Fear No Fear

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

We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (emphasis added)

The world can be a dangerous place. Life isn’t always easy. It wasn’t meant to be this way. We were not created to suffer or struggle. We weren’t created to fight off the evil inclination. That all came from the Fall. From our choice to disobey in full knowledge of the right action. Adam KNEW that it was wrong, that he had been commanded not to eat of the fruit of the tree, and he did it anyway. He chose to listen to a voice other than the Lord when he could have done the opposite. It was his role, position, and calling to reject any and every voice that wasn’t the Lord’s. Because he rebelled, the evil inclination took root in the flesh and it has been passed down in our physical selves ever since. Because he rebelled, our righteous spirit died leaving us without hope of eternal life (Genesis 3).

God did not leave us there. Did not leave us without hope. Right from the beginning, He showed us the way forward: Jesus (Genesis 3:15). Jesus paid the price for us. Jesus suffered and died so that we could be cleansed. If we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths, we can be born again into Him (Romans 10:9-11). The Holy Spirit will live inside us (1 Corinthians 6:19). We will be in Jesus and He will be in us, giving us HIS Righteous Spirit (1 Corinthians 1:30). We die to our Selves and are born into Him, joining Him in His resurrection (Romans 6:5-6). We are returned to the spiritual state humanity had in the garden. But what we do with it is the same choice Adam faced. Will we listen to the voice of the Lord and His only? Or will we listen to our flesh and the evil inclination in this world?

If we walk in the flesh, we have to rely on ourselves and our feelings. That means that as we travel in life we are pressed, perplexed, pursued, struck down, and death-minded. When we indulge in the flesh, we end up scorning authority because it never agrees with the flesh (2 Peter 2:10). The more we walk in our flesh, the more we dwell on it. The more our goal is the gratification of its desires. The more we try and gratify it, the more it wants. More feeling. More intensity. More variety. It is a greedy, gluttonous thing. There is no filling it. No satiating it. It doesn’t end. “Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom” (Galatians 5:19-21).

It isn’t easy to avoid all that, is it? No. But it IS possible IF we abide in Jesus. If we stay in HIM. When we do that, we aren’t crushed. We don’t despair. We aren’t forsaken. We aren’t destroyed. We have LIFE, not death (John 10:10). This is all possible because of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. The fruit of that Spirit is available to us, if we want it. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts” (Galatians 5:22-24). When we rely on the Spirit to inform our minds and hearts about what we should be emoting, thinking, speaking, and doing, we act like we should: we act like Jesus. Simple, but not easy because of the war in our minds (Romans 7:15). We have to crucify our flesh daily. We have to decide to listen to the Spirit, fight against the flesh, and do what the Lord says and ONLY what the Lord says.

“For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Our battle is in our minds against spiritual forces and influences. Because the Lord gave us free will (Genesis 1:26-27). We have a choice. We HAVE to choose. Not choosing is a choice. Choosing good is a choice. Choosing bad is a choice. And choice is a decision. The enemy is desperate to find every way possible to keep us from choosing what God wants. It doesn’t matter WHAT we choose as long as it isn’t what God wants. EVERYTHING that isn’t faith, is sin (Romans 14:23). The Kingdom of God is faith. The Kingdom of Darkness is everything else. But we can have real joy in the TRUTH that the Kingdom of God is FAR GREATER than anything else that exists.

Don’t believe the lies. Satan is not Father’s opposite number. He isn’t even on the same level as Jesus. Satan was an angel. Something that was created, but not on God’s level. Not even our level. We were created ABOVE the angels, not below. They exist to serve us, not for us to cower before them. Thing is though, we Fell. We left our proper place and ended up where we are. Without Jesus we cannot stand in our proper place. And we won’t do THAT in full until we are in Heaven with Him. Here, we need to stay in Jesus and do what He says. We have the same authority as He had. To speak the Word, to act the Word, to think the Word, and to do in accordance with the Word. Angels are here to minister to us and assist us at the Father’s command (Hebrews 1:14). They have to do what the Word says because they only obey the Word – it’s what they were created to do. We don’t command them, the Father does. So if Satan is a fallen angel, then he will react to the Word in the same way. When we stand on the Word and the Word alone, he flees (James 4:7). We don’t wield the Word on our own whims. We only speak what the Father says. We stay humble, broken, and submitted to the LORD. No exceptions.

We live according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God” (Romans 8:12-14). We obey the Lord. Not out of fear. Not out of desperation. Not because we are being forced. We choose to obey because we love the Lord. If we love Him, why would we want to do ANYTHING that He doesn’t approve of? Why would we want to disappoint or displease Him? When we love Him, we want to please Him because it will be pleasing to Him. No other reason. “If you love me, keep my commandments. I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive, for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him” (John 14:15-21).

When we abide in Jesus, we abide in His victory. When we abide in Jesus, we’re connected to His Living Spirit. Death can be behind us as we live in Him. When we die to self every day, take up our cross, and follow in Jesus footsteps we join in Jesus’ death so that we can then join in Jesus’ resurrection. “But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” We also believe, and therefore we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you” (2 Corinthians 4:13-14). It is our faith in the Word that enables us to know what to speak. When we speak the Word, we are speaking TRUTH. It’s what Jesus spoke. He spoke it at the direction of the Father through the Holy Spirit who dwelt in Him (Matthew 3:16, John 12:49). In Jesus, we are to do the same. Led by the Holy Spirit, we say what Jesus tells us to say, which is what the Father tells Him to say. The Will of the Father, revealed in the Word, spoken to us through our spirit (which is His Spirit).

“Therefore don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:35-36). We have boldness. Boldness to speak what the Holy Spirit tells us to speak (Matthew 10:20). Boldness to go before the Throne of the Father to praise Him (Hebrews 4:16). Boldness to declare the Gospel message everywhere the Spirit tells us to (1 Thessalonians 2:2). Our whole life is boldness and confidence. Victory and overcoming. NOT by our efforts. NOT by our strength. NOT by us at all. In Jesus, through Jesus, by Jesus, and for Jesus we have life. In Jesus we have the victory because it is by Jesus that we achieve anything at all. Without Him we are nothing. In Him we are everything (John 15).

Get into the Word. Abide in Jesus. Stay connected to the Lord. Keep listening for His voice. Obey what He says – remember that it will NEVER contradict the Word. Live the life that Jesus brings: NOT crushed, NOT despairing, NOT forsaken, NOT destroyed, NOT overcome, healthy and prospering as our soul prospers (3 John 1:2). Submitted to the Lord, humbly broken before Him, and obedient in LOVE to and for the Lord God Almighty.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Isaiah 55:6-7

The best promise in the Word is that the Lord God loves us. It is the foundation for everything else. He is a Father to us. A good one. A merciful one. One who doesn’t try to avoid us. One who isn’t angry at us. He isn’t working all day and night in far off places, forgetting to call or send a card on special days. He WANTS to be found by us. He is WILLING to be found by us. If we will seek Him the way that He asks us to, He WILL be found by us. Period. No grey area. The Lord is waiting for you. Give up all the stuff that is weighing you down. Walk away from all the garbage. But it isn’t garbage, you say. Let me tell you this TRUTH: If the LORD says that it is garbage, it is garbage. There is nothing else. It isn’t worth it to sit there in our small humanness and reject or refuse the wonders, joy, and life of the Kingdom of God. For a feeling? For an entertainment? For a moment or two of passion? Addiction may be addicting, but it isn’t worth it. When you know that you can walk in FREEDOM from ALL OF IT, why wouldn’t you? When the LORD is saying come home? When the Lord is being merciful? When the Lord is waiting to be found? Seek Him. Let nothing stand in your way. When we fully and totally seek Him with all of our hearts, minds, and resources, there is nothing that He will withhold from us (Psalm 84:11).

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.