Fear No Fear

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

He said, “If you will diligently obey the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the Lord, am your healer.”
Exodus 15:26 (emphasis added)

I know. We’ve done this one before (May 20th). Thing is, I have something Ruach HaKodesh is talking to me about and that’s what we’ll be reading today. This verse wasn’t the inspiration for the message, but it IS the verse that partners with it the best. The character of Shaddai Elohim is what defines everything about the Kingdom. Nothing happens that isn’t in line with His character. Everything that exists is an outgrowth of His character. Part of His character is healing. It is just part of who He IS, and this verse said it best. He IS Adonai our healer.

Healing isn’t the repairing of a physical condition. Healing isn’t the replication of what human medicine (drugs, treatments, surgeries, or advice) does for us. Healing isn’t medicine in a supernatural form. Healing is being set free. It is a removal of a human viewpoint and the physical arrival of Adonai’s viewpoint. If we hold to that viewpoint by turning it into a mindset, divine health is what we experience and live in. It doesn’t matter WHAT condition we have that is dominated by human thinking. We can be set free from human thinking. We can think from Adonai’s point of view. We can live Adonai’s point of view. It is done consciously. It has to be chosen on a daily basis. It has to be chosen regardless of what anyone tells us – even ourselves. If we don’t actively choose it, we will not experience it. It is not done in ourselves, but it is done in COOPERATION with Him.

“Certainly the Lord watches the whole earth carefully and is ready to strengthen those who are devoted to him. You have acted foolishly in this matter; from now on you will have war” (2 Chronicles 16:9). “I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” I answered, “Here I am, send me!”” (Isaiah 6:8). “The Lord looks down from heaven at the human race, to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks God” (Psalm 14:2). Adonai is looking for those who will cooperate with Him. It isn’t as simple as agreeing. We need to acknowledge who He is, submit to Him, and remain humble as we walk in the knowledge of who He is. Not everyone is willing to do that. Not everyone is willing to make that sacrifice – and it needs to be made on a daily basis so that we don’t forget it. But without that submission we can’t partner with Him. He can USE anyone and has used unbelievers who have unconsciously obeyed Him (Cyrus, Ezra 5:13-16; Augustus, Luke 2:1-14). What He WANTS is partnership. Cooperation. People willing to humble themselves so that He can exalt them to where we can walk side by side with Him accomplishing what He wants, where He wants, and how He wants. “God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9). He wants us to cooperate with Him, not kick against the goads (Acts 26:14).

When we let Him heal/move through us it brings Him JOY (Luke 10:21). That’s why healing will never pass away. That’s why it didn’t have an ending in the Word. That’s why it is always for today. Adonai LIKES being joyful. Adonai LIKES laughing and singing over us. He IS the God who heals. The same as He is the God who SAVES. The God who LOVES. The God who SHOWS MERCY. The God who EXTENDS GRACE. He did not send Ruach HaKodesh into the earth and onto us so that He could lurk in the background like a creeper on Facebook. Jesus said, “And look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). Adonai has sent POWER to be on us. But it doesn’t work without our COOPERATION with Him. Ruach HaKodesh responds to the Word properly applied – applied in accordance with the Father’s Will. He is eager to do it. If we let ourselves get free from the bondage of carnal thinking, we’ll find ourselves eager too.

It is a question of ROLE. What ROLE have we decided that we are in? Poor sinners waiting to be cleansed on the Last Day? That’s defeatist. We are NEW creations and are no longer sinners (though we can still choose to sin). We have been called to do things for Adonai (Ephesians 2:10). But what role are we inhabiting? Is it our intended role as new creatures in Jesus? Or is it a role of a struggling believer fighting against all the troubles and persecutions of this world? We have free will. We can inhabit whatever role we want. Are we the healed? Or are we the waiting to be healed? Are we the redeemed? Or are we the one day we’ll be glorious in Heaven?

The devil had a position before he fell. But he rebelled and fell. “But the dragon was not strong enough to prevail, so there was no longer any place left in heaven for him and his angels” (Revelation 12:8). Now he wanders around looking for a role to fill the time before he has to inhabit his next position (the place prepared for him, Matthew 25:41). Because he is trying to destroy everything Adonai has made, he sees his role as destroyer, devourer, and usurper of the Throne. In reality, his role is WANDERER. James 4:7 says “So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Really, we could render that verse as ‘resist the devil and he will BE ABLE TO flee from you’. The role of Accuser that he often occupies is a prison as much as it is anything else. He is forced to interact with us and the Word in us – which is a thing he hates. Whenever we start operating like Jesus did (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13), he would prefer to flee since he cannot stand against the Word. But he is stuck there, like a fly on a glue trap, until we have released him. He has to take it as long as we say, and THEN he flees as fast as he can. Nothing stands against the Word (Isaiah 8:10).

It takes a shift of mindset. It takes reminding ourselves on a daily basis that we are who HE says we are. It’s funny. We are so quick to believe all the stereotypes: ‘I’m over the hill’, ‘I used to have a good memory’, ‘Once you get to a certain age you get aches and pains’, ‘I’m not what I used to be’, etc. Why do we accept those ideas? They’re often not founded in anything but talk. Which comes first? The aches and pains or the TALK about aches and pains? It’s almost always talk. You find it in media from the earliest of kid shows. Adults of 40 are shown as aging, slowing down, unable to be as active as their kids, and so on. It is RIDICULOUS. I’m over fifty and able to be as active as I was in my twenties. There hasn’t been a diminishment of strength or resources. I’m getting BETTER as the years go by, not infirm. I age, but I do NOT deteriorate and I REFUSE to accept it. I will fight it with the Word every step of the way if something tries to slow we down. Moses was climbing mountains at 120 years old. Abraham was fathering children at 140 years old. I’m not looking to have any more kids, but I refuse to be old, infirm, and unable to fully function in every way I was created to. I have no reason to. But it is a mindset I cultivate. I don’t leave it to chance. I leave it to the Word.

What about health? Why do we have to be sick? According to the National Institute of Heath (NIH): Microorganisms capable of causing disease—pathogens—usually enter our bodies through the mouth, eyes, nose, or urogenital openings, or through wounds or bites that breach the skin barrier. That’s logical. That’s scientific. That’s provable. At the same time, we know that nothing is impossible for Adonai (Luke 1:37). We know that Adonai can perform miracles among us (Galatians 3:5). We know Adonai can send supernatural beings to interact with us for our benefit (Hebrews 1:14). And in the Word Adonai declares that “You need not fear the terrors of the night, the arrow that flies by day, the plague that stalks in the darkness, or the disease that ravages at noon. Though a thousand may fall beside you, and a multitude on your right side, it will not reach you” (Psalm 91:5-7). That promise is for ANYONE who believes in Adonai, trusts in Adonai, humbly submits to Adonai, and declares in their loyal devotion that Adonai is their safe shelter and source (Psalm 91:1-2, 14-16). We have two things that are opposites then. On one side human wisdom and learning about this physical world we inhabit. On the other side, Adonai’s declaration about what is possible in and through Himself in this physical world we inhabit. Which school of thought will get the most of our attention? Which mindset will we adopt? What possibilities do we want to see active and a reality in our lives? Are we going to be the human being who must operate according to the rules of physical bodies? Or are we going to be the new creations of our Heavenly Father who can operate according to the rules of divine promise?

As always, the issue will be our eyes. What we SEE. It is so easy to see sickness. The coughs. The sneezes. The skin irritations. The lesions. The scabs. The phlegm. The mucus and pus. It is not as easy to see cleanliness. Purity. Wholeness. Yet if we think, act, and speak according to the Word, HIS reality will trump OURS. We need to stop thinking like we always have. We need to start thinking like Him. We can take the words Jesus said while He was here on earth. We can take the wisdom of the Old Covenant. We can take the promises replete in the New Covenant. If we work on our spiritual health, it will affect our physical health (3 John 1:2). If we get the Word in us and in front of us, it will bring healthy thinking which will help us engage a healthy mindset that relies on the Father as our source for everything. Before you know it, we’ll see the physical arrival of health that cannot be shaken. We’ll take a pill if we get sick, but will we take a devotional and a time of prayer? Will we take communion? Will we seek Him? Even for five or ten minutes. We spent years watching television, listening to the radio, surfing the internet, reading the newspaper, going to school, and listening to our doctors. They have a fairly consistent message among themselves. We’ve taken it in. It isn’t always their ‘fault’ because they are ONLY going by what they can SEE and replicate. We have to take things to the next level. Beyond seeing to truly SEEING. Taking it to Jesus’ words on it. Testing it through and by the Word. The Word NEVER fails. It ALWAYS produces. It is the BEST seed. If we will give the Word place in our lives and focus on the viewpoint of Adonai, letting Him retrain us (Romans 12:2), then the Word will be able to do miraculous things inside us. “My child, pay attention to my words; listen attentively to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight, guard them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and healing to one’s entire body. Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life” (Proverbs 4:20-23).

Jesus came to enable us to start eternal LIFE. We already had eternal EXISTENCE, but it was death heading to a dead place. Jesus came so that we could choose to accept life and go to a living place. He came to give us abundant life – life beyond what we could reasonably expect (John 10:10). What we can reasonably expect is the party line about sickness, disease, aging, our mental states, and everything else about our natural bodies. What we cannot reasonably expect is everything that Jesus says we can have. It really isn’t reasonable. It is EXTRAORDINARY. It is SUPERNATURAL. It is something we do not deserve and cannot earn or make happen by our minds, inventions, efforts, and imaginations. But by GRACE, Jesus offers it to us. We took salvation in the sense that we took a part of what salvation entails. Like being at a banquet but only partaking of a single dish. The rest of the menu is also available. Jesus paid your fee. No dishes are barred from you. You can have EVERYTHING He had while He was here. In fact, we can have EVERYTHING that He has NOW while we are here. “By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

We have access to the mind of Messiah Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:16). That means we have access to His mindset. We have access to how He thinks about Himself, the Father, Ruach HaKodesh, and ourselves. We can think health. Think love. Think goodness. Think mercy. Think faithfulness. We can think ALL of it. But we must pull it our from inside us, which is where the spiritual connection is. He is the vine. We are the branches. Our nutrients and life come from Him and travel through us. He lives inside us. We have raising from the dead power living inside us. We have the Name Above All Names living inside us. We are so FULL of Adonai that if we gave thought to it, meditated on it, and studied it in scripture, there would be no room for anything else. We CAN BE who He says we are. YES, we need to shift thinking. He does that for us through the Word. Will we believe it? Will we trust in His promises? Will we trust in Him? And will we humbly submit and APPLY IT? Without application, it is just mental theories. Book learning. That does no one any good. We have to apply it. One day at a time. Reminding ourselves of who we are and what He can do in and through us. What we have the authority to proclaim and trust in. Just like with salvation. Confess the promise in the Word, act like it, and never stop believing what HE says. Never stop listening to HIS voice. HIS instructions. They don’t always make sense to us, but they never contradict the Word and always create in and around us the best circumstances.

We are to imitate Jesus in every way (Ephesians 5:1). We are to think so much like Jesus we are like Him in all our interactions (Philippians 2:5). We don’t do this by strength of will, but by the strength of our TRUST in Him. If strength is needed, He lends us His (Philippians 4:13). We do NOT need to settle for ‘human nature’. We can have HIS nature. “Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire” (2 Peter 1:4). We’ve been saved, so we have escaped the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire because in Him we HAVE no evil desire. The OLD MAN IS DEAD (Romans 6:6-18). Since we have no evil desire, we have the option to CHOOSE whether we are going to interact with it or not (Genesis 4:7). Since we don’t HAVE to interact with it, we can spend that energy on interacting with JESUS. We can build relationship and trust in Adonai. We can believe the promises, trust the promises, and through the promises partake in His divine nature – which has NO sickness, NO disease, NO infirmity, NO negativity, NO sin, NO darkness, and NO false promises.

If we find ourselves not experiencing it, that simply means there is room for us to trust more. Trusting Adonai is ALWAYS a good thing. Learning to trust Him in every way, in every part of our lives, during every moment of our day is our journey. It is our road. It can’t be done without sacrifice. This is our cross. To lay ourselves down and walk in Him (Luke 9:23-25). It is NEVER wasted effort or time. It ALWAYS produces more and more freedom in Jesus. Start working on your new nature today. Every day is another step inside of abundant life in Jesus.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Isaiah 65:9

“I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains. My chosen ones will take possession of the land; my servants will live there.” Messiah would enable the elect to inherit. In HIM, all the promises would come to pass. In HIM, possession of Adonai’s territory would be possible. “So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The rest were hardened” (Romans 11:5-7). “For it is clear that our Lord is descended from Judah, yet Moses said nothing about priests in connection with that tribe” (Hebrews 7:14). “Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered; thus he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”” (Revelation 5:5). Jesus opened the door to us. He is the WAY that we travel to enter Grace. He is a descendant of David. He is of the tribe of Judah. He chose us, died for us, was resurrected to life and offers us the same opportunity. Jesus IS Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b