Fear No Fear

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

God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:9 (emphasis added)

I’ve been in trouble a few times in life. Some I’ve scraped through. Others I needed help to get through. You know what I noticed? Everyone who helped me, knew me. No stranger came to my rescue. Strangers don’t care about me. They might care in a fellow human kind of way, but not in a specific way. They never helped with a move. Paid anything off. Or anything at all. If you want some significant help, you need a significant relationship.

You build relationship with three steps. You learn about them, you spend time with them, and then you fellowship with them. This is why adults have such trouble making friends. When you’re a kid it’s easy. You SEE a kid in a grocery store and you’re telling your Mom about your new friend on the way home. You meet another kid at the park, ask if they want to play, and now you’re friends. How do you do that as an adult? You can ask someone out for a coffee, but if you’re waving and saying, ‘Goodbye, new friend!’ at the end you might get ghosted. Just because you work with someone doesn’t mean you’re friends. Just because you carpool, take the train together, sit together in cubicles, shop in the same places, game online, or have kids in the same school does not mean you’re friends. Figuring out how to cross that line in a way that doesn’t scream ‘crazy person’ is a major problem for thousands upon thousands of adults.

It works the same way with Adonai. You need to get to know Him. That’s done through the Word. Get into the Word and you find about His consistent character. His true nature. His personality. You find out about His point of view on tons of things. You discover how truth works and justice and mercy and love. You don’t always understand it right off, but it makes for a good fact finding mission. You don’t have to lurk on His profile. You don’t have to investigate all His friends. You don’t need to scroll a thousand pictures. But you DO need to read it. You need to give Him a chance to work with you through it. It’ll happen. You might not even notice right away. It might spring up on you. It might surprise you. You also might notice the gradual interest, the joyful pull of the scriptures as time passes. The time passing will expand.

It expands in our thoughts. Might even lead to prayer. It will probably mean a visit to church, maybe even two or three. You’ll desire to be around Adonai because the more you talk to Him and listen to Him, the more revelation you’ll get about the Word. “because I have given them the words you have given me. They accepted them and really understand that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me” (John 17:8). “After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus reveals the Father to us. “Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me. I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them” (John 17:25-26). As Jesus, through Ruach HaKodesh, reveals more and more of what is in the Word, our conception of Adonai and His Love grows. When THAT grows, we have a greater desire to spend time with Him. Who wouldn’t? It works that way with people – unless they turn out to be trash. Adonai, however, is GOOD (Psalm 100:4-5). He is a GOOD God (Psalm 107:2), a GOOD Father (Isaiah 64:8), a GOOD Lord (Psalm 103:8), and a GOOD Saviour (Isaiah 12:2). Who wouldn’t want to spend time with someone like that? Adonai encourages us to. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” (Matthew 11:28-30).

When we give ourselves over to the idea of the goodness of Adonai – without reducing His Righteousness – it opens the door to fellowship. Fair warning: it will change who you are. The closer we get to Adonai, the more we are changed. It’s because we HAVE to. Adonai doesn’t change, so we have to. If we didn’t, we’d NEVER get to see Him face to face. Humanity (male and female) start in a fallen state, mired in sin as part of our nature. In Jesus, we’re killed, resurrected into Him, and lifted into the heavens where we can (eventually) see Him face to face. Adonai warned Moses about it. “But he added, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.”” (Exodus 33:20). That’s Old Covenant, right? Well, in the New Covenant we’re filled with Ruach HaKodesh and our spirits are totally renewed. You know something? If we meet Him face to face in this physical body the same thing happens. “Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). We meet Him face to face and BOOM in an instant we’re changed to heavenly bodies – which means these physical shells cease to be. They’ll fall away. WE don’t die, but those meat sacks we wear certainly will. It’s why we need Jesus. He gives us the Righteousness we don’t have in ourselves. In HIM we become worthy because HE is worthy, not us. Standing there, in HIM we can go beyond knowing, beyond time in the same place, and into FELLOWSHIP.

Fellowship is based on mutual love. Love is informed by the previous steps. You’ve learned about each other, spent a lot of time together, and love is growing out of that because you are consciously choosing to take it to the next level. “I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he will grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you will be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you will be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19). Our understanding of His love for us is what opens the doors for us. The more realisation and comprehension of Jesus’ love we have, the more the fullness of Elohim is within us. If we DON’T have the fullness of Elohim inside us, we must not comprehend much about Jesus’ love for us. The fullness of Elohim is the ALL of who He is: His attributes, His character, His holiness, His power, His Love, His Mercy, His Goodness, His Kindness, His Patience, His Faithfulness, etc. When we have THAT MUCH of Adonai within us, how can anything else FIT? “You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

The One who is in us is GREATER. Greater than our problems (Jeremiah 33:3). Greater than our fears (1 John 4:18). Greater than our weaknesses (2 Timothy 1:7). Greater than our worries, anxieties, and depressions (1 Peter 5:6-7). Greater than EVERYTHING. “The Lord is on my side; I am not afraid. What can people do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper. I look in triumph on those who hate me” (Psalm 118:6-7). Sickness? It can’t get in if we don’t LET it in (Genesis 4:7). Yes, it comes on us, but we are under Adonai’s wings and healing LIVES there (Malachi 4:1). Adonai Elohim has the POWER and WE have been given the authority (Matthew 28:18-20). We’re allowed to use it (Acts 3:6-8). We were commanded to do it. “For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God[m] for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ. We are also ready to punish every act of disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. You are looking at outward appearances. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: Just as he himself belongs to Christ, so too do we. For if I boast somewhat more about our authority that the Lord gave us for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of doing so” (2 Corinthians 10:3-8). We are anointed like Jesus was (Acts 10:38) through Jesus (1 John 2:20). We share His anointing in order to do the same works He did (John 14:12). What did Jesus do? “When it was evening, many demon-possessed people were brought to him. He drove out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick” (Matthew 8:16). Jesus healed ALL who came to Him trusting that Jesus could heal them WITHOUT EXCEPTION. There is not one single instance in all of scripture of Jesus not healing someone who asked. Since He is ALWAYS the same (Hebrews 13:8), He ALWAYS heals everyone who asks. The healing is in His hands, held out to you, released through His suffering at the crucifixion (1 Peter 2:24). If we aren’t healed, we haven’t engaged what He’s given us with our heartfelt belief and trust in His Word. It is ALWAYS us who misses it, not Jesus. He’s there to heal every time.

You know who you believe? The people you know. Who do you trust? The people you know well enough to fellowship with. Not hang out. Not acquaintances. I’m talking real trust with those you really fellowship with. The ones who have your back and the ones whose backs you protect. Close friendships. Close family. Relationship partners. You want healing, but it hasn’t physically arrived in full? You don’t believe or trust in your HEART. Want to change that? Get fellowshipping. Get Word in you. Spend time with Him. Take the revelation you’ll receive from those two things and begin to KNOW His love for you. Respond with your own love. Start fellowshipping with your Lord, Saviour, and friend. His Name will rise up in you. His Joy will rise up in you. His Love will rise up in you. His EVERYTHING will rise up within you, and you’ll be singing His praises while running down the street before you realise your healing arrived. He is GREATER. All that sickness? It’s lesser and will slough off you like an old coat. He is GREATER. Get to know His greatness. It’s greater than you can imagine, but NOT greater than you can know (Psalm 46:10). Reflect on Him every day. Get to know Him. Get to where His FULLNESS fills you.

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 give up His life to save mankind. This is not Adonai Elohim killing Messiah. This is Messiah willingly giving up His life without complaint. There was a reason sheep were selected as the animals for certain sacrifices – they did not cry out at execution. Neither would Messiah, the Lamb Slain for all humanity (male and female). “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And after he said this he breathed his last.” (Luke 23:46). Jesus chose when to die and committed His spirit at that moment. Jesus could have stepped off the cross at ANY moment. “Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father and that he would send me more than 12 legions of angels right now?” (Matthew 26:53). Jesus had the power to lay down His life at ANY time. “No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This commandment I received from my Father.”” (John 10:18). Since know Jesus ONLY said what His Father told Him (John 12:49-50), we know it was Jesus’ CHOICE to lay down His life and not His Father killing Him. Jesus LAID His life down WILLINGLY. Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b