Fear No Fear

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

Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! Why should you die, O house of Israel?’
Ezekiel 33:11 (emphasis added)

Just like good apples won’t change bad apples, but bad apples change good apples; bad habits will corrupt good ones. It doesn’t take much. One show you’re glued to. One book you can’t put down. It’s just __ you say. It will grow. It will spread. Then you’ll be fighting to put out small fires here and there. Then a blaze. Finally, you may not even care. What’s a little smoke damage? Adds character to a home, right? That’s how marriages get wounded. One small thing at a time. “Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

It’s the small compromises over time that take our eyes off of Jesus. If we take our eyes off Jesus, we will start to sink. That’s where many marriages are today. In trouble. “As the night was ending, Jesus came to them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear.But immediately Jesus spoke to them: “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” Peter said to him, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.” So he said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid. And starting to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they went up into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”” (Matthew 14:25-33). Peter was in dangerous waters doing something that didn’t seem possible. But it was only when he stopped focusing on Jesus that he got in trouble. Consistency is needed. Looking to Jesus is needed. Anything else and we sink.

The only use for a vine is to grow fruit. There’s better firewood. Better wood to build out of. Better kinds to carve. All a vine is good for is growing fruit. Season after season. Sure, pruning is usually needed. So is fertilising and having good soil. In the end though, they help the vine get bigger and grow more fruit. Anytime a vine stops producing, it isn’t worth keeping. We should all be VERY thankful we have a merciful God who seeks our restoration, not our destruction. The WAY He restores is through Jesus. Jesus IS the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

“Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on? And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything? If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?” (Ezekiel 15:2-5). A vine has only one purpose: to bear fruit. If it is used for anything else, it is sub-standard at best and useless at worst. The only purpose it has is to bear fruit. We were COMMANDED to be fruitful (Genesis 1:28; 9:7). It means so much more than having babies–although it CAN mean that. We are to bear fruit everywhere we go, with everyone we interact with, and with everything we do. On our own we don’t have a hope to achieve this. We will inevitably fail in some way. We’ll take our own interests and put them forward. Or we’ll try and accomplish things on our own strengths and ideas. We sometimes come up with GOOD ideas, but they are NEVER God ideas. We need what Jesus did to fulfil our mission. It’s the only way we EVER accomplish anything of value. Without Him it all might as well all go up in smoke. We NEED Jesus.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples. Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love. If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. My commandment is this—to love one another just as I have loved you” (John 15:5-12). He is the ONLY way we accomplish anything. Without Him, human thinking and human values and human excuses can creep in. I’ve made some MAJOR misplays in my life. I can attest to the folly and foolishness of going it alone (without Adonai). Everything I did–even the good stuff–ended in ashes. Only Jesus brings satisfaction. Only Jesus brings lasting success. Only Jesus makes things work. It’s like spiritual lubrication making certain all the gears are turning properly. No matter what people say on the record, in their hearts there is nothing but desolation. We can cover it for a time, but we all know the truth of those long, dark moments of the night.

Keeping connected to Jesus, being the branch to His vine, is the only way to provide true fruit for our lives. Just like a branch needs to draw from the vine in order to produce anything, we need to draw on Jesus for everything and in every circumstance in order to produce anything of true value. We need to turn back from ANY behaviour, way of thinking, or patterns of speech that do not prioritise Jesus. Are we asking for the potatoes to be passed with gentleness? Are we ordering our coffee with kindness? Are we correcting our kids with love? Are we talking about the neighbours to build them up (even when they’re not present), or are we gossiping? Are we supporting the poor? Are we asking about the widows we know? Lending that cup of sugar? Helping out without grumbling? Picking up our socks because we know it drives our spouse crazy? Are we complimenting, encouraging, and building up? Everyone? Especially our close family? Feeling anxious? Have you talked to Jesus about it? Bills need paying, but no money? Have you talked to Jesus about it? Married and dissatisfied with your sex life? Have you talked to Jesus about it? Have you talked to Jesus about anything or anyone that is on your mind? Jesus is Lord over your LIFE. That means anything that has to do with your LIFE is under His oversight. We should all be checking in all the time. It should be second nature. A completely ingrained habit. It only takes a moment. It doesn’t even need to be audible. But it NEEDS to be.

This is the cross that we DAILY must carry: the submission of our flesh to His will. It would be a near-impossible task if WE were supposed to be doing it in and of ourselves. We died to ourselves and were resurrected into JESUS. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we may cease from sinning and live for righteousness. By his wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). “Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:4-5). We’re in HIM and we have HIS spirit, HIS mind, and HIS fruit/personality to use in Him, according to the Word, in order to be like Him. “And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

This is where we need to live. If we live in that Covenant–the one between Jesus and His Father–all the promises Jesus has made by word or deed are available to us. Yoked to Jesus and submitted to the Father. It isn’t burdensome, it is FREEING. Now imagine TWO of you doing it. All the time. “Always rejoice, constantly pray, in everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). It’s like having a trusted mentor on permanent butt-dial and them NOT upset about that. It’s having a manual for marriage and for life right at your fingertips. Will things be perfect all the time? Of course not. We miss it. We hear wrong. We forget to do it. We put ourselves first. We put our wants for the marriage unit first. But we serve a merciful God who doesn’t leave us on our own. He is always seeking us. Seeking our attention with that still, small voice. Calling us. When we hear Him, when we repent and choose to see it His way, He is quick to forgive and help us turn ourselves around and head in the direction HE has for us. This is how we engage ALL of the Kingdom. Healing is engaged by trust in Jesus’ completed work of the cross, but it is engaged because we are connected to Him.

“Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21). Jesus can do far beyond all that we ask or think. That is plain fact. But it is engaged in our lives by the power that is WORKING WITHIN US. If we are not connected to Jesus (our vine) and pulling everything we need from Him, we won’t have power working within us. We’ll have power waiting to work within us. Not the same thing. Not believing this won’t send you to hell. But putting your trust in the Word and what it says will enable you to live in Him as He lives in you (1 John 4:13). When He is in us and we are actively in Him, that is when the power works. Because we’re submitted. Because we’re full of thanksgiving and praise. Because we are seeking Him first. Because we are seeking the fruit that naturally comes from being in Jesus. If this is how we get healed as individual believers, this is how we get our marriages healed. We put ourselves inside the fortress that is our God (Psalm 18:2). We seek the Father’s will and not our will (Matthew 6:9-10). We find out what His point of view is, and then we make it OUR point of view–whether we truly understand it or not (Luke 22:42-44). We trust in Him. We trust in His process. We keep our eyes on Him and we don’t waiver. But if we do, we call out to Him IMMEDIATELY and let Him put us where we need to be. Humbly submitted to Him.

It is a daily fight, but it is a fight against our mental habits. It is a fight against our training. We are NEW CREATURES. We don’t seek sin. We don’t seek disobedience. We have to choose those things. But our old flesh did it automatically. The world does it automatically. If we aren’t carefully conscious of what we are doing, we will default to whatever we were raised with. If we choose to engage His mindset, if we stay focused on the Word–which He uses to train us back to His mindset–then we will find it easier and easier to walk in His ways (Psalm 119:105). We will find it easier and easier to pray always. Sometimes thanking and praising. Sometimes inquiring. Sometimes listening. Sometimes meditating on what we’ve read. Sometimes imagining. Sometimes being led. It is a channel in our mind that we can always have on. That we are always tuned into. Commercial free, teaching, preaching, correcting, praising, remembering, twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year. It’s not living with our heads in the clouds, it is letting the light from heaven shine in our minds.

Engage a marriage and an individual walk with Jesus where you are constantly seeking Him. Where HIS point of view MATTERS more than yours does. Where you are taking Communion regularly in order to remember that His blood covers all and that there is power in His blood. His power flowing in, not the lifeblood of your marriage bleeding out. If we want truly abundant life, we drink His blood and eat His flesh (John 6:53-56). We look to the Father as the Source of ALL THINGS. Not just some. There is an information highway from the Throne to your mind. Log in. Download it. Let Him help you. This is healing. This is living. This is life IN Jesus.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 52:15

“so now he will startle many nations. Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, for they will witness something unannounced to them, and they will understand something they had not heard about.” Messiah would shed His blood to make atonement for all. The blood of animals cannot save. They cannot cleanse. In His Mercy, Adonai accepted it and covered us through His faith that the lamb would be slain in FACT as He had been SPIRITUALLY (Revelation 13:8). Messiah would walk out in the physical what had already been accomplished in Heaven. Bringing the will of the Father about redemption to Earth. “and from Jesus Christ—the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood” (Revelation 1:5). Jesus took in what He did not deserve or earn in any way (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus paid the price. He was our sacrifice. He was our offering. He was the faithful servant. Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b