Don't Sneeze

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith in God. Fear is a spiritual force that Satan uses to keep people down. Fear limits the Lord's work in our lives and spreads like a virus. We are called to trust in God, seek Him, and obey His commands. If we choose fear, we are not walking in faith. We are soldiers in the army of the Lord, called to combat fear within ourselves and stand on the rock of Jesus. We must hold fast to the Word, believe in God's promises, and seek His presence. God's love for us is unlimited and He desires our obedience and love in return. 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 Deuteronomy 20.8 The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother's heart melt as his heart. The Lord talks a lot about us not fearing. He's extremely firm and verbose about it. This is the two hundredth and thirty-third verse we've looked at about not fearing. It isn't a verse that commands you not to fear. It isn't a verse that points out that despite our feelings, we can choose not to emote fear's babies, anxiety, stress, depression, etc., when we are abiding in Jesus. It isn't a verse showing us how embracing peace means we're not claiming fear. It isn't a verse teaching about perfect love, which drives out fear. This is a different kind of verse. This is the kind of verse that shows what happens when you reject all those other verses. This is showing you that if you refuse to walk in the blessing of no fear, you are going to miss out, because the Lord cannot use a fearful person. A fearful person does not need to stay fearful. Fear is a choice. What is courage? The choice to reject the feeling of fear that your body is screaming at you. What is victory? The choice to abide in Jesus, the Overcomer, instead of accepting the fear that the world is screaming at you. Does that mean the Lord never uses people who are afraid? No. We could have stage fright. We can be nervous. That isn't accepting fear. There are times when you have a distinct choice. Fear or no fear. When you choose fear, you are limiting the Lord. God gave us free will. He chose in His sovereignty to allow us to pick things for ourselves. That means if God wants A to happen, and you won't let Him use you for A, then He will go with someone else. A is still going to happen. God didn't want a king over Israel, because He was their king. They said, no, we have to have one. God selected Saul. But Saul didn't want to do things God's way. So God got David. David had his faults and missteps, but he wanted to do things God's way. Saul chose fear. Saul was passed by. Fear is a terrible thing. It truly is the mind killer. It gets your mind so much on your flesh that you are totally ignoring your spirit. You cannot tell me that Jesus was not fearful heading into His crucifixion. If Jesus wasn't fearful of it, why was He troubled almost to death about it? Matthew 26, 38. But Jesus did not let His feelings determine His actions. He didn't deny them. He wrestled with them. But in the end, He stuck to what He had stuck to all His life. He put His trust in God. He knew what was at stake, and He trusted God. He was willing to go to the cross in obedience. He was not willing to save Himself in disobedience, which He could have done. Matthew 26, 53-54. He made His choice. John 10, 18. The disciples also had a choice. When He had gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in Him. If God has been glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and He will glorify Him immediately. Little children, I will be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me, and as I said to the Jews, Where I am going, you can't come, so now I tell you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13, 31-35. 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 am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to Myself, that where I am, you may be there also. You know where I go, and you know the way. John 14, 1-4. The disciples were not focusing on Jesus' words. This is true. But they were being warned that not only was Jesus going to go, they were not to be troubled by it. They would feel, but they could choose not to emote. Not to give in to the sadness, the fear, the worry, the panic, and the stress. Not to do anything but hang on to the promises of the Lord. They'd been shown for some time at this point that Jesus was who He said He was in the Scriptures. The plan, which they did not follow, was the one they did follow after Jesus was taken up to heaven. All these, with one accord, continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. Acts 1, 14. That was what they were supposed to be doing when Jesus died. Not while He was on the cross, necessarily, because witnessing what He went through made for a massive witness. But after Jesus was put in the grave, they were to hold to the promise of His return in three days. And you can't say that they couldn't have known, because Jesus' enemies certainly did. Matthew 27, 63-64. The disciples missed it the first time, but they got it the second time, when Jesus was taken up to heaven. They successfully did what God wanted them to and prepared their hearts with eager hope until the Holy Spirit came upon them. Acts 2, 1-4. We are in the same boat as the disciples were. We know that Jesus has been taken to heaven, and we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. But we are awaiting Jesus' return. For our citizenship is in heaven, from where we also wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory according to the working by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself. Philippians 3, 20-21. I always thank my God concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you until the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1, 4-8. How will you be waiting? Will you be embracing fear, walking in all of the negative emotions that the world does, accepting as law all the feelings that the enemy stirs up in us or offers us? Are we going to bemoan our fate as being stuck in this world? Are we going to sigh loudly and accept a sinful nature, which we were redeemed from, Galatians 3.13, talking in serene tones about waiting for the fine time we'll have in heaven? Are you going to sit back on the seal of the Holy Spirit, on your spirit at your conversion, Ephesians 1.13, doing whatever we feel like while punching the clock because we were saved so we don't have to think about God or God stuff between then and our death? Are we going to accept the conditions of the curse, sickness, disease, lack, decay, as eternal fact and do nothing about them? Whether that's seeking healing or consulting doctors? How are we going to live our lives? I'm telling you that it is much more about what we accept as our starting point than it is about the specifics that we accomplish in any given area. Why? Because it is God who does the work in us, God who renews us, God who transforms us, God who provides for us physically, mentally, and spiritually. But if we walk in fear, we are not walking in faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, Hebrews 11.6. We need to grab hold of the faith that we have been given by grace, Ephesians 2.8-9. Grab hold of it, and then see where the Lord will take us. Let Him drive, but choose which vehicle you're going to sit in. Fear, like any other virus, is infectious. Nearly all viral infections are contagious. Viruses need to infect living things to reproduce, so human viruses survive by spreading between people. Fear is a spiritual virus. It needs to infect humanity to reproduce, because only males and females were given dominion here on earth, Genesis 1.26-27. Males and females are the only ones who can affect the spiritual climate around them and in themselves by free will. If you are out of that dichotomy, you're placing yourself where you were at the mercy of the enemy. Why? Because God designed authority in our fallen state to flow from God to the male to the female. It was not willy-nilly, it was our actions and our words when man fell. Everything operates this way because it is the way of responsibility. It is also how the world has ordered its own systems from governments to businesses to families. It's a structure that ensures that while there is responsibility and culpability on every level, there is a moment in any organization or group that ultimate responsibility has to be assumed by one person. But fear doesn't operate against authority. Fear operates against the males and females of this planet and anything else we decide to make ourselves into. But I'm not sure how much authority one has to stand against fear when you decide to step out of the male-female model. You kind of have to take that one to God. I'm still open to revelation, teaching and correction from the Lord surrounding the issue. In any case, fear infects someone and then moves to spread to another, and then another, and then another. Think of the runs on banks and financial institutions during major economic crashes. Think of the toilet paper panic-buying when health emergencies occur. Fear spreads, and fear is a killer. If you have faith in fear, what is left for the Lord? If you are ordering your steps according to the dictates and statutes of the kingdom of fear, nothing about what you are doing will have peace. Nothing about what you are doing will be motivated from love. It will be based in self, in flesh, and will be full of all the rotten things we seek to rid ourselves of. If we put our trust in the systems of the world, no matter how well-meaning, organized and effective, we are not putting our trust in the Lord. How can He guide our steps when we are looking to others? How can He pour blessing on us if we aren't standing in obedience? And if there is an individual like that, why would you want it to spread to others? A panic like that can spread through a church body until everyone is drowning in the worry of the world instead of standing on the rock of Jesus. Here in today's verse, the commanders of the military are asking all those who have their hearts anywhere but on the Lord to leave. That anyone who wasn't putting their trust in God to step away and head home. Why? Because they didn't want to spread fear. It didn't matter to them if it was a natural fear for approaching battle, a fear of injury or the sight of blood that might grip someone in the heat of battle, or a lack of trust in the pronouncement of the priests that the battle would be won with God's help. Deuteronomy 20, verse 2-4. They didn't care if the soldier was thinking longingly of their brand-new bride at home, their new house not even dedicated for use yet, or a vineyard that hadn't yet yielded fruit. Because walking with fear was not welcome. Anyone who in any way was not completely and totally trusting in the Lord to deliver them to victory was not welcome. It was time for battle. The time for tiptoeing around was over. The time for timidity had passed. They were about to enter the real deal, and only men of faith were required. We are in the same position today. We are entering the last of the days of this world. They may last a month, they may last a decade, they may last a century, or they may last some other block of time. But there is little time left. The Lord has been warning His church since He left. Don't get complacent. Don't be wishy-washy. In any time, don't forget there won't be warning. Prepare, preach, make disciples of all men, and hold fast to Me. This is our mission more than ever before, to abide in Jesus, to stay locked into the Father's Word, His renewal, His sanctification, His commands and statutes, and His will. To be obedient, to crucify ourselves every day and follow Jesus, to stay broken and humble before Him, to praise and worship Him as often as we can in thought, word, and deed. This is the mission of the church. Jesus gave it to us in Matthew 28, 18-20, Mark 16, 15-18, and Acts 1, verses 4-8. It has not changed. We are soldiers in the army of the Lord. We are in the powers, principalities, and the rulers of this age in the spiritual realm, as led by the Holy Spirit. Our battle is in our minds and in our hearts. We aren't heading out to combat. We're combating within ourselves. We're taking stands in the world. We're marching what the Father says, doing what He shows us, and saying what He tells us to say. We are servants of the Lord, yoked to Jesus, trusting in Him, relying on Him. Do not fear. Don't let it get you. Don't let it take up a place in your heart. Do not let your heart be troubled. Do not let your heart get discouraged. Hold fast to the Word. Believe Jesus. He cannot lie. Believe God. He isn't silent. And the overwhelming message is this. I will care for my beloved children. I will protect those who are obedient to me. So seek the Lord. Seek Jesus. Read the Word, and let its light shine in all of your life. If you seek Him, you will find Him. Don't be full of yourself. Empty yourself, and fill up on the Holy Spirit, the Word, and the Lord Himself. You will have peace. You will have love. You will be so far from fear and terror that they will be unable to come near you. Psalm 91. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When my foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident. One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the Lord's house all the days of my life to see the Lord's beauty secretly in His pavilion. In the secret place of His tabernacle He will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock. Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me. I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tent. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. Psalm 27. Verse 1 to 6. Lord, cover us, lift us, and smile on us as we rely on You. Thank You that You hold us in Your hand, that You are our provision, You are our security, You are our salvation, You are our shelter, You are our health, You are our passion, You are our everything. You are Yahweh, Lord God Almighty. You are more than enough. Thank You, Father, for the privilege of being Your sons and daughters. Amen and amen. Our daily affirmation of God's love is 1 Samuel 13.1. When we read this verse, we don't even think about it. Saul was 31 years old and reigned as king 42 years. Some manuscripts like the World English Bible say 30 years old. But those numbers are not in the original Hebrew. Some versions have blanks there. Others have a set of numbers. Some of the most reliable say that Saul was one year old when he became king and reigned for two years. Seems ridiculous, which is why most English translations use the other numbers. But the rabbis teach that when he became king, Saul was like a one-year-old child. He was uncorrupted. He was sinless in his new office. He was a blank slate. But within two years he had fallen. Only two years later the Lord took the mantle of leadership from him and granted it to another. 1 Samuel 15.26-35. Saul may have continued in the office of king over Israel, but all his God-given authority was gone. He was going through the motions, but there was no substance behind that crown. This can happen to any of us. If we're not willing to be broken before the Lord, if we're not willing to be obedient, if we continue to insist on our schedule, our times, and our efforts, we too could find the anointing passing to another. The thing is this. The Lord is going to do what the Lord is going to do. He will give us free will so that he had loving, obedient, and eager partners. If we won't be one, he's still going to do the thing. He will just go to another. He will find someone obedient. John 15.46 warns us of this. Remain in me and I in you. As the branch can't bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn't remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burnt. What are you wanting to be? In your innermost of innermost yous. Will you do what it takes or are you going to do it your way? Because that way doesn't work. Be obedient. Be diligent. Be corrected. Be willing to do what needs to be done in spite of personal discomfort. Do it eagerly as a service of love offered to the Lord. If you love him, you'll keep his commandments. John 14.15. If you want to be a part of what the Lord is doing, be obedient. Do what he says. When he says, how he says. Remember, when he calls you, he equips you because it is in Jesus, through Jesus, by Jesus, and for Jesus that we accomplish anything at all. As we close, remember that you have earth. 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. First 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.