Fear No Fear

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

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!
Hebrews 13:8 (emphasis added)

Jesus started out totally divine. Then He took on flesh and became a man. Then He was resurrected to life again, now both man AND divine. Yet Messiah Jesus is the SAME at all times. How can that be? Obviously there was some change in what He went through. Just as Obviously, the core of who He IS did NOT change. His character remained constant. His will remained constant. His words remained constant. Yes, there was the usual ebb and flow that marks human life, but the things that matter remained constant. Like His determination to obey the Father’s Will. Like His humble submission. In these things and more, Jesus was constant. If He was willing to do it while He was here on Earth as a living man, He is still willing to do. What He did while He was here? He enables us to do while WE are here if we will stay in HIM. We are NOT called to start things. We are called to FINISH what He has set before us. In Him, we can.

“I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me” (Philippians 413). “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). “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Be like Jesus. In character, be like Jesus. It will naturally lead to being like Jesus in deeds, words, and thoughts. No matter what we WANT, it is a truth that our thoughts, words, and deeds follow after our character. Change our character, the rest will change with it. And don’t be mistaken. Character CAN be changed. Recent research in personality science raises the idea that personality traits can change through persistent intervention. Persistent. Like being THE SAME. Not only today, but also tomorrow. And all the tomorrows yet to come. Persistence leads to consistence which leads to character change. It can’t be rushed.
If you study chemistry, you’ll learn that a solution is a homogeneous mixture. That means the solution is made up of a minimum of two substances. Any substance in the solution retains their individual chemical makeup, but are spread throughout the solution uniformly. That means you can’t look at the solution with the named eye and see the different elements that make it up. For example, mix sugar and water or salt and water and you’ll see that they LOOK the same. If you drink them, however, you’ll easily tell them apart. They LOOK like plain water, but are NOT. They are a UNIFORM solution.

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit. You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. 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” (John 15:1-5). If we want persistent, consistent intervention we need to be connected to Jesus. He connects us to the Source through His body and His blood. The covenant relationship between Jesus and the Father is extended to us by Grace through our trust in the words of Jesus. He is our connection. He plugs us into the Father’s current. He connects us to the life-giving sap which runs through Jesus, our Vine. Without that sap, we won’t bear fruit. Sap is the lifeblood of a plant. There is Phloem (FLOWM) sap, which is nutrient rich. There is also Xylem (ZY lum) sap, which is mostly water. Both are needed for the plant’s health. Both can only work while the roots are connected to the leaves. The whole organism needs to be connected for everything to flow the way it is supposed to. We are no different.

Blood and water. The nutrients of Jesus’ Covenant. The New Covenant. It completed the Old, has better promises, and is offered by Grace and not performance (thank you, Father). If we are not connected to the FLOW of the New Covenant, we will wither and die. First spiritually, and then throughout our whole self. Anything not connected to the life-giving flow withers and dies. We see it all over the natural world. It is just as real in the spiritual world. Connect to the flow, things work. Disconnect from the flow, things die. This is the simple and basic manoeuvre that the enemy focuses on. He is only around to kill (John 10:10). If he can disrupt the flow, we’ll wither, and he has a shot at killing us. When we have abundant life flowing through us, he doesn’t have a shot. His best chance is to get us to ignore the flow, get distracted from the flow so we get less of it, have us run away from the flow, or to trick us into replacing the flow. It’s all about the flow.

“On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’”” (John 7:37-38). That’s Grace. Jesus didn’t say we needed to pass an exam. We didn’t need to perform twelve impossible labours. We didn’t even need to perform one mostly possible labour. We didn’t have to do ANYTHING like that. We need to believe. We need to go to Him. We need to receive. You can’t receive from someone you think is below you. You can take from them, but you can’t receive from them. If you think someone is beneath you, inside your heart you believe you are receiving your due. But if someone is ABOVE you or on the SAME level, then you’re not getting your due. You are able to receive. Although we can sometimes get caught up in the ‘I don’t deserve this’ mentality when they are above us. Well, Jesus is above us. We DON’T deserve it. Jesus is offering it anyway. Because His Father told Him to (John 12:49; 14:31). Because the Father wants NO ONE to be lost (2 Peter 3:9).

Before ANYTHING was created, the plan for our Salvation and the redemption of Creation was settled (Revelation 13:8). As Creation was being created, that plan was seeded into it. It grew. It ripened. It became the greatest harvest the world has ever known. And the fruit of that harvest is there on the table of the New Covenant waiting for us to partake of it. Those that do will enjoy the fruits of it forever with Adonai. THAT is consistency. THAT is persistence. THAT is what Jesus is all about. We are to abide in Him, taking up our cross so that we can join Him in death and also His resurrection to life (Romans 6:4). We are alive IN JESUS and Jesus is alive IN US. “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). We are called to be like Jesus was: ONE. “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father residing in me performs his miraculous deeds” (John 14:10).

If we are in Him and He is in us, then the Father sees Jesus when He looks at us. We and Jesus are occupying the same space, but we each have our own distinct makeup. We are a solution. We are UNIFORM. Whether we are uniform because we are His Righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21), or whether we are uniform because we are wearing His Armour (Ephesians 6:13-18), we are UNIFORM when we are in Him. We are distinctly branches and He is distinctly the Vine, but we are UNIFORM. All that can be seen are the Fruits of Ruach HaKodesh. We wear His Armour. We shine with His Righteousness. We bear His Fruit. Anyone looking at us are supposed to see HIM, not us. If we are CONSISTENT and PERSISTENT in staying connected to Him, our character will change. We will, day by day, become more and more like Him, until all of CREATION sees NOTHING but JESUS. It will happen when we are caught up to heaven with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:17). We will be caught up, we will see Him, and everything that is NOT Jesus will be blasted out of and off of us for forever and ever. “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is” (1 John 3:2).

This is how we get healing. This is how we defeat all the babies of Fear. This is how death comes to be of no effect. If you want healing, you need to abide in Jesus. You need to be persistent in being connected. You need to be persistent in seeking His face. You need to be persistent in developing your love of Him. This is how we get it. Hands open with humbleness, not greed. Giving to Adonai from love, but expecting Him to do what He says. Not for OUR gain, but for HIS. For us to be a blessing to everyone we meet. Won’t it be great when we are all walking in that? Able to hand out blessing to everyone we meet, not just those close to us. To be people who give something to whomever comes to our house, no matter how many times they come. This is how we receive. We wear His uniform. Jesus received every day He was there on earth. We can do. We can receive exactly what Jesus did, but only when we are wearing His uniform. Only when we are abiding in Him. It takes self-control. That’s why Adonai gifted that to us (2 Timothy 1:7). We can use it – like every other gift Jesus has brought to us from the Father’s hand.

Be like Jesus. Seek Jesus. Be uniform. Wear it. Worship Him for it. Be obedient in it. Be where you can receive, and receive in FULL.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 53:4

“But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done” Messiah would bear the sins of the world. Messiah would be sinless, yet He would WILLINGLY take on sin so that the wrath of Yahweh could be poured onto Messiah instead of us. “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). Jesus took on our sin. He didn’t deserve it, but He became the sacrifice for us (1 John 4:10). Jesus took our punishment to make a Way for us back to His Father (John 14:6). Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b