Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety and unrighteousness of people, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is evident among them, for God made it clear to them.“

Romans 1:18-19

Have you ever used the light from your phone to hunt in all the nooks and crannies of your furniture so that you could find your phone? Or moved the mustard in the fridge to see into the back so that you could find the mustard? Or stood next to your vehicles in a parking lot while you searched for your vehicle? The objects around us are revealed to us because light enables us to see objects. But there is a very big difference between SEEING something and PERCEIVING it. We can DETECT that something is there, but we are not always perceiving what we are detecting. We mistake A for B. We see the trees, but we’re looking for the forest. How many of us have walked along as a child in a crowded space, carefully staying beside our parent/guardian only to find we were clinging to the wrong pair of pants? the process of seeing something is unconscious. It isn’t controlled. Our brains take in information and send it up to our conscious mind. It is only when it arrives in our conscious minds that we can start working on perception. We need the lens of our conscious mind to perceive individual and actual things, instead of just objects that exist.

Ruach HaKodesh and Jesus also perform this task of being lenses. Ruach HaKodesh enables us to see Jesus, because He is Jesus’ own Ruach (Spirit) – Philippians 1:19. Jesus enables us to see the Father, because He is the Father’s own image (Son) – John 10:30. The existence of Adonai is all around us. All of creation speaks to the goodness of Adonai AND to the truth that He exists (Psalm 19:1-7). Everyone who has ever lived has an innate knowledge inside themselves that there is a True God. That innate knowledge agrees with the evidence of creation to tell our innermost selves that there IS a True God. But that is all just detection. Our spirits detecting that there is a True God. The devil has been working hard throughout human history to help point our broken thinking to anything and anyone OTHER than Yahweh as that deity. And sadly, so many of us have let ourselves be deceived. So many of us have chosen to stop worshipping the True God and instead worship some aspect of His creation.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety and unrighteousness of people, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is evident among them, for God made it clear to them. For from the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, both his eternal power and deity, are discerned clearly, being understood in the things created, so that they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasoning, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God with the likeness of an image of mortal human beings and birds and quadrupeds and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to immorality, that their bodies would be dishonored among themselves,who exchanged the truth of God with a lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed for eternity. Amen” (Romans 1:18-25).

Two thousand plus years of human technology, human history, human thinking, and human ingenuity have occurred since Holy Spirit first wrote those words through Paul. There really is no excuse for anyone on this planet not to have heard the gospel message. We ALL should have heard it. We ALL should have seen the truth of it and either accepted it or rejected it. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. Almost everyone has heard the name of Jesus. Almost everyone knows about Christians. But they are only seeing them as objects. As things that exist. They are not SEEING them. Even we in the Church, the Body of Jesus, Jew and Gentile together; even WE have problems with this. Are we TRULY seeing Adonai and His character? If so, why do we struggle with concepts that are rooted in the ENTIRETY of scripture? Like the TRUTH that Adonai wants EVERY believer whole and healed? How about the TRUTH that Adonai uses any circumstance we are in to teach us, but He DOES NOT EVER send negative circumstances to us? How about the simple TRUTH that He does not owe us an explanation for anything, no matter how often He has explained things? We see a move of Adonai and accept it as Him. Or we see a move of Adonai and reject it as not possibly from Him. We test everything – but against our opinions and doctrines and not the WORD. We are seeing objects, but we are not PERCEIVING them.

We NEED the ministry of Ruach HaKodesh to perceive things. We need to use the tools that He has given us and then we ALSO need to TALK TO HIM. Prayer can be a request we ask of Adonai. It can be an unloading of our thoughts, feelings, and situations. But prayer is a CONVERSATION and not a SPEECH. There is a LISTENING factor to it. What good does it do to ask for wisdom if we won’t listen? What good does it do to ask for a solution if we’re tuning it out? Adonai absolutely supernaturally moves on our behalf, but He also asks for cooperation. For us to be in the right place, with the right mindset, and relying on Him. We can’t get there if we won’t submit to His instruction. We won’t HAVE the instruction if we won’t listen. And by perceiving His character through revelation knowledge from the Word as we study, with teaching and correction from Ruach HaKodesh as we do, we will perceive Him AND be able to discern whether what we are hearing is from Him or our own ideas/desires.

Ruach HaKodesh is the lens that we have available to us to help us perceive Jesus. He is ALWAYS pointing to Jesus and Jesus’ ministry in us. Like every good student, we need to pay attention to what we see through Him, take notes, compare them to the Word, and begin to gain a knowledge of the depth, length, and breadth of Jesus’ love for us. We need to PERCEIVE Him in order to truly SEE Him which lets us SEE and PERCEIVE the Father. Light does us no good if we don’t let it do what it is designed to do. Jesus’ Light is designed to show us the Father. Ruach HaKodesh’s Light is designed to show us Jesus. That is His pleasure: that we should know Him.

Daily Affirmation of the Goodness of Elohim: Philippians 2:13

“For the one at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure, is God.”  Adonai’s purposes cannot be denied. His will WILL come to pass. The question is when. Will you let Him do His work in you now, or are you going to kick at the goads and refuse to do it here on Earth? You’ll be changed by learning here or changed by learning in Heaven. Either way we will be learning. But why wait? Why not start TODAY? Eternal life is knowing Adonai. Perceiving Him and fellowshipping with Him and not with a vague concept of who He is. Why waste ANY time? He has given us His Ruach HaKodesh. He has given us the Word. He has given us the privilege to speak to Him and the ability to hear from Him. He has removed the barrier of Sin between us. He has done EVERYTHING to open the Gates of Heaven, prop them open, and usher us directly into His presence. He has and is doing everything He can to get us to know Him and know Him intimately. We don’t HAVE to wait. We can start right now today because of His love for us. Isn’t that great? What a GOOD God!

Your Daily Confession of Elohim’s Goodness:

I taste and see that Yahweh is good; I am blessed because I take refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:8