Anti-Fluff Courage

This transcription is about rejecting fear and embracing faith. It discusses the story of Elijah, who had to have an uncomfortable conversation with a king. Despite his fears, Elijah obeyed God and had the conversation, and everything turned out fine. The transcription emphasizes the importance of relying on the Holy Spirit for guidance and being obedient to God. It also talks about the unique nature of believers and the power of praising God and seeking Him first. The transcription ends with a reminder of God's love for us and encourages us to declare and appreciate the things that God loves about us. 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 2 Kings 1.15 Yahweh's angel said to Elijah, Go down with him, don't be afraid of him. Then he arose and went down with him to the king. There are times when the conversations we need to have are uncomfortable. We like to always have positive things to say, nice things. Most people don't want to have conversations that are uncomfortable. Family members, friends, a boss, co-worker, teacher, a spouse or significant other. The more unpleasant the words you have to say are, the harder they get. And they get infinitely worse when the person we have to talk to has authority or power. No one likes these kinds of conversations. We like fluff talk. When facing conversations with real issues, we need to stay focused. When we lose that focus, we can pick up stress, anxiety and fear. Now Elijah didn't pull many punches. When he dealt with people, he told it like it was. All his waffling or whining he did before the Lord, not to whom he was sent. Which is how it should be. In today's verse, he had a conversation ahead of him that wasn't going to be pleasant. He was being asked to appear before the king who wanted to speak to Elijah face to face. The king had fallen and lay sick. He wanted to know if he was going to live and had sent messengers to ask the God of another country. The Lord God of Israel was not happy. And he sent a message through Elijah. Elijah stopped the messengers and sent them back to the king with the Lord's message. The king wasn't happy either. And he wanted Elijah. He wasn't going to be nice. Elijah probably didn't want to go. The soldiers did not make it any easier. Now they were doing their job, but they weren't being nice about it. They were demanding, rude even. The implication was come with us or we're going to rough you up and take you anyway. Now Elijah was used to rough kings and their wives. Ahab, Jezebel. These were not people to treat servants of the Lord well. Jezebel had slaughtered many of them. And here were soldiers demanding Elijah come with them. I doubt he wanted to go. I doubt he assumed it was going to be fine. In fact, it took three separate groups of soldiers to do it. The first two groups were so threatening, telling him that he would come walking or being dragged along the ground, that Elijah appealed to the Lord for protection. It was only the third group who really asked. And that was when the angel of the Lord told Elijah that it was safe to go. To not be afraid. Elijah didn't have to go, have the difficult conversation. But he did. He only went because the Lord told him it was going to be fine. That there was nothing to worry about. Elijah had seen some great things in his life. He'd been no stranger to danger. He had chosen to walk in faith in the face of no provision you could see. He trusted the Lord. When the angel told him the Lord said not to fear, he didn't fear. He went, spoke his peace, remained safe and untouched, and went his way. And the king died on his bed, just as Elijah said he would. It wasn't easy. But God was with him, and he did it. But when did we lose that? That attitude? We don't tell the neighbors about our faith, if we even know who they are. We don't tell our co-workers. When people find out that we're believers, they're often surprised. This shouldn't be. We're supposed to be people of faith, aren't we? Doing what the Lord shows us to do and saying what the Lord tells us to say. When we speak, miracles can come out of our mouths. But they don't happen because we want them to, James 4.3. They happen when we say what the Lord tells us to say. It's what Jesus did. He was fully man, remember? As far as procedural things go, Jesus was the same as us. He was told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and how to phrase it. He chose to submit to that, and look what he did. Jesus told us we could do everything he did, John 14.12. But Jesus was totally, utterly, inside and out, submitted to the Father. Are we? Are we even trying? We can't do it on our own. We need God to go with our flesh. We need Jesus. In him, we can do all things, because he never, ever, ever does things outside the will of the Father. And we shouldn't either. We have an advantage that Elijah didn't have. The Holy Spirit rested on him, but resides in us. The Spirit is here to hold our hands and guide us in all truth. Challenging conversations aren't about being vulnerable. They aren't about being wounded, or about the wounds of the people you're talking to. They are about truth, and they are about honesty. They are about trust, and building the other people up. Truth doesn't cut, or wound, or bruise. It just is. The issue is how we present it. It's our manners, words, and gestures that kick everything up. You know who doesn't kick up pain? Holy Spirit. You know who always has the right words? Holy Spirit. You know who makes wrongs right, storms calm, and fear love? Holy Spirit. Why aren't we relying on him anymore? Why isn't he the go-to for everything we do? I don't mean crippling ourselves and needing to hear everything before we do it. I am talking about walking so hand-in-hand with him that we'll know before we do it, or before the words leave our lips, if it is a hit or a miss. Whether we understand the whys and ramifications or not. We can operate in love and joy by choice. Not letting fear in. Not letting the worry about being hurt in. Not letting judgment over success or failure be a factor. Not getting hung up over whether it is doctrinally accepted by the whole church or not. Uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure can be vulnerable feeling situations. We do need courage to face them. But feelings are not real. They are simply sensory input. We don't need courage because of the feelings. We need courage to obey. Obedience to the Holy Spirit. Letting him guide us. Letting the Word guide us. Your Word is a lamp to my feet. A light for my path. I have sworn and have confirmed it that I will obey your righteous ordinances. I am afflicted very much. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your Word. Psalm 119, 105-107. The Word. Why was Jesus able to do what Jesus did considering that he was a full man? We're full men. Totally human. He was totally human. What was the difference? The Spirit. Jesus did not have the Spirit that descended from Adam. The dead Spirit we have. Jesus had a living Spirit. A righteous Spirit. We approach all these things from the fallen side. Jesus was approaching them from the unfallen. The Word became flesh. John 114. The Word is the will and the heart of the Father. And that is what entered the flesh. Jesus had all the choices we do. But he was being informed by the Spirit. His flesh told Jesus the same stuff our flesh tells us. But he had another voice in his inner self. The Spirit that was righteous and living and connected with the Lord. He studied the Word. Luke 2.46. The Word informed Jesus. It was his nature. We're believers. We are the redeemed. Galatians 3.13-14. We have the nature of Jesus in us. Galatians 2.20. We all have the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12.7. He gave it to us all. By grace. Through faith. We are new creations. Redeemed. Unique. Do you know how you know you're unique? You were created in his image. Genesis 1.26. What is his image? Here is Israel. Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one. Deuteronomy 4.6. Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is unique. For Yahweh your God. He is a God of gods and Lord of lords. The great God. The mighty and the awesome. Who doesn't respect persons or take bribes. Deuteronomy 10.17. He is unique. We are unique. He treats us all the same. And you can't bribe him. How can the Spirit of the living God dwell in us? We were made in his image. So we are compatible. We were made to commune with him. To be able to recognize him and worship him in spirit and truth. John 4.23-24. Jesus says in John 15 that we are to live in him and he will live in us. He is the vine. We are the branches. We get from him the ability to do all things because he is in us doing the things. Jesus does it all. What is our part? Choice. We can choose to be obedient. We can choose the fruit of the spirit. We can praise God instead of worrying. We can praise God instead of being fearful. We can praise God instead of being anxious. We can praise God instead of being depressed. It isn't that we are denying those things. I have been all those things. But what are we putting in our heart? Will we take what is in our head and internalize it? Or will we seek the word? Put it into our hearts. And let it rise up under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to alter our head. Getting into the Bible and having a song of praise on my lips is the only thing that rescues me. Don't just push things back for a time, whether with medication or with therapy, not saying they don't help or that it's wrong to take them. But I'm saying there's a better way. Jesus' way. Seek Jesus first and the need for other paths falls away. It happens over time or instantaneous, depending on what the Lord wants to accomplish, what you can handle, and what's going to give Him glory. Jesus can do it, though, and do it for the rest of always. Pushing things back for a time is old covenant thinking. We are in the new covenant of Jesus' blood. We have no barriers between us and God, none. We can come singing and praising through the outer court, inner court, holy place, and right up to the throne in the innermost holy of holies. God loves us. He's happy that we believe. We will please Him when we are obedient. He loves you and will correct us. He is joyful about us. When we take up our cross and sing our way down the road, a righteous peace awaits us. Give your thoughts to Jesus. Bring them into submission through Him, 2 Corinthians 10.5. What He gives back to us through the Spirit is so much better. A peaceful mind, free from fears, educating passions, and moral conflicts. Peace. Real peace. What a gift. Open yours today. Our daily affirmation of God's love is John 13, 27-30, and John 17, 20-24. First, Jesus gets betrayed by one of the people He was closest to. Someone He kept near and dear, holding back nothing. Second, Jesus prays for all the disciples that are with Him, and then for you. But also on behalf of those who believe. That is us, my friend. And nothing has changed. Jesus knows everything about us and still loves us. He loves us enough to accept us. He loves us enough to corrupt us. He intercedes for us. 1 Timothy 2.5. He will never stop loving us, pulling for us, vouching for us, and everything and anything else you can imagine. Right up to the line. Us in Jesus, and Jesus in us. Seeing the glory of the Father in Jesus, and submitting to it totally, completely, and desperately. God loves us so, and He is desperate to get us home with Him. Be broken. Submit in joyous freedom. Live the abundant life Jesus came to provide, and thank Him for each and every moment of it. 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. He can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.