Fear No Fear

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

Who is a God like you? Who forgives sin and pardons the rebellion of those who remain among his people? Who does not stay angry forever, but delights in showing loyal love? Who will once again have mercy on us? Who will conquer our evil deeds? Who will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea?
Micah 7:18-19 (emphasis added)

Forgiveness should be easy. After all, we have a God who models it for us in a way no one else could. He forgives totally and freely. The Blood of Jesus covers ALL sin. When we accept that and Him, we can have our sins forgiven. AND He gives His Word so that He can renew our minds to His point of view. So we will call sin what He calls sin. So we will want to avoid it because WE think it is wrong, not only because we read it in the Word. Obviously, we’d forgive others for the same reason, right? The same way, right? They say they’re sorry. They tell us they’ve decided to act differently. So… we forgive them and it’s like it never happened, right? . . . Right? If you’re a people, I’m sure you know the answer. Only Adonai can forgive like that.

Have you noticed that in churches, in school, at work, and in relationships, we as believers are very forgiving. Until the next time. Big or small, when the next time happens we bring up previous incidents. ‘This is just like…’ ‘Remember when they…’ ‘You always…’ and so on. Is it really forgiveness if it’s temporary? We all thank Adonai that He doesn’t forgive like that. “For as the skies are high above the earth, so his loyal love towers over his faithful followers. As far as the eastern horizon is from the west, so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions from us” (Psalm 103:11-12). We all thank Him for it, but at the same time so many of us try and JUSTIFY His forgiveness by EARNING it. Trying to keep the ‘rules’ to show how GOOD we are, so that He’ll be okay with having forgiven us. But that ISN’T how He forgives. He set in motion our forgiveness when we were still enemies with Him (Romans 5:8-10). He forgave us out of love before we knew Him. But it didn’t ‘take’ until we accepted Jesus and confessed that sin. Until we took each thing and let Him work on renewing our mind about it so that we wouldn’t do it again. Confession isn’t about tattling on ourselves. It’s about helping us truly repent. Adonai forgives from love. And love doesn’t bring up past ills.

“Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). Love doesn’t remember wrongs. For Adonai, it is simple. He refuses to remember anything that is under the Blood. Instead, He looks through blood-bought glasses and sees Jesus instead of us. His righteousness instead of our wrongs. We, on the other hand, have to choose it. We have to choose to put aside the past EVERY TIME. We have to cultivate a life where forgiveness means we don’t hold it against you, don’t bring it up the nest time around, and don’t alter our behaviour based on your past wrongdoings. Will you fill your business with ex-cons who need a second chance? Or will you keep them at arms length because you never know? Adonai does it because He is Adonai. He also can see into our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7). We can’t do that. We have to take chances. That is NOT wisdom if we do it on our own. But if we rely on HIM? Totally doable and wise. Like everything else about the believer’s life, it needs to be conducted IN JESUS.

It takes Jesus for us to look at our spouse who has done something wrong AGAIN and not bring up all the other times they’ve done something. It takes Jesus for us to deal with each issue that comes up as if it was the first time EVER that an issue has come up. It takes Jesus for us to forget all the other things. Jesus can do that. He can eliminate the FEELINGS we attached to each issue, each bump, and each problem. Without those FEELINGS, we won’t assign an EMOTION. Without EMOTION, we won’t care. It will be a memory with about as much punch as remember the twelfth time you walked across the floor. In time, there won’t even be a memory. In JESUS this is all possible. He removes stings (Psalm 51:10). He eliminates negativity (1 John 1:9). We have to cast it onto Him though (1 Peter 5:6-7). We have to give it to HIM and let HIM deal with it. We need to RELEASE it.

When we don’t forgive, it poisons us. If we are not forgiving, why should He forgive us? But He loves us, right? Very much. Adonai loves us. Adonai is just. Adonai does NOT put up with our attempt at an abusive relationship with Him. Always taking and never giving. Always begging but being hard hearted to others. Jesus told a very clear parable about it. ““For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. As he began settling his accounts, a man who owed 10,000 talents was brought to him. Because he was not able to repay it, the lord ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made. Then the slave threw himself to the ground before him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you everything.’ The lord had compassion on that slave and released him, and forgave him the debt. After he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 silver coins. So he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ Then his fellow slave threw himself down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you.’ But he refused. Instead, he went out and threw him in prison until he repaid the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place. Then his lord called the first slave and said to him, ‘Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me! Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’ And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him until he repaid all he owed. So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart” (Matthew 18:23-35).

The Father forgave us everything. The basic things like lying and stealing. The adultery. He also forgave the heart attitudes. All the things that happened only in our minds. The resentments. The twisted fantasies (sexual and not). The negative emotions. The relying on other things instead of Him. Everything. Every dark impulse and innocent wrongdoing. Even speeding. He forgave it all. When we aren’t willing to forgive other people again and again and again and again (Matthew 18:21-22), do we understand forgiveness?

If we don’t understand forgiveness and are not willing to give the chances that Adonai does, how can we witness? If we’re not willing to forgive, how can we live with someone? Humans have fragile toes. Someone is always stepping on them. Either you are going to have owie toes all the time OR you’re going to learn to forgive. It isn’t about making sure your toes are out of the way next time. It is about having a mindset where past wrongs don’t inform current action. That cannot be done outside Jesus. Adonai doesn’t want us in danger. He doesn’t want us to be foolish. But only HE can see into a person’s heart and know if there has been change or not. Without that, we might unwisely give opportunity to someone we’ve forgiven who deserves the forgiveness but not the opportunity. Only Adonai can tell us the appropriate action in ANY given scenario. With strangers AND with those who are very close to us. No matter how well we know someone.

We like to think we know people. That we know what they are like. That we can tell when they are being earnest. ESPECIALLY when we are married to them. But how do you REALLY know? You don’t. Part of love is choosing to trust each other, after all. But if we are not relying on Ruach HaKodesh to tell us what we should or shouldn’t say, we could easily say something we shouldn’t. We might say something we really don’t feel just to smooth the waters. We might say something that will offend. We might stick our feet in our mouths. We might speak strife instead of peace.

Forgiveness is something we need to give to live a life of peace. Unforgiveness breeds nothing but bitterness and negativity. Forgiveness is part of the character of Adonai. We have access to that character because we are in Jesus. A kind person forgives. A gentle person forgives. A loving person forgives. A joyful person forgives. A patient person forgives. A peaceful person forgives. A good person forgives. There is NO excuse for not forgiving. Unforgiveness can block the flow of Blessing. Not because Adonai doesn’t want to bless us, but because when we turn away from Him we are not in a position to receive. Refusing to humble ourselves and submit to Adonai is not the position of an overcomer, a receiver, or an obeyer. Our loyal love should shine through in how we are to each other. Forgiveness is a HUGE part of it. Not forgiving will hinder our relationships, our ability to receive, and our ability to be who He created us to be. Individually and as a marriage unit.

Don’t let unforgiveness fester. Don’t let yourself be deprived. Learn to walk in forgiveness. Learn to have a mindset that doesn’t hold others to account. Learn to have a mindset of gratefulness toward others because of how Adonai was to us. Wipe the record clean just like your record was wiped out.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 53:3

“He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant.” Messiah would be despised. The flesh doesn’t like the things of Adonai. Those who are Anointed and spreading His Word are often looked down on and persecuted. But with Messiah it would be deeper. He would be DESPISED. “When they heard this, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff” (Luke 4:28-29). Jesus was threatened with death several times. The Pharisees wanted Him dead. The Sadducees wanted Him dead. And Jesus NEVER broke the Law of Moses. Not once. They despised Him because He was Messiah, because He spoke the TRUTH, and because He presented the Father as He really was. Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b