Fear No Fear

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

“And he went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he began to teach them.“

Mark 2:13

People see Jesus differently. Teacher. Accepting of people. Man of Love. Gentle. But do they know the Jesus of the book of Mark? That’s a Jesus that DOES things. Over and over again. ‘And’ is a word used a LOT. Action follows action. ‘went out again’ is also a frequent visitor to the pages. Jesus had things He did consistently. Went out to pray alone. Went to synagogues. Went to teach. Walked around where people were. He was a go-getter. Jesus didn’t wait for opportune moments. Jesus was in fellowship with Ruach HaKodesh and Jesus made sure He was where the opportune moments were happening. He was an active man. He had an active ministry. He owned things and He had things, but they didn’t determine where He went or what He did. Jesus was a man on the MOVE.

In modern society, everything seems to funnel us toward the idea of immobile rest. Retirement is held up as the ultimate goal. Get to that point and then you get to stop working. You stop working and you get to do nothing. You get to stop. Even the weekends are touted as these great times when we can kick back and do nothing. Delivery is becoming more and more prevalent. Shopping online is becoming the norm. Not going out. Not connecting in person. Having things done for you or at least limiting what you have to do. We’re even happy to let mechanical devices do it for us. Delivery drones. Self-driving cars. Automated checkouts. It’s even invaded our ideas of Heaven to the point that all that gets pictured is us lying around on clouds and relaxing forever. How did doing NOTHING become our dream? In a word, toil.

Toil sucks. It’s terrible. It’s expending energy and getting almost nothing back. It’s also doing more work than is required to get that almost nothing back. It is insidious and it can break a person’s morale. Toil is a child of the CURSE and is so bad that it’s almost a curse in and of itself. There is NOTHING good about toil. Which is how we know NOTHING about toil is from Adonai (James 1:17). Toil is what happens when you separate yourself from Adonai. And doing NOTHING is the world’s and the devil’s solution to it. If they can’t get you to accept a life of toil, they get you to toil so that you don’t have to do anything. It’s two extremes but the same source. Neither one permits a connection to Adonai. Because when we are connected to Adonai, we don’t want to do NOTHING, and we are totally willing to work because it isn’t TOIL. Godly working is rewarding in and of itself and allows for rest. It is what we are meant to do. It was the original plan. It is a BLESSING. Which is why the world has been designed to eliminate it.

Jesus bucked many trends. One of them was toil. Jesus didn’t believe in toiling. Jesus believed in working and He worked six days a week. He also wasn’t working all week with His eye on the clock or on the start of the Sabbath. He wasn’t itching to knock back a foamy can of Jerusalem Light because He ‘deserved’ it. Jesus worked because Adonai asked Him to. Jesus submitted and obeyed. Jesus rested on the Sabbath because rest is a godly thing designed to recharge our motors. Jesus didn’t make it a religion. Jesus didn’t stop everything. Compassion is always at work. Mercy is always at work. Healing is always available. But you don’t see Him doing long slogs on the Sabbath. You don’t see Him holding one of those huge meetings. He went to Synagogues. He listened, read out, and taught the Word. He rested in the Word. He rested in Adonai. He got recharged through His relationship with Ruach HaKodesh and the Father. You see it most clearly in the book of Mark, but it can be seen in all the gospels. Jesus worked. Jesus rested. And He was able to do them both well because Jesus ALWAYS relied on Adonai for everything. Adonai was Jesus’ SOURCE.

When Adonai is our SOURCE, we have the strength to go on working. When Adonai is our SOURCE, we have the true rest we need to recharge. We don’t need to seek it elsewhere. We don’t need to try to fill the hole with anything. We don’t need restoratives. We only need Jesus. We only need Adonai. We only need Ruach HaKodesh. It’s how Jesus does things. He relied on Adonai for His water and His food. He relied on Adonai for restoration and invigoration. He relied on Adonai for rest and peace. He relied on Adonai for perseverance and strength. Jesus relied on Adonai for EVERYTHING and He received it through Ruach HaKodesh. We are to do the SAME THING. We dwell IN JESUS and have access to the same choices and channels He had. Through HIS Ruach, we receive from HIS Father because when we are in HIM, His Father becomes OUR Father. HIS Ruach becomes a part of US. We don’t defeat anxiety or depression by focusing on them. We defeat anxiety and depression by focusing on Adonai. He won’t need to diverge from the normal functioning of our brains. We can rely on the Mind of Messiah as OUR mind, as OUR functioning. In HIM we are made WHOLE.

It’s all about being in Jesus the way He was in the Father. He is the example we have been left (1 Peter 2:21). Persevering like He did. Being disliked by the world like He was. Being full of love and life and mercy like He was. We can overcome because HE overcame (John 16:33). We can prosper properly and fully because HE prospered properly and fully (3 John 2). We can seek Adonai first and foremost and gain TOTAL satisfaction in Him because Jesus did (Matthew 6:33). We can have ALL of it because Jesus had ALL of it. It’s all about being in Jesus. Having a relationship with Jesus. Bringing all of our everything to Jesus and walking away with ONLY what He says we should (1 Peter 5:7). Stress is an internal choice. It doesn’t come from the outside. Nothing that happens can MAKE us stressed. It is all about how WE respond to what is occurring. Our responses will be VERY different when we are relying on Jesus. We won’t need to MANAGE anything anymore. We can give it all to Jesus and let HIM decide what we need. Adonai ALWAYS fills our needs.

Ruach HaKodesh is the channel by which we get to know Jesus. Not the gentle Jesus or the smiting Jesus or the judging Jesus or the loving Jesus but the REAL Jesus. As presented in the Word from Genesis to Revelation. As shown us page after page by Ruach HaKodesh. As we pray and talk to Him. As we pray and LISTEN to Him. It is HOW we abide. It is how we rest. It is how we are recharged. And it is how we get our strength. By DOING, not waiting for it to be done for us. We need to SEEK Him because THAT is when He is found (Matthew 7:7-8).

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Ephesians 1:18

“(the eyes of your hearts having been enlightened), so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints,” Adonai isn’t hiding. We’re taking our eyes off His OBVIOUS ‘hiding’ spot. Like a young child looking for the parents whose hands are in front of their faces. It’s just that instead of the parent saying ‘peek-a-boo’, WE pull our eyes back and exclaim ‘THERE you are!’. When we have the eyes of our hearts enlightened, we are putting them on Adonai and then we SEE Him. We get out heart-eyes on Him when we keep our other eyes on Him. If we will seek Him first, He WILL be found. When we focus on Him and feed ourselves His Word and think thoughts about Him and worship Him and are grateful toward Him, THEN our heart-eyes are drawn until Adonai is centred in their gaze. It is OUR choice whether or not we are going to focus on Him. But He isn’t hiding in the hardest places. He is right there. Waiting to be found. Making noise. Being obvious. Making it easy for us to focus on Him and reap all the harvest of His presence that He wants us to receive. 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