Fear No Fear

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

For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and self-discipline.

2 Timothy 1:7

Poor people aren’t lazy. Lazy people are poor. It’s a hard truth, but it IS a truth. Poverty grows from laziness as easily as wealth grows from diligent work. We disguise it. We re-label it. But laziness is simply not working. No one likes toil (it is part of the curse), but work is godly and righteous. It is not the ONLY way for increase, but it is the main way in which we have been to prosper and advance His plan (Genesis 1:28; 2:8). We were meant for work. But the world has a different ideology from a different source. The devil cannot support work because at his core he wants what he does not deserve. Since the rewards of work are in direct proportion to how we work, he cannot stomach it. If work is good and godly, then he is against it. The world has been founded on the idea of toil for phantom rewards – preferably ones they can deny you when you need them. Laziness is the linchpin of it all.

The biggest lie in this area is the belief that the natural instinct of humanity is for idleness. This is the POLAR OPPOSITE of the TRUTH that the natural instinct of humanity is for producing. We are hardwired by the Word of Adonai to produce (Genesis 1:26-28). That can take MANY forms, but it is our default position as a species. The idea of idleness is a demonic doctrine. There is nothing on Earth that supports it except broken human thinking which has been infected by sin and demonic thought patterns. It is often combined with fear to truly sabotage ourselves. For example, if you fear success you might lean into laziness in order to avoid it. Or we may aspire to accomplish great things, but let laziness sidetrack us into unproductivity (procrastination – the child of laziness). Nothing keeps us from achieving more than giving into laziness.

Laziness means our motivation to spare ourselves effort is greater than our motivation to do the right thing. First off, Ruach HaKodesh will ALWAYS tell us what the right thing to do is. He is the Ruach of Truth and His ministry is one of guidance, teaching, and correction. When in doubt, ask Him and see the TRUTH of the situation revealed both by revelation AND by the Word which ALWAYS backs up and informs Ruach HaKodesh’s speaking. Second, it is our FLESH that balks at work. The main reason for this is that the flesh sees all effort as toil. Toil is part of the curse (Genesis 3:19) and ALL the flesh knows is the curse. The flesh is broken and knows only broken ways. It is ALWAYS in direct contrast and competition to our spirit which knows only Adonai’s ways (Galatians 5:17; James 4:1; 1 Peter 2:11). Laziness is a FAILURE TO ACT, which means we are ABLE TO, KNOW TO, and SHOULD; but we don’t. Which means we need more than ourselves to achieve.

Jesus came to break the evil altar of unproductivity. Jesus is our substitute because everything that happened to Him was a reversal for us because He came to be THE substitute for us (2 Corinthians 5:14-21). Hands and feet represent balance and productivity. When the nails entered His hands and feet, the blood of Jesus went to work on our hands and feet. The enemy can no longer hold the work of your hands or our destiny because Jesus broke that evil altar. Nothing of the enemy or the world can stop us because in the bloodied feet of Jesus we walk out His Way according to His Will (Psalm 37:23). All we need to do is OBEY Jesus and go where He says go, how He says, and when He says – no matter how uncomfortable it might be (John 14:15; 1 Peter 2:21; Psalm 23). Death is a byproduct of sin. Sin is a byproduct of disobedience. The spirit of disobedience is part of our flesh. We have NO say in it. We get it when we’re born. HOWEVER, the spirit of OBEDIENCE is part of JESUS. We get HIM and IT when we are born again into His Resurrection (Romans 6:5; Ephesians 1:13). It REPLACES the spirit of disobedience and therefore WE are NO LONGER sinners (Romans 6:14). Righteous conduct means working because we must exercise the spirit of obedience. We have to USE that muscle. We MUST work.

Obedience is an ACTION. Laziness is INACTION. Inaction will rob you of everything that is possible through action. Laziness creates poverty. Work creates abundance. Abraham listened to Adonai and obeyed Him. Not perfectly, but he corrected himself when he was able. He obeyed. It showed that he valued Adonai. It showed willingness to sacrifice his rest in exchange for Adonai’s rest. His whole LIFE revolved around his obedience. There are only a few commands recorded and his whole life is his walking out of those commands. He wasn’t perfect, but he WORKED at obedience. End result? Abundance. Prosperity. In every area of his life AND EVEN MORE he was called Adonai’s FRIEND (Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23). Every single man and woman of Adonai who accomplished ANYTHING in the Word did so because they WORKED at obedience.

In Jesus, we have all that we need to fuel our lives (John 15:5). We have been made NEW in Him. We are ABLE. We are CALLED. We are EMPOWERED. We are LOVED and we LOVE. In all of this, we WORK in the sense that we push down the flesh, sacrifice broken thinking (on a daily basis), and walk in His Way, HIS way. It doesn’t use OUR strength, because our love for Him ignites our JOY in Him, which IS our strength because when WE take joy in Him, He takes Joy in us. This is all a mental battleground, not a physical one. ALL of us can do this. ALL of us have Ruach HaKodesh teaching, correcting, training, reminding, and encouraging us. This is abundant life: obedience in love, strength through joy, glory to Adonai through obedience. All in for all of Him.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Ephesians 2:8

“For by grace have you been saved in time past completely, through faith, with the result that your salvation persists through present time and this (salvation) is not from you as a source” (Kenneth S. Wuest translation from the Greek). Salvation was accomplished for all humanity for all of time over two thousand years ago. It was something that happened at a specific point of time, but the effects ripple throughout all time so that it is happening still today and will eons into the future. It is so VERY precious because it is NOT finite. It doesn’t END. It is never OVER. It is a transformational process that always renews, always delivers, always sustains, and always performs. When we find an area of our lives where it is NOT the foundation of what’s happening, it is because we have not let it into that area. We have blocked it with our thinking, our opinions, our behaviour, our words, and our ideas. But if we will humbly submit each area that Ruach HaKodesh brings to mind, get some Word on it, mediate with Him through it, and alter our thinking to align with His, we will see the effects of this salvation package (a WHOLE package for WHOLE beings – spirit, soul, and body) take root and grow (Matthew 13:31-32). This is His gift to us. A gift that will continue to renew and renovate and create until we are just like He is in every single way. 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