Storm with Words

Fear No Fear is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear in all its forms. Fear is a spiritual force used by Satan to keep people down. We champion faith and trust in God, accepting His word as truth. We are called to speak and do what the Lord asks, even if it's uncomfortable. We should not fear what others may say or do to us because God is with us. We are to love one another and speak truth in love to sow the seeds God wants sown. We have victory in Jesus and should speak His word with boldness. Jesus was untouchable until He chose to lay down His life. As believers, we walk in total victory if we are filled with the Holy Spirit and abide in Jesus. Persecution may come, but it has a purpose and leads to eternal reward. We should obey God's word and trust in His love for us. God's love endures forever and we are precious to Him. We should 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 Ezekiel 2.6 You, son of man, don't be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briars and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Don't be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. The word of the Lord goes forth on a daily basis. We, all believers, can hear from the Lord. The Holy Spirit constantly communicates to us. We can hear what He wants us to do. John 14.26 If He calls you to do something, He has also anointed you to do that thing, and therefore He has equipped you to do that thing. Hebrews 13.20-21 There are times, though, that speaking or doing what the Lord asks is not the most comfortable of things. But it can be. Ezekiel was being sent to speak to a rebellious house, a people who would not listen, a people who were rebels against the Lord and were against those things the Lord was for. It was not going to be a comfortable assignment in the way we humans look at things. But the Lord also told Ezekiel the same thing He tells us. Don't be afraid. He was told not to be afraid of them, or of their words, or of any deadly prickles that are lying about, or of their looks, and again, of their words. He repeated those words. He didn't say the message would be softened. He did not say it was going to be pleasant to a human ear. But that was still not a reason to fear. We have nothing to fear when God sends us out. James tells us in 4.7, Be subject, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. This is in the section, Warning About Friendship With the World, that if we seek to be friends with the world and compromise with them, we set ourselves against God. This means the opposite is also true. If we set ourselves against the world and refuse to compromise with them, we stand with God. And we won't have to fear, because we can resist the devil. James goes on to say in verse 8, Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Again, why should we fear anything if God is with us? Haven't I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed. For Yahweh, your God, is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1.9 In the old covenant, when God told you to go forth, there was no reason to fear, because He went forth beside you. Deuteronomy 31.8 In the new covenant, the Lord goes forth within us. John 14.23 How much more should we not fear? Not of what people may say, or think, or attack us with, or scorn us, or ostracize us, or ghost us, or anything else they can do. So that with good courage we say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? Hebrews 13.6 They can brand us anti-this or anti-that, a non-ally, a bigot. But if we are speaking truth, if we are obedient to the actions and words that the Lord has given us to do and say, what difference does that make? We are not to say or do anything with scorn or judgment. Proverbs 3.33-34 We don't serve by making them feel bad. We don't serve by cutting them down. Not even the Holy Spirit is judging them. His mission is to convict, not to judge. Jesus paid the price for all sin. Remember, sin isn't a factor. We're to love one another. John 13.34-35 Telling truth in love in order to help. To sow the seeds God wants sown. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of not accepting Christ. That is not our job. We are to speak truth in love. Love one another. Obey and praise the Lord. Joshua led the Israelites out of the desert and into warfare against an impregnable city behind massive walls. Joshua knew it was his job. He knew he was equipped to do it. But he didn't know how. An angel came to him. Joshua 5.13-6.5 God told Joshua, don't look at the wall. Just shout when I tell you to shout. It may look foolish, but I'm ministering to you and through you. I have victory for you. Just do what I say and shout your victory. Tear down that wall with your words. It may not act like it's going to fall, but it has got to fall today. Goliath came against the Israelites, 1 Samuel 17. But David stood up and said some things. He said, you come with weapons, but I come with the Lord. You're delivered to me already. I'm going to take your head. I'm going to give the dead bodies of your armies to the birds. This battle is the Lord's, and it's already won, and everyone is going to know God did this for us. Words. Words backed up by the Lord God Almighty. In neither case did silence last. There was silence before the victory. Joshua and the camp marching around the city six days. David walking into the valley, holding his staff, selecting his stones, and getting within shouting distance. When the time came to speak, when the time came for volume, those fighting with the Lord spoke and spoke strong, yelling what they were told to yell. Don't you ever march toward your giant in silence. When the moment comes for victory to be in your hand, the word of God had better be in your mouth. All the silent meditation and obedience before that point will avail you nothing if you are not speaking the word of the Lord with all that you have. For God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. Second Timothy 1.7. One of the reasons that Jesus had to be forsaken on the cross is that if the spirit of holiness and the favor of the Father had remained on Jesus, he wouldn't have been able to die. It's true. When Jesus was fully filled with the Holy Spirit and walking in the will of the Father, he was untouchable. They were all filled with wrath in the synagogue as they heard these things. They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff. But he, passing through the middle of them, went his way. Luke 4.28-30 They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand. He went away again, beyond the Jordan, to the place where John was baptizing at first, and he stayed there. John 10.39-40 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them. And when they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet. Matthew 21.45-46 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them, I am he. Judas also, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When therefore he said to them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground. John 18.5-6 Jesus answered, You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. John 19.11 No one could touch Jesus unless he let them. We know that from John 10.18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father. The enemy could not touch Jesus. He was in total victory. It was only when Jesus chose to lay down his life, and the Father turned away as Jesus became our sin, 2 Corinthians 5.21, that Jesus was placed in the power of the enemy by full intent and permission, mind you. Now God is not a respecter of persons. Acts 10.34 and Romans 2.11-16 Jesus was a man. Philippians 2.5-8 We are men, humankind, male and female, as he made us. Genesis 1.27 You know what that means? That means if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, which is our right as believers, Matthew 3.11, if we are operating according to the will of the Father, which is the Word of God, John 5.36-38, if we are abiding in Jesus, and Jesus is in us, John 15.1-11, then we walk in total victory as Jesus did, 1 Corinthians 15.57. Doesn't that mean spiritually? Yes, yes it does. But it can also mean here on this world because Jesus had it. But guess what? Jesus was also persecuted and promises that we will be too, Matthew 5.10-12. But it will be persecution according to a greater plan. There will be intent and purpose to it, just like with Christ. I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation, the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ has come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before God day and night. They overcame Him because of the Lamb's blood and because of the word of their testimony. They didn't love their life even to death. Revelation 12.10-11. Persecution here, reward in heaven. Here temporary, heaven eternal. Might not be pleasant while it's happening, but it passes and reward is forever. Now that's a good trade-off in my opinion. Jesus is with us from a temporary, earthly point of view or an eternal one who can stand against us. Romans 8.31. When we have a word from God, we should obey. It may not be pleasant to the flesh, but we should obey. It may be glorious in the natural. It may be glorious only in the spiritual, but we should obey. He has us covered, Psalm 91. He will never leave us. In fact, we cannot get away from His presence. Romans 8.38-39. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Be obedient and let God justify us. 1 Corinthians 6.11. He will. His love for us is steadfast and eternal, Psalm 118. 1 Peter 5.10-11. But may the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Psalm 117. There is nothing greater in all this universe than all the other universes that might be in the love of the Lord God Almighty. And who does God love? Us. You and me. Tiny specks of dirt in the roiling vastness of creation. We are the apple of His eyes. His loving kindness is the greatest gift. From it comes the faith and grace to receive salvation. The Christ Jesus, our risen Lord. And it endures forever. It began before time and it will continue after time ticks its last. God is love, 1 John 4.16. And love is of God, 1 John 4, 7-8. And God endures forever. Praise the Lord. Thank Him for His mercy and loving kindness every day of your life, now and forever. Amen. 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 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.