Ready for What's Coming

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear. Fear is seen as a spiritual force and the currency of darkness and ignorance. The speaker emphasizes the importance of faith in God and accepting His word as truth. They discuss how human rights are arbitrary and that as spiritual beings, humans have authority given by God. Prayer is highlighted as a powerful tool for believers. The speaker also mentions the strategy of praying according to the will and word of God, as outlined in the book of Ephesians. They conclude by encouraging listeners to trust in God's love and to remember that they are precious and valuable to Him. 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 Proverbs 31.21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you. Exodus 24.8 He sprinkled the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry in the same way with the blood. According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no remission. Hebrews 9.19-22 Being prepared has been a watchword of scouts all over the world for decades. There's a lot of money to be made selling preparedness kits of various kinds, earthquake kits, for example. Even the multi-billion dollar military budgets of the world's nations can be put down to being prepared. All of it runs on fear. Almost no one approaches these things saying, It's wise to be prepared, so I'll make sure I'm ready. Almost every person, nation, and situation approaches preparing in case something doesn't happen to you, instead of being ready in case it does. All over the world, terrible things are happening, real ones and imagined. People are being oppressed for simply being in a given location. Others are being oppressed because of their choices, whether they see them as choices or not. In both cases, terrible things are being done. Human rights are being violated. Except human rights are an arbitrary thing. We as humans have decided we have rights, and we've told each other that we have them. That isn't the truth. The truth is we have no more rights in the natural world than an animal does because of sin. We lost our authority. We gave it up. We gave up our position to being the same as those around us. And the enemy has worked overtime to reinforce this message so that we classify ourselves as animals. We look at our passions and emotions in the light of the animal kingdom. Our feelings have become king because those without a spirit only look at body and soul. Those without a spirit are simply part of the natural order. But we aren't really in the natural. We are spiritual beings. We don't have animal kingdom rights. But because we are spiritual beings, we were given something better. We were given authority. God gave us this world and everything in it. We had dominion. We gave that away and became just like everything else on the planet, no better than animals. In fact, we were suddenly in danger from some of them. No rights. But once you have something, you find it hard to walk away. When you're used to something, you don't like being without it. We no longer had authority, so we made up rights. We decided on a series of things that are ours as people, constantly changing what those are and taking them away from each other, which is a terrible thing that the enemy loves because it feeds into our dehumanization. It's a terrible cycle, and it is full of fear. But in our verse, this woman is not afraid. She is full of confidence. Her household is covered in righteousness and grace by the Lord's grace. We've been given the faith to believe on him, Ephesians 2, 8-9, to believe on his death for our sins and his rising from the dead to be our living Lord, 1 Thessalonians 4, 14-17. By his grace, we have been given his righteous nature, which holds the authority of this world, and we are given permission to use it, 2 Peter 1, 2-4, and Matthew 28, 19-20. So she did. She claimed prosperity. Her family has the right clothes to survive a winter, Matthew 7, 9-11. Her family has the spiritual tools to survive a tribulation, whether it's bullets or bombs or name-calling and human rights, 2 Corinthians 4, 8-9. God has recovered, Isaiah 43, 1-2. She and her family have gone to Jesus and gotten hold of the word and read it and read it and they've praised and they've praised and they've spent time with Jesus and made a relationship with the Lord. They have the word of God on their hearts and minds and tongues, Colossians 3, 2-5. They are ready and they will pray. You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 2-5. Priesthood is tied to sacrifices. We have been made priests, Revelation 1, 6, and part of the jurisdiction of our priestly ministry requires offering up sacrifices unto God, Revelation 5, 8, 8, 3-4, and Psalm 141, 2. The primary medium for offering the sacrifice of priesthood for the believer is prayer, Philippians 4, 6. It is a powerful tool when strife comes our way. Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven, Matthew 18, 18. This doesn't mean heaven where the Lord dwells, but the heavens where the principalities and powers we fight dwell, Ephesians 6, 12. Binding and loosing doesn't have to be about binding, loosing a personality. It isn't change to permanently keep something away either. Think of it more as a restraining order covering a specific set of circumstances. After all, Jesus told Satan to get behind him on more than one occasion, and if anyone could find Satan, it was Jesus. But binding and loosing can be about something more than a single entity. It can be about the circumstance you were in. It can be about the situation, not the agents bringing it, the event itself. But more than that, the result. We can choose what we experience. Deuteronomy 30, 15 to 19, John 10, 10, and Romans 12, 12. Prayer is the only avenue by which we in Jesus achieve it, which is why prayer must be according to the will of God. Romans 8, 15 and Matthew 6, 5 to 15. Our weapons are not natural. Our armor isn't natural. It's all spiritual because our battle is spiritual. That is why we are helpless. We have nothing on our own. John 15, 4 to 5. Jesus was in the same boat before he was resurrected. John 5, 19. Man fell. We gave up our position. Only Jesus can give it back. Only Jesus is fully man, walking in his full spirit potential. Hebrews 1, 3 to 4. Jesus, by doing what he did, becoming man, dying for sins he did not commit, and being resurrected again back into his godhood as a man, paid the price for sin and took back the authority we lost. Jesus has it. Matthew 28, 18. We have access to it only through Jesus. And Jesus, he only does what his Father shows him to do. John 5, 19 to 20 and 12, 49 to 50. Since we are in him, we also can only do what the Father shows us. We pray that his will is done. That what has been accomplished in heaven through Calvary comes to pass manifesting on the earth. That's what the Lord's Prayer is all about. Finding the will of God through the Word. Finding out what the Lord has already done and praying that it comes to pass on the earth. That we accept it and live it. We plant that seed and we stand in praise as the Lord grows it into our harvest of reality. 2 Corinthians 4, 18. So why do we have to fight and stand and keep our eyes on the Word and what it promises? After we've prayed all that? Because Satan comes against us to try and get us to not do that. 1 Thessalonians 2, 18. This is why we pray. And pray according to the will and the Word of the Lord God Almighty. There are powers here to delay and come against us. Now Ephesians is a book that gives us the strategy by which we pray. Satan is bold. He will challenge every word God speaks to us. Only by Jesus can we hope to stand against the assault. But stand we can. Hope we can have. 1 Peter 1, 21. Because Jesus already won the victory. He says in John 16, 33. I have told you these things that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble. But cheer up. I have overcome the world. The woman of our verse is not afraid. She and her household are covered by the blood of the Lamb and ready to face the world in Jesus. Are you? When sickness knocks, will you fear it and worry it and dwell on it and give in to it? Or will you kick it in the teeth with scripture after scripture until it gives up and runs away? Until you're fully persuaded? Leaving you whole and healthy and content. Masking in the presence of Jesus. We abide in him so that our spirits prosper. And when our spirits prosper, all things follow, including health, peace, and joy. 3 John 1, 2. Psalm 24, 3-4. And Ephesians 4, 17-32. Don't be afraid of tribulations. Be ready. Be prepared. Abide in the word. Abide in the Lord Jesus. Walk hand in hand with Jesus. Jesus has the victory. It brings you peace. Such wonderful peace. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Hosea 11. Do you have kids? Or you're close to somebody who does? Do you remember when those kids learned to walk? All the encouragement and attention that was lavished on those kids. How exciting each and every step was. The child wasn't punished for falling or failing. For again and again falling on their butts. The laughs, tears, and cheers when success came. And when it was repeated. Again and again until that child was walking so well the parents start telling it to stop running in the house. The Lord taught us to walk. Is teaching us to walk. And never, ever tells us to stop running in His house. He loves us. And He laughs at us. And loves on us. And encourages us. And doesn't punish us. And wants us running in His spirit. Not just walking. God loves us. And we are His children. Run to Him. And give Him a hug today. 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, 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.