Fear No Fear

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

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
2 Corinthians 13:5 (emphasis added)

This scripture does not stand alone. “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:10-11). When Paul called for us to examine everything (1 Thessalonians 5:21), we were included in that. We are part of ‘everything’. We need to not get weary in self-examination. Placing ourselves squarely up against the Word and willing to humbly submit in ANY area where we are lacking. If we aren’t willing to delve deep, leaving no corner without the Light of Jesus, then how will we notice when we start to veer off the path and into the weeds?

We KNOW we’re saved, but how are we living that out? Where is our thinking? What is our mindset? “He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’ Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:33-46). This isn’t the saved and unsaved, because the unsaved don’t even see Jesus. This is the church and the church. Those who did something with the Gospel they were entrusted with, and those who did nothing. The question is: are you goating it, or are you sheepish?

The idea behind an internal examination is twofold. First, attacks come from the outside in, but the Kingdom moves from the inside out. If we aren’t sure we have the Kingdom going on inside, we will be ineffective in the walk we’re trying to walk. Second, it is the job of Ruach HaKodesh to convict us of righteousness. To show us how we can be like Jesus in every place we find ourselves. To show us how to show Jesus. To remind us who we are in Jesus. “And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment—concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned” (John 16:8-11). We need to live in the conviction of Righteousness in order to walk out the Gospel. Ruach HaKodesh wants to do more than dwell in us. He wants to rest UPON us. We can’t be in that place on our own. We need shepherding. “For you were going astray like sheep but now you have turned back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25). We WERE going astray, but now under the guidance of Messiah Jesus our Shepherd we have turned back. That turning back happens-the only way it is able to happen-when we internally examine our motivations, our hearts, and turn them actively and on purpose, toward Him.

“Look, the one whose desires are not upright will faint from exhaustion, but the person of integrity will live because of his faithfulness” (Habakkuk 2:4). We need to be faithful in our integrity. The journey of a believer isn’t one-and-done salvation. The One saved us and we walk until we’re done. Very different things. Salvation is a decision. Baptism is the public declaration of our mental decision AND the physical picture of our spiritual renewal into Jesus. THAT’S where we START. Do you think the devil will leave us alone? Do you think the world wants to be shown how dirty they are? They BOTH want us to fail to make their own failures seem nicer. That ‘ahhhhhhhhh they’re just like us’ moment. Then they try and stomp us into oblivion for the AUDACITY to try and be clean. That’s their go to. We do NOT need to fear it, because Jesus has overcome the world and Him living in us provides us with the victory and protection to live abundantly in the storm of lack that’s in this world. But we DO need to be aware of it. To examine our thinking. To look at the path we are ACTUALLY walking. Are we on Adonai’s path? Or are we off in the weeds trying to call Him over to us because we know where the trail is? Constant examination without shame. There is no shame in repentance, only acknowledgement and obedient submission to the righteous correctness of Adonai’s point of view.

It really is that simple. We like taking the simplicity and making it technical because we can fudge the numbers. We can twist the data. We can take polls and remove words we don’t like and explain away everything that makes us uncomfortable. But you can’t wave the Kingdom away. It IS. Jesus paid the price so that we could mix our trust with the Word in BELIEF to step into Him and BE the victory. If we aren’t walking in the physical arrival of our spiritual victory, we don’t really believe. A simple truth. We are going to have persecutions because we’re Jesus’ disciples (2 Timothy 3:12). We are going to encounter tribulations and tests because the devil and the world are trying to prove we will fail and fall (1 Peter 5:8; Romans 12:12). That doesn’t mean we’re losing. Jesus never lost a day in His life. We are to be exactly like Him. Jesus was persecuted and suffered a LOT. So will we. Jesus was JOYOUS (Hebrews 12:2). We can be too.

We don’t need to wrestle for healing. We don’t need to strive for healing. We don’t need to prove ourselves worthy. We don’t need to log a certain amount of hours praying. We don’t need a particular affirmation or a certain number of them. All we need is to believe the trust we have in the Word. That’s it. Believe it to receive it. If you receive it, you’ve believed it. If you haven’t received it, you don’t yet believe it – or you’ve mixed belief with doubt. No CONDEMNATION. Facts. Realities. In Jesus there is no condemnation, but freedom and victory. We need to see that.we have a disconnect and repent. Examine your heart. Look inside and evaluate. So much of what we say are words of doubt, even when we think we are standing. Imagine standing on healing. Believing. And then saying something like ‘it will be soon ‘ or ‘this needs to be gone by tomorrow’. It’s a natural world kind of comment that you don’t say when you’re healthy and know it. No one wakes up, gets ready for work, and says ‘I need my eyeballs to work by the time I’m driving’ or ‘my toes are really working today’. We don’t talk about the things that are working. We don’t make funny noises and stretch and point out all the ways we are functioning. Why would we do it if we’ve prayed BELIEVING? We wouldn’t.

I know people will say that it is because the physical healing hasn’t arrived yet. I get that. But our FOCUS should be on the healing PERIOD, not on the temporary symptoms of it. Those symptoms are a lie. We need to reject the lie. They can be rejected with doctors. They can be rejected with home remedy. They can be rejected by the supernatural touch of Elohim. In the end, it doesn’t matter HOW we reject the lie as long as it is rejected. I will tell you this: Elohim’s way is faster, better, and NEVER has complications. You can walk in this. I’ve had fevers break in a moment. I’ve FELT sickness melt off my head and chest. I have also not felt it. I have also taken medicine along with my praying. The times it did not happen near instantaneously, I can almost always trace it back to words I said or ‘just in case’ actions. That’s when you say thank you to Adonai for the healing you receive, and then take a pill ‘just in case’. That isn’t trust, friend. How do you know what to do? Ruach HaKodesh. Only ADONAI knows our hearts. He knows them better than WE know them (Acts 15:18). He knows what we can believe for. He knows how far we can stretch before doubt raises its head. He KNOWS what is best, not just for us, but for all people involved. Sometimes our healing is about us. Sometimes our healing is about the witness we can be to others.

How we get it is not important. When we get it isn’t really that important-but you can have it NOW, today. What is REALLY important is the substance that is in our hearts. We need to be examining ourselves all the time. We need to embrace the consistent correction we receive from Ruach HaKodesh. We need to make sure that we are always adjusting our rudders, always moving with His compass, always making course corrections at His behest. If we don’t, we run the danger of being carried away in our own thinking. Doing things in our own strength. Relying on our own ideas. Because no matter how GOOD our ideas are, when they are outside of JESUS, they just won’t work. Not in the long run, not the right way, and not to the benefit of the maximum amount of people.

It is too easy to let this world around us and the many, many good things that exist in it, to distract us from the most important truth that exists: Jesus is in us. Jesus. Messiah Yeshua. He LIVES inside of us. His Name fills us. Can you feel it? The Light and the Flame inside you? Filling us with His power and glory and mercy and love? Can you feel it rising up there, pulling you to your feet, to stand before the Throne and praise the Father for all that He is? To worship our God with all that is within us? It is a miracle. It is a glory that is hard to comprehend, but one that can easily be KNOWN. He can become more real to us that the world around us. His righteous viewpoint can dominate our thinking. Not with harsh authoritarian domination, but to be THE matter we think on most. THE thing that makes us get up in the morning. Makes us smile. Makes us laugh. That wraps us with comfort when we lie down. Jesus within us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27); Jesus coming out of us, the hope arriving physically.

Just as Jesus walked on this Earth Himself, Jesus walks now on this Earth within us. We ARE who He IS. Now. We are the LIGHT that the world sees. We are the SALT that shows the world a difference. We are the ones who are on the scene. But we are ONLY here because HE is in us. We are able because HE does it through us. We cannot forget that. We cannot forget the simple instructions we were given (Matthew 28:16-20). When we lose sight of Jesus, we lose sight of the truth. Listen to Ruach HaKodesh. Don’t ever stop listening. Don’t ever stop testing your heart. Let the Word fill your heart. Let the Word get into your heart. And let Adonai change your life, renew your mind, and show you His path. Don’t get into the weeds. Stay on the smooth Way. It may be narrow, but it is the ONLY path of truth that there is. It is the TRUTH that sets us free (John 8:31-32).

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 53:11

“Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. “My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins.”” Messiah would be the sin bearer for all mankind (male and female). There was a price for sin (Genesis 2:15-17). The blood of animals covered sin for a time (Leviticus 4:20–35). They could give a temporary way for interaction with Adonai. But inevitably, sin would rise again. And again. It would only be payment for sin by truly innocent blood that sin could be paid for. Innocent blood rebelled (Adam), only innocent blood could redeem (Messiah). “And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation” (Hebrews 9:27-28). Jesus came to make a way for us (John 3:16-18). He died for us. He paid for sin. He enabled us to be what He is. Jesus took our punishment so that we could take His nature (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b