Fear No Fear

“But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority. But He will speak whatever He hears, and He will tell you things that are to come” (John 16:13, MEV). Holy Spirit loves us enough to make sure we get to the truth – even if it’s hard to hear. He is always pointing to Jesus who IS truth. He is dedicated to getting us into alignment with Jesus. Getting us from where our thinking has us to where Jesus’ thinking has us. One of the ways He does this is prophecy. Telling us about things that are going to happen. Not to get us fearful. To get us excited. The Revelation to John is a great example of that. There are some terrible things that happen in that book. Things none of us would want to live through. It wasn’t meant to start debates about whether there is a rapture or when it takes place. It was meant to get us excited about the WONDERFUL things that also happen in the book. And the AMAZING things that are on the other side of the terrible things. What matters isn’t whether we are going to go through some bad things (Jesus warned us about that – John 15:20). What matters is whether we hold onto the GOOD things that in, around, and beyond the bad things (Matthew 10:28). We’re told we can choose not to be anxious (John 14:1). We can only do this when we are choosing to trust in Jesus, which we can only do when we’re listening to Holy Spirit about what is really going on – not just what we can see. How human beings get through bad things is by focusing on what the result will be. We’ve been through horrific wars because we know the world will be better at the end of them. Rescue workers risk life and limb – sometimes sacrificing them – because they know it is better to save life than to let things die. Prophecy is all about hope. About eager expectation. Not of the bad things, but of the BLESSINGS on the other side. About the PEACE and JOY that comes from aligning with Jesus. The focus should be about the loving relationship we can engage in with God, rather than seeking God out of fear of the bad things. That is the truth that trumps everything else: when we love a loving God, nothing else comes close. As one ministry puts it: the good news is so good, the bad news doesn’t matter.