Since July God has been speaking to Troy and I about fear. Although we have heard many confirming words from people about fear, we knew that God wanted to release more revelation around that topic. So we have been waiting for the right time to release that message.
So while I was reading Jeremiah, (I have been studying it for the last three months) God began to reveal some basic truths. In fact, one night I fell asleep thinking, “What am I supposed to glean from this passage?” However, I woke up and He instantaneously begins to show me things in the scripture. Those are my favorite kind of mornings!
I asked Him why fear was so offensive. Let’s look at the book of Jeremiah. We see that in chapter 25, Jeremiah predicts 70 years of captivity and the succeeding destruction of Babylon. Needless to say, it wasn’t a word everyone wanted to receive. So this prophet, Urijah decides to prophesy according to the words of Jeremiah. Big mistake, because in Jer. 23:30, God says He is against the prophets who steal words from each other. In other words, you should only speak out of your own revelation, so that you have the confidence to stand when the circumstances get ugly. In Urijah’s case, he fled when King Jehoiakim sought to kill him—he was captured and killed. Jeremiah, who originally gave the word, stood and was spared.
Let’s read about King Zedekiah in chapter 38. Jeremiah pleaded with him. Asking him to surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes. Notice that Jeremiah says in 38:20 to obey the voice of the Lord so that your SOUL shall live. Well, if the king really knew God, his soul really would’ve lived. As it turns out, he ran OUT OF FEAR, and was brutalized at the hands of his captors.
Anyways, God is talking to me and He says, “Andrea, do realize that it wasn’t the enemy that killed them? It was actually their own fear.” I said, “Okay God, then explain to me how fear manages to consume them.” After all isn’t fear just an emotion? He explained that fear is loathsome because we are usually afraid of three things—losing our possessions; our identity; or our life goals and dreams. (Our identity is in Him, our possessions are His and future is in Him.) So, we’ve put those things on throne or above Him and made them like idols. Besides, we are dead to our old selves. A DEAD MAN DOESN’T HAVE FEAR! So what part of you isn’t dead?
God challenged me even more that day. He said that there are times when, when we who in ministry command someone to do something, that we actually rob them of the opportunity to overcome their fear. Why? Well, it’s easier for people in the body in to follow a command than build a relationship. (We see that throughout the old testament.) Telling them what to do eliminates the need for a deep relationship with Christ and the fear remains.
Okay, here’s an example. Troy and I are walking in divine provision. That means we’re depending on God for everything. I’d be lying if I told you there weren’t some days I was frightened. We do not ask for an offering at our services but have a basket out if some choose to give an offering. Many times I pleaded with Troy to ask God about asking for an offering, but Troy did not feel released. Then one day he looked right at me and said, “Andrea did you notice that Bob (a friend of ours) saw the basket, went to all the members of his ministry team asking for a contribution and put in a donation? You see, Andrea, it’s there if people want to see it. It’s not there for us but for them.”
I was released from that fear that day even though I didn’t have the full revelation of what Troy was saying. There was something in my spirit that just clicked. Now I know that it was more important to give each individual the opportunity to ask the Holy Spirit themselves about giving. It’s through the relationship that they will be able to pass their tests and it’s through my relationship that I’ll be able to teach them how. Going back to the book of Jeremiah it has to be my own revelation! Are you following what I’m sayin?
The question is, “Did Jesus ever command us to do something?” Well, in Matthew, Jesus did command us to live a certain way. However as I examine those closer, those commands were always addressing the heart in an individual. (ei. Matthew 5:21-26, Matthew 5:27-30)
Jesus was always talking about relationship and coming against those who had made it a ritual. Fear has a way of holding onto the Law, it’s actually a false sense of control or security. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said that He came to fulfill the Law. Then this is what He says in Matthew 7:21-23:
21“(A)Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22“(B)Many will say to Me on (C)that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; (D)DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’
In this passage Jesus is not talking to the lost, He is talking to believers. Not only that, they’re the elect because they are prophesying in His name and walking in signs and wonders. Yet He says depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
If Christ fulfilled the Law, essentially He became the Law. So if we decide to just follow rules or commands without a relationship with Christ, we are without Christ or lawless. That’s why the antichrist is described as the man of lawlessness. He is a man without Christ. It’s like a form of godliness but without power.
This is scary because, Jesus is talking to the church! They PRACTICE lawlessness. It’s become a ritual not a relationship.
As God has been speaking to me this week, for the first time I told Him, “God I am afraid. You’re coming against the establishment. Please, I need you.” There was a time when I reveled in the fact that He might use me to come against the establishment. However, He has moved my heart into greater levels of compassion. Today I know that He is crying out for His church.