Defeat Talking Heads

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that rejects fear. Fear is a spiritual force used by Satan to keep people down. The main weapon of Satan is words of fear. Instead, we should have faith in God and accept His word as truth. Perfect love casts out fear. There are many people who create unrest with their words, and we shouldn't be influenced by them. Satan wants us dead, lost, and disobedient. We shouldn't be fools who say "it doesn't matter." It does matter. We should focus on the character of Jesus and be calm and still. We should listen and learn from God. He knows the truth in every situation. We have the authority to still the storms in our lives. Trust in God and His love for us. Remember that you are valuable and loved by God. His 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 Isaiah 7.4. Tell him, Be careful and keep calm. Don't be afraid. Neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking torches, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Ramaliah. Footnote, consider them as stubs of firebrands whose flame has been extinguished. The world is full of talkers, people who call themselves all sorts of labels. Some they've appropriated, others they've made up on their own. They wave flags both national and symbolic. They talk about pride or rights. They shove their way to the front of the line and think that the world should pay attention to whatever opinions they have. They're firebrands, those who create unrest or strife, as in aggressively promoting a cause. They can be on either side of an issue, and often are on both. Loudmouths that trigger other loudmouths until there is so much smoke flying around that the average person can't tell the truth from a lie, from a better lie. It can get confusing, and it can get deadly. You were of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8, 33 Be sober and self-controlled, be watchful. Your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5, 8 You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. Ephesians 2, 1-2 Satan isn't idle. He goes back and forth throughout the earth. Job 1, 7 He likes us to think that he's powerful, but he isn't everywhere. He has to get from place to place. He wants us to think that he's mighty, but his main weapon is words, hot air. Not that he isn't good at working those words, but they are, in fact, just words. He needs us. He needs us more than we ever thought that we needed him. He needs us to do his work. He's a murderer and he wants us all dead. Dead, lost, and disobedient. His big tool in this generation to eliminate us is this. It doesn't matter. He wants you mocking everything so that you can disregard all of it. It doesn't matter. Look at those nuts being ridiculous. That whole thing is garbage. Look at those who are so passionate about how they are and what they feel. You know what? Let them be them. It doesn't matter. This party, that party, the new way of doing things, the old way of doing things. Nothing really changes and the same people are in place most of the time. It doesn't matter. When looking at human behavior and values, the message and the language of condemnation is the language of children. It should be beneath us if we have even a mark of maturity. But the message and language of condoning is the language of fools. Fools are dangerous because fools say that it doesn't matter. It is a serious thing. Jesus warns us not to call one another fools, not because the word itself is bad, but because we shouldn't be labeling each other, cursing and seeding that into each other's lives. A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion. A fool's lips come into strife and his mouth invites beatings. A fool's mouth is his destruction and his lips are a snare to his soul. Proverbs 18, 2, 6, and 7. Don't be hasty in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools. Ecclesiastes 7, 9. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable deeds. There is no one who does good. Psalm 14, 1. This is not the person you want to be. This is not the world view you want. Not in your eyes, not in your ears, and not in your heart. It does matter. These things do matter. Things are not to be condoned, but they're not to be attacked with foolish words and actions either. We are not to be firebrands whose flame has been extinguished. Everything is about the uprightness and character of Jesus. The life of the anointed one needs to swallow us up by the mercy of God. Deuteronomy 7, 9. Psalm 25, 10. Ephesians 2, 4-5. Hebrews 4, 14-16. How do we get careful and calm and not afraid and not let our heart be faint because of all this firebrand smoke, lies, and mess? There's only one solution to calm your mind and focus on what Jesus wants. How he wants us to be, how he wants us to approach things, and how he wants us to speak. The Lord's peace. Philippians 4, 6. To be quiet, to be still, and know that he is Lord. Psalm 46, 10-11. Essentially, to shut our mouths and listen. To learn. Mark 6, 34. If you know that the Lord is God, then you know what he is capable of. You know what he can do and what his protection and favor means. Do you think the Lord is confused that the maker of the universe doesn't know what the truth is? Not what a particular individual believes is true, but the actual truth? We serve a God who cannot lie, Titus 1-2, and who sees through lies, 1 John 1-5. He cannot be talked around, Matthew 7-21. He knows what is happening and he knows what the truth is in every situation, 1 John 3-20. You cannot bluff him, Hebrews 4, 12-13. No one can. 1 Corinthians 2-10. When the disciples panicked in the storm, that's Mark 4, 35-41, Jesus didn't because he knew that the Lord his Father was God. He knew that in the spiritual realm there was no storm, there was no fuss, there was only peace. So Jesus stood, used God's faith, and stilled the storm. He was fully persuaded and he called it from the spiritual world to the natural world. He continues to still the storms today. He gave us the authority to do exactly what he did, exactly the same way that he did by the will of the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus, we can do the same. Whether the storm around us is physical, spiritual, or just a firebrand spouting their favorite rhetoric, the Lord is capable of stilling them, of stilling the storm and protecting you from its effects, to blow away the smoke, reveal the truth, and give you the words you need and the way to say them to proclaim his truth, Luke 12-12. I recommend doing what the Word advises. Listen to the Word, Proverbs 2, 1-5. Take heed, pay attention, and give attention to his words. Remember, he doesn't lie. Be calm, have peace. Use his if you have none of your own. It's yours by grace as a fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5, 22-26. Choose to praise the Lord, to read the Word, and to decide to use faith. Do not fear, and don't give up. Keep your mind on God. Every time something tries to take it off, put it right back on the Lord and his Word. Any way you can, every time. Do not give up. Do not stop. Trust the Lord. Trust God. Trust Jesus. He won't let you down. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Matthew 7, 7-11. The Father in heaven is our Father. We are his children. And since we are children, he wants to protect us and give us gifts and take care of us. If we will seek him, we will find out things about him. If we knock on the door, Jesus will open it. If we are persistent, he will be faithful. He loves us, and his mercy and steadfast love endure forever. 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.