Peace and Joy

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear in any form. Fear is a spiritual force used by Satan to keep people down. We champion faith as an allegiance to God and accept his word as truth. The women at the tomb experienced fear and joy when encountering an angel, but meeting Jesus brought peace and wiped away their fear. Jesus gave them direction and purpose, just as he does for us today. We should rejoice in the Lord always and give thanks in everything. God's nature is love and peace, and through Jesus, all penalties for sin have been done away with. We have the ability to bless others as the Lord blesses us, and God loves us just because we're us. His perfect love casts out fear. 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 Matthew 28.8-10 They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and rang to bring his disciples word. As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, Rejoice! They came, and they took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, Don't be afraid. Go tell my brothers and sisters that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me. An angelic messenger can really rattle your cage. I don't know of anyone who has genuinely received an angelic visitation who wasn't a little shaken in some way. Angels may be in existence to minister to God and to us, but they are still spirit beings full of some might. Imagine one appearing suddenly to you, tall, bright, shining like the sun, speaking in a loud and commanding voice, delivering the message they have for you, or maybe just speaking to you without quite as loud or commanding a voice. It's still an experience outside the normal, outside human experience. It shakes you, not in a bad way, but it shakes you. Any encounter with a part of heaven will do that. As for the women, they left the tomb filled with joy for the message the angel had delivered to them, but also a little fear. Was it really happening? If not, where was Jesus? Were those guards going to make it? What do we say? And will anyone believe us? Unbound joy mixed with human questions. No wonder they had fear in their minds. And then, Jesus. As amazing as an angelic encounter is, meeting Jesus face to face is beyond compare. The angel imparted joy to them, but was unable to quell their fear. Angels can't really do that. They can minister to us and ease things, but they're just angelic beings. God is perfect love, and it is perfect love that casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 It took the appearance of Jesus to wipe away all the tears, traces of tears, and echoes of tears. Jesus tells them not to be afraid, not of him and his sudden appearance, but also not of what was happening around them, or what would happen. Remember, the ruling scribes and the Pharisees were still gunning for Jesus' disciples. Jesus appeared, and he stopped all of that fear. No fear. No fear. Just peace. Jesus also told them what to do. That is the great thing about Jesus. He gives us instructions, and then he watches out for us. He can't lie. Now, I wonder, is that why when he sent the disciples across the lake with clear instructions, Matthew 14, Mark 6, John 6, that he didn't tell them when or where he was going to meet them? I mean, had they acted on the authority they demonstrably had been given to cross the lake, and had they stilled the storm which was in their authority, would Jesus have needed to walk on the water, or would he have just been translated to the other side? I don't know, but they certainly didn't expect him to show up on the lake. They expected to meet him on the other side, perhaps in another boat. But the word tells us he saw they were in trouble, and he walked out to where they could reach him. So fast forward to today's verse. And we join the disciples in the worst period of their lives thus far. Everything they thought they had, they now thought they had lost. They were scared, on the run, hiding. But here comes Jesus again, walking during their storm. He appeared in his glorified body and told them where to go, and that he was going to be there. He was going to prepare their way. They could trust that Jesus never lies. Now they have been given direction, purpose, and an appointment. They were in the same situation we are today. We're given assignments, direction, purpose. We're told where to go or what to do. Now there's a lot of ground to cover in between, but we know he's with us and will be beside us when we get there. He will prepare our way. I really like that the first thing he actually said to them here wasn't the injunction not to fear. Instead, he commanded them to rejoice. God is a God of love and peace, but he's also a God of joy. Philippians 4.4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Psalm 100, full of praise, all on its own, says, Verses four to five. Instead of stopping when Jesus was resurrected, it doubled down. We have twice as much as those of the old covenant to celebrate, twice as much to praise God for, and a much superior tool with which to do it, the Holy Spirit who indwells within us. When he was born, when Jesus was born, the angels who appeared to the shepherds sang, Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Luke 2.14. Praise God. And then realize why. On earth, peace. Why? God has goodwill toward men. Sin is about to be struck off the books. Nothing will hinder us from coming into his presence. He has no wrath toward us, just love. Peace he gives to us, John 14.27. The process is starting, so praise him. Now for us believers, after his resurrection, he's announcing to us that it's over. Sin is done away with. Now we need to get the message out. Sin is no more. Except salvation and restoration of peace between God and man, fear is no more for those who believe. We have no reason to fear, for Jesus was truly raised to life after having died for our sins. Revelation 1.18. We have no reason to doubt, for Jesus has done all that he said, and granted to us all blessing by grace through faith. We have every reason to rejoice and sing God's praises, for we are free and saved and a new creation. Hallelujah. Rejoice. It doesn't matter what your circumstances are. They can be less than ideal, but God is still amazing and awesome and full of glory and majesty. God's goodness is not dependent on where we live or how we are doing. He is worthy of praise and thanksgiving and honor, because he is. Period. In everything give thanks. Not give thanks for everything, but in everything give God glory. Standing there amid the storm, praising and thanking him. Jesus will see you struggling with your oars, but singing with your heart to the Lord God in heaven. The Father will be proud of you, and Jesus will not fail to meet you right there. Our daily affirmation of God's love is 2 Corinthians 13, 5-12. We should remember every day that God's nature has two big components, love and peace. He isn't the God of stressing us out. He isn't the God of cracking a whip. He isn't the God of yelling, storming, and demanding. He isn't judgmental or a smiter. He is love. He is peace. Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, all penalties for sin have been done away with. Bye-bye smiting. In Jesus, we are free to come into his presence with our praises and requests. Because Jesus Christ is in us, we can minister to each other and to build each other up. We can minister to the Father and worship him in truth. We're sons and daughters of the kingdom. We can crawl into his lap, snuggle in, and just be with him. Every good thing on this earth comes from God so that we can live with every good thing and give them back to God who gave them to us. Dwelling in peace and love, even as God is peace and love, it is so simple yet so powerful. We give because we've been given. We bless because we've been blessed. We accept the Abrahamic covenant. We accept that level of blessing on our lives so that we can turn around and give it all away. All of it. What a great gift we have been given. The ability to bless those around us as the Lord blesses us. As we close, remember that you have birth. 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 and 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, 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.