Year of No Fear “He Will Judge — Not Us”

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

He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4 (emphasis added)

Timely. Always a timely verse. More so as time moves on. Because when isn’t there a war going on? There are — at ANY time — minor conflicts or ongoing wars in about three dozen countries. The Middle East, North West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa. When things are slow and boring any given year will include up to forty conflicts and one hundred combat deaths. That doesn’t mention the deaths of innocents, the economic and social upheaval. The interruption of food and supply lines. So much conflict and suffering and death. The horrors of war affect us all in small or large ways depending on how close we are to the actual conflict.


War wasn’t the plan. DEATH wasn’t the plan. “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25–26). Death is part of the curse. It is a horrible thing that tears at one’s soul. Even when done in the service of the Lord as when Joshua led the Israelites to cleanse the land of the cancer of sin revelled in by the Canaanites. As when David defended God’s people in conflict after conflict. Coming against those who were actively against the Lord at the direction of the LORD, they did right. But it HAD an effect. “But Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ‘You have shed blood abundantly and have made great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight” (1 Chronicles 22:8). David was unable to build the House of the Lord because of the violence he did. A man of PEACE built the Temple (1 Chronicles 22:9–13).


The Lord LOVES peace. We can see it in this verse where it talks of judgement and in the next breath speaks of swords being converted into ploughshares. Spears into pruning hooks. Tools of aggression turned to tools of caretaking. Is that not what we were placed here for? “Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Genesis 2:8). We were placed in the garden in the east of Eden to tend it. To grow it. To spread it over all the earth. “God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth”” (Genesis 1:28). Working to His Glory in worshipful service. Yes, worship.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). “Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). If we do everything we set out to do as a service to the Lord, being guided by the Lord in what we choose to set our sights on, when we can worship Him in what we do. It can be praise to the Lord to do the laundry — it is a service of love to your family. It can be praise to the Lord to do your job in the marketplace — it is a service of love to the economy of your country, community, and to your family and friends. We are to be completely and totally honest in our dealings. Not bending in ANY way to dishonesty. EVERYTHING we do should be informed and infused by our faith, which is obedience to the Lord, which is motivated by our love for Him. “And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will receive again for the wrong that he has done, and there is no partiality” (Colossians 3:23–25).


We’re to walk in love. We’re told not to judge others in any way (Matthew 7:1–5). We’re told to have our eyes open in love and faith, dealing out to others the measure that we wish to receive ourselves (Luke 6:37–42). Not to strike out against someone else for their faults because don’t we too have or have had faults of our own (John 8:1–8). It is no credit to us to love those who like us and treat us well. We’re tasked with taking that same response of love and kindness and showing it to our enemies (Luke 6:31–36). We’re not even to slander one another — by lie or gossip (James 4:11–12). “Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:1–3).


Conflict is fear-based. Strife is fear-based. Death is of the curse. Killing is a sin. Murder is a sin. Faith is love-based. Peace is love-based. This is hard for the human mind to comprehend. We want to split hairs and make this killing justified. Making that conflict holy. Horrible, horrible atrocities have been inflicted on this earth in the service to what MANKIND believes is right and justified. I think the problem is that we look at everything from OUR point of view. We don’t let ourselves be LED by the Lord. We don’t let HIM judge. Yet that is HIS place. He IS judge (Psalm 75:7). The heavens themselves proclaim His judgeship (Psalm 50:6). “For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us” (Isaiah 33:22). Jesus came to pay the price of sin so that we CAN be saved. And as new creations in Him? “From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8). It isn’t far away judgment. It is as close as any and everyone we come into contact with. “Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door” (James 5:9).


The Lord will judge. We will love. We will love those who hate us. Bless those who curse us. We will not fight against PEOPLE. We bless the PEOPLE. We pray for the PEOPLE. No matter how horrible they are, they are no worse than we were. We are ALL in the same boat: “But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Like us, they too can be justified by Jesus’ blood. They too can be saved from God’s wrath against sin by Jesus. “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10). They are lost, blinded, and in ignorance (1 Timothy 1:13). What good would it do us to strike out against them? THEY are not responsible for their actions. It is the powers and principalities behind them that are the problem. THAT is our enemy. THAT is who we pray against. But only as led by the Holy Spirit. ONLY at the direction of the Father.


Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:10–12). We guard against the devil. We stand against the schemes of the Kingdom of Darkness. We are NOT against the PEOPLE but what is BEHIND the people. We stand on the Word, we act in accordance to the Word, and we inhabit the Word through praise and prayer. Jesus is the WORD and the WORD is God (John 1:1 & 14). We never seek to attack fellow men and women. But we have the authority in Jesus, by Jesus, and through Jesus to bind up the enemy. Think of it like restraining orders or limited injunctions over a specific situation. Defeated by the WORD, at the direction of HOLY SPIRIT, through the authority, blood, and anointing of JESUS, the devil WILL flee from us (James 4:7). But we will get attacked again in other ways. We are OVERCOMERS, but they will never stop trying to take us down. That is why we get to walk in the Lord’s Peace. That is why we abide in Jesus (John 15). As we do the work and the commands of Jesus, as we walk in Him, and as we do what He commands, we will be fought against. When we are being LIGHT, the darkness hates us (Matthew 5:11–12; 10:22).


What should we do? Stand on the Word. Don’t pray AGAINST a person or nation. Pray that the ministers of the harvest will inhabit it (Matthew 9:38). That the Lord will send His angels to minister to the people (Hebrews 1:14). That those who are marching in darkness will realise the depth of their deeds, repent, and turn to the Lord (Acts 8:22–23). We pray that the powers of darkness are inhibited. We thank the Lord for His hand on a given situation. We pray for the saving of His people — wherever they are found. We pray that He sends angels to anoint the borders of our places of residence (house, property, city, region, country, etc) that violence, desolation, and destruction do not find a place there but that the anointing becomes a wall of Salvation and Praise (Isaiah 60:18). That the assignments of the enemy cannot pass there, that angels will be sent to contend with them (Daniel 10:10–14). That the Lord anoints our territories and the borders of those territories with His water — which purifies us (2 Kings 5:14, Ezekiel 16:9, John 13:2–17).


It is not our job to defeat the devil. Jesus ALREADY defeated the devil. It is not our job to attack ANYONE. It is our job to stand on the WORD. To declare what GOD SAYS. To do what the Father shows us to do and say what the Father tells us to. To USE the authority of Jesus that we have been given. It was not given to Peter alone (Matthew 16:19) but to ALL believers (Matthew 18:18–20). “Every Scripture is God-breathed and† profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). When we are equipped for every good work, we need to DO the good work Holy Spirit directs us too. Then we can do what WE are appointed to do and let God do the judging HE does. To leave behind fear and the culture of fear, and walk in the authority of our faith IN Jesus who does the work THROUGH us (Ephesians 2:10). When we choose to reject fear and humble ourselves before the judge of all, we are established in His peace and He performs for us all our works (Isaiah 26:12). That is walking in righteousness. That is walking in His ways. THAT is seeking His face. THAT is peace.


Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: 1 Thessalonians 2:13

What are you willing to put up with? Where is your line? You have the authority of God Almighty to take care of you. That is both free-will and dominion in and of yourself. Both of which we have been given by the Lord God (Genesis 1:26–27, John 7:17). We have to determine just how much of the Kingdom of Darkness, just how much of the fleshy things, just how much of the curse that we are willing to put up with. We can DECIDE to exercise our authority. We can DECIDE to refuse to be sick. We can DECIDE to stop putting up with disease. We can DECIDE that we are whole. Why? Because the Word of healing went out from the foundation of the world and manifested through the stripes, bruises, and wounds Jesus took in His body at Calvary (Isaiah 53:5, Matthew 8:16–17, 1 Peter 2:24). When we speak in the authority we have in Jesus (Luke 10:19, Matthew 18:18–20) and BELIEVE WHAT WE SAY, then it is done. The fig tree died IMMEDIATELY (Matthew 21:18–22). But it didn’t MANIFEST immediately (Mark 11:20–21) — though it could have. Jesus didn’t waiver. Don’t YOU waiver. Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). If you speak according to the WORD in the authority of JESUS which we have because we are God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21) and do not waiver but believe that what you ask is HAPPENING NOW (Mark 11:24) YOU WILL HAVE IT. You may know it, but until you DO IT it won’t happen. When your heart decides you are DONE WITH IT, then you will be when you speak and believe. God loves us SO MUCH that He enables us through His son to be the hammer that breaks the rock of sickness, death, and all the curse by the Word through Jesus who lives in us. Decide and then smash what He says you can. It isn’t meant to be a boulder blocking your path, but the crushed gravel under your feet (Romans 16:20).

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.

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