Fear No Fear

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

Truth’s lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary. Deceit is in the heart of those who plot evil, but joy comes to the promoters of peace.
Proverbs 12:19–20 (emphasis added)

But for a moment. What a great phrase and idea. A blip in eternity. Barely causing a ripple. Yes, it can seem like more than that to us, but it really is not. It is forever and ever and with no day or night (Revelation 14:11), yet we hold the concept in our heart and have a really, REALLY hard time killing it off (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This is where all the weird religions and cults have come from. They don’t want to subscribe to the morals of the Righteous One, so they try and cover up their rebellion and guilt with spiritualistic gobbly-gook. When that fails, they either try and deaden themselves to what their hearts know is true (that there IS an eternity and it DOES matter what you’re going to do about it) or they place all their faith and belief in science, which can only tell us stuff about what we see and nothing about where it came from or why (no matter how small they get or how far back they go there is always another ‘but before that what was?’ question). Eternity without God is pretty bleak and more than a little scary.

We can take heart though. We KNOW that the triumph of the wicked — whether through behaviour or achievements — is but a moment. In fact, by declaration of Yahweh Himself our legal right of inheritance is condemning every tongue that rises against us in the Courts of Heaven where Christ Jesus our Mediator works constantly to defend our righteousness which is our heritage from the Lord God (Isaiah 54:17). Once you remove the power of a lie, there isn’t much the enemy can do against us. Whether they want to admit it or not, the world’s justice systems are based on the Ten Commandments. On what the Lord says is righteous behaviour. Granted, the enemy and humanity have worked hard to pervert it, but they are still susceptible to the TRUTH. When the Lord is involved, it’s no contest. There is NOTHING that can pervert His purpose. Truth’s lips will be established forever. There is nothing that can change that.

Truth is one of the most powerful weapons we have in this world. The world is a dark place and the truth is a beacon that is not to be sneezed at. This world wants to establish a rule of truth being fluid. But truth isn’t a ‘fact’ dependent on our knowledge and belief. Truth is a solid rock to stand on. The Lord’s truth is how we are to run our lives. “My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth and persuade our hearts before him, because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (1 John 3:18–20). Truth is the underpinning of love. Jesus IS the Truth (John 14:6). Jesus is God (John 1:1–2, 14). God is love (1 John 4:8). They are all interdependent on each other because they are all part of each other. Jesus cannot be separated from the Truth any more than He can be separated from God. God cannot be separated from Jesus or the Truth anymore than He can be separated from Love. Truth is a solid foundation because Jesus is a solid foundation (Ephesians 2:19–22).

You cannot build your life on things that are not truth. Not with any stability anyway. “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell — and its fall was great” (Matthew 7:24–27). Jesus is the only foundation that has any worth. Everything else is fleeting. But a moment. Time is always running out. “Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them, for the deeds of their hands will be paid back to them” (Isaiah 3:11). “On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup” (Psalm 11:6). “Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). There are warnings throughout the Word. The Lord is being serious.

The Lord is also serious about the faithful. The obedient. The not to the lefters. The not to the righters. His beloved children. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas; though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling” (Psalm 46:1–3). “Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10). The Lord is our Father and as such, I can hear the Fatherism in His voice sometimes. I can see Him standing there beside me demanding of me: DON’T YOU BE AFRAID! Don’t you DARE. I am RIGHT HERE! Ever heard or said something like that to a child refusing to be comforted when it is very clear that you are there and can help them in the issue facing them. Like the terrible incident of the butterfly who dared to land on the shoulder. The Day Of A Fly Is In The House! That is the tone and attitude I hear here.

The Lord continues with a promise about those wicked people who are after you: “Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish. You will seek them, and won’t find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing. For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I will help you’” (Isaiah 41:11–13). In that section I hear the calmer, loving parent. The one soothing brows. The one promising to stay up half the night while the child struggles to fall asleep to keep the night terrors at bay. The parent who will NOT leave until we are settled and asleep and at peace.

As much as we need to know that our struggles and pain are but a moment compared to the tide of eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17, Psalm 30:5); we need to know that the wicked also have a ‘moment’ going on. Their moment sometimes appears to be going better, but their ending is going to be unpleasant. “The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:30–31). “For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). “Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment“ (Hebrews 9:27). “I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11–14).

The children of deceit are in trouble. The children of truth are not. Why? Because the Word tells us it is by OUR words that we will be condemned (John 12:48). Jesus HIMSELF told us this: “I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36–37). Every word is a seed. Deceitful words live in the hearts of those who plot evil. Who are wicked. Who are disobedient to God. Who are sowing and trapped by a lifestyle of fear. You are sowing deceit. Because life ISN’T bad. Life is a precious gift. Bad things happen, but life itself is the breath of God made manifest in us. If we seed nothing but trouble, we will harvest nothing but trouble. The hearts of the wicked are a windblown wasteland where nothing good grows. There are no nurturing waters there. There are no cool palms. There is no gentle grass. There is lie upon lie upon lie, training the flesh that nothing said means anything and there is no rescue coming.

The children of faith are full of peace. They sow it. They spread it. Peace is the message of the Gospel (Luke 2:14). And blessed are those that share that message (Ephesians 6:15). “For “He who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil”” (1 Peter 3:10–12). We are to promote peace in our lands (Leviticus 26:6). We’re to lie down in peace (Psalm 4:8). We’re to seek peace. To pursue it (Psalm 34:12–14). We’re blessed with peace (Psalm 29:11). We’re to keep ourselves with peace (Isaiah 26:3–4). Using the Word to get it into our hearts. To get close with the Lord. It is part of who we are. WHO WE ARE. Stay in Jesus. Know who you are in Him (2 Corinthians 5:20–21). We’re not to keep it secret, but to spread peace and avoid strife. To speak truth and to speak with INTENT. Not by accident. Not oopsie-ing. Not gossiping. Building up and never tearing down. Not everything needs to be shared. Some things need to be prayed instead. Spread peace and live in it.

Joy comes to those who live in peace because the Lord IS Joy. The Lord CREATES Peace. The Lord LOVES peace. When we seek Him, we find Peace. We find it, wrap ourselves in it, and rest in it until it becomes part of who we are. Part of the DNA of our new bodies. Because it is part of the DNA of God and His breath lives, breathes, and moves in us. Reject fear. Embrace faith. Live peace.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: Romans 8:6

We have a choice. It is as simple as that. We can believe that Jesus was raised from the dead by God. We have no direct evidence of it. We know it in our heart and believe it. “For with the heart ones believes resulting in righteousness” (Romans 10:10a). It’s a FAITH thing not a MIND thing. We can leave it alone and ignore it. We can stay as is. OR we can believe it. We can grasp it and believe it by FAITH and be saved. We have two minds that we can live with. The mind of the world or the mind of the kingdom. If you will take the mind of the Spirit, you have a whole new thing open to you. You have the MIND OF CHRIST (1 Corinthians 2:16). We decide things based on our experience (Jesus’ experience is now ours to draw on), what we have learned (Jesus’ lessons and knowledge is now ours to draw on), what we get told (Jesus’ conversations are now ours to draw on), and what we believe (Jesus’ beliefs are now ours to draw on). The Word says that if we lack wisdom, we can ask for it (James 1:5–8). Why would we want to bumble about with our old minds, our human knowledge, our own personal experiences, or anything else when we can tap into our NEW NATURE which is Jesus’ very own? Yeah, we won’t know what to do with it without wisdom, but the Lord said we could have that! We ask in faith, He gifts it to us, and the Holy Spirit translates as we can handle — as we get Worded up. If THAT is not love, I don’t know what is. Total, selfless, GRACE. Out of that place, mixed with OUR faith, hand in hand with the Lord God Himself, NOTHING is impossible. NOTHING is out of reach. NOTHING is held away from us. We can do whatever He says, whenever He says, and it will be so bright it will be seen from across this world of darkness. Amen.

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.