Spirit Acid

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear in any form. Fear is a spiritual force used by Satan to keep people down. Instead, faith in God is championed, and perfect love casts out fear. The connection between anger, fretting, and evildoing is explored, highlighting how anger blinds us and leads to poor decisions. Anger corrodes doctrine and prevents us from following sound words. The message of the cross is to let God do it all. We fight the good fight by holding onto our faith and being obedient to God's will. Our thoughts are our battleground, and keeping the word of God in front of us will lead to victory. 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 37.8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Don't fret, it only leads to evildoing. Now why are these three concepts connected? Anger and fretting, fretting and evildoing. Is it a connect the dots? Well, what about fretting then? It means to become vexed or worried, to be agitated. Now that sounds pretty standard, sounds like anxiety, fear. But it can go deeper. It also means to corrode, to wear away, to chafe. And that means something quite different. In fact, it is the tool most used by the enemy to get us to do what we don't want to do. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin. For I don't understand what I'm doing. For I don't practice what I desire to do, but what I hate that I do. Romans 7.14-15 Now isn't that a verse for the modern era? We tend to start strong. We get rid of things we know are wrong or shady when we get saved. We go to church with enthusiasm. We spend time in prayer. We spend time reading the Bible. It's great. But time changes that. We start to get tired of getting up and leaving the house on what is essentially our only day off. Because we do the chores on Saturday, right? We stop praying and we start bullet pointing it. We turn it from a conversation into just a series of asks. Or panicked calling out. We read the Bible when we're in the mood. We take that time that we were spending and instead scroll social media, watch a show, check out a movie, read a book. Or find another way to chill out. We let our practices erode. Sooner or later we're warming a seat on Sunday, hoping to turn things around, and sure that all will be pie in the sky once we get to heaven. This is just the valley. This is just the burden. This is just what we have to go through. Here we lose. There we'll win. You know, what all that means is that we as human beings go the path of least resistance. The route of comfort, not of trial and hardship. And I came across a verse this week in Isaiah that came to mind when I looked at today's verse. For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go out by flight. For Yahweh will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Isaiah 52, 12. Now if you study out that verse, there's a deeper push in Hebrew. You shall not go out in haste means that you shall not go out hastily like you had to do when you left Egypt. Now the Israelites didn't have time for their bread to rise. They ate their meal standing. They ate, and then they dashed out the door. Yahweh had just delivered them with miracles and wonders. Why did they have to rush away? In a little bit the Lord saves them with the pillar of fire and parting the Red Sea. So he could have stopped anything, right? Why the haste? When they got to the Red Sea, they saw the enemy, the army of Egypt, coming after them. They didn't turn to the God who just saved them. They didn't turn to Moses to ask for guidance or help. Oh, no, no, no. When Pharaoh came near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they were very afraid. The children of Israel cried out to Yahweh. They said to Moses, Because there are no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us in this way, to bring us out of Egypt? Isn't this the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. Exodus 14, 10-12 Brutally enslaved for decades upon decades, and they're ready to turn back to the lash. I'm thinking that they had to leave Egypt in a rush, or they would have chosen to stay. And it didn't end there. They went through the desert, given water, given food. They came to where the Lord called them, and they saw the glory of the Lord. They saw the fire, and they saw the smoke, and they saw the power shaking the mountain. They heard Him speak to them, audibly speak to them, in words they could understand. They felt the power of the Lord in that voice. They felt the righteousness of it. Their response? All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stayed at a distance. They said to Moses, speak with us yourself, and we will listen. But don't let God speak to us, lest we die. Exodus 20, 18-19 So they knew this was God, and He was powerful, and they could not stand before that majesty. Moses told them why God did it this way. God wanted to inspire in them reverence for Himself, so that they would not sin. Verse 20 Within 40 days, they were worshipping a golden calf. They could not sustain it, while Moses went up the mountain. Now Moses passed on the basics of God's moral code, the basics of the law. The do this and be blessed, avoid that, it puts you under the power of the curse. It's clear, it's laid out with precision. It starts in Exodus 20, verse 22, and ends in Exodus 23, verse 33. Moses went up the mountain to get further instructions, deeper revelation about the things that God had already spoken of. You know, the instructions about the tabernacle. He was basically setting up their life for the next little while, and all the time they were going to be in the promised land. And he was up there 40 days and 40 nights. They didn't make it. They looked back to Egypt, again with the brutal abuse. They made idols to worship, to look to. Idols that they claimed brought them out of Egypt, the position the Lord occupied. They sacrificed to it, they worshipped it. The movement was led by the men, and by Hebraic tradition, the women refused to give up their jewelry for it. The people fell away. Over those 40 days, they didn't hold to what Moses had written down for them to learn. Exodus 24, verse 4, tells us he wrote it down before he went up there. They had guidance, they had the words of the Lord. They could have done something about it. What they did was erode. They wore away. And in the end, they made a stupid decision. Now this is the connection with anger. He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly. Proverbs 14, 29. An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in sin. Proverbs 29, 22. Anger blinds us. We don't see our faults. We don't see our issues. We don't see that maybe we're wrong. That maybe they have a point. That maybe there's a reason for what is happening. But anger blinds you to that. When you make a habit of anger, you're making a habit of poor thinking. You're making a habit of closed-mindedness. You're making a habit of poor decisions. Any decision made from anger is a bad one. Anger will start to corrode you. Because an angry mind is much like a drunk mind. You're a legend, and you can do no wrong. When you think you can do no wrong, you're not looking for the Lord to be right. An angry person is a proud person. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2.4 When you don't follow the Word, you're not following sound words. Angry words are not sound words. Following unsound words is a terrible mistake. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and doesn't consent to sound words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, insulting, evil suspicions, constant friction of people of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Withdraw yourself from such. 1 Timothy 6.3-5 Anger will corrode your doctrine, because the message of the cross is, God does it all. If you're proud, that's a hard message. If you strive against the world in order to fight it, to win in spite of it, to be victor over it, then you're not being humble, letting God call the shots, and kneeling broken before him. That is the message of the cross. Let God do it, because God has already done it. We don't fight this world. We don't fight the people in it. We wear the armor of God and stand on the Lord Jesus against powers and principalities in the spiritual realm. We wield the sword by declaring the word of the Lord when the Lord tells us to. We fight the good fight by holding to our faith and being obedient to the Father. Not our will, His will. Not our way, His way. Not our fight, His fight. Not our anything, His everything. You can't do that angry. When you do that, there's nothing to be angry about. How can you be angry when He's doing it all? How can you be worried when He is carrying the burden? How can you get all fredged out and worn down when He is taking on everything that could chip away at you except your own thoughts? Our thoughts are our battleground. Keep the word in front of you, and you will not fail. That's the message God had for Joshua, Joshua 1, 8-9, where to pick up the sword of the Spirit and put it on every day, Ephesians 6, 13-18. Your faith isn't going to move unless you command it. You can command it by speaking out those verses, reading them out and declaring the thing of the word of God that the Lord says is our right in Jesus. That's what separates us from our anger, from worry, from anxiety, from stress, from failure, from poverty, from everything bad. It will keep you turning to Jesus, seeking Jesus, asking Jesus, praising Jesus. You know what it does? It puts your attention on the Father because Jesus always points to His Father. The word strengthens us and develops us and builds us up until we get to further and deeper understanding of the revelation of Jesus that is the word of God. The Spirit corrects us when we have it wrong or when we're hanging on to something that we shouldn't. The Spirit guides us, teaches us, comforts us, encourages us, and points us to where we can be connected to Jesus. Jesus loves us, works with us, walks with us, talks with us, sings over us, and leads us proudly to His Father whom we worship and adore and kneel before in perfect, broken humility and truth. Does that make a word picture in your mind? Is there any fear in that word picture? Because it's all Jesus and it's not us. We die taking up our cross so that we can walk in Him and be the victor that He is because we are in Him. He's doing the thing. We get to experience it. That's grace. And I tell you, I see the throne room of heaven in my mind all the time. I see the pillars, the roof, and glimpses of pieces of the throne. When I picture myself there, I have no fear. I'm never anxious. I'm never worried. I'm never stressed. Sometimes I'm a child. Sometimes I'm not. But always the righteousness of God is there. And I am very aware of the righteousness of God that is on me in Christ Jesus. I am very aware that the little peaks I have would kill me without Jesus. I need Christ. I need Christ like nothing else in this world. I need Jesus bad. I can't do anything without Him. I acknowledge that. I need Jesus. He is my strength. He is my focus. He is my everything. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. I always had a temper. I'm saved now, but my temper tries to stay. Now it isn't a part of me. I was washed clean. I don't want it, but it's sad and lonely. It likes to hang around in the bushes and jump me when I'm not paying attention. When I'm not holding up the shield. When I don't have on the breastplate. When I'm not girded with the armor. When I'm not thinking on the word. That's the opportunity that it waits for. And it tries to grab me. I don't count to ten before I respond to things. That does nothing but delay my anger. What I strive to do is pray for the words before I speak. Now when I do, everything goes well. When I do not, I either join the strife or start some strife. When I give sin a place, it takes it. It sits at my door waiting. If I do not watch myself, it will jump me. Genesis 4, 6-7 We are meant to rule over sin. Not for sin to rule over us. Therefore, don't let sin reign in your mortal body. That you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness. But present yourself to God as alive from the dead. And your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. Romans 6, 12-14 Jesus paid the price for sin. Because the Father resurrected Him to life, we can be resurrected into Jesus. If we are resurrected into Jesus, we are resurrected into life. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree. That we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by His wounds. For you were going astray like sheep. But now you have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. 2 Peter 2, 24-25 We have been reset in Jesus to where Adam and Eve started. Sin is outside of us. It isn't our nature. It's our habit. And you can break a habit. Easy for a good one, harder for a bad one. But they will all fall before your willpower. And Jesus lends us His willpower when it comes to things of the Spirit. For God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1, 7 Anger is a habit. Fretting is a habit that if held on to, will corrode the impulse to the finer things you're working to strengthen. We are beings of willpower. Will you turn it toward the impulse of the Lord's kingdom? Or will you turn it toward the impulse of flesh habits? It will start you on a slippery slope that ends only in evil doing. It's inevitable. Because sin won't stop until it has a foot on your neck. Stand on the rock. Stand on the Word. Stand on and in Jesus. Let Jesus do the work in you that He wants to do in you. Don't stand in His way. Don't strain against the yoke. Lean into the Spirit. Lean into Jesus. Obey the Father, humbly, with joy and in His peace. Stand in the place the Lord overcame for you. Your foot on the neck of sin and the kingdom of darkness, now and always. Victorious in Jesus. Always winning. Never, ever losing. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Ezekiel 37, 1-3. Can we do it? Now, if you start in on the Word, sooner or later the Lord is going to ask you to do something. Small or big, it will be out of where you thought you were going to be that day. It will be something you weren't prepared for. It will come right out of left field and the Lord will say, Can we do it? What will you say? Ezekiel had that said to him. God took him out to a valley full of bones. Dry ones. Old ones. God asked him, Can these bones live? I haven't had many dry bones moments. I certainly haven't been taken to see real bones. I don't know what I would say. Do I have the faith to say live? Do you? I don't know, but I do know we can develop that kind of faith. The Word retrains our very thinking until we end up with something that is impossible before us, but excited to see. Eager to see what the Lord will do when we say, Yes, Lord, they can live. There is nothing you cannot do. God loves us. God can trust us to work with him. Deepen your faith and just wait. Your dry bone moment is coming. 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. First John 4 9 to 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 love 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.