Fear No Fear

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

“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn away from it to the right hand or to the left;
Joshua 23:6 (emphasis added)

It takes courage to follow the Lord, but it might not be in the way that you think. But I don’t have to do what is written in the law, you say. I am a Gentile and a Christian. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:2). This is Truth. We ARE free from the law. However, the Lord doesn’t change (Hebrews 13:8). “For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God, for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be. Those who are in the flesh can’t please God” (Romans 8:3-8).

So the principles of the Lord haven’t changed. In fact, Jesus showed this when He taught about adultery. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’ but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). That means that your heart is also required to follow the principles of the Word and not just your actions. Actions are relatively easy. They can be walked through without feeling them. Without believing in them. Ask any child tasked with apologising to their siblings. They do it. They do not feel it. Spiritually, our problem is the opposite. We do not do it, but we feel it. It is a dangerous thing to do.

“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished. Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20). If we are obedient to what the Lord Jesus tells us, we will be actively pleasing the Father. If we do not, we are in rebellion. Actively pleasing the Lord is the physical manifestation of obedience – which is faith. And we KNOW it is a principle of the Kingdom that everything not done in faith is a sin (Romans 14:23).

Reading through the Lord’s longer sermons (Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7 and the Sermon on the Plain Luke 6:20-49) shows you the basic principles of the Kingdom of God. It spells out exactly what it is that we are expected to do. It is also clear that just as with the law given to Moses (Exodus 21-24; 31-35), we are unable to keep it all. It is impossible for a human being to do all these things with full honesty and intent in both their hearts, minds, words, and actions. And we know that if you are trying to do it yourself – to be justified by YOUR actions, thoughts, and ideals – then to fail in one part of the law means to fail entirely (James 2:10). To succeed on your OWN power is to be perfect in everything totally and completely always from birth to death. No human can do it. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us … If we say that we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8 & 10). God knows this and made provision for it in His Son Jesus (vs 9): “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

We do NOT have to do it alone. We are not expected to. That is why Jesus sent us His Righteous Spirit (John 14:16). We are to be IN Jesus “Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5). Jesus does the work, not us (Ephesians 2:10). More than that, because we died to sin in order to live to Righteousness through what Jesus did on the cross (1 Peter 2:24), we are dead. It is Christ who is living in us. “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20). It is GOD who works in us (Philippians 2:13). In Jesus, by Jesus, for Jesus, and through Jesus all things are done.

When we live according to fear, we are living in sin. In rebellion against the work God did in us when we were born again. When we walk in fear, we are not walking in love as we were commanded to (John 13:34). Love is what faith is all about. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice‡ for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us” (1 John 4:10-12). Faith is manifested obedience to the Lord. When we love the Lord, we WILL obey the Lord (John 14:15). How is this something that needs bravery?

Doing this needs courage because it takes courage to stand up to bullies. No, not the world – though they hate the lovers of the Lord (John 15:18). No, not persecutors of believers in Jesus (John 15:20). You. You need courage because of you. Your flesh – the carnal self – leans toward the world. Out of habit, out of enjoyment of feelings, out of enjoyment of laziness. But mainly because it had not been purified and perfected yet. That has happened spiritually (1 John 3:9-11). But our body will not get perfected until we are in heaven with the Lord God face to face (Philippians 3:21). Until then, we have a war inside ourselves. A war between what we want to do because of what we know is right in our spirit, and what our body wants to do because it feels good (Romans 7).

We need to get into the Word to let it renew our minds (Romans 12:2). We need minds that have been renewed to God’s good purposes and morals. Without knowing that they are right in our spirits, we won’t put that into our hearts. Without having them in our hearts, we won’t act on them (Luke 6:45, Matthew 15:18). When we have our own bodies telling our minds one thing and we have our spirits telling us another thing, it takes courage to go with what the spirit is telling us. It takes courage because it is based on things not seen. We might KNOW it’s true, but our flesh doesn’t. It can however see that junk food, that dishonest story, that immoral relationship, and that lack of good workmanship. It is easy to go with what’s before us. It’s hard to go with things we cannot see and do not know when they will happen. It’s why we get armour to do the job (Ephesians 6:10-18). It’s why we get spiritual gifts to combat our feelings (Galatians 5:22-24). It’s why we have a comforter, a corrector, a guide, a teacher, and a reminder of all the words of the Lord that we have in our hearts (John 14:25-26, 1 John 2:27).

The battle is in our minds. The battle is spiritual. The battle is real. We have been empowered by the Lord to succeed IF we abide in Jesus. In JESUS we can do all things because He is the one doing the things. In JESUS we can overcome whatever is coming against us because it is Jesus who overcame the world (John 16:33). This is the courage we need. The courage not to turn away from the Word. The courage not to turn away from the Holy Spirit. The courage to put the Lord God first and foremost and keep Him there. In Jesus, we succeed. Stay in Jesus. Stay humble and obedient. Let Jesus do what Jesus does. You be courageous and stick to what He tells you – even when you can’t see the end, the reason, or anything at all. We don’t need to understand the situation. We need to be obedient to the Lord in the situation. That way is victory because God’s way IS victory. So be courageous and follow Him in everything always.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Psalm 28:7-8

Salvation is more than just being born again. In English it means saving from ignorance or illusion. It is preservation from destruction and failure. It is a deliverance from difficulty. In Hebrew it is the word YESHUAH and means deeds of deliverance, deliverance itself, help, prosperity, salvation, to save, saving, security, victories, and victory. That is a LOT of stuff. It covers a LOT of ground. And it means every one of them. The Lord is a stronghold full of all those things. We can trust in the Lord that He is those things (Proverbs 3:5). We can trust that since the Lord is our strength, and His presence is our stronghold, and that stronghold brings us all those things, we can in fact DO all those things IN JESUS – who is the one who strengthens us in the first place (Philippians 4:13). We gain the right attitude about this through praise. He inhabits our praises, which brings us to the stronghold (Psalm 22:3). When we praise with honesty, we have JOY in our spirit and can choose to reject the negative emotions (Nehemiah 8:10). It is a CHOICE to leave fear behind and embrace His Joy through praise. His presence brings PEACE, because He IS peace (Judges 6:24). It’s a great circle. Reject fear by praising, praise brings peace which makes Joy easier to choose, which makes more praise, which brings more peace, which makes for more Joy, etc etc. All within the stronghold of His strength that we are enabled to pick up and inhabit because we are in Jesus and He is in us (1 John 4:13). THAT is love in action. God giving us by Grace what we need to come humbly to Him and get what we need.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.