Fear No Fear

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

For I delight in faithfulness, not simply in sacrifice; I delight in acknowledging God, not simply in whole burnt offerings.

Hosea 6:6 (emphasis added)

Sometimes in the joy and thankfulness of our salvation we forget what salvation is. We lose sight of why Jesus came. There are various reasons, for sure, but the primary reason Jesus came and died for us was not to save us from sin. Sin was not the motivating factor. Sin was an impediment to us. It was the wall we couldn’t break down or climb over. Sin was what stopped us from having a relationship with Yahweh. Jesus had to remove that impediment because Jesus came to restore relationship between Elohim and humanity. “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Well known verse. But what IS eternal life? “Now this is eternal life—that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent” (John 17:3). Jesus came so that we could really know Adonai.

Everything we have in our lives is dependent on our relationship with Adonai. It doesn’t matter how much is AVAILABLE to us, we won’t see it or really know about it unless we have a relationship with Him. By knowing Him, we know His character. By knowing His character, we understand His love. The amount of His love we understand is equal to the amount of receiving from Him we can engage. How can we receive forgiveness of our sin if we don’t believe He loves us enough to have died for us? How can His power move through us if we don’t know that it does or to what limit it does? That’s why Paul prayed for his fellow believers that they would receive revelation of the love of Jesus. “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. Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:16-21). It makes ALL the difference. The power we have knowledge of as we get understanding about how much Jesus loves us is the power that operates beyond all we could ask or imagine. It doesn’t operate if we don’t submit to His will. We won’t submit to something we don’t know about. But if we know Him and understand His love for us, there is nothing that can’t be done (Matthew 19:26).

“If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things,” says the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:24). There are only two ways we effectively witness the Gospel. First and foremost by the changes in ourselves and our lives. It creates a desire in others to have what we have. To be able to experience what we experience. To have the light that shines in and from us, instead of the cold darkness the world inhabits. The second way is by our WORDS. Are we complaining about it being flu season and we just know it’s going to happen to us? Are we complaining about our back pain, how now that we’re forty things are going downhill, or that condition that we’re suffering with? Are we being expansive about all our problems at work, with the government, or with that other political party we can’t stand? Are we combative in our dialogues about our bosses and coworkers? Are we gossiping about our neighbours, friends, or exposing the hidden lives of our partners? In other words, if we sound just like the world, then the world will see no difference between us. This is a total supposition, but I think that Jesus didn’t like that Israel was under Roman rule. I don’t think He approved of the abuses of power, the taxation, or anything at all that subjugated or took the resources of His people away from His people. But you know what? There is not one recorded sentence where Jesus complained. He didn’t spout off about it. He didn’t conjecture about what could be if they changed leadership. He didn’t support, decry, or otherwise comment politically on the various rebellions that took place within His lifetime. It isn’t that He wouldn’t have had thoughts on these things, but it wasn’t His mission. It didn’t bring glory to the Father. So Jesus didn’t speak it. He only spoke of things that directly touched on His mission and purpose. The main focus of which was making available to humanity – through the removal of sin – a way back into a relationship with the Father. That was what He spoke about. That was what He bragged about. The result? “…They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who suffered from unclean spirits were cured” (Luke 6:17b-18, emphasis mine). His WORDS told of His love for and reliance on His Father. Because of that, Jesus was a POWERFUL witness – one of the reasons the religious elite hated Him so much. Our words need to reflect our relationship with Adonai. They need to show the incredible blessings and complete difference that a relationship with Adonai brings to your life. They need to be a testament to our trust in Jesus. They need to be a valid, positive, and very honest boasting of everything He does for us. We can’t manage that if we’re not in a relationship with Him. “I will boast in the Lord; let the oppressed hear and rejoice” (Psalm 34:2).

Eternal life is knowing Adonai Elohim. Knowing Him in an intimate way. Like a husband knows a wife. All the ins and outs. All the nooks and crannies of her mind. All the personality quirks AND what’s behind them. That’s the level of intimacy Jesus desires. That’s what the Father is looking for. People who will submit and obey, humbly and from the heart. People who will enter His courts, walk up to the throne, climb into His lap, and snuggle in. People who want to be INTIMATE with Him. While it is true that it will take a Heavenly mind in a Heavenly body and most, if not all of eternity to truly understand Him, it can start NOW. The process doesn’t have to wait until later. We don’t have to struggle along, twiddling our thumbs, and waiting for the death of our meat sack before we start to enjoy the benefits of intimacy with Him. We can start right now. We can start thinking the right way, speaking the right way, acting the right way, and being the right way. It isn’t chafing or restricting to come into harmony with what He thinks. At first we can miss the old things, but after a while of fellowshipping with Adonai, you’ll start to wonder why you did those things. You’ll start to wonder what it was that you found so great about it. In light of a relationship with Adonai, nothing else really holds our attention. The MORE of Jesus dominates and overshadows the LESS THAN of the world.

The cry of the prophet, the cry of the Psalmist, the cry of John the Baptist, and the cry of Jesus all echo with the same words. The Father is not only REAL, but He is the Glorious Most High Elohim. In Him is no sickness, no disease, no lack, no cruelty, no negativity, no anything that doesn’t create, inspire, support, encourage, and birth ABUNDANT life (John 10:10). Adonai Elohim ONLY sends good things. To believers, to non-believers, all good things are from Him (James 1:17). They don’t come to an end, but continue on and on because His good things are based on Him, not on temporary terms or times that will fade. He is more eternal than eternity (Isaiah 9:6), and His Blessings never fade. He seeks to bring blessing, health, and wholeness into our lives through a renewal in Jesus. A complete change from the lives and conditions that we USED to exist in, to the totally free, whole, healed, and victorious life in Jesus that was designed for all humanity from the very beginning. We chased after what we could see, not His complete package (Genesis 3). We need to turn back and go the other way, putting His ways and His mindset above ours.

In this day and age, everyone should understand how to have a relationship with someone we can’t really see. Today we can have a meaningful relationship and dialogue with people on the other side of the planet while never seeing their faces or hearing their voices. Isn’t Adonai more real than humans which only technology can reveal to us? Aren’t His things infinitely better and more life changing? Yes, we cannot see Him face to face (Exodus 33:20). But we CAN intimately KNOW Him (John 14:6-7). Lean into Him and seek Him. Through conversation (prayer), worship, reading the Word, and the witness you bring to others as you brag on who He is and what He’s done for you. Stay faithful to loving Him and letting that love guide your obedience. It will be the foundation of a real and true relationship with Adonai Elohim. It will be the springboard into a life of victory and joy in Him. It will be the first step of the long ladder from who we are to who He created us to be. The ultimate journey, the best road, and the most blessed space we can live in. This is a life of faithfulness. This is a life of loving. This is who Jesus was and is. This is who we are meant to and CAN be. Let your life inform your witness as your witness becomes your life. Whole and healed, receiving from Him ever-greater understanding of who He is and how much He loves you, which gives greater release as you walk hand in hand to where He leads. Submit to Elohim, stand in this relationship with Jesus, and watch how fast the devil skedaddles (James 4:7).

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

“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.” Messiah would be rejected in favour of another king. In the face of needing to put down who they were, of needing to admit to broken thinking and wrong ways of behaviour, the leaders of the people would choose ANYONE but Messiah. They would pick a king who didn’t make them confront or admit to their guilt and individual sins. “When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat in the place called “The Stone Pavement” (Gabbatha in Aramaic). (Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, about noon.) Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, here is your king!” Then they shouted out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your king?” The high priests replied, “We have no king except Caesar!”” (John 19:13-15). Like the devil and many ‘intellectuals’ of today, the religious elite wanted ANYONE but Jesus. Anyone but the One who showed them their need for a Saviour. Anyone but the One who demonstrated that on their own they couldn’t make it. The selfish chose to hang onto their selfishness and picked the king who would let them inhabit it. Jesus was rejected as king in favour of Caesar. 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