Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“For many are called but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:14

This is a very simple idea that it is VERY easy to miss: we need to LET Adonai love us. It works no different with Adonai than it does with our fellow human beings. We need to LET other people love us. We can be in a relationship and hold them at a distance. We can be in a relationship and everything is very one-sided. BOTH participants in the relationship have to let the other person love them or it will never be a true relationship. It will remain hollow and superficial and go nowhere. In the end, you will not have truly known each other, just known OF each other (Matthew 7:21-23). We need to LET Adonai love us in the same way that Adonai has ALREADY let us love Him (John 3:16-17; 1 John 4:19).

I was in a relationship for almost, but not quite a year and my partner never really let me love them. It was always at arms’ reach. They weren’t actively pushing me away, but they never let me in. I tried, but did not succeed. Maybe I was trying the wrong way. Maybe I was failing to accept their love. I don’t know what happened, but it was clear that while there was interest and affection, love was not flowing. It was not going to go anywhere. And eventually they broke it off and let me go. We did not mutually CHOOSE love. We chose to date, and it inevitably crashed and burned. Adonai is not looking to date us.

Adonai makes it clear from the get-go that He is looking for a serious relationship. He wants a Bride, He wants nothing less, and He is committed to making it work. We have to accept that. We have to choose to let Him in. We have to open the door. We have to LET HIM LOVE US. And it isn’t an easy thing. We can see how great He is. We can see what a catch He would be as a husband. And then we look in the mirror. We can see flaws. We can see LESS THAN. We can see that we aren’t really anything special when you get right down to it. Why would He want us? Or worse, how could He really love us? We can so easily choose to believe that we are unlovable or that there is something we have done (or something was done to us) that makes us absolutely not worthy of love. It is an easy lie to believe. Because we are raised in darkness and we are raised with broken eyes. We are unable to see what Adonai sees without Ruach HaKodesh to help us. And when we stand there looking into the mirror, it is a funhouse mirror and we are NOT seeing reality. We see a distortion.

The devil has a vested interest in us believing the distortion, so his narrative is look at the flaws. Look at the ick. Look at all the bad. He will try and keep us focused on all the things that keep us out of the Kingdom (John 10:10). But those very things are what Jesus came to take away. Jesus isn’t standing at the door knocking like some high school prom date (Revelation 3:20). Jesus is standing there seeking to take us from the house full of distorted mirrors and into HIS FATHER’S HOUSE which is only full of TRUTH. He wants to REMOVE us from where we were and what we were and take us into what He is and where He is. If we are willing to let Him, He will take us on a journey that will transform everything we are into everything He sees in us.

“Because of this also we, from the day we heard about it, did not cease praying for you, and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual insight, so that you may live in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good deed and increasing in the knowledge of God, enabled with all power, according to his glorious might, for all steadfastness and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, because all things in the heavens and on the earth were created by him, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers, all things were created through him and for him, and he himself is before all things, and in him all things are held together, and he himself is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in everything, because he was well pleased for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by making peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:9-20).

Jesus did it first so that we could be it in Him. Jesus took us from where we were to where He is. Jesus upholds us in His hand and knows our true value and true worth. This is what salvation is. A total renewal of ourselves and a total acceptance of all the BLESSING. But we have to let Him do it. AND it has to be a daily choice. Because there are always things about us that haven’t been transformed YET. The battlefield is our minds. There are always things that we need to renew our thinking about (Romans 12:2). It doesn’t happen in a moment but piece by piece (2 Corinthians 3:18). Adonai doesn’t want to overwhelm us and instead goes step by step, leading us by Ruach HaKodesh giving us ONLY what we can handle. He is patient. He is kind. He is gentle. And we need to COOPERATE with Him in it. We need to take His hand. We need to let Him do what He can and wants to do. We have to PARTICIPATE by letting Him in. By letting Him love us.

It seems like such a small step. Such a small thing to do. But we can prevent Him from doing a work in a particular area of our lives by holding to the idea that we aren’t worthy of it. That THAT piece is too broken to fix. It isn’t true. Jesus can fix EVERYTHING. Jesus can renew EVERYTHING. Jesus can repair it to the point that you will never be able to tell that it was ever damaged in the first place. Jesus will heal everything about all of us IF we let Him. IF we listen to Ruach HaKodesh and humbly submit to what He wants to do. IF we let Him love us. When we do, it changes EVERYTHING. “Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and will take up residence with him” (John 14:23). We need to open the door. He is there ready and waiting. We need to let Him in. We need to let Him love us. Everything else flows from that. We need to open the door and take His hand. WITH HIM everything is possible. Everything is lovable. IN JESUS everything is worthy. Let Him love you. Let Him show you just what you look like to Him. Let Him show you who you are in Jesus. Let Him show you just how brightly you SHINE.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: John 3:17

“For God did not send his Son into the world in order that he should judge the world, but in order that the world should be saved through him.” Adonai COULD condemn us. We WERE born in genetic Sin. We ARE under the sentence for disobedience that was pronounced in Genesis 2 and came into effect in Genesis 3 – starting with Adam and effecting ALL of his offspring. It has nothing to do with what we DO, we are guilty by our very NATURE – which led to personal sins. Adonai COULD judge that. He isn’t. He didn’t impute sin where humans didn’t know His Law (Romans 4:15). He isn’t treating us to His righteous wrathful judgement on Sin. Instead, He is seeking to protect us from it (1 Thessalonians 1:10). He sent His Son. The Son VOLUNTEERED. They made a Way for us to get back to Him. To be cleansed from our sins. To be changed at the genetic level so that Sin is no longer part of our DNA (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are no longer dealt with on OUR merit, but by JESUS’ merit (2 Corinthians 5:21). He’s done everything He can from before Day One (Revelation 13:8) to make us His children. He’s STILL doing everything He can. And He WILL CONTINUE to do everything He can (2 Peter 3:9). Adonai has a really long and really faithful track record of how much He loves us. What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8