Fear No Fear

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

With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and petitions for all the saints.
Ephesians 6:18 (emphasis added)

Roman spears (or javelins) were called ‘Pilum’. They were designed to bend after entering an enemy shield. This created a heavy and awkward hindrance which could not be removed from the shield. They had heavy ones and light ones. Also, while anyone could have spears and javelins, only the Romans had the pilum which bent ON PURPOSE. The pilum was thrown from a distance of 15-30 metres. The pilum went through the shields where they got stuck. The shields were now useless and had to be dropped in order to fight effectively – which was devastating to enemies with no body armour. They were vital weapons which reduced the effectiveness of the enemy where they didn’t wound. In the armour of Elohim, PRAYERS are our pilum. If we’re not using them, we are limiting our effectiveness and giving advantage to those standing against us.

We are partners with Jesus. He gives for our use, His armour. Now when David was about to go into battle, King Saul tried to give David his personal armour. It didn’t go well. “Then Saul clothed David with his own fighting attire and put a bronze helmet on his head. He also put body armor on him. David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire and tried to walk around, but he was not used to them. David said to Saul, “I can’t walk in these things, for I’m not used to them.” So David removed them” (1 Samuel 17:38-39). The problem wasn’t the armour. The problem was that David wasn’t USED to them. Had David been trained in their use, they would have been beneficial. Of course in that situation David didn’t NEED them because he relied on Adonai. But after the fight, David got some armour and kept it. “When David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan and David became bound together in close friendship. Jonathan loved David as much as he did his own life. Saul retained David on that day and did not allow him to return to his father’s house. Jonathan made a covenant with David, for he loved him as much as he did his own life. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with the rest of his gear including his sword, his bow, and even his belt” (1 Samuel 18:1-4). Going forward, David had armour and got used to it and used it in the battles that he fought throughout his life.

As believers, we’ve been given Jesus’ armour. The armour fits us, is of high quality, and will serve us well throughout the battles in which we will be participants. Matthew Henry in his commentary on Ephesians 6:11 says ‘Those who want to have true grace must aim at all grace, putting on the whole armour. We have no armour of our own that will be strong enough to protect us in times of trial and testing. Nothing will stand us in good stead except the armor of God. This armor is prepared for us, but we must put it on.’ The devil and the world will seek to test us in order for us to fail. Adonai allows testing because He is happy to see us prove ourselves successful (as in passing with His colours). He ONLY allows testing when He knows we WILL NOT FALL (1 Corinthians 10:13). A key part of that armour is our pilum. Our prayers. The only thing in existence that Adonai is eager to see pass and that He works to bring about is His Word. “Then the Lord said, “You have observed correctly. This means I am watching to make sure my threats are carried out” (Jeremiah 1:12). “In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend” (Isaiah 55:11). When we pray the WORD, we are taking what Adonai Elohim spoke, decreed, and promised; and we LAUNCH it in salvos toward the target Ruach HaKodesh gives us. They will RIP into the enemy’s shields and make them USELESS so that the Word will come to pass. We don’t even need to LOOK at where we are aiming. We simply send forth His Word saying with the authority Jesus gave to us IT IS WRITTEN! What more could we need? We’ll finish standing on the battlefield in FULL regalia watching an unarmored foe charging toward our drawn sword: the Word. That’s why we’re told to STAND because they will impale themselves on the Word, get wounded, perish at our feet, and all without US using OUR strength to accomplish HIS purpose. Amen.

Have you ever seen one of those movies where the good guys are charging across a field with their horses, lances lowered, aiming toward a formation of enemy soldiers? You see the fear and worry on those enemy faces. They’re looking around. They’re not confident. Not in themselves and not in their weapons. The result is they are decimated by the charge. We’re commanded not to be like that. We’re told to stand and when all else is done to stand some more (Ephesians 6:13; Psalm 18). Not when all else FAILS, but when all else is DONE. We overcome because Jesus ALREADY overcame the world. We ALREADY have the victory. We launch our prayers (heavy and light) to eliminate the shields that the enemy places in front of people, institutions, governments, websites, entertainments, and opinions. Once the shield of deceit – their only defence – is gone, they are laid bare and naked before the WORD OF ELOHIM! We don’t need to DO anything! The WORD does it. It works that way for JESUS, and it WILL work that way for US. “I tell you the solemn truth, the person who believes in me will perform the miraculous deeds that I am doing, and will perform greater deeds than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:12-14). “The others were killed by the sword that extended from the mouth of the one who rode the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh” (Revelation 19:21). The rider is Jesus, returning as the Triumphant King (Revelation 19:11-16). We are PARTNERS with Him. His WORD killed His enemies. A spiritual word spoken physically killed physically those who were dead spiritually. It is how Jesus ALWAYS took victory. The devil came against Jesus and Jesus said IT IS WRITTEN. Jesus was the Word made flesh (John 1:1-5, 14). He could have said ANYTHING. But He chose to speak the Word because the Word was ALREADY perfect. The Word was ALREADY suitable to defeat. And He defeated the devil, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes, the teachers of the Law, and everyone who came to stand against Him with the WORD. The phrase ‘it is written’ or ‘it says’ is used more than any other kind of defence or attack by Jesus in His time on Earth. We are to be like HIM (Ephesians 5:1-2; 1 John 2:6). In word, in deed, in thought, and in METHODOLOGY.

Why are ANY of us still sick? We’re not using the Word. We aren’t killing sickness. We’re telling it what Adonai Elohim said about it and us. When we see the law being broken and the police are called, they’re not there to do anything but enforce what has been made law. They can tell you what part of the law you violated. They inform you of your rights, take you into custody (where applicable), and you are subject to the law. The WORD is law. We are officers of the law empowered to enforce it in any area that touches our lives (Matthew 28:18-20). How much victory we walk in depends on how much of Jesus’ victory we are aware of. “I pray that according to the wealth of his glory he will grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ will dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, you will be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you will be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19). When we understand HOW Jesus has ALREADY defeated everything, we can SPEAK the Word over it, and it must be subject to Jesus’ WORD on it. When we SEE ourselves walking in that WORD, nothing can stop it from coming to pass. “because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). We’re standing in agreement with the Word on what the ETERNAL reality is. “So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

When we agree with the Word, when we see it in our spirit operating in our life, we stand on that revelation, seeing HIS reality into our imagination, and standing there until the harvest comes and it physically arrives. The word mixed with our trust in Jesus makes it occur in our lives (Hebrews 4:2), because we’re allowing Adonai to do what He said He wanted to do. We’re taking from Him what He said He wants us to take. Prayer is what we use to be in constant communication with Him as we go through the Word and renew ourselves body, soul, and spirit to HIS point of view. Prayer is the action or motion of taking our WEAPON (the Word) and flinging it out to destroy the deceptions the enemy uses to keep us and others bound. We speak the Word to EVERYONE. Elohim, the enemy, the world, our families, our neighbours, and everyone we meet. It is communication and weaponry for us. We use the first to ensure the effectiveness of the second. We can use it near and far. We can use it heavily or lightly. It is the STANDARD of existence. The standard that Adonai holds everyone to. The standard that is the mould everything must conform to.

Are you well, healthy, whole, and healed? If not, get yourself into the mould of the Word. Pray it. Speak it. Throw it at the shields of the enemy. Using the parts of it Ruach HaKodesh shows it, directed toward where He guides, and trusting in Jesus that His Word WORKS. The sickness will flee. The enemy will be defeated. You will overcome because Jesus overcame and His Word WORKS! It is beyond natural circumstances, natural problems, and all the deceptions of the enemy. Jesus is the answer and Jesus and the Word are one and the same. Wield it. Speak it. We MUST release His Word. When you do, watch your life transform to match the mould that the Father sees when the Father looks at you. A perfect, whole, and victorious you in Jesus: His beloved child.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Zechariah 11:4-6 & 11:10-11

“The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock set aside for slaughter. Those who buy them slaughter them and are not held guilty; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich.’ Their own shepherds have no compassion for them. Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land,” says the Lord, “but instead I will turn every last person over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them.”. . . Then I took my staff “Pleasantness” and cut it in two to annul my covenant that I had made with all the people. 11 So it was annulled that very day, and then the most afflicted of the flock who kept faith with me knew that it was the Lord’s message.” Rejection of the Messiah causes Elohim to remove His protection. Messiah came to save the lost (Luke 19:10). But not everyone lost WANTS to be found – especially when they need to submit. By rejecting Messiah, people would remove the protections that belief and submission to Messiah would bring. “Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. They will demolish you—you and your children within your walls—and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”” (Luke 19:41-44). The city of Jerusalem was sacked and the temple destroyed in 70 A.D. They did not as a people/country accept the Messiah. They removed themselves from the protection of belief and trust in Messiah Jesus. They were destroyed. Jesus spoke the truth. 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