Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 26:3 (emphasis added)

Genesis 2:17 records the prohibition of the Garden whereby we gained our authority and dominion here on the earth: “but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” We violated that prohibition. Adam yielded to the words of his covenant partner who had yielded to the words of the snake who had yielded to the words of the enemy. Once they violated that, their peace was gone. The Lord was no longer foremost in their thoughts. They had taken their eyes off the Lord so much, they were looking at each other in a new way — and realised they were no longer clothed with the manifested glory of the Lord. Fear had replaced faith. Shame had risen. Instead of perfect fellowship, walking with God had now become completely external. God was on the outside, not the inside. Peace was no more.

Now we get a certain level of peace. Not everyone is at war. Not everyone lives in a bad area of town. We come home from work and get to kick back. To relax. But these are temporary states. There is only peace there because there isn’t conflict. The moment conflict arrives, the peace is broken. It is peace where everyone knows that it can end. Peace, but certainly not perfect. Perfect peace is a peace where you know that you have it and will continue to have it. It is not interventional peace. No one has come with their armed force to make our enemies stop attacking us. It is not enforced peace. It is not preservational peace. A peace that is only peace because both sides will be destroyed should they choose to violate peace. It is not intellectual. It is not instructional. It is not natural. It is insular peace. A cocoon of peace around us. It is not taking us out of conflict, but keeping the effects of conflict from touching us.

It is not a peace only for the elite. The rich. The privileged. It is peace for whoever. Whatever person, no matter who. Grammatically, it means whatever person is performing the action of the verb. Which in this case is steadfast. Steadfast in the perfect peace we are granted. Staying inside the cocoon. Choosing to be in the perfect peace we have been granted by Grace, through Faith. We are not granted this peace on a whim. It is not hidden from the many, reserved for the few. Whoever does the thing gets the peace. How we do this is standing in Jesus. Abiding in Him. Keeping the first and greatest commandment and putting the Lord God Almighty first and foremost in our minds, hearts, and consciousness.

David Guzik (pastor and curator of the Enduring Word, an online bible commentary) has a great list on the mind: We are to love the Lord our God with all of our mind. “Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” (Matthew 22:37). We are transformed by the renewal of our minds. “Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). We can have the mind of Christ. “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind” (1 Corinthians 2:16). “Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). We are not to set our minds on earthly things. “whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things” (Philippians 3:16). We are instead to set our minds on things above. “Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth” (Colossians 3:2).

We are to love the Lord with all of our mind, which we are transforming by the Word into the mind of Christ, setting our mind not on earth things but on the things above. That’s powerful. That’s perfect peace. Or at least the path by which we abide in perfect peace. We reach out to perfect peace by staying our mind on the things of the Kingdom. We lean, rest on, support ourselves with, and lay against the things of the Kingdom of the Lord. An assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, and truth of Yahweh Most High. We depend on Him and rely with total confidence on the idea that He can and will do what He says He will. It’s what Abraham did. “Yet, looking to the promise of God, he didn’t waver through unbelief, but grew strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness”” (Romans 4:20-22).

This is a choice, then. It’s the same one that was presented to Israel in the desert. “You shall observe to do therefore as Yahweh your God has commanded you. You shall not turn away to the right hand or to the left” (Deuteronomy 5:32). This is less about whether you have your nose in a bible all day long and more about where your motivations are. Have you touched base with the Lord about that thing you’re doing? That show you’re watching? That web page you’re scrolling? That book you’re reading? It can mean taking a moment to pray before doing something. It can also be thinking about His values as we navigate our day. If you read the Word on a daily basis, you’re looking into His motivations. What He says is important. What He says are good values. You get a feel for what is and is not righteous. This world is all about our feelings and the rights that we are assigning to them. But what about His feelings? How is He going to feel if I check this or that out? If I give time and space in my mental landscape to things that are not in line with what He says is right?

“Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). We tend to look at the people behind the media we consume. Oh, I like that actor. Oh, that is really well done. Oh, they’re so good looking. Oh, that’s funny. Oh, I remember that and enjoyed it. But are they really good to pay attention to? The bad has an attraction to it. If it didn’t, no one would listen to gossip. It’s a flavour of the forbidden. That thing we really shouldn’t do, but feels soooo good in the moment when we do it. That’s the same kind of attitude Adam had in the Garden and look where it got him. It’s time we stopped being nonchalant about what we do with our minds. It isn’t about whether something is inherently well done. Music that is good MUSIC, but a terrible message. That promotes a lifestyle that isn’t compatible with Godly morals. Shows that program certain thinking into our minds. We need to look at this stuff. There are moguls in Hollywood that had flat out stated that they went there way back when in order to change the moral landscape of the country. They have, too. Seventy years ago there wasn’t a society-wide acceptance of premarital sex. It happened. But it wasn’t promoted as the norm. Today, sex while dating or even as a casual thing (between friends or just because you have an itch to scratch) is a standard. It’s expected. You’re often seen as weird if you weren’t out getting laid over the weekend. If you’re dating and not sleeping together, there is something wrong with the relationship. What will the next ten years tell us is normal?

It isn’t just entertainment. It isn’t unimportant. This is the stuff our lives are made from. Whatever you put before your eyes is influencing you whether you admit it or not. Why does mainstream media work so hard to present a unified front? The same news stories stated the same way read from a script with local names changed across the globe? Station after station, broadcaster after broadcaster. You can splice them all together and hear the entire story told from fifty or sixty different newscasts. People have done it. Everyone is selling a viewpoint. They get mad when people quote the bible for morality. But they have the same agenda. To push their viewpoint on you. To get other people to agree with them that what they feel and what they think is normal. To assuage their guilt at being told they are ‘wrong’ or ‘deviant’ when they just want to do what feels good. Of course there are limits to that. Laws against what we see as criminal wants and desires. But those lines are being stretched every day. The more we put the behaviour before our eyes, the more we will start to agree that it is normal.

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good” (Romans 12:9). “Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23). What we take into our minds, we set as patterns of our minds. This is why we are told to keep the Word before us every day. To read it with intent. Not just a fifteen minute perusal. Fifteen minutes of careful study. Of thinking of the meaning of the words and the ideals that are behind them. To pray about it. To pray for understanding. For the Holy Spirit to speak to you about these things. Ideally we’re spending more than fifteen minutes, but that is a good place to start. The more time we spend reading and praying, the easier it is to live out God’s ways. The easier it is to understand other passages of the Word. The more automatic it gets to put away the bad. You won’t miss it. You won’t regret it. You’re not going to be pining away for what you aren’t watching, listening to, or reading. You’ll be standing on what the Lord says is worth standing on. As you seek the Lord, all other things fall away. “One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

When we stand steadfastly on Him, we will find ourselves trusting Him. Relying on Him in expectation to do what it is that He said that He would. The great thing about the Word is that it is automatic (Mark 4:14). It is a seed that you plant in your heart when you read it and study it with the goal of seeking the Lord. That seed will take root and grow within you. As we water it with more of the Word, prayer to the Father, and worship (John 4:14), it will grow. Seed-time passes and we get a harvest. It can’t be rushed, but when you are doing this day by day it also can’t be stopped. The Kingdom isn’t a fast food business. This is NOT instant gratification. What it IS is fulfilling. Preparing us to walk in something, and then letting us walk in it. Not jumping in where we may flail around and fall. Jesus didn’t send the disciples out to preach first thing. He spent serious time with them first. His methods haven’t changed. He wants us to spend serious time with Him. He wants to train us to that when we go out into the world — whether that is a casual conversation with our neighbour or full-time ministry — we are ready. Full of trust and expectation because we’ve spent the time standing on and in Him. We’ve spent the time getting to know Him and what He can do.

When we trust the Lord, we get protected by the Lord. When we rely on Him, He proves Himself reliable. Look at the record of the Old Testament. Yahweh’s stance doesn’t change from Genesis to Malachi. He calls His people to trust in Him. When they do, that trust is proven justified. They are rescued, redeemed, protected, and blessed. When they choose to go their own way — either trying to do something in their own strength or rebelling — it doesn’t go well with them. This isn’t Yahweh being petty. This is the law of dominion (Genesis 1:26). He gave us charge over this world. If we want Him to operate in our lives, we have to give Him permission. We give Him permission by submitting to Him. By being obedient to Him. By putting our trust in Him and doing what He says. It may be out of our comfort zone, but it won’t be scary. Because He keeps us in perfect peace when we trust in Him, standing on Him steadfastly. Not wavering, regardless of feeling. You may shake a little in your own strength, but when we stand on Him you find the Rock doesn’t roll.

God doesn’t want you alone and lost in the dark. He wants you full of light firmly on His path. Seeing where your feet need to fall and trusting that the destination is ahead of us. To trust Him absolutely from the crown of our heads to the tips of our toes. To enjoy the perfect peace that is imparted when we are steadfast in our choice to put Him before us. To put His ideas of good before our feelings. To put His truth above our perception of truth. To base our lives on Him, not on us. He wants to sustain us, to provide for us, and for us to live in peace. He IS peace. He IS provision. He IS sustenance. Be steadfast. Choose to put your mind on Him and His ways. Let fear slide off your back.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). Do not fear what is happening or what might happen. Let His peace keep your heart because you are keeping your trust in Him.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Isaiah 46:4-5

The news reels around the globe are less than hopeful. Governments reneging on debt. Economies set to crash. Banks closing doors. Cost of groceries rising. Gas is getting ridiculous. There is a lot going on. A storm of bad in a world that makes bad a hobby. What do we do? What actions should we be taking or avoiding? None of this is a surprise to the Lord. None of this worries Him. None of this is out of left field. In the end, where are we putting our trust? Is it in the people around us? The financial system? In our carefully audited retirement plans? Or are we going to start trusting the God and Saviour who created the entire universe? Which is bigger, the economy of our country or the Lord? Which has more influence on our day to day lives? The amount of toilet paper in the grocery store or the Lord? Does it matter if you have money in the bank? In a crisis, what good does it really do you? It can come in handy, but if the system that gives it value is tanking, then it is worthless. We have promise after promise in the Word that the Lord can meet our needs. We have promise after promise that we can rely on Him. Whether we are old or young when we put our hand in His, He can walk us through our entire journey. He can guide our spending. He can guide our employment. He can guide our retirement. He can and will deliver on every promise that He has made — if we’ll let Him. He is beyond comparison. Nothing even comes close. Isn’t it time we started acting like it? No, we don’t need to stick our heads in the sand. But we do need to leave fear, worry, stress, depression, anxiety, and everything else far behind whenever we see a story of doom and gloom. The world might be headed for a nasty fall, but we are not. We are carried in the arms of the Most High God and it is about time that we started believing it. Trust in the Lord, seek His face, and all the rest will follow. Do what He says, be obedient. He won’t steer you wrong. He won’t let you fall. You’ll be together in the storm, safe in the boat, while the waters rage around you. It will not touch you, for you trust in the Lord.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.