Fear No Fear

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

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you—not as the world gives, I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

John 14:27

Humanity is broken. We have been since the Fall (Genesis 3). Almost as soon as death was allowed into Creation, we were interacting with it (Genesis 4). Everything about us is broken. The way we think. The way we talk. The way we do things. Our relationships. Our dreams. Our idea of what is really going on. Our ideas on what happens after our meat suits fall off. Everything. We are shattered people living shattered lives in a shattered Creation. And the truth is, Jesus is pursuing each and every piece. His heart is to bring the pieces together in Him and make them whole. To connect them so seamlessly that no one – observers or the pieces themselves – will ever figure out that they were ever broken. Jesus is about WHOLENESS so whole you think it always has been and always will be exactly as it is now. Jesus doesn’t give a peace that is a pause between conflict. Jesus doesn’t give a coping mechanism. Jesus gives a peace that heals the pieces that just don’t fit anymore.

Brokenheartedness, sadness/sorrow, depression, grief, anxiety, stress (the state of worry or mental tension), fear, and other feelings like these are evidence of emotional poverty. They were NEVER meant to be felt and they are NOT a part of our inheritance from Adonai. You will NEVER hear Ruach HaKodesh talking to you about them and will ALWAYS hear Ruach HaKodesh talking to you about the CURE for them. It isn’t that Adonai denies the feelings. Or that some of them might be ‘normal’ for the broken human experience. Instead, Adonai challenges us to see the normal for the Kingdom experience. The victory over these negative FEELINGS and the FREEDOM to build emotions from Ruach HaKodesh’s Fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus wept. Jesus got sad. But the sadness didn’t overwhelm Him. He didn’t build His emotions around them. He experienced them and moved beyond them into Kingdom emotion. He didn’t deny them. Jesus is VERY empathetic. But empathy doesn’t mean promoting a negative thing, dwelling on a negative thing, or letting a negative thing be anything but a brief season in our day. Like a rain shower that comes out of nowhere, lasts but a moment, and is gone. “For there is a moment in his anger; there is a lifetime in his favor. Weeping lodges for the evening, but in the morning comes rejoicing” (Psalm 30:5).

I have experienced the end of deep relationships. I have endured the death of a beloved child. I have endured the death of treasured family members. I’ve lost close, decades-long friendships. I’ve been injured. I’ve been bullied. I’ve been addicted. I’ve been lost. I’ve been blind to what I’ve done to myself. I’ve listened to the wrong programming and let destructive behaviour dominate my thinking. I have built emotions from feelings. And I have seen the detritus in the wake of my decisions. Lives affected. Lives changed – and not for the better. I have eaten the harvest of poor decisions and a lack of trusting in Jesus. Some of these things hurt bad. I truly felt my brokenness. I lost my way. I floundered. A career died. A marriage died. A family was lost and damaged. But Jesus didn’t lose patience with me. He didn’t let my faults and my destructive behaviour and my poverty thinking stop Him. He doesn’t do that with anyone. He is MORE than our problems. He is MORE than our poverty. He is MORE than Sin and iniquity and death and fear could come up with. “He is the one who heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). Jesus didn’t stop until I was willing to let Him fix me. Until I was willing to submit to the process of binding my wounds. Until I was willing to engage the WHOLE healing He released on and through the cross. I’m still not perfect, but I’m in the recovery room. Some wounds you would never detect. Others I haven’t let His light on yet. But I will. Because Jesus is the healer and He won’t stop until I fully realise that I am complete in Him (Colossians 2:10; Philippians 1:6).

There are attacks that come our way. The devil doesn’t want us to be where Jesus wants us. The devil wants to hijack our destiny and when we don’t choose him, he wants to kill us (John 10:10). The world doesn’t want us to be where Jesus wants us because it showcases their choice to reject what Jesus wants for them. They feel guilty because they know the truth and then blame us for what THEY are causing themselves to feel. We can feel weak. We can feel helpless. But we are not. “And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, because the power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore rather I will boast most gladly in my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may reside in me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). We have been given the authority to speak to our problems (Mark 11:22-24). What if the problem is that we are wounded? That we have lack? That we are mired in emotional poverty? His grace is sufficient for us. We don’t have to stay stuck. The power of Jesus can reside in us. Ruach HaKodesh resides in us (1 Corinthians 3:16). If Ruach is inside us, then the Father can give power to the situation for Jesus to command in cooperation with us, through Ruach HaKodesh (Romans 8:11). That’s how Jesus performed every miracle He ever did. The power of the Father, coming through Ruach HaKodesh inside Jesus, came out to perform its purpose as Jesus spoke and did what the Father showed and told Him to do. Jesus didn’t pray for Lazarus to rise, He commanded it. Jesus didn’t pray for demons to flee, He commanded them. Jesus didn’t ask for lameness to go, He commanded health. Jesus didn’t beg for sight, He commanded it. He SPOKE in authority, with power from Ruach HaKodesh, in the grace of Adonai. What happened? Adonai’s perfection came to pass. It was sufficient and it made people WHOLE.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7). In JESUS, we can make a choice to turn on the spout of Ruach HaKodesh or to keep scooping out of the ditch of the world. You cannot choose not to be something if you are not replacing that something with something else. Take mealtimes. You need to eat. Are you going to eat highly processed food or healthy food? It doesn’t matter if the highly processed food is better than other highly processed food. It doesn’t matter if it will fill you up. It doesn’t matter if it tastes good. It doesn’t matter if everyone else likes it. Are you or are you not going to eat healthy? It is a DECISION. If you don’t replace unhealthy food with healthy food each and every time you eat, you WILL experience the consequences of that. WHOLENESS works the same way. If we do not CHOOSE to be in Jesus every time, we WILL experience the consequences of that lack of trust in Him. We aren’t saying ‘I am not depressed anymore’. That’s unrealistic. Instead, we are CHOOSING His Joy. Instead of emoting based on the FEELING of depression, we are choosing to emote based on Ruach HaKodesh’s Fruit which is founded on Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 1:14). We are engaging the things of Adonai instead of the things of us or the things of the devil or the things of the world. It is a CHOICE, but a choice only made possible in Jesus. Jesus shines His light to show us what is possible in Him. But we have to choose it. We have to choose to engage it. We have to turn on the light switch so that the light comes out of US instead of through a window.

We do not have to be broken. We are allowed to engage His Fruit. We are allowed to accept His Peace. We are allowed to keep them, no strings attached, because they are ALWAYS where He is. They are ALWAYS available to us through Ruach HaKodesh who is our comfort, our teacher, our guide, and our corrector. This is abundant life. Making REAL connections based on REAL truth about REAL promises Adonai has made to us. Real friendships. Real relationships. Real dreams. Real words. Real actions. Real thinking. A real present and a real future. Not shadows on a wall, but real, actual, vibrant life. By CHOICE – not arbitrary or hopeful, but application of the WORD and what ADONAI says is possible. If you don’t know how, Ruach HaKodesh will show you. He will guide you. Get out the Word and go on a journey of discovery. Don’t cope, accept HEALING. Don’t manage, be WHOLE. You do NOT have to experience what everyone else does. You CAN experience what Jesus did and Jesus does. You CAN overcome because HE overcame for you (John 16:33). You CAN be emotionally whole. Jesus bought that for you. Jesus wants that for you. That is where your future is. Through HIM, you can start walking in it today. It’s a journey, but it is HIS journey and He will guide you through every step of it (Psalm 119:105). Let Jesus bring you His light. Don’t smother it or cover it. Let it SHINE.

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

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain came down and the rivers came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not collapse, because its foundation was laid on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain came down and the rivers came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed, and its fall was great.” We experience real feelings. We have real situations we find ourselves in. We have real struggles. They are not made up. They are not pretend. They are real things. You cannot take down a real thing with an imaginary coping method or by choosing to refuse to experience it. That’s like continuing to drive at normal speed because you’re refusing to experience a traffic snarl – an accident will occur. It is only when we choose A instead of B that we can make that shift. By choosing JESUS. By choosing Ruach HaKodesh’s Fruit. By choosing to make Adonai your Source. By choosing to plug into the Kingdom. By choosing to let the Word guide your decisions. By choosing to submit to Adonai and talk to Him so that you can hear what HE wants you to do. By REPLACING negative things with ADONAI’s things. This is how we overcome. In JESUS we have all things and without JESUS we’re doomed to do what everyone else does (John 15:5). That’s why Jesus came. That’s why Ruach HaKodesh was given to us. That’s why Ruach HaKodesh wrote down the Word through human scribes. So that we could SEE what He has for us. So that we could UNDERSTAND what He has for us. And that so we could ACCEPT what He has for us. It was all for us. All so that we could be FREE. All so that we could be WHOLE. 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