Renewed

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith. Fear is a spiritual force used by Satan to keep people down. The focus is on trusting in God's word and perfect love to cast out fear. The importance of being filled with righteousness, peace, and joy in all circumstances is emphasized. The need to be conscious of the impact of our actions on others is highlighted. It is discussed how entertainment and worldly distractions can hinder our spiritual growth. The importance of focusing on the promises of God and relying on Jesus for protection and care is emphasized. It is encouraged to put our worries into the hands of Jesus and not be overwhelmed. 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 56.2-3 Romans 14.16-18 My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me. When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. Don't let your good be slandered, for God's kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. People like to complain, or at least be upset and worried when things happen that are not great. Someone I know through Twitter recently posted that she was extremely grateful for authors who produce good work, because then she has somewhere to go when life is hard. She was beaten down that day. She escaped into the words of writers who created fictional worlds for us to do just that in. I've done the same thing myself. Not reading a story for enjoyment on its own, but to escape the reality around me. I've done it with movies and TV as well. I'm sure you have too. These things are good entertainment. They sweep us up in our imaginations to new places, new experiences, into a this-isn't-me-or-my-life mindset that is frankly quite enjoyable and satisfying. On the face of it, there's nothing wrong with that. The only problem is that when we put it away, the problems we escaped are still there, and we tend to fall back into the same block that we were escaping from. Now, as a believer, I have no excuse for this. I am not called to be happy about everything. I am called to be joyful. I am not called to be enthusiastic about everything. I am called to be faithful. That means that in all things, in all circumstances, no matter what is happening to me, I am to be filled with righteousness, peace, and joy. That is a physical, mental, and emotional impossibility without the Holy Spirit helping me. That is something I can only do in Christ Jesus and in Jesus alone. I have to take a step, a single step. I have to leave where I am and step into trust in the Lord. It has to be on purpose. It has to be done every time. There is no resting on past achievement. This is always a need-to-do-it-consciously thing. I know that God has me, and God will have me, and that everything is going to be all right. I know that. You know what I also know? When I apply the brakes on my vehicle, my vehicle will stop. But if I don't apply my brakes, I am going to smash into a lot of other vehicles. Same thing with the Lord. I know He has me, but if I don't take a step into trust in Him, I am going to crash. If we serve the Lord by entering into His trust, we gain approval by Him. When Paul was writing about this, he specifically addressed the issue of food. Unclean food versus clean food, according to Jewish law. Food that had been dedicated to the gods of the city, which was then sold in the marketplaces. The point he was making was that Jesus covers us in all circumstances, but that we need to pay attention to our siblings in Christ. We may have the knowledge and revelation to walk where those things can't hurt us, but another believer may stumble because of it. Since we are to build each other up, we are to think of them and not do things they may see and copy and cause an issue for themselves. Romans chapter 14. In that teaching, Paul points out that God's kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. That's one of today's verses. God's kingdom is not about the things, but about the Spirit. It isn't about the actions that come against us, but about standing in the Holy Spirit and choosing to inhabit those attitudes. That in choosing that, it will inform our actions, and so by standing in the Spirit, we won't let our good be slandered. People won't look at what we do and how we act and say, see, all that talk was just BS. They're the same as us. Our daily actions and attitudes and words are more of a witness than the witness we give in any moment of time. We say Jesus saves. We say Jesus will transform you. But we go on social media, talk to coworkers, and interact with our families on a daily basis, worried about money, stressed, depressed, anxious, sad, and letting life stomp all over us. Why? Isn't Jesus enough? Didn't he take care of everything bad on the cross? Don't hear this and scoff at me. Don't pull up your medical diagnosis and wave it at me. Jesus died on the cross so that we could stop being like us and be like him instead. This is what the cross is all about. If he paid for sin, which he did, then we can drop fear in every form and embrace faith in every way. We can become in him a new creation. This is a process. Absolutely. But why aren't we walking in that process? Why aren't we believing for it and working toward knowing it? Why aren't we standing on and acting on it? Because we're letting the physical reality of this world supersede the spiritual reality of the kingdom of God. Now one of the ways we do that is by focusing on the world instead of on the word. All of our entertainment, the music we listen to, what we read, what we watch, all of it. It informs who you are. It trains your mind. So what are you putting in front of your eyes? What are you putting inside your ears? What are you putting in your mouth? Are you focusing on the word, on things of the Lord, on good things, on righteous things? Or are you doing everything that everyone else does and then you expect a different result? If we accept the reality of being born again, we can accept the reality of the Holy Spirit inhabiting us. And if we accept that, we can accept that we get to walk in righteousness, peace and joy, because He who is in us is greater than anything that is against us. 1 John 4.4 That it is the Father in us who makes these things possible. John 14.10-11 That's how Jesus did it and we're to be like Jesus. Philippians 2.5-18 We need to not fear. And in not fearing, choose to live according to the Spirit who lives in us. Romans 8.5 We're told in Galatians 5.25 that if we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit. So cast aside fear in favor of Jesus. I came across this list of reasons for not fearing that was compiled by Charles Inglis, an Irish Anglican clergyman who became the first Anglican bishop in North America on August 11, 1787 in Nova Scotia. And here it is with the verses that he based it on. He redeems me. But now the Lord who created you, Jacob, and He who formed you, Israel, says, Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You were mine. Isaiah 43.1 He protects me. After these things, the Lord's word came to Abram in a vision, saying, Don't be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. Genesis 15.1 He strengthens me. Tell those who have a fearful heart, be strong. Don't be afraid. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God's retribution. He will come and save you. Isaiah 35.4 He is with me. Don't you be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41.10 He helps me. For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Don't be afraid. I will help you. Isaiah 41.13 He cares for me. Therefore, don't be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10.31 He has a kingdom for me. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Luke 12.32 So again, He redeems me. He protects me. He strengthens me. He is with me. He helps me. He cares for me. He has a kingdom for me. Isn't that a great list? If we think on those seven things, how can we fear? How can we need to escape reality for the sake of avoiding some black feelings? How can we end a day white, weary, and worn? How can we ever say this day was too much? Jesus redeems, protects, strengthens, helps, and cares for us while living inside us, with us, and bringing us the kingdom of God and all it entails. Now that's amazing. That's mercy and grace and action right there. That is good news for everyone. That is salvation. That is new life. That is joy. That is Psalm 94.19 in action. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, your comforts delight my soul. Kick all that negative feeling to the curb by standing on these promises. And you stand on these promises by getting them before your eyes and getting them in your mouth and getting them in your ears. By thinking on it calmly, deliberately, thoughtfully. Figuring out the intent behind the words. Meditating on it. Praying them out. Basically, making that what is renewing you instead of the latest episode of the shoot-em-up show. We never have to feel overwhelmed. We're believers. We get to take all of our cares, all of them, and put them into the arms of Jesus. 1 Peter 5, 6-7. Not the outstretched arms of the loving Jesus who lives in you. No. Place them on the outstretched arms of the Jesus who's nailed to the cross. Pin all of the negative on the place where negative was abolished. Where it was dealt with, cleansed, eliminated, and roto-rooted. You know what was on the cross? Death. Death was hanging on that cross like a drunk clings to a toilet. Anything placed there is covered in death. Death is final. That means anything you put there is finalized. Done. You no longer have to deal with it. Because after the cross, the Father raised Jesus to life and us with Him. Galatians 2-20. We have been redeemed from death. Romans 6-4. We don't have to pay attention or experience the things of death. That doesn't mean that we will not have things come at us or try to come on to us. The world is not perfect, and we're in the world. We were promised persecutions by Jesus Himself. But we're told we're not to be troubled by it, grieved by it, and not to let our good fade away, to refuse to be fearful about it. Paul was persecuted, beaten, whipped, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, and more. He was joyful about it. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 11-22-1210. By choosing to trust Jesus in every situation, we activate the Holy Spirit within us, and we can walk in supernatural joy and peace, no matter what is on us or around us. We can rise above that which is negative and rejoice in the Lord. We can prosper in all things we put our hands to. And if people come at us because we're followers of Jesus, well, that's okay, because we can suffer for His namesake. We will be able to choose to enjoy entertainment because it is enjoyable, and not because we need it to escape reality. We can choose entertainment that will uplift us, instead of entertainment that programs us into the ways of the world. We will be able to see a problem coming our way, and squeal in delight because it's another opportunity for Jesus to show us all that Jesus has done for us through His death and resurrection. We get to have relationship with Him. We get to be obedient to Him. We get to walk in His ways. We get to do away with all that negative thinking and speaking and acting. We get to be happy. We get to speak life. We get to be a beacon of hope and light to the world around us, different from the world, even though we're in the same place. We get to show them this is life in Jesus. We don't have to deal with things as they do, not our past, not our traumas, not our present lives. We can be healed from trauma completely. We can be lifted out of depression permanently. We can experience anxiety fading away, never to return. We can see triggers become footnotes. We can be totally, absolutely, and permanently different from what we were by bringing it to the cross daily, by taking up our cross and following Jesus, by mindfully, actively doing it. We can have all good and no bad in our heads because it is Jesus who does it, Jesus who was victorious, Jesus who was transformed, and Jesus who achieved. If we take up our cross and crucify ourselves daily, we get to be just like Him in every way because He is in us and we are in Him. We become new creations, new creatures, and fellow sons and daughters of Yahweh God Most High. As we go along this journey of sanctification, where every day He gets greater and we get less, let Him transform you today. Let His peace, joy, and righteousness inhabit you. Let it become your baseline. Let it become who you are. Embrace His truth. Live THE truth. Abide in Jesus and let Jesus abide in you. Take the step. Trust in Jesus. Trust in the Lord. The Word shows us how to live, how to abide, and how to focus our attention on Jesus. The Holy Spirit within us tells us how every day, in every way, without ceasing. Listen to the Spirit. Read the Word to see Jesus revealed in every page and every story and every verse. Be renewed in Jesus in your spirit and trust your way into a brand new way of thinking, one that turns the world upside down, one that brings freedom, peace, and love, one without fear or any of fear's babies. Walk with Jesus today and never forget to choose to trust in Him and what He did for you. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Psalm 109, 26-27. God's loving kindness says that we are to become strong and flourish in all things. God's loving kindness says that we are to have a beneficial physical, mental, and emotional state. God's loving kindness says that our spirit should shine like the sun. We are set aside, stored, and preserved by Jesus, in Jesus, and for Jesus. Yahweh God has done this with His hands. He formed us, molded us, and made us exactly as He wants us to be. And He desires that we exist like that at all times. 3 John 2. Because He is kind, and that kindness is extended toward us. Not judgment, correction. Not anger or wrath, love. Not condemnation, redemption. Loving kindness, compassion. Never a harsh word, strong words we can build on. Climb up. Prophecy to show a path not to make you fearful. True worship is to look at God and not fear being hurt by Him, but choosing to alter our own behavior so that we don't hurt Him. Salvation isn't about God sending you to hell if you don't believe. It's God tearfully desperate not to see you lost. Jesus is the hero that lets Himself be ground down in order that you survive. He loved us in our ability to choose to trust Him and He loved us so much to let us go down with the ship of bad decisions we built. He loved us so much. It is obvious that it isn't chance. It isn't a flash in the pan. It isn't possible. It's the Lord. Every rescue, every blessing, every change, Jesus did it. We can see Jesus did it. And the world around us can see Jesus did it. We can look to Jesus and say thank you. We can point out Jesus and say see, He did it. He loved me enough to do this. He loved you enough to do this. He loves us all so very, very much. Let Him save you from you today. Let Him save you from everything. Let Him love on you. 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.