Fear No Fear

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

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Ephesians 4:4-7 (emphasis added)

The measure of Messiah’s gift is the same for every human being that us, was, and will be. It was the same for Jesus of Nazareth when He was baptised and anointed into His role as Messiah, the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53). It was the same for Abraham. It was the same for Moses. It was the same for John. It was the same for James. It is the same for you. It is the same for me. It is the same for all of us. We have the same measure of Trust (Romans 12:3-8). We have all been given Elohim’s Trust (Mark 11:22) in the same measure and also Messiah’s gift. We have these in Jesus. In His Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh. When we remain in Jesus, we remain with access to them. When we choose to walk away, we’re walking away from His table too. All we have is in Him.

Abraham missed it a few times. For example, he tried to bring about the promise of Adonai in a human way with human thinking. It caused some problems. Problems that echo today. Moses missed it a few times. For example, he tried to step into his calling with human methods and human thinking. He cost the Israelites forty more years of bondage. Abraham was called a friend of Elohim (James 2:23). Moses was shown incredible revelation and spoke with Elohim as with a friend (Exodus 33:11). Although they missed it and although they were corrected and although there were consequences of their actions, their relationship and standing with Adonai were not determined by their actions. It was determined by love. Adonai’s love for them, and their love for Adonai. They walked with Him in their imperfection, but they trusted in Him in their love. It was their trust, not their performance, which is remembered. King David was the same way. Made some terrible mistakes. What was Adonai’s commentary on him? “After removing him, God raised up David their king. He testified about him: ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, who will accomplish everything I want him to do.’” (Acts 13:22). Their trust and their love marked them. It is how they are remembered.

We are in a better place, because we have better promises (Hebrews 8:6). We don’t have to walk in our strength. With our thinking. Doing things our way. We are free of that. “Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”” (John 8:31-32). The truth Jesus is speaking of is the truth of who He is and how we walk in Him. We have the opportunity to trust in Jesus for everything. And it is by trusting that we please Him and receive from Him. Abraham has no proof Adonai’s promises were true. He was told to go to a land that would be where he would become a great nation. He NEVER saw that. But he believed it. He spent decades in a land that he and his descendants were promised (Genesis 17:8). He spent them without descendants for the most part. He never owned more than a burial plot. From a human perspective, Adonai wasn’t really holding up the deal. But Abraham didn’t pay attention to that. He believed. He ended up having an heir he naturally produced with his wife (they were one hundred and ninety years old at the time). Later he had more children (six of them). Not quite a nation, but Abraham believed. He trusted based only on his BELIEF that Adonai could bring to pass what Adonai said He could bring to pass. He did it without major evidence. He started when there was no evidence. He believed and trusted without wavering – even when he messed up – until he died. And he died without seeing the fulfilment.

Why do we try so hard to not believe? Why do we work so desperately to not trust? Do we need to see proof? Do we need to see the fulfilment? They are not components of trust. I could understand the need for them if there was nothing to build on. But we were given – by Grace – Adonai’s faith. It’s the faith He used when He had to believe Jesus as a man would go through with the ordeal of the cross. It’s easy to say something and chicken out. We know from Gethsemane that Jesus’ flesh was fighting hard not to be tortured, brutally beaten, and nailed to wood. We also know Jesus’ spirit was full of joy to see the outcome of the sacrifice – salvation for all who choose it. Will he, won’t he? It was Adonai’s TRUST in the ‘will he’ that let Him heal in the Old Covenant. We are not healed by Adonai’s POWER, but Jesus’ sacrifice – His bruises, stripes, and wounds. It is the way Yahweh chose to release healing. Jesus spiritually accomplished it before Creation (Revelation 13:8) and it physically arrived with His crucifixion (John 19:30). It is now available for EVERYONE – if we use HIS trust. We can do that because we have His Spirit and the anointing of Messiah IN Jesus.

The Messiah was anointed to break bonds and heal (Isaiah 61:1-2), so in Jesus WE are anointed to break bonds and heal. It is Jesus in us that does the work. It is Jesus in us that heals, that lays on hands, that speaks out deliverance. It’s a mystery we get to participate in. Our cooperation is going where He says, letting Him use us, and doing/saying exactly what He tells us to through Ruach HaKodesh. Healing would not be such a stretch for our minds if we remembered that it is Jesus doing it through us, not us trying to get Him to act. We’re engaging what Jesus did. Like flicking on a light switch. The power is there. If we follow the directions and perform the action, the power WILL flow. The problem is we keep laying hands on the lamp and praying for the bulb to glow. We’re declaring that the lamp will shine and provide us with light. We’re standing on the promise of power. We’re plugging, unplugging, and replugging the cord. We’re casting demons out of the wall socket. But we’re not trusting Him that the power is there. We’re not flicking the switch that He’s given us permission to flick. We’re not engaging the promise by obeying with the action.

If Abraham trusted in the face of nothing being fulfilled, why do we have such trouble when we live in the age of the promise fulfilled? He had to trust with no evidence in order to walk in a piece of the promise fulfilled (natural child from Sarah & owning a piece of the land). We get to trust with lots of evidence of fulfilled promises. We have the Word written on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8:10). We have healings and miracles in meeting after meeting (Jeremiah 17:14; 30:17). We are saved through Grace, not adherence to the Law (Romans 10:9). We walk His paths, surrendering our flesh to His Righteousness on a daily basis (Matthew 16:24-25). We are able to because we have the right to be connected to Him, abide in Him, and live out our lives through Him (John 15:5; 17:23; John 10:30-38). We are SANCTIFIED through the Word – Jesus and the written Word, which IS Jesus as well (John 17:17). How is it that our trust is so weak? How is it we are not all resting in Him? All the time? How can we LET ourselves be so defeated?

We need to understand this. We need to join our Trust with His Grace. The Word works when we mix it with our trust (Hebrews 4:2). In the same way, Grace operates properly when we invest it with our Trust. We have to TRUST that He is doing the work, not us. We have to TRUST that we CANNOT earn anything, that we CANNOT twist His arm, and that EVERYTHING is provided for us – for FREE – by Him because of what JESUS did, not us. That it is all motivated by His LOVE and has been since before ANYTHING was created – which proves that it does not rely on our performance in ANY way (just like our salvation). This is so important because we need revelation on His power in us. His power working is how anything happens. That is what breaks open the doors to the miraculous and supernatural: our Trust that He can do what He says He can do and it is ALL His doing by Grace so we cannot earn it and do not need to try and make it happen. That’s the whole point of Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” If we have no knowledge of HIS power working in us, WE try to work it and that doesn’t work. Not at all. Without knowledge of HIS power working in us by Grace, we’re stuck in a powerless walk – because we are rejecting this basic truth of the Kingdom. And who wants THAT? We don’t need to bang on the doors of heaven to get our healing. He’s already healed us! He did it thousands of years ago. You can’t earn what has been gifted. Our trust, His Grace, His work, and Jesus’ sacrifice. Flick the switch. Let HIS power flow.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Daniel 9:26

“Now after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. As for the city and the sanctuary, the people of the coming prince will destroy them. But his end will come speedily like a flood. Until the end of the war that has been decreed there will be destruction.” Messiah would die for the sins of the world. Paying the price for all sin that had ever, was being, or would be committed. Paying the price for rebellion against Yahweh (Genesis 2:17). “but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). Jesus died so that we wouldn’t have to (Romans 5:8). Jesus suffered so that we wouldn’t have to (1 Peter 2:21). Jesus broke the fangs of the devourer so that we could enjoy abundant life without ending (John 10:10). Jesus came to restore the relationship that IS eternal life (John 17:3). Jesus IS the Messiah!

Your Daily Confession of Jesus/Yeshua’s Identity:

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

Matthew 16:16b