Shalom to you and an abundance of grace, beloved saints! I want to encourage all of us with the word the Lord encouraged me with today.

Don’t Be Afraid, He Is Always with Us

We have no need to be afraid or anxious, no need to worry or fret. Let’s take heart and stop fussing anxiously about what to wear and what to eat and all the other things that people fuss and worry about when they have not come to know how good the Lord is [Mat.6:31], because He has already taken care of all this for us.

Let’s simply abide in God’s rest and rejoice in His constant presence in our life. [Heb.13:5] Whatever happens to us, we have the most sure prophetic word, which we can ALWAYS rely on. [2 Pet.1:19] It is the word about Christ’s finished work and God’s endless love and care for us and for absolutely everything that concerns us, our needs and our circumstances. [2 Pet.1:16-17; 2 Pet.1:3]

“casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” [1 Pet.5:7] and “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” [Phl.4:6-7]

Our loving heavenly Daddy is ALWAYS with us, and in Christ He has taken care FOREVER of ALL our anxieties and worries, our needs and circumstances, even before the foundation of the world. [1 Pet.1:18-20] Not just in Christ, but in His finished work, through His sacrifice on the cross. It is this sacrifice that is our guarantee that all our needs, and everything else we worry about, already have a successful solution.

His Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

And whatever the devil tries to use against us, he simply has no chance of harming us. Precisely because Christ has already paid for everything in full, and in Him we have EVERYTHING! We are joint heirs with Christ [Rom.8:17], we are just as righteous as Christ Himself, for “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD in Him” (in Christ) [2 Cor.5:21], and the devil, condemned forever [Jhn.16:11], cannot really harm us.

Oh yes, the enemy does everything he can to deceive us and frighten us with his roaring (after all, he walks about LIKE a roaring lion [1 Pet.5:8]), and often this roar really does sound very frightening. But that is no reason to panic. We fall into panic and fuss at such moments precisely because we have taken our eyes off Christ, and that is exactly what the devil wanted. But let’s not be upset about it! When we hear the enemy’s roar, or a strange, tempting, seductive voice, or when we have already given in to it and are in panic or fuss, that is the best reason to run — like a frightened child who hears thunder and sees lightning and runs in fright to hide and find calm and comfort under Daddy’s and Mummy’s blanket — straight to our Heavenly Daddy (for He is everything to us: Daddy, Mummy, Brother, Husband), under His wings: the safest place on the whole earth! [Ps.91:4] And it doesn’t matter that the devil hurls thunder and lightning, throws boulders or quietly whispers dirty thoughts — He is our strong tower [Pro.18:10], rest is always in Him [Jhn.14:27]! He ALREADY has a solution for everything that frightens us, and the Power of His grace is able to keep us from temptation [Tit.2:11-12], and in His presence it is good and safe!

His perfect love casts out all fear [1 Jhn.4:18], which is why Paul, praying for the Ephesians in chapter 3, says these words:
17. …that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18. may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
19. TO KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST WHICH PASSES KNOWLEDGE; THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.

In His PERFECT love there is ABSOLUTELY no fear! So let’s receive it, rest in it, bathe in it, immerse ourselves in it, enjoy it, and let’s use the authority and power given to us by God Himself [Eph.1:19-20], and let’s not ALLOW the devil’s lies — that we are doing something not well enough or not right — to steal from us this time of enjoying His UNCONDITIONAL love. He loves us just because, and He loved us even before we came into this world and before we could do anything to deserve it. [Rom.5:8] It is ALWAYS available to us; having trusted Christ, we are always in the most RIGHT (RIGHTEOUS) position before the Father. Because it is not we who secured this position for ourselves by our works — He Himself personally gave us this status and this RIGHT position before Him. I’ll say it again: we have been given authority and power NEVER to accept from the enemy of human souls the lie that we cannot always, at any moment, whether we have sinned or not (there is the question of our heart’s repentance here, but God’s attitude towards us still does not change), come into God’s presence and enjoy His love and grace. We not only can, we have a lawful right to it, because this right has been given to us: “In whom (in Christ) we have BOLDNESS AND ACCESS with confidence by THE FAITH OF HIM.” [Eph.3:12 KJV] A huge price was paid for it — Christ’s sacrifice — but it has been given to us ABSOLUTELY free. And if we want to value Christ’s work as it deserves, let’s allow Him to pour out His love and grace with all their blessings on us, and let’s receive what has been given to us without measure; let’s live by it and enjoy the advantages and privileges of our position in Christ!

To anticipate some tricky questions, I’ll answer: no, this is not a privilege to sin, it is the privilege of living in freedom from sin, by the righteous life of Christ Himself. The devil has been stripped of power, and for us all things work for good.

I also want to say that the roar the devil makes, although it often frightens us, is really nothing but an empty sound. Because in fact, although he roars, he has no “teeth” to really harm us. His “teeth”, his only weapon against us — condemnation — were taken from him when Jesus cried out on the cross “IT IS FINISHED”, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements THAT WAS AGAINST US, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. HAVING DISARMED principalities and powers, HE MADE A PUBLIC SPECTACLE OF THEM, TRIUMPHING OVER THEM in it. So let NO ONE judge you … [Col.2:14-16]

So don’t be afraid! The ruler of this world, Satan, hasn’t the slightest chance of succeeding in his undertakings against us, because however hard he tries, God turns everything to our good!

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” [Rom.8:28,29]

I really love the fact that He PREDESTINED US TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON! How do you picture the devil coming to Jesus and roaring at Him? First of all, he wouldn’t even dare, but even if he did, Jesus would probably just laugh at him and remind him who He is. I think the devil would then simply run away as fast as he could with his tail between his legs. But these are just my human imaginings, whereas the Word of God tells us that as He is, so are we in this world. [1 Jhn.4:17] So we too can boldly point out to the enemy who we really are by the grace of God, revealed in what Christ did for us on the cross. And as we go through difficult situations and through the devil’s tricks to lead us astray, and receive God’s deliverance, we learn to trust Daddy, who has loved us so much, more and more!

And one more cheerful thought came to me: the devil knows no rest, inventing all kinds of sophisticated lies to distract us from Christ’s finished work, but we who already know the Truth of God’s word about the grace given to us can simply rest and relax in the truth that everything is already completely FINISHED: our salvation, justification, sanctification, blessing, victory! We don’t need to do anything or make any effort to obtain it! It has already been given to us, granted to us by God Himself on His own terms: by grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God, lest anyone should boast…

The Holy Spirit Will Comfort and Remind

Besides this, we also have the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us to remind us and testify to us about Christ, who has accomplished everything for us [Jhn.14:26; Jhn.15:26], and so that we would rest our hope fully upon the grace that is brought to us [1 Pet.1:13] and, leaving all fuss behind and choosing the good part, which will never be taken away from us, simply rest at Christ’s feet. [Luk.10:39-42] The Holy Spirit’s task is to testify and remind us of Christ and His finished work, so we are in God’s reliable and strong hands. And even if we get frightened and run off somewhere, or wander in the wrong direction, once we notice it, the best thing is to stop fussing, to stop (or the other way round) and to listen to the tender, caring, rest-giving voice of our Comforter, and He will lead us back to grace.

Shalom to you, beloved! Rest and delight in the Lord, who Himself is our rest and our joy!
With love in Christ, sister Nina.