Fear No Fear

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

Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap unfailing love. Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves, for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers deliverance on you.
Hosea 10:12 (emphasis added)

Righteousness is a need for humanity. We need it. To get it we need to be totally submitted to Adonai and consecrated by Him to His purposes. We need Jesus for that because we can’t do it ourselves. It’s impossible. Our efforts are never enough, although we do get very enamoured of them. Probably because we feel the work we put in – it always seems like a lot. But we always fall short. We NEED Jesus. Do you remember life before Jesus? There’s a REASON we got saved. We weren’t doing well. We were OFTEN overwhelmed. Not sure where we were going, how we were getting there, or how we were going to pay for it. We took His Mercy. Because of His Grace. And we got renewed when we accepted His offer. When we acknowledged our lack and His substance. When we bent our knee, not from force or coercion, but because of who He was and what He did. For us. From love. That’s when we get it. His Righteousness.
In our darkest days, it is there. His Righteousness. It has the right words. It has the right actions. It knows the right emotions. It feels the Word rising up from inside to confront the situation in front of it and the one behind that one. It is there. Always ready. Always available. Always upon always upon always. “The Lord is indeed going before you—he will be with you; he will not fail you or abandon you. Do not be afraid or discouraged!”” (Deuteronomy 31:8). Do you see it? Yes, He will never leave us. But He’s not hanging around in the background. He’s not lurking in the closet. He is THERE! Right in FRONT of us. Where a shield goes. Where a wall goes. Where a symbol, a standard, and a signal goes. In front of us where we can see it. Where it can inspire us. Where we can have the sense of security that thick, tall, well-constructed walls give. They’re walls in the shape of a cross. They’re walls that have sacrifice inherent in them. But they are THERE right where we can see them.

The work has been done. It is VISIBLE in its invisibleness. More real in the spirit than it is in the flesh. What does that mean? That we can dance on the wall and taunt the foes outside the wall? No. Jesus never taunted anyone. That is NEVER the way the servants of Adonai act (Jude 1:9). We call on the NAME. We don’t keep misbehaving in order to get saved more. That’s stupid. We don’t taunt. We don’t dance and play. No. We praise. We thank and praise. Because the cross is our wall. It keeps anything from getting us. It’s our safety. And since Jesus is our example, we nail up our old habits alongside His body. We leave them on the cross. Every time there is a temptation and a potential sin trying to get through the door, we drag it to that cross, nail it up there, and demand that it submits and obeys Jesus! That is what the cross is for! We don’t accept old ideas and darkened understanding. We look to the walls in front of us RIGHT THERE and we say thank you to Adonai Elohim. We rest in Jesus’ work, in His Righteousness, and enjoy the Sabbath that was created for us (Mark 2:27). He gave us the ability to have His Righteousness so we COULD rest. We certainly can’t rest without it. It’s needed to be in harmony with the Father. The Father is righteous, so we need to be righteous too. Jesus came so we could (2 Corinthians 5:21).

We couldn’t save ourselves. We couldn’t justify ourselves. We can’t tote the line without grumbling. We can’t get money without hoarding it or wasting it on pleasures having nothing to do with blessing people. We get food and stuff and either complain about not getting more OR we get complacent because we’ve arrived and don’t need to do anything more. We grumble. We complain. We gossip and disguise it as concern. Poor me. Poor you. Poor those other people too. Our feelings get hurt. We have the snuffles. We’re dying of cancer. We throw bitterness and guilt and hateful words around. We grieve and sorrow and grab a hold of depression. We experience a good physical sensation and suddenly decide it’s a NEED that we MUST have and that it’s Elohim’s fault for giving us the ability to experience it. This is us on our own. We NEED Jesus and we need to REMEMBER that we need Jesus (Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25). We NEED Jesus.

Adonai Elohim is GOOD. He gives us GOOD things. He wants GOOD things for us. He bought out, brought out, and paid for us. Not just our souls, but our bodies. Not just our bodies and souls, but also our minds. He paid for ALL of it. He wants us to experience ALL of it. In HIM. Submitted to HIS point of view. Accepting HIS ways because we love Him and we believe Him and we trust His methods. Thinking we’re okay is broken thinking. In JESUS we are MORE than okay, but without Him we’re nothing special and barely surviving. Thinking the human condition is normal is broken thinking. There is nothing NORMAL about the condition of the world and the people living in it. It’s NATURAL to a fallen condition, but it isn’t NORMAL. We need to step OUT of that thinking. You need to see His point of view. And you need to REMEMBER what His point of view is. It’s easy to forget. We LOOK at things too much. And we start to forget HOW what we SEE got here. It’s better to SEE just HOW He did it. That keeps us thankful.

Break up the ground of that broken thinking. Bring it captive to the cross. Piece by piece. Clod by clod. Bring it. He won’t. He asked YOU to. But but but but BUT: He gave you the tools. He’s right there in front of you! The Spirit is in you. Jesus is with you. This isn’t COMPLEX. It is SIMPLE. It is the Good News of the Gospel: Jesus made the way, gave the instructions, provided the map, given the tools, shows you how to use them, and encourages you every step of the way! We don’t need to stay broken! We can be as whole as we want, because He wants us totally and completely WHOLE. So seed HIS righteousness into YOUR body, soul, and spirit. Watch the harvest of wholeness grow to reaping.

Daily Affirmation Jesus IS Messiah: Malachi 4:5-6

“Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives. He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.” Messiah would be announced. There would be a forerunner in the spirit of Elijah who would turn many to righteousness. This would be the voice crying out Messiah’s mission. This would be the signpost saying ‘Here, He comes and here He is.’ “In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness of Judea proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”” (Matthew 3:1-2). “He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go as forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”” (Luke 1:16-17). Jesus was heralded by John the Baptist. Jesus was proclaimed. John was in the spirit of Elijah (Matthew 17:12-13). 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