No to No Hope

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith in God. It discusses the importance of not despairing and remembering God's past actions. It emphasizes the need to rely on the Lord and not be swayed by negative emotions or feelings. Jesus is portrayed as the one who seeks and values us, willing to give up everything for our sake. We are reminded that we are not lost, but found by 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 Psalm 42.5 Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence. Despair is a terrible thing. It's a complete loss or absence of hope. It is one of the, if not the, most satanic feeling a human can experience. Why? We are never without hope with the Lord. Period. If God is for us, why are we acting like no one and nothing can help us? How can we forget everything that he has done for us? How can we ignore what we've seen and experienced? It's the Ten Spies Syndrome. You remember those guys, right? They saw the plagues of Egypt. They saw the Lord deliver them by humbling the greatest nation on the earth and utterly exposing the gods of that nation, which were worshipped far and wide, as useless, powerless, impotent hunks of man-made garbage. They walked on dry land over where a large body of water used to be. They had victories against armies that came against them. Then they went into the land they had been promised and despaired. Can you see how foolish that was? Water split apart. No mud underneath, but dry ground. But people who were tall scared them. Their minds could not wrap around the wonder, impossibility, and craziness of the blood plague, the darkness plague, locusts, giant hailstones, frogs, boils, gnats. I mean, do you see it? The impossible fried their brains. They couldn't take it in, just experience it. These are the same people who God appeared to and physically spoke to, and they cried out to Moses, Don't let them do that again. It's going to kill us. Exodus 20.19 They chose to have Moses speak to them instead of God. Flesh, not spirit. When they came to the promised land, they made the same choice. They can't see God. They can't see all the things that God uses to move and work and provide victory. They can't understand it. They don't realize what's happening. They see tall walls, tall people, good weapons, and they melt inside. They're there, quaking in their boots. But we know from Rahab that the people in the land they were scared of had a different opinion. She said to the men, I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn't any more spirit in any man because of you. For Yahweh your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Joshua 2.9-11 The ten spies couldn't see it. Two did. Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. Numbers 13.30 And it tells us in Numbers 14.6-9 that Joshua was with Caleb in this. They had no fear because they were depending completely on the Lord. They did not despair. They knew they had been told to take the land, and they sought as rebellion against the Lord not to do exactly that. But those despairing ten disagreed. They spread the report. They got people in on it. They wanted the people to believe it, and the people did. It's always so much easier to believe the negative than the positive. To believe what's in front of our eyes instead of what is in our spirit. So, they wanted the message of the two to disappear. And they came in chapter 14.10 But all the congregation threatened to stone them with stones. When you despair, you're even willing to kill to stay in hopelessness. It's true. That's flesh rising up right there. If you don't agree with me, you go on social media and post something against the world. Don't be mean. Don't be vicious. Just state that you think maybe that group of people might be misguided. Now, how is that comment a threat, right? You're not even saying they are. You're just raising the possibility. And you know what? You'll get slammed and slammed hard. If they know where you live, they might even show up and slap you one upside the head. It's happened. The flesh is dark, deep dirt. It's a crowded marketplace. It's the fathomless depths of the ocean. It's there. We can see it. It covers its sins. You don't know what's under the ground or the water. Good things, bad things, you just don't know. It can look pristine and have jaggedness right there under the surface. It's easy to stumble. It's easy to fall. And when you fall, it's easy to feel that you're buried, drowning, stuck, floundering, and unable to get free. Ever get lost as a child? When you were in a busy place? Malls and department stores are busy places. Hundreds upon thousands of people going places, doing things, and no one's looking at where they're going and what their bodies are doing. Easy to be knocked aside, separated from who you're with and everything else. It's easy to be alone, afraid, untethered. Feelings are cold things. Anger, passion, fear, happiness, yea or nay. In the end, they're cold things. They have no stake in you. They change like the wind or they're like a feather blown about by the wind. There's no security to a feeling. They're destined to change. Experiences and physical sensations are the birthplace of feelings. They are a conscious experience. They waft over us. They are the thing we think we can control because they come through our conscious mind, fed by those sensations, fed by the experiences we have. That's why we put so much weight on them. They're flesh. We can touch flesh. Emotions, on the other hand, are deep and complicated things. We can experience them consciously, but their birthplace is in the unconscious. We can bring them to the surface, but they dwell down in there. They are fed by what's in our hearts, and they are fed by what is in our spirit. But of course, if your spirit is dead, unsaved, unbelieving, and without Christ, then all you have is what is in your heart. We've put into our hearts what our minds dwell on. Proverbs 4, 23. Matthew 6, 21. That can be scary. Some people relish feelings, but avoid their emotions. Or they spend decades trying to plumb the depths of it with psychoanalysis. Or they try and control their emotions. The only real way to control our emotions is by maintaining a positive heart. Put in bad, bad comes out. Put in good, good comes out. There is a root to them that feelings don't have. But feelings are what we see, feel, taste, and touch the most. Those ephemeral, capricious, and untrustworthy things are the tall people behind tall walls with good weapons that we are spying out. Sadly, most of the time we give in to them. We let them rule the roost and control what we do, what we say, what we believe, and what we teach to our children. Combine that with the deep, dark, impersonal world around us and we have the makings of real nightmares. That feeling of being out of control. That feeling of being unable to get a handle on things. That feeling of being somewhere you don't want to be and getting further and further from where you want to be. When you stop seeing the light that can guide you to fresh air and open spaces, what reason do you have to keep going? That is despair. That is where hope dies. But Jesus doesn't see it the same way. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matthew 13, 44. Jesus is in that field looking for us. He's been calling for us since before the field existed. John 1, 1-3 and Matthew 25, 34. He gave up everything, left behind his deity, his nature. He stepped out from his place in heaven into mortal flesh. More than that, he chose to pay the price of what we did. For him who knew no sin, he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5, 21. He wasn't content with finding us in the world. He purchased the world for us. Revelation 1, 8 and John 16, 33. That is our worth. We are not lost. We just don't realize we've been found. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who was a merchant seeking fine pearls. Who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13, 45-46. It doesn't matter how crazy, how crowded or how much other merchandise is around. Jesus is searching for those who have value, not in their own eyes, but in the eyes of the Father. They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the eyes of those who truly see. Jesus truly sees. He sees us as the Father sees us. He paid for us with every stripe laid on his body, every blow, every thorn, every piece of his beard torn out. He took the punishment. He took the hate. He took the shame. He did it all so that you could be found. Your freedom could be purchased. We are not slaves to the system. We are not slaves to our old nature. We are renewed and freed from the place we once inhabited. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some fish of every kind, which, when it was filled, fishermen drew upon the beach. They sat down and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13, 47-50 God loves us so much. He doesn't want to see even one of us lost. 1 Timothy 2.4, 2 Peter 3.9 He has such a heart for us. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not. Matthew 23, 37 He wants to gather us in, but we keep saying no. We keep trying to swim out of His net. It isn't that the Lord wants to restrict us. He wants to see us righteous. There's a big difference. The first is control, abusive authority. The other is loving guidance, necessary correction, sheltering mercy and grace. God is looking for you. Anywhere you are, even the depthless sea. He's looking for you, and He's done all that He can to make sure that you can come to Him, so that He can give you His righteous spirit, so that you have something to build your emotional life on, so that we have something that we can use to be nurtured, so that we can choose not to be disturbed by feelings. We can let them blow and trust in the Lord. His very presence is a balm. His word is a warm blanket to wrap up in, to snuggle into the truth. In this world of shifting sand, Jesus is our warm rock to bask on. Never despair. We don't have to live by feelings. Look at what He did for you. Don't believe the lies. Don't believe the hype. Don't believe the feelings. Trust that He is there, because He said that He would be there, regardless of feeling, regardless of what you can see, taste, touch and smell. Jesus is with you. Jesus is always with you. His wings are above you and around you, bringing you in from being lost and nestling you there. Read Psalm 27. Read Psalm 91. If we are obedient and humble toward the Lord, the Lord is able to provide for us. The Lord loves us and is seeking for each and every one of us. Every last one. If you aren't already, get under His wings and stay there. There is everything you need. There is healing there too. Malachi 4, 2-4. Mental healing, emotional healing, spiritual healing, you name it. The healing word was released during His Passion. With every stripe they tore into His flesh, He released healing. Believe it. Receive it. Praise Him for the saving help of His presence. Amen. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Numbers 14.8. What pleases the Lord? Faith. We know this from Hebrews 11. And we know from Romans 14.23 that if it is not faith, then it is sin. Faith is manifested obedience as much as it is belief. Colossians 1.10 tells us to walk worthily in the Lord, pleasing Him in all aspects. And you can't please Him without faith. And if it doesn't have faith in it, then it's sin. Wow. How do we do that? Well, it means we need Jesus in everything we do. We need obedience in everything we do. Man, that sounds hard. Figuring out what the Lord wants in every situation and then how to be obedient to Him in that. No. No, it's easier to bring Jesus into everything. Now, Jesus told us to submit to Him. To yoke ourselves with Him. It's Matthew 11.28-30. That it wouldn't be burdensome. We need to be yoked to Him. Joined. Inseparable. Easy to say. Hard to do. But we can do it. The Holy Spirit is here to guide us in all things. John 16.13. We can bring Jesus into every single thing we do. Every thought we choose to participate in. Every word we say. If Jesus is part of who we are and what we do, how can we disobey? He's right there where we are consciously putting Him. We won't need to figure out the rules, the action plan. We can just ask Him. He won't tell us anything that is against the Word. So that's another avenue we have. Inform your heart in the Word. And inform your life. We will overcome in every situation in Jesus. Because Jesus is the overcomer. It may not seem that way to our human eyes. Or the world around us. But spiritually, we will be totally, absolutely, and utterly victorious. Try it. Get into Jesus. And get Jesus into you 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 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 loved us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.