Fearless

This is a building block of my spiritual economy that was just added last week, and though I didn’t intend to write about it, something is nagging me to do so, and so here it is. Perhaps there are others out there who are facing difficult circumstances that this might help.

A man who is fearless, who is afraid of nothing, cannot be defeated. Why? Because he knows that he has nothing to lose. That brought to mind the saying, “There’s no loss with Jesus,” which has been another one of the building blocks of my spiritual economy for a long time. I could see that the two ideas were reflections of each other.

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

—Martin Luther

The natural man is ruled by his fears. We can see the truth of this especially at present, as our world is coming down piece by piece over the world financial crisis. Looking back, this is probably one of the greatest sins I personally have been guilty of, not acting (for the Lord) because of my fears. When I had my talk with the Lord that night in my arbor four years ago on Yom Kippur, the greatest change in my life that I committed to was this, that I would no longer let fear prevent me from doing anything that the Lord commanded me, regardless of the consequences. Now, Brock was handing over to me a word that expresses this change, “the reason that we are a threat to the world is because we are fearless.”

So, fearlessness also must be an attribute of the follower of Jesus. This is something I’ve known, even something I deliberately committed to, and yet never articulated this way before. You need a word like this to be a flag you can see on the battlefield in the heat of struggle, and now I have one. Fearless.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28 NIV

God is our shelter, our strength,
ever present in time of trouble,
so we shall not be afraid when the earth gives way,
when the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea,
and its waters roar and seethe,
the mountains tottering as they heave.
Yahweh Sabaoth is on our side,
our citadel the God of Jacob.
Psalm 46:1-3 JB
quoted from memory

Mountains tumbling into the sea, and waters roaring and seething, I have not yet seen, but what has come against me, what has been thrown into my path to discourage and even destroy me, that I have seen. But my friend’s word, which he handed over to me from what the Lord has given him, speaks the truth…

Do not be afraid, it is I.
Matthew 14:27