Fear No Fear

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

I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
Psalm 120:7 (emphasis added)

This is not a long psalm, but our focus is the last verse. Well, the last two. They’re intertwined. Here is the whole psalm: “In my distress, I cried to Yahweh. He answered me. Deliver my soul, Yahweh, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. What will be given to you, and what will be done more to you, you deceitful tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! My soul has had her dwelling too long with him who hates peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.”

Short and poignant. This psalm is speaking of peace and war, but war is fear-based and true peace is faith-based. You cannot easily have peace when you surround yourself with fear. You cannot easily slip into the state of worship and humble submission when you are involved with (or causing) strife with those around you. If you live in an environment like that you are going to have problems. Look at Job. He has something happen to him, chooses depression, and he gets some friends who are not helpful. They blame and nag and grind away with religious thinking disguised as helpful, compatriotic musings, and it takes him what? Twenty-nine chapters before he gets anything resembling decent advice and another five before God answers Job and Job realises he’s been barking at the wrong tree. What if the helpful friend had come alone? The whole cycle of the book could have been about fourteen chapters, not forty-two. Strife NEVER helps.

Paul and Barnabas were anointed by the Lord and sent out by the church to spread the Gospel (Acts 13:1–4). In Acts 15:36–41, they split up. Strife got between them about a personal matter (Barnabas’ cousin). Paul suffered a lot of conflict. He was harassed by a messenger sent by Satan to torment Paul (2 Corinthians 12:7). It came because of the exceeding greatness of the revelations that Paul had. Its mission was to keep Paul from being exalted excessively — in other words, shut down the message by keeping the messenger busy. Did Paul’s strife with Barnabas give a great idea to the devil? Was Paul’s temper so easy to manipulate that this was a great way to keep him off track? Or did the fact that Paul fought (with Barnabas and with Jews who refused to believe in Jesus — Acts 13:44–14:7; with Peter — Galatians 2:11–13) as a way of life give opportunity and ammunition to the devil? We don’t know. I tend to think Paul gave opportunity with his temper. In any case, by the time he’s writing to the Corinthians Paul is leaning into God’s Grace and admitting his weaknesses while relying on the power of Christ, wielded under the authority of Jesus, to deal with his problems.

It is a good lesson for us. No matter how good or knowledgeable we are, when we strife and do things in our own way — even things of God’s Kingdom — we don’t succeed. Paul tried to solve his problem three times beseeching the Lord. The Lord told him he already had the tools, just apply them. When he did, victory. Why? Because he did it by Jesus and through Jesus, not himself. Jesus is the overcomer, so Paul was able to overcome too. “Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10). When we don’t do things outside of Jesus, and if we DO do things according to the Word, then they work and we get what the Lord has promised us.

When we strife, and when we are around strife, we tend to look at ourselves. What we can do. What we know. What damage we can inflict. We often don’t bring God into the equation at all. Say we’ve had a violent upbringing. When we encounter violence later in life we’ll tend to take the attitude ‘you wanna dance? Let’s dance!’ because we are aware of what we are capable of. We know what we can do. We figure we can handle it. Of course, if we’re wrong or we have miscalculated, then the prayers go flying up to heaven. I sometimes wonder if that was why Paul prayed three times (begged is his word — 2 Corinthians 12:8) to have it lifted from him. Was there a lot of arguing going on and he figured he could argue his way around it? He was good at thinking through an argument. Again, I don’t know. What I DO know is that if we get stuck thinking of our abilities and our capabilities in any situation, it can go south fast.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 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. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:1–11).

We are the righteousness of God IN JESUS (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our spirit was resurrected into His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:21, 1 Peter 1:3). In our spirit, we HAVE all the heavenly blessings (Ephesians 1:3). The Lord God gave them to us. All of them. Our spirit has them. More than that, just like Jesus our spirit can ONLY say what the Father tells it to say (John 12:49–50). Our spirit is always telling us just what the Lord says. It never steers us wrong. We need to take God’s faith that He gave us (Mark 11:22), strengthen it as it renews our mind (Romans 12:2), and apply it to our own selves. That means speaking to your body in total faith. Telling it to act and comply with the Word — where applicable. Like commanding it to get with the program where sickness is concerned. The Word tells us Messiah would heal us by His bruises and we’d get to share in that by fellowshipping with Him (Isaiah 53). Matthew 8:16–17 links Jesus to that prophecy in Isaiah. And 1 Peter 2:24 confirms that Jesus did in fact get bruised, crushed, and broken for our sin and released the Word of healing for us. All we need to do is take it. Your spirit already has. It is perfected in Jesus and sealed up by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:3; 1 John 3:9–11). If we speak those words and stand in agreement with and on the Word, we can get our body believing it. We can get our heart to believe it. We can get our soul to reach out, collect the healing that the Lord has already handed to our spirit, and plant it in our body by Jesus, through Jesus, and in Jesus. When we do that application of total, sincere, believed faith, we get our healing.

You might not agree with it, but this is TRUTH: when we believe in our heart that it is happening as we prayed for it and believe that all healing EVER was accomplished by Jesus taking our stripes, you WILL receive your healing. Healing was already accomplished. It was already sent out. No need to beg God for it. No need to wait and see if He will perform a miracle. He ALREADY performed it. He ALREADY perfected it. He is ALWAYS offering it to you (Psalm 103:2–6). He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8–16) and HE WILLS TO HEAL YOU (Matthew 8:1–3). But you need to believe it. Have faith in it. That is how Jesus healed people here on earth and He has NOT changed (Deuteronomy 7:15). By your FAITH in what Jesus is able to do and has done, you are healed. All that means is that you need to believe. It isn’t a ‘name it’ thing. It isn’t a ‘say the words’ thing. It means a total and absolute conviction of the total truth of this thing. It is not just an ‘us’ thing, either. Jesus is the author of our faith and its finisher (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus released healing and broke the altar of sickness. Believe it.

What hinders our belief in things like healing? Or peace? Surrounding ourselves with those who don’t believe the same things. Jesus walked with ALL walks of life. ALL kinds of people. But He spent MOST of His time alone in prayer or with like-minded individuals. THAT was who He renewed with, rested with, and fellowshipped with the most. He didn’t ignore the rest, by ANY means. But when He needed time to recharge, that wasn’t when He hung around with unbelievers. “One who walks with wise men grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm” (Proverbs 13:20). We need to spend our time with those who will build us up, encourage us, and help us to stand when we fall. Who will bolster our faith, not try to keep it shallow and weak (1 Thessalonians 5:11). It is easier to speak for peace when you don’t immediately have people gunning for war as soon as you stop speaking.

If we are going to keep from forgetting the benefits of being with the Lord (Psalm 103:1–5), we need to keep speaking those blessings to ourselves. Stand in the bathroom and tell the you who is in the mirror what is what. Preach yourself well. Stand on the Word. Your reflection won’t think you’re crazy. Talk to it about faith. About being a New Creature in Jesus. About abiding in the vine. About seeking first the kingdom. Talk to yourself about the image the Father has for you. How it is superior to anything the world ever told you. Remember the Lord’s promises by reading them out. Remember what righteous living is by reading it out (Exodus 20 and Matthew 5–7 are a great place to start). Being tempted? Feeling fearful, anxious, or depressed? Submit to God and resist the devil with the Word. Refuse to emote what your body wants to feel. Acknowledge it and then send it packing to the cross. Let the cross listen to your feelings. You choose what your spirit says, what the WORD says, and emote that.

When we have rest in God, we have peace. We have rest in God when the things of the Lord are more important to us than anything else. God will take care of you. He will help you not fall off the bandwagon of being on-fire for Him. He will help you not become some kind of raving fanatic. He’ll keep you grounded. Like Moses, Elijah, Samuel, David, Paul, and Jesus. Word first. Word all the time. Focusing on the Lord and all that He is. Seeking first His kingdom. Everything else comes after. And no matter how long until the after, it will be all the sweeter because you obeyed and loved while you were here.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: John 14:23–24

Jesus’ house is probably pretty good. He created all things AND was apprenticed as an artisan carpenter. The Father’s place is great. His chair alone is a work of art (Isaiah 40:22, Exodus 24:9–11). That should show you how special and important obedience is. Because the two of them will come and live with whoever obeys the commands of the Lord. This isn’t about whether that is even fully possible, but the heart of the one who is trying. Not trying as in works to prove they are acceptable, but trying because they love the Lord. “If you love me you’ll keep my commands.” That is a simple statement with FAR REACHING effects. If we love someone we trust them. Totally and completely. If we don’t trust someone, we can’t love them that much, right? They are a joined thing. If we love the Lord, we will trust His judgement and therefore obey Him even when we can’t see the reason or result. If we don’t obey, we’re admitting to ourselves and the Lord that we don’t trust Him to make good. Every time we disobey — small or large — we are failing to trust Him. Every time we obey, we are showing that our love is true and deepening our trust with Him. Since He first loved us so that we could love in the first place (1 John 4:19), we should be honouring that love by loving Him back with our obedience in everything, at all times. NOT so that we can prove a point. No. We should do it because we want to see the Lord smile. It’s our goal in life and why we were created — life’s meaning, if you will (2 Corinthians 5:6–9).

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.