Can't Lie

Fear No Fear is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that rejects fear and champions faith in God. Fear is a spiritual force used by Satan to keep people down. Jesus reminds us that troubled thoughts, worry, anxiety, and depression are all choices and not from God. Jesus heals both physically and spiritually, and by believing in Him, we can reject fear and receive healing. Jesus tells us to believe in God and in Himself, as belief is a choice that can achieve amazing things. He assures us that His Father's house has many homes and He is preparing them for us. Jesus desires all people to be saved and come to the truth. We can trust Jesus' words because He is the way, the truth, and the life. Choosing not to be troubled and believing in God and Jesus opens the door to a life free from fear and in fellowship with them. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org John 14.1-2 Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many homes. If it weren't so, I would have told you. I'm going to prepare a place for you. Jesus tells the truth. Jesus' very nature is truth. He couldn't lie if he wanted to. This means that anything Jesus said is truth. That reason alone is a good one for getting a Bible that includes red text. The red being anything that Jesus says. If you believe nothing else, believe the red stuff. There is a lot that he says. Like telling us that if it was not the truth, he wouldn't have said it. He tells us five things here in this verse, not including the reminder that he doesn't lie. Jesus reminds us that being troubled in our hearts, having depression, having anxiety, having worry, these are all choices. But we can choose to reject them because of Holy Spirit within us, which is the Spirit of Jesus that we abide in as believers. Romans 8-2 Troubled thoughts, worry, anxiety, and depression are all of the curse. Weapons of the enemy, not of God, not of the kingdom, and never, ever sent by the Lord to any believer for any reason whatsoever. If they aren't part of God and we are new creations in God, then they are a part of the old thing we were and not the new. 2 Corinthians 5-17 We can reject them. We can tell them that they cannot affect us, that they are part of the old man, so they can go to the cross and dwell there because that is where we left them. Galatians 3-26-27 Now, an infirmity is defined as a physical or mental weakness or sickness. That sounds like trouble, worry, anxiety, and depression, doesn't it? Matthew 8 has Jesus coming to Peter's house. He heals Peter's mother-in-law, physical healing. That evening, the residents of the town came, and Jesus cast out spirits and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, He took our infirmities and bore our diseases. Matthew 8-17, Isaiah 53-4 1 Peter 2-24 also says, He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by His wounds or stripes. Now, if Jesus heals us and bore our infirmities, diseases, and sins on the cross, and if He also, by dying and being resurrected to life, has given our spirits to live in His righteous spirit, why would we ever choose to stay anxious, depressed, worried, or troubled? What a great gift we've been given. Not just spiritual healing, but physical healing, because we're spiritually healed. Our spirits are pure and clean. Why not demand that our flesh comply with it? We're connected, aren't we? We're a new creation, aren't we? It's a process. It isn't always immediate. Sometimes it is, but it isn't always. And Jesus in us can accomplish it. 1 John 4.4 He can renew us. He can help us accept our healing. All it takes is faith. All it takes is belief that what God promises, He can deliver. That's what Jesus tells us next. He tells us to believe in God the Father. Then He tells us to believe in Himself. The two of them are connected. All the things that God did throughout the Bible, and everything that Jesus did and told us we could do, He wants us to believe that, to take it on faith as fact, regardless of whether we intellectually understand it. The thing is, is that the highest, greatest, most brilliant human minds are far, far below what God thinks and understands. Isaiah 55.9 Now what else did Jesus say about believing? Well, He said to Martha, Didn't I tell you that if you believed you would see God's glory? John 11.40 That was right before He raised Lazarus from the dead. He healed the sick by asking if they believed He could do it. Matthew 9.28 He told the ruler of the synagogue not to fear, but to believe. Mark 5.36 That was before He raised His daughter from the dead. Look up the word believe and believed in Scripture, and there are dozens and dozens and dozens of instances of Jesus saying it, stressing it, and telling us that it can achieve amazing things. Because belief is a decision. It's a choice. Faith can grow from belief. Faith can be needed for belief. But belief is a choice. That means we have intent. We are putting ourselves behind that. That gives it power. We can strengthen faith by meditating on the word of God, but we can't build belief. We have to choose it, state it, repeat it, and then keep repeating it until we see what we believe, provided it's based on the word, until we see it come to pass, whether it's a short time, a long time, or when we're in heaven time. It doesn't matter to the belief. The choice stands eternal when we choose. That kind of standing can move mountains because we are telling God we believe Him, no matter what anyone else says, what we see, or what happens. It opens the door to God working through us like nothing else can. The catch is it needs to be real, honest belief, not empty words said while hoping that something happens or manifests. It is not a spiritual crossing of your fingers. Next, in this verse, Jesus tells us that His Father's house has many homes. Many is an amount that is large but indefinite. It has no exact limits. It's a big place, a place big enough for anyone and everyone who chooses to be there. We aren't being forced in. We don't have to go. But if we want to, we can because it is big enough for all of us. God is a God of growth, of expansion, not in a gluttonous or greedy way, but righteously, honestly, and with pure intent. Growth to see what can come about, to witness the harvest of seed, to move forward into more and more beauty and glory and honor and righteousness. We are being offered a vast vista to inhabit with Him. And finally, Jesus tells us that those homes in that place are for us, you and me and everyone else, and He is going to prepare them there for us. Now, they should be pretty good because first, He is perfect. Second, He is a trained carpenter. And third, He was the instrument through which all of creation was created. This is an individual with building experience. 1 Timothy 2.3 says, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. Jesus wants every human being that is and has been to get into the Father's kingdom, every single one. Not everyone will because not everyone chooses to believe. But as many as choose to believe in their heart that Jesus died for their sins and was resurrected again to life and confess with their mouths that Jesus is Lord will be saved. Romans 10.9 We don't know how many that will be. A large number and one that we can help grow by spreading the good news. God loves you. Has a place waiting for you. He took care of your sin and Jesus is making sure that you can get there. What better news is there? The question is, is it trustworthy? Is this verse to be trusted? Well, Jesus told this Himself. If it were not so, I would have told you. Trust Jesus. In John 14.6 Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. In John 17.17 Jesus affirms that God's word is truth. We know from John 1.14 that the word became flesh, Jesus. So then Jesus is truth. Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus and He is called the Spirit of Truth. Ephesians 4.25 reminds us that we are all part of the body of Christ and should be putting falsehood away from us. That speaks to truth and an environment of truth. In fact, one of the pieces of the armor of God is the belt of truth. Ephesians 6.14 Jesus' truthfulness was so noticeable it was acknowledged by those around Him. They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians saying, Teacher, we know that you are honest and teach the way of God in truth no matter whom you teach for you aren't partial to anyone. Matthew 22.16 If Jesus says it, it is so. If you believe nothing else, believe the words Jesus said. So, Jesus tells us to choose not to be troubled which includes anything troubling be it depression, anxiety, or any other fear baby. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 18.21 What we speak affects what we experience. We do not have to accept fear for God didn't give us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-control. 2 Timothy 1.7 Jesus told us to believe in the Father in heaven above and also in Himself. As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father so he who feeds on me will also live because of me. John 6.57 They are the living God. What they say they can do, they can do and we need to believe that. Romans 4.21 God wants us with Him. He desperately wants us to choose life, to choose fellowship. Jesus so wants us that He is making for us a place in His kingdom with the Father, with Jesus so that we can be close and together forever as He planned from the beginning. Ephesians 1.11-12 Jesus speaks the truth and is the truth. If He says it, we can trust it and He tells us everything that the Father tells Him. No secrets, all truth, all knowledge. We are part of the family. Romans 8.1-39 Today and always we have the ability to abide with Jesus. In Jesus and He in us. There is a place for us all. You don't have to have troubled thoughts. Believe in God, in Jesus. Believe the word can't lie. Believe. Do it today. Do it always. Never stop making that choice. Our daily affirmation of God's love is John 13.34-35 God loves us. He loved us before He made us. He loves us still. And He doesn't want to hide that love. Everyone deserves to hear that they are worth loving. Everyone deserves to know that the Lord loves them. The best tool God has to spread that message is us. You and me. The disciples of Jesus. He isn't looking at official and formal groups. He isn't expecting books, movies, and magazines. He is looking at you and me. People. Ordinary people. He wants us to love other ordinary people how He loves us. Without condition. Just because they exist. Period. It is the number one way people will know that we follow Jesus. That we love people in spite of their behavior or circumstances, race, creed, lifestyle, or religion. We don't have to agree with them, their lifestyle, what they think, how they act, what they profess, or let them hurt or take advantage of us. But we are to love them. Period. Total acceptance on the love level. We've been given the Spirit of God to accomplish it with, to make use of it today. As we close, remember that you have worth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love There is no end to the things about you that he loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us that God has sent his only born Son into the world so that we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because he first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.