Fear No Fear

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

He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose!
Ezekiel 8:17 (emphasis added)

When we treat Elohim with disdain, we treat each other with disdain. The Judeans were treating Adonai with contempt in their hearts, so they were treating each other with contempt. That bred violence throughout the land. The opposite is also true. If we treat Adonai correctly, we will treat each other correctly. The only way we can do that is by letting our hearts be changed by the Word (Romans 12:2). Out of our HEART everything we say comes (Luke 6:45). It affects what we do day to day in the world. It especially affects how we treat those whom we are married to (and also our immediate families). The Word can’t be intellectual, it must be heartfelt. It is the greatest agent for social and marital change that exists.

Of John 3:16, Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910, Baptist preacher and a president of the Baptist World Congress) once wrote: ‘But if we would try to think of what it means, the whole truth would flash up into fresh newness, and all the miseries and sorrows and perplexities of our lives would drift away down the wind, and we should be no more troubled with them. ‘God loves’ is the greatest thing that can be said by lips.’ So true. The love of Adonai Elohim for us is the basis by which everything came to be, everything keeps going, and how we get to step back into what we stepped out of when we rebelled. Adonai’s love should be the basis of every marriage. If it was, all the stress, disagreement, discouragement, argument, sorrows, and insecurities would disappear. Doesn’t that sound like something worth pursuing?

Like with most things of Adonai, it is simple but not always easy. Every time we feel a feeling that doesn’t line up with how He shows us we should act, refuse it. You can do that several ways. For example, you might say ‘that is not my feeling’ and consciously take hold of the Fruit you need saying ‘thank you, Adonai, I have _’. You might just thank Him for the Fruit you need. You might pray through it. I prefer to speak because we were made in His image (Genesis 1:26) and He is a SPEAKING God. It’s how He brings about any and everything. It’s how WE should bring about any and everything too. Of course, we’d need to speak according to the Word and according to His Will, at the leading of Ruach HaKodesh. We don’t EVER operate outside of Jesus. Which is why having the Word in our heart is vital.

It can take time. Time to get the Word in your heart. Time to teach ourselves to speak out His words, not ours. Time to learn NOT to open our mouths immediately with no pause. Time to learn to check in with Ruach HaKodesh during that pause that we’ve learned to take. This is the part that is not easy. Learning. Applying. Patience to see it through. It is in consistency that we see results. It is through consistent thanksgiving and praise that we see breakthroughs. We don’t begrudge the time. We thank Him for it. No one likes their kids, friends, co-workers, or bosses nagging about things. Asking for it again and again. Is it done yet? Can I have it now? Is it finished? Well, Adonai is no different. He finished the root of all our ills through the cross. Now we can ask for something and because He finished, move into thanksgiving. No one minds being thanked more than once – when it’s sincere.

Nowhere in the Word does it say the devil hated Adonai Elohim. It says he wanted to REPLACE Adonai. “I will climb up to the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!’” (Isaiah 14:14). It was pride. Pride in himself was the cause of his fall. He had to lie to himself to believe it and he’s been lying ever since (John 10:10). Every sin has an element of pride to it. Every issue in our marriages is because of pride. We’re told to love one another. ““I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). We’re told to love our spouses and respect them (Ephesians 5:33). When we don’t, we’re putting US over THEM. Our wants, our opinions, our way of doing things (that’s one I struggle with), our conversation (that one too), our entertainment choices, our anything, really. When we put OURSELVES first, we are putting our spouses not first. “and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). How do we submit to each other? By being filled by Ruach HaKodesh. “And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

We should sing each other’s praises. We should have kind words for each other. We should love and cherish each other. We should serve one another. Nurture one another. BOTH shoulder the responsibility of raising children. This is how we SHOULD be. We won’t be if we’re not operating by the Spirit. We won’t be if we’re not seeking Jesus consistently. We won’t be if Adonai isn’t first place. Elohim first and then you take turns simultaneously serving one another as you go forward. Hard on our own. Possible WITH Elohim (Matthew 19:26). If we’re following the guidance of Ruach HaKodesh, consistently getting the Word before our eyes and ears, and giving thanksgiving to the Father, we’ll naturally – as an extension of what we’re doing – treat each other correctly. When we’re doing that, there’s no way for the enemy to pull us apart.

If we put the effort into subduing our flesh by replacing the world’s training (life experience up to this point) with Word training, everything starts to fit. Rough edges get smooth. Dry places sprout water. Barren places become lush. When we are tending our gardens HIS way, it is breathtaking to see what emerges. “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth! Before her contractions begin, she delivers a boy! Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen this? Can a country be brought forth in one day? Can a nation be born in a single moment? Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons! Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord. “Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?” asks your God” (Isaiah 66:7-9). Adonai can birth a thing overnight. Whether it is a baby, a nation, or even a marriage. Adonai can do the impossible for His obedient children. We have to decide to keep Elohim in His place. To reverence Him and His Word. To put them in the place they should be, and let Him restore, transform, and renew us and our marriages into what He sees them as. To turn them into Oasis of Shalom: nothing missing, nothing broken, and a lamp to draw the World to the Father’s Glory.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 52:14

“(just as many were horrified by the sight of you) he was so disfigured he no longer looked like a man; his form was so marred he no longer looked human” Messiah would be the Servant who would be SHOCKINGLY abused. Even in the ancient world there was some semblance of due process. In the case of Messiah, all the chains would be taken off. All the restraint. All the ‘humanness’ would be stripped. Off of Messiah and off those who abused Him. “Then Jesus took the twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; he will be mocked, mistreated, and spat on. They will flog him severely and kill him. Yet on the third day he will rise again.” But the twelve understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what Jesus meant” (Luke 18:31-34). “Then they spat in his face and struck him with their fists. And some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy for us, you Christ! Who hit you?”” (Matthew 26:67-68). Jesus knew it was coming, but He stayed obedient to His Father. Obedience to His mission. Jesus served even as the pre-eminent body of religious teachers (the super-proper ones) screamed at Him, spit on Him, ripped out His beard, and drooled in fury. The kingdom of darkness took out all its fury on Jesus. Jesus took it all. For us. Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Matthew 16:16b