Fear No Fear

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

Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.
Galatians 5:26 (emphasis added)

Envy is a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck. This quickly turns into an action (mentally first, and then physically) where your desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable attribute belonging to (someone else) becomes a desire to make that thing yours. Jealousy is a feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages. A feeling or showing suspicion of someone’s unfaithfulness in a relationship. A fiercely protective feeling of vigilance about/over one’s rights or possessions. Do you notice something? All of these are FEELINGS. They are EXTERNAL things that come on us. Like heat, cold, light, dark, or the smell of cooking. We need to choose to do something with them. We can agree with them, embrace them, and choose to emote them. Or we can disagree with them, acknowledge them, and put them aside in favour of an emotion based on the Word. Feelings are based in the FLESH. Emotions are based in the MIND. The MIND can be renewed by Adonai through the Word (Romans 12:2). Our FLESH will not be renewed until the end of the road (1 John 3:2). Until our flesh is renewed we have a choice. Choose the emotion or feed the feeling.

The Greek word translated as jealous here is ‘phthonos’ (fthon’-os). To be accurate, it is not the feeling of being jealous or the feeling of envy. It is what happens afterward. It is the decay that happens. It is that souring of our desires, due to the influence of sin, into the miserable trait of being glad when someone experiences misfortune or pain. It is the jealous envy that negatively energises us with an embittered mind. An embittered mind is a twisted thing. It is displeasure at another person’s good. Not only displeasure, but even a longing to bring that person down to our own level – instead of a longing to raise yourself with hard work and devotion to their level.

Can you see how deadly this mindset is? Do you know the damage that this mindset can do to you? It is poison. It kills. “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice” (James 3:14-16). The world tells you it is ‘normal’. That everyone experiences it. I even found this comment on Vox: ‘It’s okay to be envious. It can even be a good thing. Let envy be a motivator instead of holding you back.’ This is because creation is fallen. Sin has stained everything. When you are in the dark, having darkness is normal. But I believe with all of my heart that envy is NOT normal. It is NOT something we need to entertain. It is NOT something we need to put up with. It is something we need to put down and stand on. “Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it” (Genesis 4:7).

“A tranquil spirit revives the body, but envy is rottenness to the bones” (Proverbs 14:30). A tranquil spirit can also be translated as a heart of healing. A peaceful spirit. It is so much the opposite of envy. Envy is a desire that never really gets satisfied. The world has an adage: the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Why is it ALWAYS greener? Because if you wheel and deal and manage to take that yard and add it to your own, you’ll discover that there is another fence beyond that. There is ALWAYS another fence. There is ALWAYS another patch of grass. Through the eyes of envy, it is ALWAYS greener than what you have. “You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions” (James 4:2-3). It affects your prayer life. Your relationship with Adonai. It also affects your own body – sometimes symbolically but sometimes physically.

One of the most tragic areas that envy seeks to get its claws on is healing. What better deal is there for the devil than that? He has a purpose. It is to steal from us. To kill us. To destroy any works of Adonai that he can manage (John 10:10). The best way to kill healing is to make it an object of envy. The journey to be free from sickness and disease (which is the Will of Elohim, Matthew 8:16-17) becomes the journey to keep healing away. It is behind the religious spirit of ‘healing isn’t for today’. There is NO evidence that Elohim stopped healing. That the anointing for healing was taken back. From the beginning of the scriptures right to the end Adonai has a heart for healing, restoration, and redemption. From the first to the last verse the Word is the story of Adonai trying to get fallen people to accept His help in standing up. Healing happens when we take the Word and mix it with our trust in Adonai. If we do not mix it with our trust, nothing happens. They’re just words. A religious spirit tries to operate without real trust, nothing happens, it gets envious, and then tries to get things to stop so that those who HAVE trust will be forced to live like those WITHOUT trust.

“Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). This is the anti-envy verse. Envy says ‘I want that and don’t have it so no one can’. Trust says ‘I want that and I know Elohim gives it so I will seek Him’. “Then Peter started speaking: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people, but in every nation the person who fears him and does what is right is welcomed before him” (Acts 10:34-35). Adonai is willing to give ANYONE what He has given ANYONE. If you are willing to do what that person did, restrict the way they did, grow the way they did, give up what they did, and walk where they did, then Adonai is willing to do the same thing. That is a basic principle of the Kingdom: seek and find. We can all be thankful that Adonai calls us to where HE wants us so we don’t waste our time trying to fit ourselves into someone else’s slot. But when it comes to the things of Adonai (instead of the ministry of Adonai), He tells us we ALL get to have them. We can ALL be healed. We can ALL be whole. That is the BIGGEST testimony that we can ever have. Being less than whole and perfect is never a better testimony than being completely and totally healed. Is it great that a paralysed person can still be mightily used by Elohim? Yes! Is it great that someone who is suffering can still be used for healing others? Yes! You know what is BETTER, GREATER, and a SUPERIOR testimony? Adonai HEALED YOU COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY IN EVERY WAY. Healing is ALWAYS the better testimony.

Too often we look at healing from the point of view of the flesh. To a human being, overcoming adversity is a wonderful thing. It is a great accomplishment. To a human being (male or female) managing to accomplish while being less than whole should be celebrated. But Adonai doesn’t think that way. He can meet you there. He can use ANYONE. But Jesus came to provide HEALING. Jesus came to restore us. Miraculously, totally, and in a way that WE never could. Jesus wants you healed and whole. Jesus wants you restored. Jesus wants to FREE you from the point of view of the flesh. We can ALL be whole. We can ALL be healed. We do NOT have to be a testimony that Elohim can use the physically broken to accomplish great things while leaving them broken. It has shown up too often in Christian Entertainment. It has shown up too often in our testimonies. It has shown up too often in our pulpits. It is a demonic doctrine. Jesus wants you whole, healed, and to free you from ALL sickness and ALL disease. Period. He does NOT will for you to be worthy of being healed. He wants you to engage your healing in your unworthiness. THAT is GRACE. THAT is MERCY. THAT is His WILL. ALWAYS.

Don’t let bitterness grow in your heart. Don’t let feelings of envy or jealousy take root. Yes, someone else might receive their healing ahead of you. Yes, it might seem like you’re in a desert and they’re in Hawaii. It isn’t reality. Your healing is in His hand. If you haven’t received it, it is NOT because Adonai is giving to others and not you. Jesus took beatings, whippings, and wounds to release healing to you. It’s yours. If you don’t have it, it is YOU that has missed it, not Adonai. Letting feelings of envy grow won’t fix that. It will make it worse. Do to Adonai and ask for wisdom. He takes JOY in giving it (James 1:5-8). He’ll show you where you missed it AND work with you so that you grow your trust and belief in Him and the healing He released through the cross. He is no respecter of persons, remember? He wants us ALL to be healthy and whole. He wants us ALL to walk in the FULLNESS of His Love and His Will. We are ALL students in His eyes. He will teach you, if you will listen and obey. He will get you to where He wants you. Our destinations are all the same: HIM. Our journey? Our paths? They will be different because we start at different places. TRUST Him. Let HIM lead you. Patience. Kindness. Joy. Love. These are the things we should emote. Don’t let false feelings feed your heart. Take Him there. Let Him have residence. Let HIS emotions be yours. Your grass is plenty green. Don’t worry about the view over the fence. It isn’t what you should have eyes on anyway. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He’ll get you there. He’s on the case! Healing is NOW, healing is in HIM, and healing WILL be yours. Trust Him.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 53:9

“They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb because he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully.” Messiah would be buried in a rich man’s tomb. A man crucified as a criminal. Loathed by the religious elite. Yet Messiah would be innocent and have done no wrong. Messiah would not be forbidden a particular resting place, because His actions kept Him eligible for ANY burial spot. “Now when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance of the tomb and went away” (Matthew 27:57). There is a tradition that the eldest relative of a dead person was responsible for overseeing the burial of a body. Women were usually tasked with preparing the bodies, but with Sabbath only a few hours away, the men took charge and processed it quickly. Joseph of Arimathea is in some traditions said to be the elder uncle of Mary, mother of Jesus (making him Jesus’ great uncle). I don’t agree with all of those traditions, but relative or not, he was an influential and rich man. Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb that had never been used by anyone. It was a rich man’s grave. Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b