Fear No Fear

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

“and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.“

Romans 5:5

A lightning strike contains a huge amount of electrical current. When it hits material that doesn’t conduct well, it causes great heat damage. Lightning rods provide a good conductive path for the lightning, carrying it away from the material that would be damaged. It doesn’t ‘attract’ lightning, but if lightning is going to strike, it will always prefer the lightning rod. We are called to be good conductors of Jesus’ love. It should be in us to change us and flow through us to change the world around us. We are to be loving rods for His glory.

We are made of the right material, but not everything is lined up as it should be. We ARE starting from a great point, though. Our spirit is sealed in and by Ruach HaKodesh. “in whom also you, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also when you believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,” (Ephesians 1:13). At the spirit level, we’re joined. Connected. Fully together. We might be struggling here over something, but our spirit is rejoicing before the Throne. Our spirit is fully, completely, and utterly charged with Jesus’ love. Now it becomes about moving it from our spirit into the rest of us. It is about us being charged in FULL, not just in SPIRIT. Simple, but not easy. Not on our own.

“And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). Our MIND loves patterns. It uses them all the time. It creates shortcuts for us to make our decision-making load easier. If we are in a given environment that we’ve been in before, looking at the same things, dressed the same way, our brain says ‘cool’ and then provides us with the same behaviour that we used to use in that situation. This is why someone who cheats will tend to cheat again. Why someone who always drinks with the boys/girls will tend to drink when they get asked out again – no matter how far on the wagon they are. It isn’t about WILLPOWER. It’s about behavioural patterns. Habits. And they happen at a VERY deep level. If we are always exposing ourselves to the patterns of this world, we will adopt those patterns and behave that way. In spite of willpower. In spite of desire. In spite of everything we WANT to do. “For what I am doing I do not understand, because what I want to do, this I do not practice, but what I hate, this I do” (Romans 7:15). It’s about PATTERNS and how we fall into them.

It is our responsibility to work on changing the patterns. We can’t do it in our own strength. But the WORD can do it. If we start reading the Word and putting that in front of our eyes, in our ears, and to talk about it with fellow believers AND with Ruach HaKodesh, then the patterns will start to change. Instead of seeing the same old outfit, the same old couch, the same old TV, and choosing to be a couch potato; our minds will see the Word, hear the Word, speak the Word and develop NEW patterns founded on the Word. Our minds will start to process what is around us the way Jesus did. We’re not doing the transforming ourselves, but we are being transformed when we provide the proper SOURCE of input to our minds. If we care more about what Adonai thinks than what the world thinks, we’ll find ourselves agreeing with Him. When we do that, we open the lines to let the love flow through.

When Jesus’ love hits our brains, we have a choice. Wallow in ignorance, or use the Word to understand what it is that we are perceiving. When we start to understand, we allow it in. We encourage it. We let it work. “Now to the one who is able to do beyond all measure more than all that we ask or think, according to the power that is at work in us” (Ephesians 3:20, emphasis mine). The power that works in us is Jesus’ love. How can we be a victor in this situation facing us? How can we do what we’ve been called to? By knowing how much Jesus loves you right there in that situation. Right there in your calling. Right there in whatever we encounter. When we KNOW Jesus loves us, we trust that we haven’t been left without equipment. Without ability. When we KNOW Jesus loves us, we trust that He is bigger than the situation. That He has solutions to any problems. And that He wants to give them to us. When we KNOW Jesus loves us, trust comes as naturally as rain from a cloud.

If we are going to be the loving rods that we need to be, connecting the dots from soul to body to mind (and then out into the world around us), we need a knowledge of Jesus’ love. Ruach HaKodesh is right there to help us with that. The Word develops that knowledge and Ruach HaKodesh is there to make sure we understand it as we talk with Him. As we study the Word and what it means. As we listen to anointed teaching and test all things that we hear against the Word so that we can discern the Truth. This is the guiding, leading, teaching, and correcting ministry of Ruach HaKodesh. To help us position ourselves in Jesus (John 15:5) so that it can all flow as it was designed to.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: 2 Timothy 3:17

“in order that the person of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” Adonai doesn’t try to train you up and then give you equipment to do the job that you were able to train to do. Adonai equips us for EVERYTHING and then teaches us how to use it. He blesses us with ALL blessing and then teaches us how to walk in it. When we miss it, and we all do, it doesn’t mean we failed to receive something. It means we put something down. We dropped the phone and stopped listening to instructions. We dropped the shield and got an arrow in the leg. It’s always us LETTING GO of something because Adonai has GIVEN US EVERYTHING. He calls us victors when we’re still buckling on armour. He speaks to us about where we will BE when we haven’t left yet. He is calling us into His image of us. He gives us everything we need to succeed and then talks us through it all until we end up where He always saw us. 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