Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Matthew 24:36 (emphasis added)

No one knows. Not the Son. Not the Holy Spirit. Not the angels. Not powers. Not principalities. Especially not us. The context of what we don’t know is the Day of the Lord, the ending of things. Heaven and earth passing away. The manifestation of the completion of what Christ Jesus finished on the cross. This is a HUGE source of fear for humanity, although the enemy and the world make sure we are pointing our eyes at everything except God when we look at the end of the world – aliens, climate change, wars, famine, economic disaster, weather disruptions, etc etc etc. Yet in this verse is a powerful call not to fear: the FATHER knows.

This might not seem comforting. It depends on how you see the Father, really. Is He an authoritarian, bearded, smiter in the sky? Is He a kindly old man who maybe doesn’t have all His marbles anymore? Is He a Merciful Father, full of loving kindness? That last one is our Heavenly Father. Yes, He is Righteous. Yes, He has standards and a moral right and wrong. But He loves us. He is Merciful. And He wants us cared for. Those qualities come directly out of His Righteousness and moral standards. They aren’t in spite of them. This should be a HUGE source of comfort as we look into the future toward the closing of this book we call creation.

Everything we know in the Word is a type and a shadow. When it comes to the end of all things and what the real deal is, we need look no further than Jesus to get a shadow of it all. He pointed to Noah and Noah’s day, but we can look to Jesus as well. His mission to this earth was our shadow of what is coming. Noah foreshadowed Jesus and they both foreshadow what’s coming. And all of it is nestled safely in the mind of the Father, waiting for the day of manifestation – a day that comes ever closer the longer we live and the more technological the world becomes. The end will come once the world has heard the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The more we have the capacity to each every corner of this planet, the closer we come to getting that Word to each and every person. Once that is accomplished, the closing will begin and all this will end. That’s celebratory, not fear mongering – just to be clear.

Jesus’ mission followed a simple pattern. There was an impartation of the Spirit, activating His ministry – prior to which He had no abilities outside the natural (That’s right. No miracles were available to Him or special knowledge. He was just like us). There was a big test. There was a time of preparation and ministry, with trials, tests, and persecutions. There was a time of severe persecution and trial. Then there was an ending of that, which birthed the completion and a new thing.

Noah had a big test. Building an ark where there was no water or rain. He spent a hundred and twenty years building it and presumably preaching repentance based on 2 Peter 2:5 “and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly.” Whether he preached with words or by example, when the severe persecution came only himself and his family was saved (Hebrews 11:7). The world as they knew it ended. And that ending birthed the completion of the wiping away of the unrighteous and a new beginning.

Jesus and Noah echo each other, but the difference is in the type of thing they went through. Noah’s was purely physical. Jesus went through both physical and spiritual trials, birthing a new covenant for us (the spiritual housed in the physical). The future we face is judgment. The final trial. And in the end, the physical will end. It will be a spiritual birthing. Now what it will birth, I don’t know with precision. No one does. A new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1-5). No more death (vs 4). EVERYTHING new (vs 5). Beyond that, we aren’t told much. It isn’t important for our walk to know the details. It is only important that we see the end of the story and know: He wins. All this nonsense of rebellion by the devil and humanity will all be over. Dealt with. It was finished spiritually on the cross. In our future is the manifestation of that finishing. When? Only the Father knows.

“Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.” So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?”” (Hebrews 13:5-6). The Lord seeks to help us. The Father wants to HELP us. H-E-L-P is not how you spell smite, or judge, or inflict, or evil. The Father wants to help us. If we REFUSE it, then we will be in a place where evil can come upon us. If we REFUSE it, we’ll get to the place when the time to have our actions judged has come. If we REFUSE IT, then the Lord will let us go. Why? Freewill. Love. He loves us too much to dominate us. He loves us too much to keep us from choosing. He advises, pushes, corrects, explains, asks, and tells. But He will NOT prevent our choice.

He loves that we can choose. He desperately wants us to choose Him because He loves us. But remember that He is GOD. He doesn’t NEED us. He is an objective being. Nothing we do makes Him. Nothing we do completes Him. Nothing we do He, in any way, needs. He is complete and fulfilled in and of Himself. He wants us to be a part of that, but He won’t force us. If He wanted to do that He would have prevented the first choice. He wouldn’t have given it. But choice is part of love, since to love is a choice. It isn’t a feeling we fall into and out of – that’s passion. It isn’t the antithesis of disgust – that’s judgment. We call passion love. We judge people for their appearance, orientation, choices, and manner and call it something that we can’t help. What a load of garbage that is. Every emotion you have ever had is a choice. Feelings are input through your body to your mind. What you do with it is your choice. Electricity is always ready to get to a light bulb – that’s our feelings. But nothing happens if we do not choose to turn on the light switch with an active choice and an active action – that’s our emotions.

Before anything became anything, the Father chose us (1 Peter 1:2-5). He blessed us before we were created in any way, shape, or form (Ephesians 1:3-6). Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father agreed about us before the world was founded (John 17:24). With all of that, you can’t tell me that the Father doesn’t love us. That He doesn’t yearn for fellowship with us. That He desires to correct us. That He desires us to be obedient and submit to His will. But He IS God. It’s His way or our way. Life or death. Peace or fear. Love or imitation of love. It’s all up to our choice (Deuteronomy 30:19). God doesn’t LET THINGS HAPPEN TO US. We choose whether to be with God or to be on our own. The control of this world is ours (Genesis 1:26-27).

Are we going to submit to how He wants us to run it? Are we going to allow Him to act in a given situation? Are you? You can’t if you don’t trust Him. You can’t if you won’t use the faith He has gifted you with (Ephesians 2:8). That faith won’t be effective if you haven’t strengthened it (Romans 10:17). You can’t strengthen it unless you’re getting the Word in you (not just teaching, but that’s very needed too). Reading it. Audiobooking it. Start with whatever translation works for you. Start small. Work up to more as the Holy Spirit leads you. This is how we learn about the Father. Learn about His character. And develop trust in who He IS.

He is not a man. Don’t compare Him or saddle Him with the baggage of your bad experiences. He is the Father in Heaven from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth gets its name NOT its blame. In Ezekiel 48:35 (the closing words of the closing chapter), the Lord is given a name. Yahweh sammah (Jehovah-shammah). It means Yahweh is there. THAT is the kind of Father He is. Not abusive. Not manipulative. Not absent. Not controlling. Not permissive. Not immoral. Not hateful. Not perverted. Not lustful. Not lying. Not wishy-washy. Not militant. Perfect. Perfect and there. Always there. When you want Him, when you don’t. When you need Him, when you think you don’t. He is there. He is perfect. He is RIGHTEOUS. He is our Father and He is our God.

“See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him just as he is. Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:1-3). We are His children. We are to be obedient and keeping His commandments. Doing what pleases Him because we WANT to please Him (1 John 3:21-22). By doing this, we remain in Jesus. It is in Jesus and through Jesus and by Jesus that we are God’s children, because it is the power of the blood poured on the mercy seat that makes it all possible (Hebrews 9:11-20).

Jesus was the gift that the Father gave to us. We are the gift that Jesus gives to the Father. “He sprinkled the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry in the same way with the blood. According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:21-22).Without remission, how could we stand before a Righteous Father? How could we be an acceptable Bride for His Son? Remission is needed because it is the only thing that deals with sin – it is the accepting of the price paid for sin. Once we can stand before the Father, as He smiles on His children, we can bask in the knowledge of His love and preparation.

The Father isn’t impressed when we live the way we’re supposed to. We can’t WOW Him with our righteous actions. When we do what we were called to do before the foundation of the world, He smiles because we’ve started doing as we should. In love He predestined us to be what He wanted us to be. To be conformed to His purpose (Ephesians 1:11-12). We are called to be what He called out for us. When we manage it, He is glad. But He is not impressed. We need to subdue our flesh, submit to Him, and start obeying what He has said, does say, and will say. He knew what we’d face and made plans. It was all done with full preparation and in perfect Love to complete His purpose.

Love, that we can live and breathe and move by His pleasure (Acts 17:28). Preparation, that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13) and in His hand during the times and upheaval that are coming (Isaiah 35:4, Psalm 91:4-10, John 17:13-17). Preparation to be the Bride of His Son (Hebrews 5:25-32). The Father loves us. The Father corrects us. The Father prepares us. The Father watches over us. The Father is there. Always there. In everything, every time, always. We can trust Him. He cannot lie. He is a GOOD Father, a MERCIFUL God, the GREAT I AM. And HE IS there with you now.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Genesis 1:31

The Lord God made everything. We may not understand how. We may get hung up on what we have been able to discover and wrestle with our human understanding. But the Lord made everything. AND everything He made was GOOD. Not just good but VERY GOOD. Then we fell. Now we have a dead spirit. We have a flesh that is inclined to sin. What can we do? Nothing. But the Lord? He already has done it. All of it. It starts with the WORD. We need sanctification so that we can get rid of all this non-good stuff. To wash the mud off our surface so that our true self can shine through. We’re sanctified by the Word (John 17:17). It is TRUTH. It is the Will of the Father. It is the SON Himself. It is the Spirit of Holiness that reminds us of all that is in the Word that we have placed in our hearts. Have you placed any today? Have you read a verse? Maybe heard a verse? On purpose? With the intent of seeing Jesus? Knowing Jesus? Exposited by the Spirit to us, telling us everything Jesus has ever said (EVER)? That’s where we start. Knowing God. Knowing what He has ALREADY done about us, about the world, about the enemy, about everything. TRUTH. It’s in short supply right now. But you are VERY GOOD in Jesus because in Jesus we are made anew. Whole. Healthy. Untouched. Inclined to holiness because we have His Righteous Spirit. Don’t doubt. Don’t feel. KNOW. Be still and KNOW. You are the sanctified of God, by God, through God, obedient and submitted to Him. Whole. Healthy. Full of peace. Nothing missing. Nothing broken. VERY GOOD. As He made you. VERY good.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.