cover of How High?

How High?

How High?

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Fear No Fear is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that rejects fear in all forms. It emphasizes the power of faith and the importance of believing in God's presence. The transcription discusses Paul's encounter with opposition while preaching and how Jesus assures him of his presence and support. It encourages readers to trust in God's promises and to actively engage with the Word and the Holy Spirit. The transcription also highlights the importance of including God in all aspects of life and using the authority given to believers to overcome fear. It emphasizes the power of agreement and the significance of fellowship in the church. 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 Acts 18.9-10 The Lord said to Paul in a night by a vision, Don't be afraid, but speak and don't be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you or harm you, for I have many people in this city. It's a great feeling to be singled out. But when we're singled out by those who dislike us or want to do us harm, it's not so great. When Paul had been in Corinth, it had not gone well. The Jews in the synagogue had opposed him. Paul stormed out and went to the door of Justice's house. He was a believer. So far, the ruler of the synagogue, Crispus, had believed in Jesus, and so had his household. Others also believed when they heard, and everyone who believed was baptized. But there were a lot still set against him. What was Paul thinking? I mean, these weren't his first issues. He'd been beaten in Philippi and jailed. He'd been chased out of Antioch and almost been stoned in Iconium. Here he was again with Jews who opposed the teaching of the good news. He must have been frustrated. He must have been about to just put it aside. And that's when Jesus showed up. Paul had started preaching Acts 18.5 because he was compelled by the Spirit to testify to the Jews that Jesus was the Anointed One, the Christ, Messiah. But he was opposed. Now, he must have been considering ceasing his preaching because Jesus tells him not to do that. But Jesus also tells him that he, Jesus, is with him, Paul. Isn't that a wonderful thing? So many times, Paul took it in faith that Jesus was there and walked in that faith. He praised God in prison. He boldly proclaimed the truth. Often with no direct evidence that Jesus was indeed beside him. But here, Jesus tells him directly, face-to-face, I am with you. Right there, you know Paul is going to keep preaching and proclaiming the truth. Wouldn't you? If Jesus told you he was with you face-to-face, you'd believe him, right? You know, we're called to do the same thing. In the Word, Jesus says, I am with you. Yahweh says, I am with you. The Holy Spirit has given to us. These are promises in the Word. You believe them, don't you? Because Jesus never tells us to do anything alone, ever. We never get instructions and then get sent off by ourselves. Holy Spirit is always with us. Jesus travels in our hearts and spirits because we have his Spirit of righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5.21 The name above all names. The Word that became flesh. The Word that created creation. The power of the Lord God in the name Jesus is inside you. His name is right there inside you. It is an amazing, powerful, and tremendous thing that we should never, ever, ever, ever forget. We abide in him and he in us. John 15.4 He will never, ever, ever leave us or forsake us. Hebrews 13.5 In fact, it is impossible. Romans 8.31-39 Why is it we forget that? I know I have. Haven't you? Don't we all sing songs and say prayers that feature the idea, God, please be with me? Oh, answer me. Oh, Lord, come. Oh, bring your presence, Lord. If you read and believe the promises of the Word, that attitude is ridiculous. He doesn't punish us for it. He knows what our heart is. But it's a ridiculous thing to say. Why are we wasting our time and energy putting it into that? It's like turning to someone who's standing beside you and saying, boy, I really, really hope you're going to be beside me. They'd wonder about our sanity. I thank the Lord that our God has a sense of humor because we must make him just laugh. And again, he doesn't hold it against us. It's not like it's wrong to say that. It's just we don't need to. We can just believe the Word. We should be reading the Word with intent every day. I know I say that a lot, but I can't stress it enough. There is a night and day difference between reading the Word and listening to teaching. And reading the Word and listening to teaching with intent. Asking God to reveal himself to it. The Holy Spirit is promised to be our teacher, that he will teach us all things. So based on that verse, we don't need any other teaching than Holy Spirit. But you know what? Humans don't listen. Do you have kids? Do your kids listen to you? I mean, human beings just don't listen. So that's why God gives us these other tools. That's why we have teachers and preachers. Why we're told to sit under them and listen to them. That's why they're trained into the position they have. Because we don't always listen to Holy Spirit. So he gives us something we can listen to. That brings our mind and our spirit into a place where we can then listen actively for him with intent. So we should be reading the Word every day. Praying every day. And part of prayer is listening. And we should be fellowshipping with the Lord every day. Fellowshipping is different from praying and it's different from reading the Word. Although both of those are a part of fellowship. And now in that state, with that daily intent, how can we forget that he's beside us? Why is it the minute a storm kicks up, we think that maybe Jesus is busy elsewhere? Baking cookies? Oh, he just popped out to get a carton of milk at the store. It's a lie. A total lie. Jesus is beside us, ready to help us. Whether we are cooking breakfast, choosing pants, or confronting sickness. The Spirit is as ready to teach, equip, and instruct us whether we are changing a diaper or raising the dead. It's true. Jesus is interested. Yahweh is interested in all our lives. Not just the churchy side. Not just the praisey side. He wants to be part of everything. And for us to be part of everything with Him. If it's not done in faith, it's a sin. That's what the Word says, right? So what does that mean? That means that in everything we do, He wants to be part of it. He wants to do everything in faith. Oh, God wants me to do my best. Colossians 3.23 And whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. That means we just have that idea that this task we've been given has been given by the Lord. Whether we're working hard or playing hard, the Lord should be the center of everything. I mean, if you think about it, we don't own anything. We don't have anything. Everything we have belongs to the Lord. Because the earth and everything that is in it is the Lord's. Psalm 24.1 Now, if everything is the Lord's, if everything in the world is the Lord's, and everything we have is the Lord's, that means what we are is stewards of it. So the question is not, what do we want to do? The question is, what does God want us to do with it? And you know, don't be scared of that. Everything's not going to be holy, holy, holy. Because God created every aspect of this world. So sometimes God's going to say, okay, pray. I want you to preach. I want you to talk. I want you to teach. And other times he's going to say, pick up that soccer ball and go have a great time with it. Put in that movie and really enjoy yourself. The Lord is not all about work. He is a fun God. So everything we do, he should be a part of. He wants to be a part of everything. This whole thing, it's just a matter of belief and faith. If you'll choose to believe, he'll supply the faith by grace. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that, not of yourselves, it, faith, is the gift of God, Ephesians 2.8. Now, going back to our main points, there's another weapon in the Lord's arsenal of anti-fear. Now while the most powerful can seem to be his spirit and Jesus beside and in us, it isn't. From an authority on this planet perspective, Yahweh's presence isn't a power-level weapon. What's more powerful than Almighty God, you ask? Well, it isn't a question of God's power. It's a legal point of wielding that power. A gun can be a powerful weapon or a paperweight. The gun hasn't changed. It's a question of whose hand it is in and what that hand is doing with it. He has given us authority to wield, and we are to wield it. We. That's the powerful weapon, not the authority. We. Believers. Not just individual believers spread across the globe in a million different communities. Though, don't get me wrong. A single righteous human following the will of God can do mighty things because it is the Father who does them through us. James 5, 16. John 14, 8-11. I am not diminishing that. But authority is wielded most fiercely in agreement. Ecclesiastes 4, 9. Jesus says, Now, that's significant because Jesus also said, Again, assuredly, I tell you that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 18, 19-20. I will note here, though, it is implicitly implied that what they are asking is in accordance to the word and submitted to the will of the Father. So, people talk about whether it's important or not to go to church. They look at what people are doing and how people are acting. And they're talking about the death of the church and how no one should go and it's a horrible place. And look at all the religiousness and we're modern Pharisees and blah, blah, blah. There is truth to that. I mean, you cannot look at the church and not know that there is truth to that. But it's not the whole story. That's just the human side of things. You know, every time we get into the human side of things, it's a bad idea. As soon as human ideas kick up, you can pretty much be assured it's the worst thing ever. That's why we're supposed to be grounded in the word and operating according to the Father's will. Because that's when we get things done. When we do it, our best efforts still kind of suck. But when God does it, it's always good. So, there's a reason that God highly recommends us flawed humans to gather together. Hebrews 10, 24 to 25. So, remember, this is not a command. This is a, I highly recommend this. Hint, hint. There is a joint fellowship aspect to being a follower of Jesus. Colossians 3.16. It is true that you can attend church online. We can distance learn and distance relationship using modern tools. So, yes, we can also distance worship. In the Spirit, there is no time. In the Spirit, there is no distance. But we miss an important quality. Physical togetherness. Matthew 18.20. Church is not meant to be a negative thing. Psalm 122.1-9. Jesus went to church regularly. Luke 4.16. We are meant to be together, worship together, help each other, keep each other in check, and be a joint undertaking. 1 Corinthians 12.12-22. Now, God is not going to condemn you if you worship online. But you miss out on the benefits of face-to-face joint worship and agreement. We are all one body. Romans 12.5. We are meant to work in unison. Proverbs 27.17. Listening to Jesus and walking where He leads. Jesus gives us the orders. He equips us to carry them out. He has other believers there to stand with us and beside us. We have the authority to achieve the orders that Jesus has given us. The authority to work them as He leads. We can succeed according to the will of the Father because when we are with Him and aligned with His word, He acts through us as His agent on this earth to perform mighty signs, wonders, and set free the captives of this world through the sharing of the good news that Jesus did the work, dying for sin and being raised again to life as their Savior. Their sin is taken care of. He paid the price for sin, period. That's amazing. That's good news. That's what brought peace, goodwill to men. Remember, goodwill to men. Hey, God's not holding sin against you. There's no sin now between you and God. You can just walk right on in through Jesus. He's the way. He's the door. That's amazing. Take a moment to think about that. What can't we accomplish when Jesus is leading us into the Father's presence and the Father's will and we obey? We are given so much grace to succeed. Truly, as I've heard it said, I'm sure you have too, when God says, jump, we should ask how high when we're in the air. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Luke 22 verses 24 to 31 and 61 to 62. In our arrogance, in our weakness, Jesus is there. In fact, he's there before our arrogance shows itself, before our weaknesses arrive. If we're abiding in him, we will hear the warnings and be able to prepare ourselves. But if not, we know that Jesus is working as our mediator, 1 Timothy 2.5, to counter the devil's machinations. Jesus does not want us to fail or fall. He's working every moment of every day against that. Jesus prays for us and talks us up to his Father, asking for faith, blessing, endurance, grace and peace and love, all the fruit of the Spirit, all the tools we need to achieve what we need to achieve, healing balm for our wounds, fellow believers to lift us up, encourage us and firm up each other's faith. The Lord God prepares so that we will not fail but succeed, 1 Corinthians 9, 24 to 27. So when we're abiding in Jesus, we in Jesus share the exact same space. We are together. But when we don't abide, we're not sharing the same space. Where is he? But he's right beside us. So we're either together as one or side by side, joined at the hip. So either way, Jesus is doing and working for us. As a good parent, the Father saves and prepares for his children's future, 2 Corinthians 12, 14. That's why he sent Jesus. So always together, whether we're in or beside, preparation for our future, there to hold us and hang on to us and help us. Wow, that's love. That is real love. 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. 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, By this, God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born son into the world, that we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we love 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.