Fear No Fear

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

If he passes through and imprisons someone and summons the assembly, then who can hinder him?

Job 11:10

This is Zophar speaking, one of the good friends of Job, and he is saying that no one has the power to stop Adonai from doing what Adonai wants to do – which has been embodied by the doctrine of Sovereignty. In a sense this is ABSOLUTELY true. Who is greater than Adonai? Who could stop Him, replace Him, or defeat Him in ANYTHING AT ALL? No one. The devil tried and didn’t even get a chance of staying where he was. He was booted out almost immediately. Some war (and Adonai wasn’t even fighting). However, Adonai set things up a certain way. He is bound by His own integrity. He is bound by His own truth. He is bound by His own Word. All of which because HE has CHOSEN to be bound by them. Because of those things, He will not revoke or violate the authority He has given to us humans (Genesis 1:26-27; Ephesians 3:20). When Adam gave that authority to the devil, it placed all of fallen humanity (those humans not saved through and in Jesus), squarely in the devil’s power (Job 1:12) – until Jesus took the authority back (Revelation 1:18). Adonai is sovereign, the ultimate King over ALL, but if we think nothing happens that He doesn’t instigate or actively allow, it leads to religious fatalism – a free will-less worldview that has little to no hope in it.

Religious fatalism – Adonai does what Adonai does; you never know what Adonai is going to do; He’s teaching you a lesson – leads to stolen freedom, stolen creativity, and a stolen willingness to go forward. Religious thinking kept the Israelites out of a close relationship with Adonai (Exodus 20:19) and it kept them out of the Land of Promise the first time around (Numbers 13:30-14:4). Religious thinking PROMOTES poverty because it makes you feel bad for having anything at all. And if you can’t HAVE anything, why try? If the only place you have overcoming is in Heaven, why bother with anything here? What’s the point of seeking the BLESSING, if you can only have enough that it doesn’t SHOW to outsiders? – at least blessing outside of your own personal efforts and toil. It is poorness at its poorest.

Religious thinking is pervasive because there are decades of tradition behind them – sometimes more. Tradition is a trust-killer (Matthew 15:1-9; 23:13-30). Take the idea of healing. That Adonai may or may not heal us today, based on how He feels or our personal standing before Him because of our conduct, is a widely held belief. Right beside it is a belief that healing isn’t for today. That it was only for bible times, until the scriptures could be fully formed into a united and agreed upon whole. But where does this doctrine come from? Jesus commands us to heal, but no where asks us to stop. Jesus never asks the Father to heal anyone. He commands sickness out based on His authority. The disciples and later the early church does the same. based on JESUS authority, they command sickness, disease, and evil spirits out. Nowhere are we told it is over, that is was only for a time, or that Adonai’s will was ever, is ever, or will ever be for anything except complete and total healing delivered just as fast as we will engage it. Yet profess that and you run the risk of being labelled a false prophet or worse.

Religious thinking at its core is selfish. I can’t so no one else can either. You have to stop because I can’t. That is what the foundation of it is. It is a decision NOT to trust Adonai, but to make rules and regulations that everyone can follow – because Adonai asks different people to trust for different things (1 Corinthians 12:12-27) even though they all are in service to one ideal (giving glory to Adonai). In religious thinking, we all have to be the same. We all have to have the same limits. We all have to go about getting things the same way. And if I can’t do it through MY strength, then you have no business performing it either – especially when you’re claiming to do it by Adonai’s strength.

Religious thinkers also have fits of temper when you imply Adonai is loving, wants a close relationship to us, and can do more than smite from above or be VERY serious. I will agree that Adonai is Righteous and Holy. We should NEVER forget that EVER. That’s why WE humbly submit to Him. That’s why we renew OUR minds to HIS thinking. That’s why we rely on Ruach HaKodesh and Jesus. Without Jesus, we’re nothing (John 15:5). Without Ruach HaKodesh, we’d lose our way. He helps light our path, guides us, corrects us, and comforts us. He reminds us of who we are in Jesus and in every situation we are in of how we can trust Jesus and believe what He says. Religious thinkers want to gauge effort. They want to mark off success. They want a spiritual checklist that guarantees them a way inside. But that is NOT how you get into the Kingdom. You believe, as a child believes a parent. You trust, as a child trusts a parent. You obey, as an obedient child obeys a parent – not because you FEEL like it or don’t FEEL like it, but because it is the right and proper thing to do. You never forget WHO and WHAT Adonai is OR the position He holds in our lives or in existence. At the same time, you can smile with Him, laugh with Him, and walk with Him talking about the day and the hopes and dreams we each have for the future. We CAN have fellowship – if we take Him off our model throne and let Him sit on HIS.

Adonai backs our free will. Ruach HaKodesh encourages us to use it for Adonai’s glory. And it is the place Jesus fought and died to win for us (Revelation 13:8). We NEED to drop religious traditions, religious thoughts, and religious conduct. We NEED to get into the Word and see what IT says. We NEED to pray it out and see what Ruach HaKodesh says about what the Word says. And we NEED to meditate on it in the Light of the character of Adonai so that we can test EVERYTHING and hold to what is good, right, and pure (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Adonai isn’t afraid of us wrestling with something. And Ruach HaKodesh will make sure we do it according to Adonai’s standards and morals. If we are willing to submit to what we find, it is amazing what we discover we have missed when we read the Word. It is FREEING to do things according to His standards and not what humans have said is good and proper.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a LOT of thinking that we have done as a species that is in accordance with Adonai. But it is great to SEE Adonai as the anchor of those thoughts. You don’t see that with religious thinking. It ALWAYS tries to bind us or limit us in some way. Adonai ALWAYS seeks to free us into HIS morality and thinking. A place where there is more than we can imagine. Even human ideas of freedom are pitifully small when stacked next to Adonai’s thinking about it. “And the slave does not remain in the household forever; the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be truly free” (John 8:35-36). Don’t get bound by human reasoning. Let the Word light your path to true freedom in Jesus – backed 100% by the WORD.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: John 17:17

“Sanctify them in the truth—your word is truth.” This is a GREAT prayer for all of us and Jesus prayed it. It shows how important it is to intentfully read the Word and submit to what we find there. Why? Because it is TRUTH. It isn’t human thinking or a product derived from human thinking (like A.I. whose foundations are a human rationality they will never escape). It is unique. A supernatural truth from OUTSIDE creation written down by natural beings INSIDE creation. It is THE inspired Word of Adonai and holds the power to transform our thinking as we see beyond ourselves and our petty struggles to a viewpoint that is BEYOND who we are and what we are. This hasn’t been given to us to condemn us, but to FREE us from the bondage of broken thinking that pervades this world. It is only by our willingness to entertain CHANGE that we get freed to truly LISTEN to what the Word is saying to us. That willingness to submit, listen, and then to obey is what transforms us (Romans 12:2). It is a FREE GIFT of Adonai to each and every one of us. Because He loves us too much to leave us broken. Because He loves us too much not to tell us the truth. 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