Fear No Fear

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

Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, for it is written, “You shall be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:14-16 (emphasis added)

Peter is quoting Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” The Law let us experience moments of holiness (sin offerings, for example) while clearly showing this state is unachievable by HUMAN effort. When Messiah came, His sacrifice opened the way for us to achieve holiness: through Messiah. Because of Messiah’s efforts, we can be holy. Because of Messiah’s sacrifice, sin is no longer a barrier between humanity and Elohim. Because of Messiah’s resurrection, we can join Him in eternal life: an intimate relationship with Adonai Elohim. It is in Messiah Jesus that we CAN be holy, because HE is holy. These verses have their fulfilment today AND in our future. Not because of what WE did, but because of Adonai’s Grace and Mercy.

The purity culture/movement of the 1990s had the right idea, but it seemed to all be about OUR efforts to stay pure. OUR need to deny bodily needs (which there aren’t any in the sexual sense). OUR need to stay pure or forgo intimacy with Elohim (our EFFORTS don’t determine His response to us). Being pure IS our goal, but not through slavish deprivals and avoidance/denial of human thought patterns. It’s only when we take thoughts to the cross and evaluate them to make them obedient to Jesus that we have freedom. It’s all about decisions and communication with Adonai, not effort, strain, and denial. A purity culture that doesn’t have Jesus at the centre is a new pharisaic system. A religious system. It’s NOT what we should be aiming for.

Focusing on purity is focusing on works. Adonai doesn’t call us to that. Adonai calls us to holiness. Holiness is about relationship and transformation. When we get the Word in us, we have the opportunity to engage with His character. If we let Him renew our minds (Romans 12:2), and we apply what He shows us in the Word about ourselves and what He has for us, we will be transformed. Our old man is already dead. Gone. Buried. But the broken thinking it helped us to develop will dog our every step if we’re not getting the Word in front of us to apply it. To use the fruit of the Spirit. To listen to corrections by Ruach HaKodesh. To read the Word and start changing what we decide to think on those things and attitudes it calls out. It’s a DAILY and CONSISTENT practice that will only be complete when we see Jesus face to face (2 Corinthians 3:18). Yet every day we get more of Him inside us. More and more and more until we will be practically SHINING with His Light. That’s holiness. When we adapt the character of Adonai for our own. When our behaviours are modelled after Jesus’ own. When our words are the words we hear the Father say. When we seek, dream, and desire to do only what the Father shows us to do. That’s holiness. Being in harmony with Adonai Elohim will bring us into holiness as we obey Him from our love of Him.

Sin is at the door (Genesis 4:7). It is NOT inside us. It is an external force. Temptation is an external force. We have the ability – by leaning into Jesus – to master our thoughts. Not because WE can master them, but because Jesus gives us HIS mind. Ruach HaKodesh lives inside us giving us HIS fruit. Our attitudes and mental landscapes can become HIS instead of staying like they used to be. We can CHOOSE what we will think about. We can CHOOSE where we put our emphasis and where we spend our attention. We can CHOOSE to let the Word renew us, develop us, and grow something inside us. We can prepare ourselves NOW for the challenges and trials the world and the enemy will throw at us LATER. We can decide not to fail or fall AHEAD of time by choosing to build ourselves up in Jesus. We do this by walking like Jesus walked. Following His example. “Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. You also lived your lives in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all” (Colossians 3:1-11).

What did the Law say? You MUST be holy (follow the Law). What did Peter remind us of? We WILL be holy (abide in Jesus). It’s about leaving our desires on the stove until the waste ‘us’ evaporates off and what remains is Jesus. We rear in what He did. We rely on what He did. We trust in what He says. Putting the Word first and trusting Him. Resting in His accomplishments. This is the Sabbath rest that waits for us to engage it. This is the Sabbath rest where the victory is. This is the Sabbath rest that is the essence of the New Covenant. There is no defeat, no sickness, no lack, no disease, no anxiety, no depression, no uncertainty, and nothing else that is in opposition to the Character and Nature of Adonai Elohim. This is OUR place and obedient children. We simply must decide to live there and let NOTHING jar us loose. Ever.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Zechariah 11:8-9

“Next I eradicated the three shepherds in one month, for I ran out of patience with them and, indeed, they detested me as well. I then said, “I will not shepherd you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be eradicated, let it be eradicated. As for those who survive, let them eat each other’s flesh!”” Messiah would be forced by their unbelief to reject them. Elohim NEVER wants to reject us, but if we constantly and consistently resist Him or refuse Him, He will sooner or later give us over to our choice. Messiah would be forced in this coming situation to turn them over to their unbelief. “You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” (Matthew 23:33). “Then the disciples came to him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He replied, “You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not” (Matthew 13:10-11). Jesus didn’t want the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the keepers of the Law to die apart from the Father. He tried to show them the Father, but He knew by Ruach HaKodesh that they would not permit their hearts to be anything but hard. They REFUSED to believe, no matter the signs. Jesus had NO CHOICE by to accept their rejection. 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