Fear No Fear

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

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.
Ephesians 1:17-18 (emphasis added)

hupostasis ((hoop-os’-tas-is) is the Greek for ‘being sure’. It is substance, assurance, confidence, essence, and reality. It is giving substance or reality to something. It is a guaranteeing (as in a guaranteed agreement) or the essence of something. It’s usage conveys the idea of a foundational reality or essence. It’s the underlying substance or actual being of something. It IS the thing, not the appearance of the thing. The substance of it is what gives trust (faith) reality. That means trust is made up from the substance. The substance is being convinced of what we PHYSICALLY can’t see. Yet we DO see it, or we wouldn’t be convinced. We see it in our spirit. This positive imagination is what we mix with the Word to see the physical arrival of what Adonai has for us. If we don’t see it with our positive imagination, it is still helpful and healthful, but the reality of it in your life will be a pale imitation of what it could be at best and powerless words at worst (Hebrews 4:2).

How do we convince ourselves or someone else of something? To develop your credibility you cultivate a reputation of trustworthiness. You consistently tell the truth, providing pertinent facts to show its truth. You craft alternative messages to convince different segments of your audience – meeting them where they are without compromising or sacrificing the truth. You support your messages with reliable examples and evidence can help your audience consider the message. Stories create connections between what someone is thinking, what they believe and the truth of your message. Advocates of your message can help you convince more people, because the experiences of the advocates also point to the truth of your message. This is what Adonai did with His Word. He is consistent. He is truthful. He tells us stories to illustrate the truth. He gives us concrete examples. And there have always been advocates – especially the early church – that point to the truth of what He is saying. He is reliable. And throughout the Word experiencing the physical arrival of His promises and Blessing depends ABSOLUTELY on seeing what He’s saying. Imagination is the ability to see things in your heart that you can’t see with your eyes. Hope is seeing on the inside what you can’t see on the outside. “When there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but the one who keeps the law, blessed is he!” (Proverbs 29:18).

What is that Law? “Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” (Matthew 22:37). “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:2). “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Joshua 1:8). Keeping our minds on the Word. Not reading it or hearing it around the clock. But THINKING on it. Thinking on it, studying it so that you understand it, thinking on it, applying it in your mind to how it relates or would alter your life. Thinking until you SEE it. Until you can picture it. Until it is so clear to you it is almost a vision (a VIVID mental image). This is the kind of thinking through the Word that is transformational. It is SEEING yourself in it. You probably know the story of David and Goliath. But have you imagined yourself in the story? Can you smell the sweat and feel the heat of the sun beating down? Can you hear the creak of leather, the taunts of Goliath? Can you feel the righteous anger rising up in your breath? Can you hear the reverberation in your chest and you stride out toward Goliath, calling out to him how wrong he is to come against Elohim’s children? Can you hear yourself shouting about cutting off his head – even though you don’t have a sword? Slinging the stone? Hearing the impact? Shouting in praise as the body falls? Running over, drawing his own sword, cutting off his head, and lifting it up to brandish it at the Philistines and screaming Adonai’s triumph at them? If you can see yourself there, if you can imagine it, then when giants rise up against you in your life you know EXACTLY what to do. There will be NO pause. You will wield the sword of the spirit, the sword of truth, and you will come against those giants with the full power of Adonai working in and through you! Seeing it is intimately connected with inhabiting the victory that Jesus won for us (John 16:33).

This is how we are to walk with Adonai. Positive imagination is hope. Hope is positive imagination. And when you see it, it BECOMES trust because we have already seen it. We KNOW it’s true. We KNOW He can do it. We’ve ALREADY seen Him do it. Trust (faith) only brings into reality those things you’ve already conceived. If you haven’t conceived it, it will NOT come to pass. This is seedtime and harvest. This is promise and fulfilment. You MUST see it, for you to EXPERIENCE it. It MUST be conceived before it is birthed. We do it all the time with negative things. We worry about something. We picture the worse case scenario. We imagine conversations, picture things occurring, and just KNOW what’s going to happen – even doing it to the point of FEELING it as if it was real and happening right that moment. But it is all just IMAGINATION. But it is a negative imagination. Have you ever been anxious? That’s imagination. Ever been depressed? That’s imagination. Why settle for doing it negatively? Why not try Adonai’s way? Give positive imagination a shot. Based on His WORD backed up by His TRUSTWORTHINESS, imagine His words and promises being alive and real in your life. See yourself doing it. See yourself being it. SEE IT.

Are you sick? Imagine what it would be like if Jesus was in the room pronouncing your healing. What happens next? What do you do? Imagine it. See it. Apply the Word to it. See it again and again and again. Spend time seeing Jesus’ words ring in your ears. Jesus healed every category of sickness that exists. Find a story that matches yours and start imagining yourself in that story. The sounds, sights, smells, and feelings. What emotions are chosen from those feelings? What happens when Jesus shows up? When it is happening, what does it look like? What happens afterwards? Imagination (hope) is not the end point. It is not the power that transforms. But it opens the door to His power. “Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). Start opening the door by seeing yourself healed. Seeing yourself well. Seeing yourself being all that He says you can be. It is a vital step for everything we see in the Word from creation to the new Heaven. The devil knows the power of imagination. He spends a lot of time and the world spends millions of dollars putting into our imagination how powerful the devil and his cohorts are. The world does it with advertising. The church needs to wake up and start picturing Adonai’s Word as real and happening NOW. We need to start seeing ourselves in these promises and blessings. That’s one of the goals of prophesy. To see the change He is bringing. To see it, picture it, get excited about it, and start praising Him in prayer asking for it. “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Don’t get out of the Word, get INTO it. Read the verses. Then stop and picture them. See yourself in them. See them impacting your life and changing your life. See the freedoms the Word proclaims physically arriving. Pray about it. Thank Him for it. Declare it. Live in harmony with the Word and you’ll live it in harmony with Adonai. Live it, picture it, and let it change your thinking (Romans 12:2). The Word needs to be more than words on a page. It MUST be living. It HAS to come alive in your imagination until your life and His Word are so mixed and joined and wrapped around each other, the Word will BIRTH in your life what your mind and heart have CONCEIVED. What you see will be more real than what you feel. Your eyes will be on the unseen, but your life will be a witness to the seen. See it to be it. Let it come alive. Start imagining today. Start conceiving that promise. Harvest ALWAYS follows

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Haggai 2:6-9

“Moreover, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said: “In just a little while I will once again shake the sky and the earth, the sea and the dry ground. I will also shake up all the nations, and they will offer their treasures; then I will fill this temple with glory.” So the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said. “The silver and gold will be mine,” decrees the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The future splendor of this temple will be greater than that of former times,” the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared. “And in this place I will give peace,” decrees the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Messiah would visit the second Temple. It was built in approximately 516 BC (some Jewish sources date the completion in 350 BC. Herod the Great rebuilt the Temple in 20-18 BC. The Jews led a revolt and occupied Jerusalem in 66 AD, which culminated in the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. Messiah would HAVE to come between when it was built and when it was destroyed. “So Simeon, directed by the Spirit, came into the temple courts, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according to the law, Simeon took him in his arms and blessed God, saying, “Now, according to your word, Sovereign Lord, permit your servant to depart in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples: a light, for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”” (Luke 2:27-31). If we count backward from his death on Passover, Nisan 14 in the spring of the year 33 AD (John 19:14-16), and take into consideration Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his three-and-a-half-year ministry, we can see He was born in the early fall of 2 BC (Luke 3:23). Jesus lived during the time of the second Temple. Jesus SAW the second Temple. Jesus prophesied the destruction of the second Temple (Luke 21:24). 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