Fear No Fear

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

“So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe!”.”

John 20:25

Thomas had seen Jesus die, or at least knew that He had been crucified (the only disciple listed as an actual witness was John). Thomas had been there in the garden when Jesus was taken. He had heard the news of the trial and crucifixion. He was hiding just like the others were, trying to avoid detection and the very real threat of his own arrest. Thomas wasn’t a coward. He had exhorted the others to travel with Jesus when it seemed like they were all going to die together (John 11:16). But Thomas was enough of a realist that he doesn’t seem to want false hope. He had seen people raised from the dead BY Jesus, but if JESUS was dead, who was going to raise Him? So Thomas made a choice and decided that unless very specific circumstances were fulfilled, he WOULD NOT believe. It was a choice.

Thomas was not giving Jesus much opportunity. He was certainly shutting down his friends. This is the same kind of lack of opportunity that we so easily accept ourselves. We prevent the manifestation of the love of Adonai in our lives because we won’t give Him the opportunity. We need to LET Adonai love us, yes. But we fulfill that by giving Him the opportunity to do so. We need to NOT shut Him down. We need to lean into what He wants to do. We need to cooperate in His loving us. It’s not enough to let Him in. We need to let Him in and give Him opportunities to show us His love. We do that by participating in His love language.

We know that Adonai responds to obedience. When we humbly submit to His superior position and choose to obey Him, this pleases Him. It is putting Him first. But that isn’t His language. We know that Adonai LOVES to bless us. That the first thing humanity ever heard from Adonai was the BLESSING (Genesis 1:28). But that isn’t His language. Adonai’s love language is TRUST. “Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and is a rewarder of those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). It isn’t enough to acknowledge He is Elohim Almighty. We HAVE to trust Him. Trust is what enables Adonai to act. ANYONE can be blessed by Adonai. ANYONE can obey a command of Adonai. But those who TRUST Adonai are the ones who are interacting with Him, truly loving Him AND giving Him opportunity to love them.

The Pharisees were great rule followers. They loved following rules they added a bunch of their own which were designed to make sure they kept Adonai’s. Adonai said rest on the Sabbath, so they defined what rest was. Adonai said don’t work on the Sabbath, so they defined what work was. They added dozens of rules of what you could do and couldn’t do so that there was no danger of breaking the Sabbath Law. Thing is though, they were keeping RULES but they were not TRUSTING. They operated this way in every area of their lives. Obedience? They had that down. Trusting? They refused. They put their trust in their obedience to rules, in their works and effort. They gave no opportunity for LOVE to operate.

We need to give Adonai opportunity to love us. To show us love. We do that by trusting Him. In small ways and big ways. The easiest way to do that is to interact with Ruach HaKodesh. To listen and then to apply what He tells us. To seek Him over things. Asking Him His opinion. Asking for direction. He is our guide, teacher, reminder, leader, corrector, comforter, and everything else we need (John 14:17; 16:13-15). He is our access point to the wisdom of Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:16). Living a life of trusting Jesus isn’t a one-way street. It isn’t listening for those big instructions where we step out in trust and do something without there being a cushy landing pad protecting us. It’s listening to Him when we prepare a meal. When we shop. When we speak to our kids. When we turn on the television or pick up our phones. It is giving Jesus the opportunity to love us, by choosing to seek Him in all things at all times. Small ways AND big ways.

Having a Lord over your life means giving authority to Him. It doesn’t mean we have to sit on our hands and wait for a word before we do anything. But Jesus lives inside us through Ruach HaKodesh. We are the dwelling place of Elohim Almighty. He is a CONSTANT companion. Shouldn’t we talk to Him? Interact with Him? Learn to discuss everything with the One who inhabits our bodies? I mean, He’s right there! Wouldn’t it be RUDE not to? Especially since He knows us better than we do AND everything else too? Sometimes He is going to back our play. Other times He is going to make a suggestion. Other times He is going to tell us what to do. It isn’t like we are going to become puppets. We aren’t losing our free will, we are gaining true freedom. We no longer have to go it alone. We no longer have to decide everything without input. We no longer are stuck with our own human thinking. We have MORE. We have JESUS.

As we go about our lives, we should be talking with Ruach HaKodesh. We should be declaring that we are going to trust Jesus’ lead BEFORE we do something and then take the time to listen. It only takes a few moments. As we practise giving Him opportunity to love on us, we’ll get better at hearing His voice. From separating it out from the noise going on in and around us (John 10:27). Every day and in every way we should be determining that we WILL believe Him. That we WILL trust Him. Whether it looks possible or not. Whether it looks mundane or not. Part of our sacrifice (Matthew 16:24) is to CHOOSE to listen to Him. To give Him the opportunity to love us by speaking His love language: trust.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Psalm 9:10

“And those who know your name will trust in you, for you do not forsake those who seek you, O Yahweh.” A keeper of promises. That’s who Adonai is. When He says a thing, He keeps to that thing. He is FAITHFUL. One of the things He has said is that if we seek Him we will find Him (Matthew 7:7-8). If we give Him the chance to move, He will move. If He’s already moved, we can engage what He has done. This is the basic transactional reality of the Kingdom. This is what SABBATH is: He is our Source and has everything for us already. We don’t have to WORK for it, we can simply TRUST Him for it – and He delivers. He delivers our needs. He delivers us what we need to glorify Him. He delivers what helps us, not what hurts us. When we seek Him, we find Him. When we trust Him, He doesn’t leave us hanging. Instead, the BLESSING opens to us. All through TRUST. Isn’t that great? We can stop worrying. We can stop being depressed. We can stop being anxious. We can REPLACE those with our CONFIDENCE in trusting Adonai because Adonai NEVER drops the ball. When we seek good things (James 4:3), we GET those things when we have TRUSTED Him for them (Mark 11:24). Trusting isn’t complex. And it is demonstrably true. It WORKS. When we trust He responds. Every time. He is there to be found. He is there to interact with us. He is there to supply us with what we need. He does not hide it. He has it in His hand and is offering it to 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