Fear No Fear

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

It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves. It is a perpetual statute.
Leviticus 16:31 (emphasis added)

What is rest? To cease, abstain, or be relieved from exertion. For a believer, it isn’t something we seek out. It isn’t something we have to carve time out for. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). It is a gift to the believer. For us, to rest means ‘stop it’. Ironically, resting is one of the hardest things to do as a believer. It’s easy for an unbeliever. They simply stop working. They laze around or engage in activities that are frivolous, enjoyable, and don’t place a heavy burden on themselves. Rest doesn’t look like that for a believer. It isn’t about ceasing activities or working. It is about a shift in mindset that alters our perceptions and affects our decision making process.

“And God will exalt you in due time, if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand by casting all your cares on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7). This isn’t what we do. We usually cast all our cares that we think we can’t handle on Jesus while looking over His shoulder and maybe dipping a hand in to make sure He’s doing it right. That is what happens when you don’t start the process with humbleness. “Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself” (Philippians 2:3). This is a verse about how we as believers should treat each other, but notice what it says about humility: it should move us to treat the other person as more important than ourselves. Humility is positioning. Jesus said the Kingdom was all about servanthood (John 13:1-17). Servants are a step below those they serve. Not in worth or in humanity, but in position. You are acceding to another’s will and doing things for them as they want them done. When we cast our cares we are doing it because we are first acknowledging His position over us. In fact, the only reason we are casting is BECAUSE He is in a superior position. How often in the workplace do we encounter problems that are beyond our means and scope, so we have to kick them up the ladder? That’s casting.

Have you ever gone into a board meeting and taken a problem back? Let yourself into the office of the CEO, grab his phone and say ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ve got this’? Maybe strolled into Congress and told them not to worry about voting because you are going to implement your solution? Of course not. Once something is kicked up the ladder, it is out of our hands. If we are going to acknowledge the superiority of Elohim and give Him control over our problem(s), we can’t take control back – it doesn’t matter how small or big they are. We can’t try to dip into His lap and snag a piece or two off the edges. We can’t micromanage Him. What goes into His hands needs to stay in His hands. He hears our prayers. We are NOT needing to bang on the doors of Heaven – they aren’t locked and we have permission to enter the Throne Room (Hebrews 4:16). We don’t need to nag Him to make sure He stays on it. Once we give it to Him, it is not only PERMANENTLY given, but it is also ACCOMPLISHED. We may not see the physical arrival of it when we want to, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t coming or that it won’t arrive. While it is in transit, our job isn’t to try and make it happen. It’s already happened. We’re to thank Him for completing it and keep thanking Him until it physically arrives. In other words, we’re to just STOP IT. Stop worrying. Stop begging. Stop crying. Stop fretting. Stop harping. Just stop. It’s over and done whether we see it or not. Nothing we do will make it more done or arrive faster, so why bother? It’s like begging for summer on the second of January. You can’t make it show up sooner, so why are you trying? Our decision about when it was completed was made when we prayed (Mark 11:24). We pray once and it’s done. After that it’s thanksgiving and listening to see if He wants us to do anything else. It’s not listening to see what we need to do to make it happen. We’re not making it happen. We’re RESTING on His accomplishment.

We train ourselves to do. We get busy work in school. We hang up our clothes and pick up our toys. We sweep, mop, and make things happen around our homes. We work to get paid. We work to make sure our possessions are in the best shape possible. We work to get ready for family gatherings. We work at our friendships and relationships. We work at parenting. We work to make ourselves look good so we can go to church. We work EVERYTHING. Because of that, it can be hard to let go. Working is godly. We are meant to work and produce. We’re not meant to toil to no purpose. When Adonai has charge of our issues and situations, there is no purpose to our striving for the SAME thing. Either WE have the situation in hand or HE has the situation in hand. It doesn’t go both ways. This is binary. Either/or. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). If we humble ourselves, we won’t try to take the stuff back. We won’t try to meddle. We won’t do that because we’ll be at REST. Our humbleness opens the door to the room of rest.

We are resting when we’re not wrestling. When we are fed up with something. When we’ve reached the end of our rope. When we are sick and tired and fed up and ready to throw in the towel. When we’re ready to flesh things up with a fit of carnality. THAT is when we NEED to rest. That is when we need to give things over to Him and stand on His Word. To declare His Word over things because there is nothing better than His Word. It is superior. It beats everything. So we give it over to Him because He is in a superior position to us. We claim healing because the Word says His stripes took our sickness. We claim cleanliness because the Word says no pestilence can come near us. We claim productivity at work because the Word commands us to be fruitful. After we’ve done all that, we stand. We REST in it. We REST on it. We don’t back down. We don’t climb down. We are free to enjoy ourselves because we KNOW it’s taken care of. We know the path He lays out will be the path to fulfilment and success. Whatever He asks us to do – whether it’s prayer at church, a doctor, an investment, a gift to a stranger – will be what assists the physical arrival of what you believed for when you prayed.

We must always humble ourselves and stop trying to do it. Stop finding out the latest guidelines. The latest science. The greatest opinion. Start finding the greatest scripture. The best promise. The loveliest psalm. The most touching prayer. That is what we are supposed to do. Get the Word on EVERYTHING. Get Jesus involved. That is resting. Seeking Him, finding Him, and relying on Him. When the Father is our Source, we will always have access to those things He wants to give us. It means being humble. It means being reliant. It means being faithful. But it WON’T be stressful. It will be easy. It will be simple to see. We like making things complicated, but He doesn’t. It is US who needs to stop. Stop trying to work everything. Stop trying to provide the effort. It is by HIS efforts and accomplishments we are saved and delivered and can overcome. It is in HIM we succeed, not in ourselves (John 15:5). We won’t get exhausted and reach the end of our ropes if HE is doing it. Let Him BE who He is. Humble yourself and REST in that acknowledgement. Try to live there. It’s made available to us. Don’t crawl out of it. Just stop it. Sit. Be still. He has your healing. He has your solution. He IS your answer. Let Him do it and be it. Rest.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 61:1-2

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has chosen me. He has commissioned me to encourage the poor, to help the brokenhearted, to decree the release of captives and the freeing of prisoners, to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor, the day when our God will seek vengeance, to console all who mourn,” Messiah would proclaim a period of Grace. By coming as the Suffering Servant, Messiah would pay the price of sin. Messiah would be able to hold out to us salvation. Our redemption. It would not be a salvation from our fellow humans, but a salvation from sin, death, and the curse they feed. “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). In Jesus the broken ways are repaired. In Jesus sin is washed away. In Jesus, death has no sting. It has passed away. We are free from the conditions of sin and are able to walk in abundant life. Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b