Fear No Fear

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

And a leper approached and bowed low before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand and touched him saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Matthew 8:2-3 (emphasis added)

Jesus didn’t cleanse this leper in the sense that Jesus released power and actively cleansed him. Jesus released power through Ruach HaKodesh and then left it up to the leper. Adonai doesn’t violate our free will and neither did Jesus here. The leper had no opinion on Jesus’ ability to heal in this instance. He acknowledged Jesus and He worshipped Jesus, but he maintained neutrality and didn’t believe one way or the other about the actual healing. He didn’t know Jesus’ mind. If Jesus healed him, great. If Jesus didn’t, that was okay too. He didn’t know what Jesus was going to do.

This seems to be the majority opinion of many in the church today. ‘You never know what Adonai is going to do. After all, He’s sovereign’. Well, King Charles is sovereign over Great Britain and I know he’s not going to slaughter anyone, not going to invade anyone, and is not going to give away Buckingham Palace. I know this because of his character, his pattern of actions, and my knowledge of the limitations of his power. There you go, you might say, Adonai has no limits to His power. That is the absolute truth. But He established Laws of His own accord and will NOT violate His laws. Therefore, He will ALWAYS act according to His laws. The law of seedtime and harvest. The law of tithe. The law of the Word (it renews, Romans 12:2). The law of provision. The law of free will. Because we know these laws – He wrote them down and explained them in His Word – we know how He will act. We may not see or understand the fullness of His actions, but we know He will not violate them, so there is a LOT we can count on.

One thing we can count on is that He says what He means. He doesn’t say one thing and do another. He doesn’t do one thing, but tell us to do something different. Jesus is consistent. In today’s verse, the leper coming to Jesus was very lukewarm. Didn’t think He would and didn’t think He wouldn’t. Jesus doesn’t like lukewarm attitudes. Jesus prefers one side or another with firmness of mind, not wishy-washy indecisiveness (Revelation 3:14-22). Like with all of the healing Jesus performed, He put the action in the hand of the one seeking healing. He affirmed that it WAS His will to heal (which is still His standard of behaviour, Hebrews 13:8). Then He released the power available because of trust (Revelation 13:8) in the sacrifice of the Messiah (His own desire to be obedient to the Father). And then He stepped back. The ball was in the court of the leper. The leper could choose to be healed, or he could choose not to. Healing was in the hand of Jesus. The leper needed to cooperate with it – make a choice – or nothing would happen.

“And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17). All flesh. Not just believers. ALL flesh. Why won’t everyone start prophesying? Why won’t everyone be walking in divine health? Because it takes cooperation with the Spirit before anything happens. And to do THAT you need agreement and humble submission with the Word. We don’t get that outside of Ruach HaKodesh, because it is a vital component of it all. Jesus did not accomplish even a miniscule miracle until He was endowed with the power of the baptism of Ruach HaKodesh. When you’re connected to His Spirit with His Word inside you, the enemy doesn’t stand a chance. Since in and through Jesus we have been given the COMMAND to use His authority (Matthew 28:18-29) according to the Word, which is the Will of the Father; we should be EXPECTING the miraculous. We need to stand and BELIEVE for the FULL ARRIVAL of EVERYTHING Jesus has promised. Just like Adonai expected Moses to use the authority Adonai had given Moses (Exodus 14:13-16), Adonai expects us to use the authority He has given us.

The FIRST area we should use it is our own selves. Standing on His promises for our salvation (Romans 10:9-10; Acts 2:38), we submit and are saved. Then we stand on knowing His voice (John 10:27-28). But we’re new to all this and sometimes we mess up, so we stand on the promise of forgiveness when we are repentant (1 John 1:9-10). Why not with our health? Why are the others automatic and this one isn’t? Did you know that almost every book of the New Covenant ends with the word ‘amen’? Only James and Acts. Acts, because we the church are still acting. It has NEVER ended. James, because it is a book about patience during trials as we live consistently with what we have learned in Messiah Jesus – which ALSO hasn’t ended. We still have trials and we still need to live consistently. Acts and James have no real end because they are about victorious life in Jesus, which we all enjoy. If they have never ended, how can healing have ended? They both include healing and divine health as rights in the Kingdom. If they are our rights, I am going to claim them. What about you?

We have the same choice as that leper, offered to us the same way. It is in His hands (Luke 4:40). They are extended to us (Isaiah 41:13; James 1:17). He released Healing through the cross (1 Peter 2:24; Matthew 8:16-17). Through the Resurrection into Jesus, we are enabled to be like He is (Romans 6:4-5). Healing is offered the same way, but you can clearly see our position is superior because we are IN JESUS (Hebrews 8:6). There is no shadow in Jesus (James 1:18). Therefore, there is no sin. In fact, Jesus is EAGER to stomp on sin and its effects WHEREVER He finds them. “For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (John 6:38). Obedience = faith/trust. ANYTHING ELSE = sin. “But the man who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). If it isn’t based on trust in Elohim, it is disobedience because we have been instructed to obey the Father in all things. “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord” (Colossians 3:20). “But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked” (1 John 2:5-6). “And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us” (1 John 3:24).

The Bible is not a mind book. It does not matter if you understand the words of the language it has been translated into. It doesn’t matter if you understand the original languages. You can get right into the various translation rules and nitpicks and minuteness of it all. It won’t help you truly ‘get it’. You have to consume it, yes – reading or listening to it. You need to hear commentary about it – reading or teaching from pastors, evangelists, or teachers. But it won’t help you truly ‘get it’. The Bible is a HEART book. You need to meditate it into your heart. Thinking about particular verses and passages again and again until you start to ‘see’ them. Until you’re practically dreaming about them. Until they are as much a part of your landscape as your arms, legs, furniture, and vehicle. Until there is a heft to them. A weight to them. Until Ruach HaKodesh is giving you commentary about them, shining His light on one thing after another, giving revelation on what He revealed in the Word. We need to hold things in our hearts before we have them in our hands. If they aren’t in the Word, we don’t WANT them in our hearts because the heart is the source of ALL our behaviour (Matthew 15:17-19; Proverbs 4:23). Adonai isn’t obligated to do what WE say. Adonai IS obligated to do what HE said.

“The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). Our feelings don’t help. Our opinions don’t help. Our education doesn’t help. Our reason doesn’t help. Trust is our link to the Kingdom. Spiritual reality needs to become more real than physical reality. We walk by that trust, operate by that trust, and make our decisions by that trust (2 Corinthians 5:7). That trust needs to be at the core of our answer to Jesus’ challenge. He is standing before you commanding: Be clean! Are you going to cooperate with that, like the leper did? Or are you going to walk away like the rich young man (Matthew 19:22). It’s YOUR choice. Will you be healed? Will you take it and walk in it through your trust in Jesus? Or are you not going to? The power is HIS. The will to perform is HIS. The ability is HIS. The choice is YOURS. Cooperate or don’t. There’s no other way. The Kingdom of Elohim is near. So close you can reach it in Jesus. Make your choice and walk in your trust. Don’t have enough trust? Get the Word in your heart, verse by verse, concept by concept, read it, hear it, SEE it with your heart, and then trust it.

It’s simple. It’s trustable. It’s Jesus, and He doesn’t lie. Be clean! Be it. Choose to be it through Him. Trust that you can and trust that you will see the physical arrival of His promise. The leper did. It’s recorded right there in today’s verse. He did. You can too. Adonai doesn’t pick and choose among us (Romans 2:11). In Jesus, it is possible for ALL of us. Make the right choice. Choose Jesus, and then cooperate with Him. He won’t steer you wrong.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 53:12

“So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels.”” Messiah would be exalted by Elohim because of His sacrifice. The Suffering Servant had to suffer to get redemption for us. But He would NOT stay suffering (Psalm 22). The Father would reward Him. “Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). “He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”” (Revelation 19:16). The Suffering Servant, through total and complete obedience to the One Who Sent Him, became the Conquering King. Jesus is that KING. And Jesus is coming back soon carrying all the authority in Heaven, Creation, and everywhere else. Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b