Fear No Fear

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

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22–23 (emphasis added)

Human nature is an odd duck. Some define it as the feelings and behavioural traits common among most humans. Others as a thing to be designed as we design the institutions within which people live and work. Emory S. Bogardus says it this way: ‘HUMAN beings begin life as simple organic units and develop into personalities with complex spiritual qualities. From a helpless beginning they grow into spiritual dynamos, capable of mastery of themselves and of their social environment. The process is largely one of intersocial stimulation and response, and the product is human personalities with their attitudes and values of life’ [https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/Bogardus/1924/1924_01.html].
If human nature points to human personalities, then what is personality development? It is generally agreed that it involves all the factors that influence how our mental landscape forms and changes over time. Genetic background, the environment around us, the cultural landscape, the education model, the philosophical and religious influences on us, and the personalities of the people who are responsible for our well-being and upbringing. Personalities tend toward stability, but they do change over the course of time.
Spiritually, we can mirror this development. We begin our spiritual lives dead. We do not have a living spirit until we are born again into Jesus. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3–5). As new creations in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:16–17), we are in charge of the influences that will form our new personalities in the Kingdom of God.

The question is — and always will be — what are you putting inside? We are spirits housed in a body. Our inner lives are richer, fuller, and deeper than anything we have on the outside. It is the EXTREMELY fertile soil in which all things planted grow. Nothing you plant inside you fails to grow. You want weeds? Plant weeds. You want wheat? Plant wheat. You want fruit? Plant fruit. Whatever you plant will sprout and grow. Nothing else in creation has the inner soil than humanity does. It is a HEADY responsibility. “Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates; that your days and your children’s days may be multiplied in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth” (Deuteronomy 11:18–21).

We are to be watchful about what is put inside our hearts. We are to plant the Word. We are to be so watchful about it that we have it all around us. On our hands, on our bodies, in our doorposts and gates. We’re to talk about them all the time. Not exclusively quoting scripture, but constantly and consistently weighing everything against the Word. What does the Word have to say about (insert topic you’re discussing). I have a lot of kids and they have a diverse field of interests. It is ALWAYS possible to bring the Word into a discussion whether it is about Pokemon, Minecraft, the latest streaming sensation, YouTuber content, books, movies, neighbours, where we ate (or want to eat), shopping, resting, sleeping (especially bedtimes), and a dozen more things. There is ALWAYS something that the Lord wants to say. You know what? We don’t live restricted lives. We live rich lives with a lot of variety in what we do and what entertains us.

“Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5–6). In everything you do, you are meant to check in with the Lord. If the LORD’s designated path for us is straight, we need to make sure we’re not straying. We need to make sure we’re keeping to the middle of the road. The Word is one of the best measurements we have of that. It’s right there in front of us. Ready at a moment’s notice. We can view it no matter where we are. And when we study it. When we listen both to the Word and preaching about the Word, we renew our minds to the things of the Lord (Romans 12:2). Having a mind that is renewed is great. It helps us keep our ears trained for the Lord’s still, small, voice (1 Kings 19:12–13). It renews our thinking. It renews how we view the world around us. It renews how we process everything coming at us and how we see ourselves — both in the natural and in our standing in the Lord.

The Word should BE our cultural landscape. Our hearts need to be steeped in a culture. Instead of taking one from the world and making THAT what your identity is, double-down on getting the WORD to be your culture. Let who you are in JESUS be your identity. There is nothing lasting or satisfying on a deep level to make our identity about something that is in the world, from the world, or based in our humanity. Your feelings aren’t who you are. Why limit your identity to your sexuality? Your profession? Whether or not you have children? Why not have a limitless identity grounded in who you are in Christ Jesus so that you can be anything and everything you’re called to? “To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:20–22). When we KNOW that we are the Righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), there is no limit to what we can do in, through, by, and for Jesus.

When we seed the Word into our hearts, it grows. Those seeds sprout roots. Those roots grow and strengthen and develop. It becomes a vine unlike anything else you could ever know. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:1–11).

That connection to the root is what gives us our fruit. Our fruit is what we produce. It is the source of who we are to the world around us. They cannot see into our hearts. They have no access into our inner voice. They cannot hear our thoughts. All the world and the people in it have is what we say, how we act, and what we do. Our words are seeds into our own heart-soil and also into the soil of anything that hears us. If it is rich soil, those words will sprout and grow — good or bad. Our actions are those things we do on purpose. The way we act, how we run our business, how we interact with others, how we raise our kids, etc. But what we do, is what we do when we think no one is watching. Because in this world, there is ALWAYS someone watching. It is estimated that we are caught on camera at least seventy times a day. That’s only cameras. What about other people’s eyes? On average, we see approximately between 90,000 and 3 million faces in our lifetime. That’s a lot of catching sight of other people. What are you doing when you are being seen while being unaware of it? There is a saying I heard once: who you are is what you do when you’re alone. This is a VERY true statement. When we are alone and out of sight, that’s when we are the most comfortable being whatever we want. But just because we are alone, does NOT mean we are unseen.

When we maintain a relationship and a connection with the Lord Jesus, we maintain a connection to that vine of the Spirit. When we do, our hearts and minds have been prepared by the Word. We’ve cultivated the soil that the Lord created inside us. It is ready to sprout seeds. The fruit of the Spirit is what grows. Can you imagine living like that? Every day? Facing each and every situation with the ability to embody patience? Or gentleness? Being in public and finding yourself not doing what you used to. Not getting angry or frustrated or anxious. Instead, you’re being loving. Kind. And joyful. What if we start being faithful in small things like showing up on time for things, not wasting time, making sure we keep our promises, and stop saying things we don’t mean? What would life be like if we all started walking that way? It would be momentous. It would be world-shaking. It would be SO OBVIOUS that something is going on with us that is VASTLY different than what is going on in the world. Think of the light that would shine from us!

We NEED to be fruit-filled if we hope to reject fear and keep it rejected. Our flesh is all about straddling the line of sin. Of seeing how far it can go before we’re in trouble. Seeing how far we can take things before we fall over. The flesh doesn’t mind falling over. In fact, the more you fall the more fun the flesh is having. ANY sensation is a good sensation for the flesh. For the redeemed of the Lord, we are able to be past that. We are able to walk in the ways of the Lord. According to the Word, according to the will of the Father, connected to Jesus, and producing fruit after fruit after fruit. How can fear last in that environment? How can fear grow? Oh, there will be weed seeds that try and sprout, but that fruit that the Holy Spirit cultivates will choke it out. What the Holy Spirit doesn’t pull out, Jesus will work with you to change. Fear will have NO GROUND because your faith will be so full of fruit you’re fit to burst — with BLESSING.

Daily Affirmation of God’s Love: 2 Corinthians 2:17

Are you full of hot air or are you full of living breath? The Lord God breathed the breath of lives into humanity (Genesis 2:7). Jesus breathed the breath of the spirit into the Children of God (Acts 2:38). What is it YOU have in you? Do you have the God-breathed breath in you? Or do you have empty hot air? Jesus is the light that is in our lives (John 8:12). When we let that light shine inside us, it clears out the cobwebs. Jesus’ light gives us more energy (strength) and His peace helps keep us calm, positive, and focused. It helps us rest. It gives us strength. It improves our life (John 10:10). It helps that breath MOVE (Genesis 1:2). But if HIS breath isn’t moving in us, then HIS breath isn’t coming OUT of us. Breath MUST BE MOVED to come out. Our brains have to send signals, our lungs need to be full, our diaphragms need to relax, and our voice box needs to be functional in order for sound to come out. What have you got inside? His breath? Or the trash of the world. Darkness deflates. Darkness stresses and stiffens. It is obstinate. It decays the things of health that we should have. It is a deteriorating substance. What you plant inside you, what you cultivate, what you grow, what you let move, that is what will come out. Will it be bile? or will it be the Word? Life and death are in our tongues (Proverbs 18:21). What are you speaking into your life and the lives of those around you? What are you growing? What are you breathing? What is your witness?

Your Daily Confession of God’s love to YOU:

Today God loves that I _______.