Fear No Fear

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

Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
Romans 6:16-18 (emphasis added)

The verb hamartanó (ham-ar-tan’-o) primarily means ‘to sin’ or ‘to miss the mark’. In ancient Greek culture, the concept of ‘missing the mark’ was often associated with archery, where an archer would fail to hit the target. In the Greco-Roman world, moral and ethical behaviour was also a significant concern, but the New Testament uniquely frames sin as a relational breach with God, necessitating repentance and redemption through Christ. That’s from Strong’s Lexicon. This verb is the concept of slaving ourselves to sin. This is the evil inclination. It isn’t a NATURE because we as believers do not HAVE a sinful nature. Rather it is the old thinking, the unrenewed mind that was developed when we DID have a sinful nature. Even though we have been changed in our spirits INSTANTLY upon acceptance of salvation, we MUST renew our minds if we hope to have victory over broken thinking.

Broken thinking mars our relationship with Adonai. It is impossible to have the fullness of a relationship with Adonai if we have broken thinking. It won’t keep you out of heaven, but it might speed your journey. We have the fullness of victory and enjoy a long life when we have HIS mind as our mind (Psalm 91). This is the process of renewal. Getting from where we started to where He is. It makes NO sense to stay in broken thinking. Why limit your relationship? Why limit how He can use you? Why limit the Blessing available to you? Especially since our persecution comes only from our having Jesus as a Saviour. That’s what the devil hates. That’s what the world hates. So if you’re going to have arrows shot at you anyway, why not have more than just a wall around you (Zechariah 2:5)? Why not enjoy the abundant life Jesus came to give us (John 10:10)? It is all about who we slave our thinking to. Who we obey. We HAVE to obey one of them, so why disobey Adonai? Why go to all the trouble to fight against what He says? Broken thinking is what does it.

We are slaves to righteousness if we could only see it. When we got saved, we became in our spirits the Righteousness of Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:21). In our spirits we are as Jesus is. One hundred percent. Our spirits are no longer going to change ever again. They are completely as they will be throughout all eternity and afterward as well. Just like with Jesus, we won’t walk in the fullness of that change until we get our Heavenly incorrupt bodies. When we take off this flesh suit and put some of that spiritualised matter on. Until then, just like Jesus, we can have as much of the Father’s Blessing as we renew our minds to. In every area of our lives, wherever we have completely surrendered to Jesus is where we have victory. Wherever we are trusting Him and looking to the Father as our source. That’s what it takes to be surrendered. We don’t look at our ideas, we match them with His. We don’t try to make things happen, we look to receive from Him – this does not mean not working because what we receive might be an opportunity to be faithful in labour. Remember, our old way of being (our old nature) died. It’s moulding at the foot of the cross. It’s a corpse salad. It has NOTHING to say. It cannot feel ANYTHING. And it has NO SAY in anything you do. It’s gone, done, and the t-shirt was tossed. We have a new nature, a new spirit, and it is Jesus’ exact own one.

One of the saddest and most pitiful things in human history is slavery. From Africans enslaving Europeans to Europeans enslaving everyone else – especially the African and Indigenous peoples they found – humans have a history of slavery. It is one of the most demonic things we have braced. Humanity was put on Earth to have dominion over it, the plant life, and the animal life (Genesis 1:26-30). We were NEVER given a mandate to rule over one another. Even husbands, wives, and children are given a simple chain of command structure with clear instructions to be more like Jesus in dealing with each other the higher up that chain you go. Any given human was never meant to impose their will on any other human. Sadly and piteously, it did. And when they gain their freedom from the pitiful slave owners, the slaves have frequently taken on new names. They’ve said the reason they did this was to not be reminded of anything that had to do with their old lives. They did not want slavery or a slavery mindset to have ANYTHING to do with who they were now. New name, new and FREE identity. Not ignoring the past, but refusing to live in it or be defined by it. They weren’t former slaves, but upright, proud, and capable PEOPLE – who happen to have once been slaves. It is a clean break and a clear line.

Since WE are no longer slaves to our old nature, why aren’t we embracing the new identity we have in Jesus? It’s more than just a new name (disciple, believer, Christian, etc), but a new nationality. With a new home country (heaven). It even has its own language: harmony with the Will of the Father. Long name for a language, I know. But it is true. Everything about heaven is about being in harmony to the Father’s Will. That’s how Jesus taught us to pray: the Father’s Will done on Earth (Luke 11:2-4; Matthew 6:9-13). That’s how Jesus prayed Himself (John 11:38-44; Luke 22:42-44). This is how we should pray and live. Find out the Will of the Father and change, shift, and manoeuvre until you’re in harmony with it. Period.

Jesus lived that way (John 5:19; 12:49). Jesus asks us to humbly submit and live that way too. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). As long as we are connected to Jesus (John 15:5), then it isn’t difficult. If we aren’t connected to Jesus? It’s IMPOSSIBLE! We can’t DO this alone. We can’t MAKE it. We don’t DESERVE it. This christian life of believing isn’t possible away from Jesus. Through His sacrifice we are connected to the Source of all things. Through Jesus’ sacrifice we have access to the ONLY one who NEVER sinned. Not in thought, word, or deed. We can walk in that. We can live like that when we live in Him. We do that by renewing our thinking (Romans 12:2). If we don’t renew our thinking with the Word and spend time thinking about the Word, imagining ourselves within the stories, imagining how they happened and where, we won’t get anywhere. We need our physical brains to alter their patterns and take up new ones (it happens. Look it up). We need to use the new ways we have of thinking, instead of relying on the old patterns of behaviour and thought. We were I can’t, that won’t, but it’s flu season people. That DIED. Now we’re Jesus did, the Father gives, and healthy, whole people. THAT is the vocabulary we need. The language of Heaven: praise and amen.

Stop using a dead language. Stop thinking dead thoughts. Leave the human behind as a nice theory – good if you have nothing else. Then think of the something else you have. Think in the language of thank you, Father. Think in the language of your will be done. Stop looking at what YOU can do, what YOU can expect, and what YOU understand. You are not yoked to you. You are yoked to Jesus Himself. And the Father has the reins. The cart can go wherever He drives you. The work done is whatever Jesus can do, whatever Jesus can pull. None of this is YOU. Your job is to change your vision. Change your language. Change your imaginings. And then to obey. To just do what He says. He won’t ask you to do something you are unable to. He gives you the tools, talent, and instruction you need. And He checks up on you a lot. It’s easy because He is INSIDE YOU. You carry Him wherever you go.

Be a LIVING sacrifice, always submitting, always listening, always obeying, always putting away old thinking, old patterns, and old words. Embrace the new, the better, and the best that we find in Jesus. Don’t be slaved to the old un-saved you. Be joined, partnered, and covenanted to the you that you are in Jesus. That is the real you. That is the you that cannot get sick. That is the you that the pestilence avoids. That is the you whose work prospers regardless of economic condition or physical location. That is the you that speaks love and encouragement to all – especially the lost. That is the you that looks quite a bit like Jesus did when Jesus was physically walking the Earth. That is the you who always looks for areas in your life that don’t shine like Jesus and starts to submit them to Him as soon as they’re found. That is the you that trusts in Him every time, all the time. That is the you that brings a smile to His face. Not there yet? Start right now. Will it take some time and study of the Word and prayer and renewal? It’ll take less time if you start right now. Don’t wait. Don’t delay. Get thinking on Him today. It is when we are in Harmony with Him that our lives change. Best news? He’s a forward thinking God, so we never, ever, EVER need to go back. Amen.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Joel 2:28-32

“After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy.Your elderly will have prophetic dreams; your young men will see visions. Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth—blood, fire, and columns of smoke. The sunlight will be turned to darkness and the moon to the color of blood, before the day of the Lord comes—that great and terrible day! It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered. For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive, just as the Lord has promised; the remnant will be those whom the Lord will call.” Messiah would bring the Promise of the Spirit. Only He was given authority to come from heaven to promise it and ensure that the promise was fulfilled by returning to heaven. “I have spoken these things while staying with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will cause you to remember everything I said to you” (John 14:25-26). “‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. And I will perform wonders in the sky above and miraculous signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The sun will be changed to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” (Acts 2:17-21). “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Jesus promised Ruach HaKodesh. Jesus returned to heaven (Acts 1:6-9). The Father sent Ruach HaKodesh in His place. Jesus claimed it, proclaimed it, and fulfilled it. 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