Our Struggle, His Fight

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that rejects fear and champions faith in God. It emphasizes the power of God's love and the authority given to believers. It explains that our struggle is not against physical beings, but against spiritual forces, and encourages us to put on the armor of God and pray. It emphasizes the importance of submitting to God and focusing on Him to resist the devil. It concludes by reminding us of the refuge and protection we have in Jesus and encourages us to spread the good news. 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 Joshua 8.1 Yahweh said to Joshua, Don't be afraid, and don't be dismayed. Take all the warriors with you, and arise, go up to Ai. Behold, I have given into your hands the king of Ai, with his people, his city, and his land. This seems like such an Old Testament-y reference, doesn't it? Go kill a bunch of people because I said so. And on the surface, this is true. The Old Covenant was all about judgment, do this or die. But remember that all the people who were in the land God gave the Israelites were descended from people who knew Yahweh as God. Some of them had been brought there by God, taking them out of their own negative places and into this promised land, Amos 9.7. They had many chances to obey and worship God, but they hardened their own hearts and they turned away on purpose. And in the Old Covenant, if you do not, then you pay the price. If you do, you get the blessing. Thankfully, we are not under the New Covenant. We are under the New. We are under Jesus. We are under grace. The judgment for sin has already occurred. Jesus paid the price on the cross. He's not telling us to go and physically take people out. Why? For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6.12. We are in a spiritual war, but our marching orders are no less clear than they were in Joshua's day, and our instructions not to fear are no less firm. Jesus said to His disciples, As you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of God is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you have received, so freely give. Matthew 10.7-8. He'd already told them, Therefore don't be anxious, saying, What will we eat, what will we drink, or with what will we be clothed? In Matthew 6.31. In fact, Jesus stressed the love God has for us over and over again. He stressed the might, power, and magnificence of that love as well. God's love is perfect, as He is. Perfect love casts out fear. All fear, always, if you let Him. There's also no reason to fear someone stronger than you, either physically or in perceived power. Jesus said, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Matthew 28.18. Worried about the enemy out there, ready to stop you? Psalm 97.7. Let them all be shamed who serve engraved images, who boast in their idols. Worship Him, all you angels. This is telling us that every spirit once worshiped the Lord God, every supernatural power of any kind. Everything that a human calls a God or an enlightened being or whatever, they all bowed before our God. They still do. They are below and inferior to God, no matter what they claim on the sly. In addition, Jesus has specifically been placed above them all in authority and righteousness. If Jesus has all the authority and He's told us to operate in His name to do what He wants, then we are operating in that authority. He has given power of eternity to us and given us a new nature in Him so that we can use it. That means we don't need to beg Him for anything. We don't need to ask Him if it is His will as long as we are grounding ourselves in Him through His word. The word is the will of God. He told us what to do with His name. It's obvious. But remember, nothing will ever be told to you to do and no action you do will ever be right if it is not in line with the word of God. Yes, we've been tasked with healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, which covers a multitude of skin disease and disease, period, physical and spiritual, and casting out of demons. We have this authority to do all these things. It has been given to us. And the enemy we strive against can't stop us. Oh, they can yell a lot and put on a good show, but if we believe, if we stand on our faith given to us by grace and we operate in the word dwelling in the presence of God, then they can't stop us. Nothing God tells us to do will be impossible for us because Jesus is with us. Whenever God tells you to do something, He's already empowered and equipped you to do that thing. He is a just and good God. But remember, Jesus only did what He was told to do, and He only said what He was told to say. He did not heal every single person in Israel. There were times He went and healed a single person instead of others in the community. There were other times that crowds brought sick people to Him and He healed them all. But He did what the Lord told Him to do, which is where He had His authority, where He used it. So we've been given His authority, but we can't do what we want. We have to do what God wants, what He tells us to do, because that's where our authority lives. This means we can do anything that He wants us to do. If we can do anything God sets before us by the power of Jesus' name that resides within us, then bring it on. By faith we can participate in the will of God, and we give Him permission to operate in our life according to how He wants to. And there is nothing we can't do when we do it with God, Mark 10, 27. That means we're not going out there to wrestle with demons and spirits and powers directly, because our struggle is with them, but we are not the ones doing the struggling. We are the permission givers because of free will. We are the tools, but we are not the weapons. Paul tells us that our struggle isn't with the physical, but with the spiritual, that the battle is in our souls, our mind, our personality, and emotions. He then immediately tells us to put on the armor of God, Ephesians 6, 10-18. God's truth, God's righteousness, God's faith, and God's good news, all of which enable us to stand and endure what is coming against us. Then we're told to pray in all things and to be watchful that we remain praying in all things for all believers. So God does all the weaponry part, and we do all the praying part. We are there, but He is doing. We are inviting Him to work, letting Him work His will His way, and we're praising Him and praying what He asks us to at all times about all believers. James 4-7 tells us to be subject to God. That's allowing Him to do what He wants, when He wants and how He wants, letting God call the shots, acknowledging that we are not the bee's knees. We're not the brightest bulbs. We're not the best of the best of the best of the best's best. No matter what we can do and how great we are, He is infinitely greater and must be honored and worshiped for that. We may have been given free will and authority and dominion down here, but He is sovereign God. We can choose regarding us, single individuals. He chooses regarding everything else. We need to submit to Him. Who are we compared to Him? The blessing is that if we submit to God, if we place ourselves in Him, if we keep our focus on Him and His ways and His statues and His will, the devil flees from us. The devil patiently waits and stalks and prowls, waiting for one of us to leave the protective embrace of our fellow believers and God's guiding principles. 1 Peter 5.8 He can't touch us when we're focused on the Lord. 2 Timothy 2.26 We are to resist the devil with our faith, faith that the Lord gives us. Jesus came to give us life, not to see us continue in death, but it is Jesus who does it all. It is the Lord who does it all. Jesus told us the greatest commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and minds. Mark 12.30 If we are totally, absolutely and completely focused on Yahweh God, there is no room for the devil. When we are submitted to Him, the devil will flee. He cannot stand obedience. He cannot stand praise. He cannot stand the presence of the Lord. This is how we fight Him. This is how we struggle against the powers, submission to the Lord and total worship of Him, acknowledging Him as the source of all things, the one who fights for us and the one who is in total control. This isn't easy. It's simple, but it's not easy. Bearing a cross isn't easy. Being broken and not getting full of yourself isn't easy. Pride is such a small thing that it can get in anywhere to infect us. The cure is looking to the Lord, looking on Him as He is, seeing His majesty in awe and wonder, seeing His righteousness. In the face of that, we can do nothing but bow down before Him. When we are in the presence of the Lord, we are in an attitude of worship because He is holy. He is. But it takes us walking in there. It takes us coming before Him. It takes us leaving this other stuff behind, the world, our pleasures, leaving all of that and coming to Him, letting Him be who He is. When we do, we're in true worship. When we worship, we're in Jesus. When we're in Jesus, we're protected and sheltered under His wings. We are in refuge. We are where we were created to be, penitent and worshipful before the Father. When we are before our good Father in all things, why fear or be anxious or be dismayed? Ever. We have this situation in hand because Jesus has this. Jesus is doing this. Jesus is victorious. Spread the word. Tell the good news. Teach the message of faith. Let Him heal the sick and make everyone whole. Let Jesus set them free. You got free with no strings. Give them the same freedom with no strings. Spread His love. God has given them into your hands because He is ready to catch them, lift them and redeem them. Teach the word unvarnished. Make disciples of Jesus out of those you minister to. Don't fear. Just do. Show them the path forward is on our knees before God. Able to stand in His presence as precious children, but choosing to be subject to Him. Do that and watch the dust that will be the passage of the devil's feet fleeing from you. Not from you as you, but from Jesus in you, the armor on you and the Father whose shadow you dwell underneath. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Psalm 57. God always loves us. Our Father cares for us constantly and with total grace, which is awesome. God in all His shining glory soaring through the heavens still comes to us and spoils us rotten. What a great Father we have in God. What a great friend in Jesus. What a companion and teacher in the Holy Spirit. For your great loving kindness reaches to the heavens and your truth to the skies. Verse 10. That's some kind of love. Even more, He allows us to take refuge in Him. That doesn't come without cost. Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. Matthew 16, 24-28. Following Jesus into the throne room of His Father is our right. We can go boldly, but we cannot go as we are. We must take refuge in Jesus. We must sit under the shadow of His wings so that His righteousness covers us. So that we are in Him and He is in us and we are therefore in Jesus worthy and righteous enough to stand before the Father and experience His love for us. This is total grace. It is a total gift. A gift to us of Jesus. A gift of Jesus to His Father of us. Without Jesus it cannot be done. Father God sends out His loving kindness and His truth. Jesus, the truth, gathers us into the Father. But we must be broken before Him, aware of our own unworthiness and so striving daily to remain in Christ who makes us worthy in Himself, to walk His paths, to worship in Spirit and truth, to acknowledge the goodness of God, His mercy, His love. That's the gift of salvation. Jesus gifting us to the Father. It is the love of the Father for us that lets us in. Think of that. He lets us in. It would have been easier for everyone involved to not let us in. But He loves us too much to leave us with no way to get in. Thank Him every day that Jesus was there to wrap us up and present us to His Father, the Almighty Yahweh God. The love of the Son. The love of the Father. Double love poured out on us. That is grace. That is love for you. 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 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.