treated by Adonai according to OUR abilities or performance. EVER. We operate under GRACE. We are treated according to GRACE. And He wants us to have what HE says and HE thinks we should have. Adonai is ABLE to do it, but He won’t force you. If you want to live with less in whatever arena of your life you are operating in, He will respect that. But if you want Him to pay the cheque, pick up the tab, and give you something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than lack? He will. He said it and He means it and He is good for it. He will give us EVERY good thing. ALL good things come from Him anyway. We’re just accepting what HE wants us to have – a life full of things that give Him glory back. That’s what a relationship is based on: give and take. Well, we have nothing worthy of Him, so He gives to us so that we can give back. Like parents giving their young children money so the children can buy the parents a gift. He gives GOOD to us so that we can honour Him and give Him glory with the things (whether by thanksgiving, using it with godly intent, giving it away to someone in need, or offering it up to Him – He knows what’s needed. Just ask Him.). There is ALWAYS more coming when we give with godly intent and love in our hearts. We are NEVER without. We NEVER lack. We ALWAYS have more than enough. In fact, the more we offer to Him the more we get back. What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8